If we want to avoid sacred plant medicines getting turned into yet another extractive industry... We need to engage in best practices now. BEST PRACTICE=BENEFIT SHARING There are two major shifts in perspective we invite you to consider: 1)Narratives and 2) the stories we tell ourselves influence our behaviors. It’s wonderful that so many people are starting to become aware of the importance of reciprocity. However, we’re just not there yet. We are intentionally choosing to use the language of benefit sharing. Reciprocity assumes consent and mutual exchange. The biocultures that hold the heritage rights and responsibilities to a medicine haven’t necessarily given universal consent for widespread use. Benefit sharing is easy to understand. When you make a donation through Grow Medicine you are engaging in benefit sharing which is different than reciprocity. Benefit sharing is the action of giving a portion of advantages or profits derived from the use of genetic resources or traditional knowledge to Indigenous communities in order to achieve justice in exchange. Are you leading or facilitating spaces that utilize plant medicines? If you are benefiting either financially, personally, or socially from heritage medicines, as well as traditional and cultural artifacts, then best practice is to share those benefits with the traditional knowledge holders of these medicines. >>Go to www.GrowMedicine.com and donate!<< Grow Medicine is a project of the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund.