Psychedelics Today

Download In this episode Joe interviews, Richie Ogulnick, a long time Ibogaine provider and enthusiast. During the show they discuss Ibogaine and Addiction-Interruption Therapy. 3 Key Points: Ibogaine is a compound found in the Tabernanthe Iboga plant that has been used to treat opioid and other addictions. Ibogaine has shown to have the power to reset the biochemistry of a person to a non-addictive state, and reduce/eliminate the agonizing symptoms of withdrawal, allowing a person to heal from an addiction. The combination of Ibogaine, relocation and integration therapy is the best scenario for healing someone and preventing them from relapse. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Richie In 1989 he was Introduced to Ibogaine while visiting family and friends in New York Its an alkaloid extracted from a West African shrub He was ready to fall in love with doing something with purpose He came across an article about a corporation called NDA created by Howard Lotsof When Howard (a heroine addict) was 19 years old, a chemist gave him a dose of Ibogaine A few days later, he realized he "wasn't afraid" and then he realized he wasn't having opioid withdrawals In "Needle Park", a park in New York, heroin addicts come there for free needles Richie's dream was to dose all the addicts with Ibogaine, and that only a quarter of them would show up to Needle Park because they were not addicted anymore He brought 13 grams of Ibogaine back from Africa with him He received a chapter from a book (Healing Journey) called Ibogaine: Fantasy and Reality by Claudio Naranjo People were coming from all over the world to receive Ibogaine treatments It was 15 years where he conducted over 750 psycho-spiritual and addiction-interception sessions underground Upon training people, those people would then go and open their own treatment centers in Mexico, abroad, etc. What is Iboga Tabernanthe Iboga is the plant Ibogaine Hydrochloride is the best product to use to interrupt addiction and symptoms of withdrawal from an addiction Ibogaine is safe as long as someone has had an EKG that has been looked at very closely for any red flags Other than cardiac risk and previous suicidality, schizophrenia, psychotic breaks there aren't many more threats to being treated with Ibogaine The Miracle Compound "There is a miracle compound in ibogaine. There is nothing I have come across on the planet that can reset the biochemistry to a pre-addictive state, that can bring a person to make a choice without the agony of the symptoms of withdrawal." - Richie There is a 36 hour window where a person has a life review, what brought them to the addictive process in the first place, the person's willingness and maturity It creates a symbiotic relationship for a person to explore themselves with insight Relapse is possible if they don't work on the reason they became addicted in the first place It's the witness component that Ibogaine delivers that helps people process through their addiction Ibogaine as a molecule has a really pharmacologically complex, alien like structure Relapse Justin Hoffman, a DJ in Las Vegas runs Holistic House, a facility where people get to relax and get out of their previous context for a week or two after treatment If a family wanted to help out their family member who is addicted to heroine, Richie says that he asks the family about relocation because it's a big part of reducing relapse He also says that finding a proper therapist to help afterward is huge too The combination of Ibogaine, relocation and integration therapy is the best scenario for healing someone and preventing them from relapse Big Pharma's Impact Joe says how he got a message from Dana Biel, talking about how the harm reduction movement has been manipulated by the 'Big Pharma' industry, especially suboxone Richie says that drugs like suboxone are prescribed to be used everyday for the rest of someone's life, and Ibogaine is a "one-time-only" style drug that doesn't require alot of money to heal people Ibogaine is not profitable so its not attractive to Big Pharma "Ibogaine will never hit the streets like LSD did. It's not a recreational experience, it's a long, daunting 3 stage process." - Richie Use Cases He knows of a story where these two ladies took Ibogaine daily for their Parkinson's, and as soon as they stopped taking Ibogaine, they got their symptoms back He knows of another lady who had been walking with a cane and upon taking Ibogaine she was walking a mile around her neighborhood without her cane Final Thoughts Joe asks if Richie thinks we are over harvesting Iboga There is the Wakanga tree that contains a small amount of Ibogaine, so he thinks we are okay Ibogaine is an important subject because a lot of people are dying from opiates Ibogaine is available in

Download In this Episode, Joe interviews Brad Burge, Director of Strategic Communications at MAPS. In this episode they discuss the Phase 3 Trial for MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy, contradictions and Expanded Access. 3 Key Points: MAPS is about to run Phase 3 Trials of MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy If MDMA passes this third phase, it will still be tricky to get insurance involved. But the cost of one series of MDMA Therapy is much cheaper than a lifetime of typical pharmaceutical drugs and therapy sessions to heal PTSD. The only reason for-profit companies haven't gotten involved before was because there wasn't a promise on their investment. Finally, for-profit companies (like Compass Pathways) are interested in advancing these medicines (Psilocybin and MDMA). Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes MAPS Brad Burge is the Director of Strategic Communications at MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies MAPS started out as just a few employees in 2009 and has grown to over 40 now Phase 3 Study They are now in Phase 3 Trials They started recruiting at 14 sites (US, Canada and Israel) and are recruiting 150 volunteers with severe PTSD Participation The Future of MDMA Assisted Therapy Breakthrough Therapy Designation The FDA categorized MDMA as a breakthrough drug for PTSD After phase 3 trials, if all goes well, it would mean that MDMA would be the drug to be used (only) alongside Psychotherapy MAPS is training therapists, counselors and social workers One way to get more people educated who are interested in this would be taking therapy interns in and having them gain credits for interning and learning alongside trained therapists Access Expanded Access is known as 'compassionate use', a program by the FDA that allows people to receive a treatment that is still in trials In order to administer the therapy you are required to get a DEA schedule 1 license "If there's one thing that changes public perspective on psychedelic therapy, its individual stories of people who have been healed, transformed by or positively or even negatively affected by them in some way" - Brad They have published many studies of the trials The most recent was the Boulder study, 76% of people didn't have PTSD a year after MDMA assisted therapy Insurance won't cover expanded access, it will have to pass Phase 3 trials until insurance can be used in MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy The MDMA is a very small cost (fraction) of the total cost, it's the hours on hours of psychotherapy that cost so much But the cost of one MDMA Therapy Session process is much cheaper than a lifetime of pharmaceutical drugs and therapy sessions to heal PTSD Argument Joe says he hears this strange argument that people say "giving soldiers MDMA just makes war easier" Brad says it's not about putting these people back into war, it's about healing the retired veterans to help them adapt back into their everyday life "MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy is going to make them a better lover not a better fighter" - Brad "If there's one commonality in psychedelic experiences, its that things are connected." - Brad Compass Pathways Joe mentions that people are scared to see a business come in that's acting like a normal pharmaceutical company MAPS is not tied at all with Compass Pathways Out of the top two things Americans are mad about, at least one of them is the Pharmaceutical Industry Finally, for-profit companies are interested in advancing these medicines (MDMA) The only reason for-profit companies haven't gotten involved before was because there wasn't a promise on their investment Capitalism has a tendency to put profit first "Money can be used for good as well as evil" - Brad MAPS has raised over 70 billion dollars all from donations Compass owns its own safety data Part of the goal of a patent is to protect the investment Zendo Project MAPS Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Peer Support resource Tim Ferriss has volunteered for Zendo They are always looking for new volunteers They offer trainings on site at the events They will be hosting a harm reduction webinar right before festival season Rave Act The Department of Justice announced that providing free water and harm reduction education are not violations of the rave act Amend the Rave Act Pharmaceutical MDMA The pharmaceutical grade MDMA costs 800,000 for one kilogram It won't be available in bottles, it will be available in bubble packs More than one is never needed Involvement 2021 or 2022 is the next Psychedelic Science Conference Joe is starting a Psychedelic Club in Breckenridge, CO Links Twitter Facebook Website About Brad Brad Burge is Director of Strategic Communications at the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Brad earned his B.A. in Communication and Psychology from Stanf

