It all began in 1979…

The Beneficial Plant Research Association (BPRA) was originally established in 1979 by Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Tim Plowman, along with Margaret (Honey) Williams, in Carmel Valley, California. Both Andrew Weil and Tim Plowman were graduates of Harvard University, where they studied under the renowned ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes and worked as research associates at the Harvard Botanical Museum.

BPRA was founded to investigate and commercialize promising plants, including potential sources of novel foods, spices, beverages, and medicines. However, its primary focus was coca. The founders assembled an outstanding board of international scientific advisors, including Schultes, Alejandro Zaffaroni, Albert Hofmann, Bo Holmstedt, and Norman Farnsworth. With their guidance, BPRA identified several plants for study, such as sangre de grado (Croton spp.), brunfelsia (Brunfelsia spp.), yoco (Paullinia yoco), and Amazonian chili (Ají Yuquitania). A central area of focus remained coca (Erythroxylum coca and E. novogranatense).

BPRA made progress under the Carter administration, but with the advent of the Reagan administration and the intensification of the war on drugs, the effort lost momentum. In the 1970s, Andrew Weil was deeply involved in documenting the medicinal potential of coca, conducting research in indigenous communities in the Amazon and the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, as well as in Colombia. During this time, Tim Plowman and Wade Davis pursued the botanical and ethnobotanical mysteries of the sacred coca leaf. BPRA was ahead of its time in trying to educate people about the positive qualities of coca as a therapeutic agent, particularly its medicinal benefits as a natural stimulant. Andrew Weil and Tim Plowman conducted the first nutritional study of the coca leaf, which yielded groundbreaking insights.

Unfortunately, the war on drugs that began in the early 1980s curtailed opportunities for further medical research. Fifty years later, much remains to be learned about the potential of coca, a plant of immense historical, cultural, economic, and medical significance.

In light of the renewed discussion surrounding the coca plant and its cultural importance, Andrew Weil re-established BPRA in 2024. With the support of fellow Harvard graduates Wade Davis and Michael Balick, along with many other like-minded colleagues, BPRA will continue advocating for the responsible use of beneficial plants and supporting the communities that rely on them.