
In 1979, integrative medicine pioneer and AHP Medical Advisor Dr Andrew Weil (University of Arizona) founded the non-profit Beneficial Plant Research Association (BPRA) to underscore the importance of medicinal plants in human health. The primary mission of the association is to collect and disseminate knowledge from diverse cultures, moving away from a US-centric approach to healthcare that bridges the gap between traditional practices and modern medicine, fostering a new system of health care that prioritizes well-being over profit. BPRA, as does AHP, believes that medicinal plants hold the potential to restore both human health and ecological balance, while protecting plants and preserving indigenous and traditional knowledge.
In February (2025) the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy headed by noted ethnopharmacologist Dr. Dennis McKenna and in collaboration with renowned ethnobotanist Wade Davis and BPRA, will host a Wisdom of the Leaf summit that will emphasize the need to differentiate between the traditional use of coca leaves and its importance in traditional culture, and cocaine, one of the primary alkaloids derived from the leaves, the consequences of which most all are aware. While coca leaves and cocaine represent an extreme example of what happens when traditional medicines are used out of cultural context, the social, economic, and political consequences of how botanical medicines are used or exploited, are broadly applicable to many plant-based medicines.
The efforts of BPRA are consistent with the recent Gujarat Declaration that summarizes the findings of the World Health Organization’s Global Summit on Traditional Medicine. The Gujarat Declaration announced to the world that the combination of integrative and traditional knowledge with modern medicine, is the medicine of the future. The mission of BPRA is also strongly aligned with the newly forming Global Alliance on Integrative Health and Medicine (GAIHM) spearheaded by AHP that will work towards the development of unified strategies to further advance botanical and integrative medicine.
We encourage all those interested in the future of individual and planetary health, and specifically the role botanical medicines play in that transformation, to provide financial support of BPRA and join in the efforts by becoming a BPRA collaborator through the following link. https://www.bpra.org/how-we-work
Those interested in the Wisdom of the Leaf Summit can find more information at the following link: https://mckenna.academy/mka-programs/wisdom-of-the-leaf-coca-summit/