Download In this episode, hosts Joe and Kyle sit down and engage in conversation together, covering topics such as Kyle's capstone project, Trauma and Breath: A Clinical Approach to Trauma Resolution Utilizing Breathwork, current events, upcoming plans and the hurdles as a Psychedelic education and information company in a space of both ethical and unethical findings. 3 Key Points Kyle will be soon finishing his capstone project, Trauma and Breath: A Clinical Approach to Trauma Resolution Utilizing Breathwork. The project is on the clinical application of Breathwork Therapy. The goal will be to use an Integrative Breathwork Therapy model that can be used adjunct to Psychedelic Therapy. Joe and Kyle find out about a lot of things that are potentially harmful in the psychedelic world. They are "journalists", but without money for legal defense. It's a difficult time, where a lot of unethical stuff is happening around psychedelics, and Joe and Kyle feel responsible for the safety of the community. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes Kyle Kyle's been doing an internship a few days a week and has been doing undergraduate student counselling He's been working on his capstone project that has consumed a ton of his time and energy He wants to thank Elizabeth Gibson and Alan Davis who have been reviewing his capstone project for him Breathwork Therapy Capstone Writing the capstone in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program means it needed to have clinical applications Kyle went to the MDMA Training in 2016, and he talked to Michael Mithoefer, who told him that if he wants to get involved, to figure out something that can be an adjunct to psychedelic therapy Kyle thought that he could use an Integrative Breathwork Therapy model that could then be used adjunct to Psychedelic Therapy Styles of Breathing A deep, slow belly breath can be very activating to the parasympathetic nervous system that calms the body down A fast, intense breath can be more active and can bring out traumas The Phases Phase 1: Grounding and Emotional Regulation (slow, deep breath, the therapeutic alliance) They screen for people that have had a traumatic experience, spiritual emergence or psychosis in the last 6 months so they know where to start with a patient They use a capscore (a test that looks at the severity of someone's PTSD) to determine where to start in therapy Joe mentions that it would be beneficial to see what level of capscore a patient responds positively or negatively to a Breathwork session Phase 2: Using Breathwork in a somatic processing phase Stage 1: Somatic experiencing (helping people breathe into the sensations in the body) The body has a 'secret language', of how our body holds onto trauma Turning inward and being more in touch with inner sensations (tightness, heat, etc) Stage 2: A more activating of "blockages" by intensifying or speeding up the breath Phase 3: Outside of the clinical scope, placing someone in a full group, 3 hour Breathwork that might bring up collective traumas or spiritual experiences The goal would be to get people through therapy to get them to the larger group process, create community and form social connections It needs to start with the clinical space, one-on-one to generate trust. Once they have that trust and confidence, they can go out and explore the more transpersonal and spiritual aspect of themselves Bandwidth in Communication We have modems, cable, fiber optics, 3g, 4g, 5g cell networks, etc. Video communication, phone conversation is great, but it's 2D When its in person, depth of field kicks in, you're able to see body language and intonation Living in a tribe of 150 people and creating community, we'd be using our full bandwidth, bringing the human organism back to its full capacity "Therapists get taught clinical practices, but they aren't taught about theory and practice of trauma" - Joe Psychedelic News Responsibility MAPS just published an article about an online Breathwork workshop Joe says its not a bad thing, but there are risks by not having an in person facilitator "We find out about a lot of things that are potentially harmful in the psychedelic world, our relationship to coming out about that stuff is tricky. Yes, we are "journalists", but without money for legal defense." - Joe Joe says he feels responsibility for safety in the community Kyle says the psychedelic community sometimes feels like the wild west due to the lack of education. "When unethical stuff arises, what is our responsibility?" - Kyle "We are trying to understand our future, and not put ourselves in a bad place, all while keeping you all safe and continuing to serve the community" - Joe How LSD alters our consciousness Psychedelics Today Books Trip Journal Integration Workbook Both books will be on Amazon fo

Download In this episode, Kyle and Joe host Rebecca Ann Hill and David Jay Brown, Authors of the book, Women of Visionary Art. The book showcases the work and inspiration of female artists such as Josephine Wall, Allison Grey, Amanda Sage, Martina Hoffman, Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and many others. 3 Key Points: Rebecca Ann Hill and David Jay Brown are co-authors of the book, Women of Visionary Art, which includes discussions with 18 female artists. The book and the episode are an exploration of the role that dreaming, psychedelic experiences, and mystical visions play in visionary art. There is a strong need for a balancing of masculine and feminine energies. Females tend to be more nurturing and more cooperative, and it's exactly the factors that are missing in our current world and are causing problems of greed. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About David David's background is in Psychobiology, the interface between psychology and biology He spent 10-15 years working in neuroscience and research labs His interest in Neuroscience came from his experience as a teenager, experimenting with psychedelics He wrote his first book, The Science of Psychedelics, about 10 years ago David mentions that the psychedelic renaissance has allowed him to write openly about psychedelic topics that he's been preparing his whole life researching for About Rebecca aka Molly Moon Sparkles She has a huge creative drive She is currently studying psychology and is playing in the art program She is fascinated by entheogens, plant medicines and psychedelic compounds She is a painter and is working on the Molly Moon Magick Series that focuses on the divine feminine She wrote and illustrated the book Ecstatic Love, Lost Dreams and Mystic Visions Psychedelics and Creativity There is strong evidence that psychedelics improve creativity Music, art, technology, so many great things are influenced by psychedelics Putting the Book Together David was so fascinated with the visions he would see on psychedelics and wished that he had the talent to portray it through artwork, and then he began to see artists bring these visions to life He also saw a lot of gender inequality, that there were more men than women in the visionary art space It urged him to highlight the under recognized women in visionary art Rebecca was experimenting with other realms with plant medicines and psychedelic compounds She says her consciousness was so drastically different from any other time in her life, and she started painting her psychedelic experiences This led her to begin building community with other artists who shared the same 'vision' as her She said that the psychedelic experience has so much feminine nature to it that wasn't being voiced "We are going through a serious ecological crisis right now and the teachings behind the psychedelic experience is to heal the collective and help climate change" - Rebecca Stanley Krippner conducted a survey of artists and psychedelics The Imbalance of Masculine and Feminine There is an uprising of feminism with the "Me Too" movement, women in congress, women's marches Our species has been so dominated by men and we need the nurturing and caring aspects of the feminine perspective Surprising Aspects of the Women The most surprising aspect is how much in common the women had David says it was beautiful how well each artist was connected to each other through their stories Laura Holden is completely self taught There were two women from the book that had never touched a psychedelic substance They were inspired through dreams and daydreams The psychedelic experience not only inspires the artwork, but it creates a new way of viewing artwork Kyle mentions that he always wished he could record his dreams Joe says he has been seeing research around capturing visual or imagined imagery Discovering the Artists David discovered most of the artists that he had not previously known through the community Rebecca had been a part of as visionary artists COSM and Entheon August 3rd, Rebecca and David are giving a presentation as COSM in New York Entheon, the Sanctuary for Visual art may be open by them Entheon will have workshops, painting classes, rooms to stay in, full moon ceremonies, etc. It will be an art sanctuary, a church with a spiritual and psychedelic essence Visionary art is getting into museums and becoming a recognized art form The Desperate Need for Balance Terrence McKenna told David that early on in human civilization, men didn't understand the role that sex had in creating babies The power of reproduction was within women and sex was something else Once men began thinking that they were responsible for the generation of life, they starting saying its "my baby" its "my wife" instead of 'our' baby or the community's baby. It kept

