Wade Davis

Wade Davis is a Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, writer, photographer, and filmmaker. A former National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, he is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and is known for books and films on Indigenous knowledge, ethnobotany, cultural diversity, coca, the Amazon, Haiti, and exploration.

Coca’s Defenders Say Prohibition Mistook a Medicinal Leaf for Cocaine

In a Tim Ferriss Show conversation, integrative medicine physician Andrew Weil and anthropologist Wade Davis argue that coca leaf has been wrongly collapsed into cocaine in medicine, law and public understanding. Weil presents coca as a case study in the difference between whole plants and isolated compounds, with suggestive but under-researched therapeutic uses; Davis argues its prohibition reflects a racially charged campaign against Indigenous culture as much as concern over cocaine trafficking. Both make the case for renewed research, legal reconsideration and a licit market for the leaf.

Tim FerrissJun 25, 202622 min read