Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey(2008)

The untold story of hallucinogens: from jungle shamans to the hippie generation.

Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey is a History Channel documentary that traces botanist Richard Evans Schultes's groundbreaking expeditions into hallucinogenic plants and their role in shaping the 1960s counterculture. Schultes, a real-life explorer whose discoveries of peyote and magic mushrooms fundamentally altered Western understanding of consciousness, mentored ethnobotanist Wade Davis, who now retraces his mentor's path across the globe—from Canada to the Amazon rainforest. The two-hour special captures rarely documented indigenous ceremonies and reveals the untold history behind the psychedelic movement. Featuring Davis alongside Dr. Andrew Weil, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, and other cultural figures, the film examines how one scientist's botanical research inadvertently sparked a cultural revolution he never anticipated. A compelling exploration of how plants shaped modern consciousness.