Download In this episode, hosts Kyle and Joe interview Balázs Szigeti, PhD and David Erritzoe, PhD to discuss the self-blinded microdosing study in collaboration with the Imperial College London. In this episode, they explore the self-blinding study and it's pros and limitations, with the aim to collect data on microdosing and its possible benefits. 3 Key Points: Microdosing (LSD) has the least amount of research so far among research on drugs like Psilocybin, MDMA and Ketamine. This microdosing study includes a procedure on how self experimenters can implement placebo control. This will help determine whether microdosers feel benefits due to the placebo effect or because of the pharmacological action of the microdose. Just because microdosing may have a placebo effect (the way a user feels while taking it) it may actually have benefits that one cannot necessarily 'feel' (users may become more creative, have better problem solving skills, etc). Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Balázs Balazs attended his undergrad in the UK at Imperial College and studied Theoretical Physics He moved to Scotland to get his PhD in Computational Neuroscience He became interested in psychedelics via the Global Drug Survey He was doing MDMA research and then the microdosing project came to him About David He is a medical doctor and works in clinical psychology doing research He does brain imaging and his background has been in addiction, depression and schizophrenia He did his postdoc at Imperial and worked with Robert Carhart Harris He worked in a clinical trial working with people of treatment resistant depression He is currently working on an online survey for microdosing Psychedelic Medicine MDMA for PTSD is the most advanced in terms of available scientific evidence for psychedelic medicine There is already a big gap in psilocybin vs MDMA for treatment There isn't much research on microdosing yet In order to do research on microdosing, you'd have to bring in a 'patient' and have them in the lab for many hours at a time, very frequently, and it's not practical The Microdosing Study In this microdosing study, they are testing cognitive function The user will have to fill out a questionnaire throughout the duration of the microdose There were a lot of things, very political for the downfall of psychedelic science When the double-blind method was introduced for science, it used methods that would have compromised the 'setting' of taking psychedelics There is a manual that the users have to follow for the setup process Its a semi-randomized process where they take the microdose over 4 weeks and it may be either the psychedelic or a placebo It works on a method of a dose hidden in a capsule assigned to a QR code, where the user doesn't know what they take until the end of the study This is a study inviting people that plan to microdose a blotter based psychedelic Its a hands-off study of observation, based on a users own plan on taking the substance Limitations of the Study Its half-way between a clinical study and an observational study They aren't sending the users the LSD, they are just providing the platform for the users to share their experience on In this trial, the flaw is that the research team doesn't know the dose size of the blotter the user takes, it could start as a 100mg, more, less. Its a variable that cannot be controlled The fix would be to have the LSD sent to the lab, tested for dose size, and then sent back to the user (anonymously), but since it's illegal it cannot be done It's also hard to determine even distribution of a blotter into microdose size They don't know if the user is cutting the blotter paper like a pie or in squares Also, because the drug is being bought on the black market, they wont know if there are adulterants in the drug unless the user tests the drug themselves David and Balázs also say that based on current findings, most LSD tested is pure LSD, where a drug like MDMA is more common to contain an adulterant They do have plans to extend the study to include plant based psychedelics and volumetric dosing What is a Psychedelic Microdose? Psychedelic microdosing is not the same as Pharmacological microdosing A microdose in pharmacological context is 1/100th of a dose, where a psychedelic microdose is more like 1/10th of a dose Is Microdosing Worth it? People like David Nichols and Ben Sessa think microdosing is pointless It could be that microdosing is a glorified placebo effect Most people who are microdosing have had previous experience with psychedelics People are doing it because they believe there is a benefit that comes from it The placebo control is the most important component of this self-blinded method People say that microdosing stimulates their creativity, but creativity is hard

