WE undoubtedly learned what fruits and plants were good for consuming, as well as for medical uses, by observing the older species of the animal world from which we evolved, as they applied their innate instincts to heal and feed themselves. And as our primitive ancestors learnt the healing methods to survive, came the need to protect the tribe from the other. We did not approach the strangers we observed with open urgency, for we were hunter-gatherers and often had inadequate sustenance, not willing to share. However, we might have found it more necessary to protect ourselves from past experiences.

Africa in that period might have had a more lenient attitude to the stranger than Europe. I say this based on the scholarship that has come down to us of conquests and destruction in harsh climates. However, to return to the realm of healing — for example, the following narrative, extracted from The Incredible Book, The Chemical Muse, by D.C.A. Hillman — the use of toxic plants was a complex subject in antiquity, where doctors and street vendors debated the specifics of administering many fatal substances in what appears to be a ‘dizzyingly’ complex world of poisons, antidotes and counterpoisons.

What is known of Africa is that most poisons were associated with the craft of sorcery. Asia is likely to have had similar trends. However, in Africa, the discovery that specific methods were employed for certain ailments and symptoms that led to death — and a subsequent discovery of the use of certain concoctions prohibited by religion — led to punishment by death when certain plants were used and found to be used by sorcerers engaged by request.

Apart from the sorcerers, there were the healers, who possessed a knowledge of herbal cleansing — they were the fathers and mothers of healing. One of the things we do not quite understand of the ancient world is that, beyond prehistoric times, there was always trade between peoples, though there were also people and their secrets protected by forests or mountains. However, some adventurers developed methods to engage with isolated sources of knowledge that was still unknown and promised prestige to healers who acquired perceived sacred knowledge.

The essence of this column is to more or less explore the unique human ability to discover — and to at the same time abuse and colonise — a discovery for personal benefit.

Our world, modern Guyana, that abounds with addictive tablets and human addictions to hard drugs, alcohol, and some over-the-counter tablets that promise rest from stress and depression, when found as possible gateway lures to drug yard highs — with all the distorted shortcomings that so many families experience — should be taken more seriously. That should inspire the shape of some pre-warning mechanism. As a father, I know. I have been there, and I am recruited again ever so often, as fresh and new pharmaceuticals emerge with lofty promises, easily bought, invoking the past, informing families that nothing has really changed.

But I cannot end this column without referencing the Thalidomide scandal of the 1960s. This, I was informed, was an exciting medication for high-end expecting mums, as a medication for anxiety, morning sickness, for expecting mothers, and almost everything etc., but the magic faded when the charm treatment produced thousands of babies born with severe defects. Thus, today, we must pay attention. Much has not changed, as our quest for honesty can be again betrayed.