Jonathan Ott (January 6, 1949 – July 5, 2025) was an Americanethnobotanist, writer, translator, publisher, natural products chemist and botanical researcher of psychoactive substances and their cultural and historical use, and helped coin the termentheogen.[1][2]
Ott wrote eight books, co-written five, and contributed to four others, and published many articles in the field ofentheogens. His comprehensive 1993 book,Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History has been described as one of the important works on the subject of entheogenic drugs.[3] It describes over 1,000 plants and chemical compounds.[4] He collaborated with other researchers likeChristian Rätsch,Jochen Gartz, and the late ethnomycologistR. Gordon Wasson. He translatedAlbert Hofmann's 1979 bookLSD: My Problem Child (LSD: Mein Sorgenkind), andOn Aztec Botanical Names by Blas Pablo Reko, into English. His articles have appeared in many publications, includingThe Entheogen Review,The Entheogen Law Reporter, theJournal of Cognitive Liberties, theJournal of Psychoactive Drugs (AKA theJournal of Psychedelic Drugs), theMAPS Bulletin,Head,High Times,Curare,Eleusis,Integration,Lloydia,The Sacred Mushroom Seeker, and severalHarvard Botanical Museum pamphlets. He was a co-editor ofEleusis: Journal of Psychoactive Plants & Compounds, along withGiorgio Samorini.[5]
Ott in 2014 at the World Ayahuasca Conference in Ibiza (second from left)
Ott had experience of field collecting in Mexico, where he lived and managed a small natural-products laboratory and botanical garden of medicinal herbs. A number of his ethno-botanical products have been studied to determine their possible benefits to individuals suffering various mental aberrations. In his bookAyahuasca Analogues, he identifies numerous plants around the globe containing theharmala alkaloids ofBanisteriopsis caapi, which areMAOIs, and plants containingdimethyltryptamine, which together are the chemical base of the South American Ayahuasca brew.[citation needed]
In March 2010, Ott's home in Mexico was destroyed by arson. While most of his books survived the fire, Ott's laboratory and personal effects were destroyed in the blaze. Books given to Ott by Albert Hofmann were reportedly used as fuel.[6]
A Conscientious Guide to Hallucinogens: A Comprehensive Guide to Hallucinogens, Natural and Synthetic, Found in North American and the World with Joe E Axton and Jeremy Bigwood (1975) Do It Now Foundation, Institute for Chemical Survival
The Road to Eleusis (2008) By R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, Carl A. P. Ruck, Huston Smith
Psychedelics Encyclopedia by Peter G. Stafford, Jeremy Bigwood (1992) Page 379
Researching Paganisms by Jenny Blain, Douglas Ezzy, Graham Harvey (2004) Page 87
Brain Boosters: Food & Drugs That Make You Smarter by Beverly A. Potter, Sebastian Orfali, Potter & Orfali, Gini Graham Scott (1993) Health & Fitness - Page 191
Yajé: The New Purgatory: Encounters with Ayahuasca by Jimmy Weiskopf (2005) Page 145
Toads and Toadstools: the Natural History, Folklore, and Cultural Oddities of This Strange Association by Adrian Morgan (1995) Page 116
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