Download In this episode, Joe interviews Nathan Sepeda, a Research Coordinator at Johns Hopkins. Joe and Nathan cover topics on 5-MEO-DMT research and survey studies, the difference between synthetic and toad sourced 5-MEO-DMT, the sustainability of the Bufo Alvarius toad, and the benefits of a proper facilitator. 3 Key Points: 5-MEO-DMT is starting to gain traction in the research world. The conversation continues on whether the synthetic 5-MEO-DMT experience is any different from a 5-MEO-DMT experience sourced from the toad venom. As the popularity of 5-MEO-DMT increases, concerns about the wellbeing and sustainability of the Bufo Alvarius toad also increases. Proper facilitation has been shown to affect a person's experience on a substance like 5-MEO-DMT. The use of a practitioner, finding the substance from a reputable source, and integration all play a critical role in the user's experience. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes 5-MEO-DMT Joe found out about Nathan Sepeda and the work being done on 5-MEO-DMT after Johns Hopkins released a poster on 5-MEO-DMT Alan Davis put together a survey about people's 5-MEO-DMT experiences Half of the use was recreational, and then the other half of survey participants used more of a therapeutic approach set and setting including a sitter and integration The study found that the more structured the 5-MEO-DMT experience was around set and setting, the more often participants reported a more mystical experience as well as a lower likelihood of having a difficult experience The survey only looked at synthetic 5-MEO-DMT Using 5-MEO-DMT from a toad also runs the risk of the other toad venom constituents Joe said the first time he heard about data on 5-MEO-DMT was at the Oakland Psychedelic Science Conference in 2017 Stan Grof had a keynote saying that 5-MEO-DMT was the future of psychiatry Toad Conservation The Bufo Alvarius toad's population is increasingly declining Joe says he knows someone who lives on the Mexican border in the Sonoran desert, and he would have toads jump into his house all the time He doesn't even see them anymore Joe also mentions the toads flocking to the UV street lights, and people scooping them up or even running them over "How do we do less harm to living things and treat our environment better?" - Joe Nathan's Role at Hopkins Nathan is the Research Coordinator of Psychedelic Studies at Johns Hopkins He works as an Assistant Facilitator (sitter) for the psychoactive drug sessions He is involved in Psilocybin studies (currently the depression study) He says he is grateful to be a part of the research, seeing people change in a matter of days from the help of the substances Nathan has a background in Psychology and Neuroscience Mary Cosimano is the primary facilitator for all of the studies at Johns Hopkins His training consisted of mock sessions, ways to ask/answer questions, and overall hold the space A lot of people will describe their experience being the most spiritual experience of their life Joe asks about upset stomach with synthetic 5-MEO-DMT Nathan responds saying they ask patients to eat a light breakfast, but he never really sees upset stomach with synthetic 5-MEO Proper Facilitation The use of a practitioner and finding the substance from a reputable source are the two biggest factors in having a great experience, along with integration Nathan says that these findings are preliminary but they are a great start to data on the substance and its use Joe says he is cautious about the religious affiliation people prescribe to their experience with these substances It can get out of hand, there are "shamans" that taze people or throw buckets of cold water on their patients when they are on the substance Waterboarding, sexual assault, all of these things speak to the value of screening practitioners Joe has heard about a facilitator using an extremely high amount of 5-MEO-DMT on his patients, far above the effective dose Joe mentions a story about a "shaman" who was to facilitate a session. The participant thought they were going to do standard DMT, and the shaman gave them 5-MEO-DMT instead (without the users consent) Joe suggests that just because you know a reputable source for a substance, doesn't mean they are a good facilitator Final Thoughts People can find information on the study at clinicaltrials.gov People can apply by contacting Nathan's team directly They will have room for healthy volunteers in healthy volunteer studies in the future They are currently working on "insight surveys" that are surveys asking people about their psychedelic experiences Links Hopkins Psychedelic Research Website About Nathan Sepeda Nathan Sepeda is an assistant facilitator (or guide) for psychoactive drug sessions and research coordinator for the Johns Hopkins

Download In this episode, Kyle interviews Dr. Jenifer Talley, Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Director at the Center for Optimal Living that does harm reduction in psychotherapy. Topics include the current stigma of substance use and the benefits of using a harm reduction approach. 3 Key Points: Dr. Jenifer Talley is a Clinical Psychologist at the Center for Optimal Living who practices harm reduction with her psychotherapy clients. Substance abuse is typically a symptom of a bigger issue. Jenifer uses a model called the 7 Therapeutic Tasks that helps build a safe relationship with her clients in adjusting their substance abuse mindset. There is a stigma on substance use, and shifting away from the current model into a harm reduction framework could help users be more receptive to change and healing. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Dr. Jenifer Talley Jenifer grew up outside of DC and moved up to New York area for her internship and was working with female survivors of trauma and substance use at St. Luke's Hospital. Dr. Tatarsky has founded the Center for Optimal Living and she is the Assistant Director The Center for Optimal Living is known best for their work with substance use and harm reduction Substance Abuse Jenifer says that 'abstinence only' or 'abstinence first' approach doesn't really work It's all about determining the relationship the patients want to have with a substance People really struggle with vulnerability and trauma is a player as to why someone wants to use a substance "Substance use is a symptom of a bigger issue" - Jenifer It's unfair to ask someone to change without asking the whole system to change 7 Therapeutic Tasks The Therapeutic Alliance - Letting the client know they can trust them The Therapeutic Relationship Heals - Jenifer says they are sensitive about creating a safe therapeutic relationship with clients Enhancing Self Management Skills - How to better help with coping skills, shifting how people relate to cravings "What's driving my urge to go for a drink right now?" Loneliness, boredom and sadness are reasons for craving Assessment as Treatment - What was the craving, how did they respond to that craving, how did they give into the craving, how did they feel afterward When Friday night rolls around, can the client picture the guilt and shame of Monday morning in that moment? Embracing Ambivalence - The client might have different parts of themselves, one part of them may want to really work on healing and change, and the other part of them might never want to change Goal Setting - helping clients think through bigger lifestyle changes they want to make, such as diet, self care activities, and specific substance use related goals Personalized Plan for Change - asking people to really evaluate their use Substance Use Stigma How do we not be judgmental about someone's substance use, and care about their safety? Jenifer says she feels very protective about people she works with, and is very sensitive to her clients because of the shame about their drug use Clients Under the Influence Jenifer asks herself "does this person need medical attention right now?" She had a client that came in intoxicated but they were able to have a conversation still But she didn't let him go home because the fact that he drank She gave him food and water and waited until he was able to get home safely She thought about it from a compassionate approach and thought "what is that telling us about his use?" and the next time the client came in they said their drinking was hardly manageable Harm Reduction Model There is a gap in training as clinicians as providers In the US specifically, the 12 step process and abstinence are used which are a part of the disease model There is a lot of stigma and shame in calling someone an addict The fear about the harm reduction model is that it is thought to lead to decriminalization The other issue is that the harm reduction model is thought to not include abstinence Jenifer says it does include abstinence, she just doesn't lead with the abstinence approach Kyle mentions that a common thought for clinicians is "How do I incorporate a hard reduction approach without condoning drug use?" Jenifer says the drug use is happening already The first step is noticing your own biases first, and then getting informed about the model Andrew Tatarsky's Book Patt Denning and Jeannie Little - Over the Influence Shifting to the Harm Reduction Model Help clients build a life that they are happy with 3 day training coming up The training goes into the history and why there needs to be a paradigm shift in looking at addiction The second and third days really go into the 7 Therapeutic Tasks Because there is more funding, they are going to train the region of Florida to train the

