Researcher and author Graham Hancock discussed how humanity received a jump start some 40,000 years ago, when our ancestors took psychoactive plants and had contacts with non-terrestrial beings who served as teachers. Their visions and encounters were depicted on cave paintings, he said. The Amazonian hallucinogenic brew known as ayahuasca is being used today, and its active ingredient DMT, is naturally made in the human pineal gland. People who have spontaneous visions may produce higher levels of this chemical in their bodies, he noted.   In Dr. Rick Strassman’s experimental studies of DMT, users reported experiences similar to alien abduction scenarios, Hancock reported. In fact, aliens, fairies, and spirit beings may all be the same thing, just construed differently based on cultural frameworks, Hancock suggested. He argued that hallucinogens such as ayahuasca should be made legal, as they help to advance the freedom of consciousness. Hancock touched on some of his other areas of research, detailing