This episode originally released as episode 80. 

Not many of us think of adding 1mg of melatonin with THC to ensure a deeper, longer night’s sleep… or blending ashwagandha with CBD to better cope with stress…or mixing St. John’s Wort with cannabinoids to better cope with pain. But Dr. Kevin Spelman is a molecular biologist, industry consultant and a clinician who has observed that a mix of plant medicines can be more healing than just one individual plant on its own.

Spelman is that rare breed of scientist whose worldview integrates the wisdom of the east and the hard science of the west. He has worked as an Ayurvedic clinician and alongside Chinese medicine practitioners as well as being a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. It was in the NIH labs where he learned just how skeptically plant science was viewed by his colleagues. “When I spoke about certain molecules, my colleagues were all in,” he told me before I recorded this podcast, “but the minute I started talking about medicinal plants they’d turn suspect. I could almost see the thought bubble appear above their heads: ‘Quack! This guy can’t possibly be for real.’”

This podcast is full of very real science about the mysterious world of plant medicines. In it, Spelman broaches three areas I want you to know about.

Herbal allies. Especially relevant in the time of COVID-19 are the benefits of using echinacea, astragalus, and ashwagandha to strengthen our immune response. But he also explains that these substances should be combined thoughtfully rather than randomly thrown together. “One of the classic mistakes naturopaths make is just putting all in there. When you combine things properly you can induce emergent properties that you wouldn’t see with just one compound.”

Low dose cannabinoids. We are big proponents of low dose cannabis medicines on this podcast. Spelman points out that there is a scientific phenomenon called “hormesis” in which a low dose of a substance, like cannabis or psilocybin, can have beneficial results while a higher dose can cause symptoms to worsen. “I had a lot of sciatica pain, maybe a 6 or 7 out of 10," he says, "and I didn’t want to use THC because my job demands I be critically observant. I found a sub-threshold dose of less than 1.5 mg of THC allowed me to work clear headed without a lot of pain.”

Diet. Spelman points out that modern society is drugging illnesses that can be traced to what he calls a “phytonutrient deficiency.” His solution is the same that Michael Pollan arrived at while writing The Omnivore’s Dilemma: “Eat more plants.”

Listen in to learn more on this emerging field, and be sure to read Kevin’s most recent blog on Powering Up Your Immune Response with Cannabinoids and Botanicals.And  please read "Practical COVID Tips as We Open" (and musical accompaniment) by the always impressive Dr. Jeff Chen at UCLA. We can't rely on the administration to give reliable info so we must rely on the smartest scientists we know. Jeff is another one worth listening to.