Download In this episode, Joe and Kyle sit down with Renn Butler, who graduated from the second ever class of Holotropic Breathwork in 1989. During the show, they discuss topics on Breathwork, Stan Grof practices, archetypal astrology and the astrological landscape we are entering in 2019. 3 Key Points: Renn Butler is an Archetypal and Holotropic Astrologer since the 70's who uses astrology in his Breathwork practice. Stan Grof's Internalized Protocol includes lying down with eye shades and headphones with a sober sitter. A sober sitter is more common in therapeutic settings versus the shamanistic group settings, and Renn believes there is more benefit to a sober sitter in a personal session than a group session. We are moving into a Jupiter square Neptune for all of 2019. Neptune represents our soul's yearning to reawaken to the universal field of consciousness and Jupiter amplifies whatever it touches, so we are entering into a time of opportunity for self exploration and awakening. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Renn Renn became interested in Stan Grof's work through many conversations with Richard Tarnas in 1980, and then participated in a Grof month long session with guests like Gwen Frishkoff He spent much time in Esalon He remembers walking through the hallways where the mandalas from breathwork sessions were hung He has been an Archetypal/Holotropic Astrologer since the 70's Archetypal Astrology Stan Grof looked at ways to determine the content of people's experiences in assisted psychotherapy Through his friendship with Richard Tarnas, he found that people's planetary alignments or 'transits' corresponded in a remarkable way with their experience in a session "The purpose of astrology is to predict the meaning behind events rather than trying to determine the specific concrete forms they take." - Renn Carl Jung coined the term archetype based on the Greek word "arche", which means 'the forms' It's the psychological meaning behind events Richard learned astrology by looking at his sessions and the content of the sessions and their correlation with astrological transits Based on his findings, he was able to predict the best days to do sessions A Powerful Breathwork Session Renn had Kundalini Experiences happening for 4 years Transiting Pluto was conjoining his natal Neptune Pluto compels into being whatever archetypes it aligns with Neptune represents divine consciousness He did a 5 hour breathwork session that caused him to re-live aspects of toxic womb (disturbances of intrauterine life) Pluto can help clear out disturbances of the psyche At the end of the session, he felt way more cleared out than he did before It resolved his Kundalini episode that he was in for the last few years Kundalini Awakenings Some describe it as energy moving up the spine or chakra It means to clear out leftover traumatic baggage in the psyche People can have emotional outbursts and start crying or screaming as they discharge the energy Afterward, they will care what happens to the ecosystem and around them and want to be a part of the solution Spiritual Emergence and Psychosis Joe asks when to tell the difference between knowing if someone is going through a Spiritual Emergence or needs hospitalization Renn responds saying you need to look for if the person is taking responsibility for their healing versus projecting. Projecting would be someone saying "You guys are trying to poison me" versus taking responsibility and saying "I'm feeling toxic feelings inside myself" Free Webinar on Spiritual Emergence and Psychosis Renn mentions a woman who did 90 LSD sessions with Stan Grof "The greatest therapeutic outcomes exist with intelligent well established individuals whose lives become boring and rigid in routine" - Stan Grof Current Astrological Alignments The Astrological Alignments for the next few years are supercharged Uranus square Pluto - a powerful set of archetypes The last time this happened was the end of the 60's Richard Tarnas calls it the 'sunset effect', colors will saturate the sky in the archetypal realm Many people are going to have dramatic healing breakthroughs and openings until 2020 For those who are a bit skeptical about astrology, Renn suggest reading newer texts; Cosmos and Psyche Prometheus the Awakener Making the Gods Work for You Horoscope Symbols Planets in Transit Astrological Transits in Relation to Breathwork Richard's correlation of the outer planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto with Grof's 4 perinatal matrices shows the process of revolutionizing astrology Carl Jung would do chart work before seeing all of his patients He would try to find transits with Jupiter, Uranus, Venus, etc There are no astrological alignments that would be too dangerous to do journey-work during But Renn says i

Download In this unique episode, Joe brings Tom Hatsis and Dr. Jerry Brown together for a psychedelic debate. They go back in forth in conversation on whether there was psychedelic use in medieval or ancient Christianity and if so, was there a secret tradition of including art of mushrooms or psychedelic substances in cathedrals and castles. 3 Key Points: Jerry Brown makes the claim that there is evidence of visionary plants in Christianity and the life of Jesus found in medieval art and biblical scripture. Tom Hatsis makes the claim that Christianity is not hiding a giant secret inside the biblical texts about the true hallucinogen at the root of the religion being an Amanita Muscaria. Jerry and Tom debate back and forth, pulling from art and textual evidence (and lack thereof) to support or deny the claim that Psychedelic Mushrooms are the root of Christian religion. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes Jerry B. Brown PhD. Anthropologist, Author and Activist Served as the Prof of Anthropology at FIU in Miami He designed and taught a course on hallucinogens and culture He is the Co-Author of Sacred Plants and the Gnostic Church: Speculations on Entheogen use in Early Christian Ritual The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity Tom Hatsis Author, Public Speaker, Roller Derby Player and Potion Maker He is the Author of three books in Psychedelia; The Witches Ointment: the Secret History of Psychedelic Magic Psychedelic Mystery Traditions; Spirit Plants, Magical Practices and Psychedelic States Microdosing Magic: A Psychedelic Spellbook Partnered with event organizer and short film maker, Eden Woodruff, who runs Psanctum Psychedelia in Portland in the process of winning the Guinness Book of World Record in Magic Intro The debate is around the early Christian use of psychedelics and mushrooms in Christian art The conversation is on the validity on whether or not psychedelics were used in early Christianity Dr. Jerry Brown on Psychedelics in Christianity The Miracle of Marsh Chapel - a double-blind experiment conducted by Walter Pahnky in 1962 where 20 students were divided into two groups, half received niacin and the other half received psilocybin 9 out of 10 who took psilocybin had a profound psychedelic experience Brown explains that this is an important part in the entire history of psychedelics After discovering the Amanita Muscaria mushroom (confirmed by Paul Stamets) in a 15th Century Church in Scotland, he realized that there were many entheogenic images in Christian art He says that most church historians do not have training in mycology to recognize entheogens and mushrooms He brings up an image of Adam and Eve standing next to a large Amanita Muscaria mushroom He went to a Parish Church and saw an image of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a Donkey, and one of the youths welcoming Jesus is holding a long mushroom cap He went to churches in England, Germany and France In the drawing of Genesis, he saw God creating plants (psilocybin mushrooms) "When you go back beyond the 3rd century, there are no visual images or Christian art due to poverty and persecution" - Jerry Jerry reads a passage, "Jesus said to his disciples, "compare me to someone and tell me who I am like" Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like." Jesus said "I am not your master, because you have drunk you have become intoxicated from the bubbling wellspring that I have personally measured out. He who will drink from my mouth will become like me, I shall become like he, and the things that are hidden, should be revealed to him." He interprets the passage as a reference to drinking a psychoactive mushroom substance Jerry goes on to explain that Jesus realized his feeling of eternal life through the use of psychoactive entheogens He says that this is not a means of dismissing Christianity, but instead to reintroduce Christianity with its original roots Tom Hatsis on Psychedelics in Christianity Tom says that Jerry makes a lot of assertions, but does not present any evidence. He talks about art, but not anything in scripture Tom is curious why the only artwork that Jerry brings his assertions about mushrooms are from a time where we can't ask them about it Tom brings up Julie and Jerry's book and that the first chapter has nothing to do with Christian History at all Tom uses an example of stone mushrooms. Someone doing a cross cultural analysis, might agree that they are mushrooms based on the other findings of cannabis and opioids But, as a historian, Tom looks for evidence and in this case, there are eye witness accounts of its use He brings up the example, the infamous plaincourault fresco of Adam and Eve at the tree of good and evil with the forbidden fruit Using this one exa

Download In this episode, Joe interviews Duncan Autrey, a conflict transformation catalyst and educator. He runs a podcast, Fractal Friends, that covers topics of self-similarity across our diversity. During their conversation, Joe and Duncan discuss ways of resolving conflict in our relationships and society. 3 Key Points: Duncan Autrey is a conflict transformation educator, working for peace and cultural change. Conflict happens when one person wants to be heard so much that they stop listening to the other side. It is a product of living in a diverse world. We have more rights than we think we do when facing law enforcement. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes What is Conflict? Conflict is a product of living in a diverse world Conflict resolution is about how to get different perspectives working together Conflict happens when someone is really passionate about their side of the topic Conflict also happens when one person wants to be heard so much that they stop listening to the other side The ARC of conversation A stands for acknowledge R stands for reflect back C stands for be curious Resolving Conflict Its okay to be certain about your own experiences, but someone might also be certain about their experiences and the key is to find a mutual ground "How do we understand ecological issues better and work with each other to find how to create better conversation around it?" - Joe In a conversation of conflict, the other side may be the antidote to your extreme Interdependent Polarity - each side has something positive and negative, and each side should acknowledge the negative but aim to pull out the positive of the other side Iceers "It's better to find a way to navigate the question, rather than to answer the question" - Duncan In a hierarchy of permanence, laws are really low. Laws come and go 3 ways we resolve conflict over time; power, violence and laws But the interest based model includes everyone and all sides and works through conflict to live in and share the same planet with each other Impressive Resilience in Humans "Shifts happen" People that Duncan works with start thinking to themselves "I'm a good guy facing a bad guy" and the person on the other side of conflict also thinks "I'm a good guy facing a bad guy" Helping guide the people in conflict to just listen to the other person fully is what starts the shift Law Enforcement and Conflict It's important to recognize the difference between the system and the individuals Our whole system of television, movies, everything is all feeding into this There are sociopaths in the world (5% of the population), and they are falling into roles like prison guards and CEO's Duncan brings up a story where he was in a car with someone who got pulled over, and the car got completely searched He had vitamins on him, and the police assumed it was MDMA, so he was arrested and spent 4 days in jail "This is a place where the people who are on the right side of the law, are being treated like assholes, and where people on the bad side of the law, are on their best behavior" - Duncan This is a systemic issue, where the society says that you are a good person for doing something good, and are a bad person for doing something bad But we shouldn't be defined by what we are 'caught' doing, either good or bad People should be able to hold onto their humanity (not be locked up for life) for something like possession of a drug "If we're going to care about our shared humanity and our right for everyone to be here, we have to figure out the path of restoration" - Duncan "Slavery isn't okay, unless someone gets convicted of a crime" Victoria's Secret has people in prison slavery making lingerie in South Carolina People have to pay off debt from their incarceration, before they get a license, to get a job, that they have to apply to as a criminal Society doesn't make it easy to be human after prison People in grad school with the same amount of debt, have an education, (usually) a job, and have hope for the future Rights When Getting Pulled Over Right to remain silent is real Right to consent for search - you don't have to say yes Law enforcement tries to use the fact that you think you're guilty and will let the search happen You can't be detained without probable cause (4th Amendment) You can be detained long enough for a traffic citation, but not enough to be caught for another crime Smoke smell in the car is probable cause, even in s state where it is legal Joe mentions dash cams so that there can be recordings on both ends, not just one end (the police's evidence) Duncan had the thought that maybe once they realize that his vitamins were not MDMA, that they might try to switch out the vitamins with MDMA His attorney said they aren't that corrupt, or smart Links Website Podcast

Download In this episode, Joe interviews Steve Hupp, the Host of Kentucky Ayahuasca, a new series on Viceland. Topics include Steve's background and how he wants to impact the American Ayahuasca scene through his work. 3 Key Points: Kentucky Ayahuasca is a docu-series on Viceland about Shaman, Steve Hupp as he works with people seeking healing from severe emotional and physical issues. Steve comes from an unusual background of career criminal and bank robber, and because of his time in prison with a Peruvian Shaman, has decided to bring the tradition to the United States. Steve is careful not to mock what shamanism is by creating ceremony in the States. He wants facilitation to be done as safely as possible and is simply trying to help people through Ayahuasca ceremony. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Steve He was a career criminal who robbed banks It landed him in prison and put him into the same cell of a Peruvian shaman who had overstayed his visa and was probably doing some facilitating in the States His name was Guadalupe and Steve called him Loopy because of the things he was talking about But here and there Guadalupe would say something that would resonate with Steve days and weeks later that just made sense Prison He spent 4 years in prison He got into the federal system because he had beaten the state system so the federal system picked up the case Steve pleaded guilty and made a deal with them to give them their money back He also agreed not to sue the police for opening fire on him He was one of the first bank robbers released on a bond Religion and Spirituality Up to that point he was an Atheist He decided that something else was keeping him alive for something because of what he survived during the police chase Steve says he's seen how religious law worked by seeing gangs turn into congregations He says he is no longer an Atheist after having experience with Ayahuasca He had an epiphany that "anything is possible" and he decided he wanted to bring this to everyone He started to have coincidences that led him to facilitation Shamanism Steve isn't trying to defraud what Shamanism is, but he is trying to tailor it to the American way of life He says the Shaman in the jungle has a different context than an American does Joe mentions that people get upset about how the word 'shaman' is used Steve says 'shaman' comes from the Siberian word, 'saman', which means "to know" but has been branded by anthropologists He also says shamanism is the oldest world religion Joe brings up that so many people suggest doing Ayahuasca in the Amazon because that's where the spirit of the plant is, but he also mentions that the same type of biodiversity exists in Kentucky too Purpose Steve says they face reverse-racism because they can't work with native tribes because they are white, but he's just looking to bring everyone together "If we don't start helping our little blue sphere heal, it's all we've got" - Steve He said he had more fear transitioning into Ayahuasca facilitation than any bank he's robbed because he had to put his name on it His intent is not to build a cult, he believes we are at the dawn of a new world and we are all in this together Helping Addiction with Ayahuasca Steve says he believes there are no addicts, just unbalanced humans Joe says he read recently that the term "addict" keeps people in their problems When he helps people who are addicted to drugs, and they drink Ayahuasca, they realize the drug is not the problem, but the guilt and the shame about using the drug is the problem Plant Teacher Steve believes we are intergalactic children We could use our technology and knowledge to better us rather than being so distracted by the 'lines in the sand' He says we could feed everyone on the planet with land the size of Texas What Ayahuasca is trying to teach us is to be kind to each other and we have that choice everyday We need to get past this barbaric attitude of domination "I know I've got grandchildren that I may never see, but I've got to try to leave them a world better than the one I've found" - Steve If we were to teach our kids to teach our grandkids something, we wouldn't be handing them millions of dollars in national debt Its a non-violent change "What if we collectively manifested accountability in our government?" - Steve Law Enforcement Steve believes law enforcement shouldn't be able to have more power than soldiers at war Soldiers in Iraq can't fire unless they have been fired upon Shaman University No one has ever done this before, Steve wants to put together a structure to make sure this operation is done ethically He wants to lay the foundation for people to participate in Ayahuasca ceremony safely He says anybody can brew Ayahuasca, but doing it safely and properly is key J

Download In this episode, Joe sits down with Kevin Matthews, Campaign Manager of Decriminalize Denver, the group looking to decriminalize magic mushrooms. During the show, they cover topics such as the Right to Try Act, therapeutic success and what it might look like to have Psilocybin decriminalized in Denver. 3 Key Points: Decriminalize Denver's efforts are aimed to decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms in the city of Denver, CO., and are currently getting signatures to be on the May 2019 ballot. The Federal Right to Try Act allows a person with a life-threatening illness to use any substance that has passed phase one clinical trials. There is so much research and data on the benefits of Psilocybin Mushrooms, and being in an age of social media sharing, people are waking up to the idea of mushroom decriminalization. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Kevin Kevin is a part of the group, Decriminalize Denver The group submitted the ballot initiative called the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Decriminalization Initiative and they are getting signatures to make the May 2019 ballot Kevin became interested in mushrooms after leaving as a Cadet at the US Military Academy due to major depression He was interested in Psilocybin Mushrooms impact on depression Talking Publicly about Psilocybin Use "Self-healing from psychedelics" is something most people want to be careful talking about Does it uninspire therapists? Does it ruin the medical model? Kevin states that people are afraid to talk about it because they are a schedule 1 substance Those who are willing to take the risk to talk about it are because they believe that mushrooms might have the best impact on them Right to Try Act Kevin knows someone with PTSD and tumors who is prescribed to Psilocybin under the Federal Right to Try Act Anyone who has a life-threatening illness can use any substance that has passed phase one under clinical trials His psychiatrist said that the psilocybin has been nothing short of miraculous in its effects He takes 1.5-2 grams of dried mushrooms every 7-10 days It puts him in control of his own protocol Trump just signed the Federal Right to Try Act this summer, Colorado has had their own since 2014 Generational Mushroom Use Joe says that the media landscape has really changed in the past few years and so much more research and information is becoming accessible to everyone Veterans for Natural Rights group is supporting this mushroom movement After the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, a lot of people went underground with their use 30 million people in the country have used psychedelics in the last decade More young people now are using psychedelics than the same age group used psychedelics in the 60's Decriminalize Denver The goal of the group is to decriminalize the personal use and personal possession of Psilocybin mushrooms, including the propagation of mushrooms for personal use "Our main goal with this is to keep individuals out of prison, help our vets, and help our loved ones who suffer from these traumas" - Kevin Colorado Always Making Progress Right now, Colorado state legislature is looking at safe injection sites and different kinds of penalty such as rehab instead of incarceration Joe says Denver is a kind of microcosm of the whole nation, it has an interest in both sides of an issue, instead of just one sided "Mushrooms help, in a very profound way. And opening that door is the first step to changing people's minds, both metaphorically and physically." - Kevin The medical applications of Psilocybin are huge such as for a stutter, autoimmune issues, anxiety and depression Talking about Psilocybin Kevin says you can't have a conversation without two opposing sides He is excited for when the conversation starts because there is a ton of points on why Psilocybin is proven to be effective John's Hopkins said that Psilocybin should at a minimum be a Schedule 4 (same level as prescription sleep aids) source Schedule 1 means "no medical value and high risk of abuse" From the clinical research and population studies alone on Psilocybin, we know that's false Decriminalize Denver's Current Focus Getting all 5,000 signatures (2,000 so far) by January 7th Coalition building, doing some fundraising Getting volunteers activated After getting all the signatures, then they will be on the ballot. Once on the ballot, the campaign and outreach starts Using Psilocybin for Therapy Joe brings up a story about his teacher Lenny Gibson who had multiple bouts of cancer and is a psychedelic scholar. Lenny was incredibly mad at Tim Leary because he was in cancer support groups and imagines how many more options cancer patients would have for pain if drugs were not made illegal Looking at decreasing suffering, it would be special for the Denver populati

In this episode, Joe and Kyle interview Jake Mitchell from the Flight of Thoughts Podcast. Jake has spent 4 years as a Paramedic in Canada and leads trainings around mental health, first aid and is bringing better practice of psychedelics into the psychedelic space. 3 Key Points: It's so important to know your substances and get a testing kit so you know its not laced and you know exactly what you're taking. More people seek help when they look at an overdose or a difficult experience as if they are suffering versus breaking the law. Decriminalization at the least, would help make people be seen as a patient and not a criminal. Most police aren't trained on mental health issues, and they have shot and killed people because they don't know how to correctly respond to issues like schizophrenia. We need more mental health training among our law enforcement. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Jake He had major depression and didn't know it, and started to use cannabis as a useful tool for his depression He started to notice some of the first responders use MDMA and Psilocybin off-duty to help with their PTSD "PTSD for those who have been in combat is more understood than for first responders with it, people think that we can just handle it." - Jake There are levels of trauma that don't qualify daily for PTSD, but for police and firefighters and such, they can be triggered by certain events It's hard to say what percentage of first responders use cannabis, MDMA and psilocybin for personal therapeutic use Jake says he knows of at least a quarter of first responders who have been open about their use There is a new initiative that if police use cannabis, even right before their shift, as long as they are 'fit for duty' they won't be scrutinized CBD CBD counteracts the effects of THC, THC binds to CB1 receptors, and CBD binds to CB2 receptors CBD is similar to Advil If someone has taken too many edibles, they can take Advil to counteract the effect of the THC It counteracts the THC similar to how CBD does People used to say to have a good night, eat a pot brownie, but it's a better idea to smoke for the first time than to eat an edible Harm Reduction - Teaching People How to Respond to Overdose They are teaching people about harm reduction kits or when to call an ambulance Know your substances, and get a testing kit so you know its not laced and you know exactly what you're taking Know what breathing technique you want to use if you "feel the fear" setting in If you know someone is on a clean substance, you can try to help them through it, but if it could be laced (with fentanyl, etc) call an ambulance If someone is unresponsive, that's a sign they could be overdosing You can rub as hard as you can with your knuckles on their chest and scream their name, and if they don't wake up, that's a good sign to call 911 Always turn them on their side so that their air passages open up and they don't asphyxiate on their tongue or vomit If you are informed on how to use narcan and you think they are overdosing on fentanyl, use it If they are awake and are psychologically freaking out, just sit them down and simply ask them "how can I help?" They might want something as simple as some water or to go for a walk Knowing your dose is so important LSD and psilocybin don't have cardiac effects, they don't shut off breathing, so you shouldn't have a reason for feeling like your going to actually die unless it's been laced MDMA is one you have so worry about but you'd have to take hundreds and hundreds of milligrams Fentanyl test strips are $2 They are only $1.50 if you buy 100 or more Drug Showmanism The first option should always be cannabis Usually the only reason that people overdose on heroin is because it's laced with pharmaceuticals Advil and Tylenol work similar to opioids Sometimes we have emotional trauma and it comes out as physical pain More people seek help when they look at it as that they are suffering versus breaking the law Narcan costs $20-$40 An overdose death costs $30,000 In Canada, the pharmacist will inform you on how to use Narcan Jake says he hopes that the US will catch up Narcan availability and use The grinding of the teeth after taking MDMA may be a sign that it contains amphetamine Decriminalization at the least, would help make people be seen as a patient and not a criminal A Healthcare Issue, Not a Crime The Good Samaritan Act in Canada says if you have minor possession of a substance and not a traffic-able amount, and you call the ambulance for an overdose, you will not be searched or charged Most police aren't trained on mental health issues, and there have been situations of people with schizophrenia having a moment in public, and because the police don't have education on signs to look for, they have

In this interview, Brian Pace interviews Dr. Jason Slot at Ohio State University. In the show, they talk about Jason's contributions of the psilocybe genus. Jason is in the faculty at OSU in the department of plant pathology. 3 Key Points: There are over 200 species of mushroom forming fungi that produce psilocybin, and Jason studies how and why these organisms produce the psychoactive compound. Animals seek altered states of consciousness as a potential evolutionary mechanism. Mushrooms use horizontal gene transfer to pass on their psychoactive properties. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Jason "There weren't many mycology job postings in the area, and a job came up for someone to study the evolution of fungal genomes" - Jason It all just fell into place What is Neurochemical Ecology Ecology is the interaction among organisms and their interaction with their environment Neurochemical ecology is a special case where the chemicals are specifically targeted to processes of nervous systems in animals There is an opportunity for plants and fungi to produce drugs and compounds that manipulate their behavior or inhibit their eating Species that Produce Psilocybin There are over 200 species of mushroom forming fungi that produce psilocybin Jason has found many more Distribution of Psilocybe Mushrooms were anatomically modern There were flowering forests and wood that spanned to each of the poles The supercontinent would have broken up after that and as the continents separated, so did the mushrooms Humans have been distributing psilocybe through the dung of migrating animals Columbian Exchange During colonization from the old world to the new world, there was the biggest exchange of fungi If the amount of biomass and dung expands, then the number of fungi species evolves and grows The underlying change in the climate that changes the planet from forested to open grasslands also has an impact During human evolution, psilocybe has been around the whole time These neurochemicals have dated human genus Serotonin Serotonin is analogous to psilocybin Bacteria was the first organism making serotonin Insects produce serotonin "Serotonin is a great key, it fits into a lot of different locks and is used in a lot of different ways" - Jason It's in plants, its in amoebas, and its in animals In animals, they have specialized a lot of different receptors that respond to serotonin Serotonin only interacts with one type of receptor in the body Altered States of Consciousness "It must be like something to be a bat, and it must be different than what it's like to be a human, what must it be like to be a bat under the influence of psilocybin, is it anything like a human?" -Brian Animals seek altered states of consciousness Bees seek out fermented grapes We have video footage of foxes taking huge bites out of Amanita Muscaria Seeking out intoxication is a natural human drive Maybe the desire to seek out these altered states of consciousness is an evolutionary mechanism that is happening If you search out new ways of perceiving the world, you may come upon a new pattern that your group of species learns how to live better If ants come back to the hive too drunk, they get punished and get bit Language One of the ways humans distinguish ourselves We have specialized vocal chords, and tongues that make our language unique Terrence - Stoned Ape Theory - the thesis was that psilocybin mushrooms were a part of the diets of the hominids There was some kind of co-evolutionary relationship that may have resulted in human language Psilocybin's role in our development "What kind of role did psilocybin mushrooms play in our development?" The hominids came down from the trees and now they are standing upright We have to look at opportunity, constraints, etc. If the ape eats psilocybin, it may have an idea or understands its environment better It may help the ape acquire more food or expand into new territory The access to food and changes in locomotion are huge forces in our evolution Having fire to cook our meat and change our availability to nutrients is one of the biggest forces in evolution of human consciousness than mushrooms Horizontal Gene Transfer Vertical transfer of information means from parent to offspring Horizontal transfer of genetic information happens between species One bacteria has a gene to resist an antibiotic, and another doesn't. One bacteria can obtain that gene from the antibiotic resistant bacteria (ex. Antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus) Gene transfer can happen in multicellular creatures like mushrooms Fungi are exchanging genes through different species Paneolis Mushrooms did not inherit the biosynthetic pathway to produce psilocybin, they received it from a totally different genera KT Extinction A comet impact that c

Download In this episode, Joe interviews Philip Wolf founder of Cultivating Spirits, a cannabis pairing company. The talk includes topics on Terpenes, Social Consumption and the Cannabis experience industry. 3 Key Points: Terpenes are the component in cannabis that produce the aroma and 'mood' you will be in after smoking. As more and more places legalize cannabis, the market opportunity for combining food and cannabis grows. Cultivating Spirits is a cannabis experience and tour company that offers small-batch cannabis, fine wines, and locally sourced gourmet meals. They are a leader in cannabis-infused experiences. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Philip Philip has been in the legal industry of cannabis in Colorado for 9 years Cultivating Spirits started in Breckenridge, Colorado in 2014 after legalization He went to a wine experience event and had an epiphany of bringing the cannabis experience to the 'soccer mom' He walked away from equity in multiple companies because he believed in it Cultivating Spirits is the first company to offer a cannabis pairings experience After learning about terpenes he learned about pairing foods with attributes of cannabis Terpenes There are 3 components in cannabis that give you certain feelings THC gets you high, gives a euphoric feeling Flavonoids Terpenes produce the aroma of cannabis and it determines the 'mood' you will be in after smoking Terpenes are produced in all plants and produce, they attract pollinators and help fight disease within the plant THC-A is non-activated THC, meaning it needs a flame or heat to activate it Michael Pollan's book - Botany of Desire At the base genetic level, our goal is to reproduce and expand "Are we the workers for this plant?" - Philip Wolf People's Reactions They are loving it! The average age for a person who attends Cultivating Spirits is 45 Cultivating Spirits focuses on parties and events Old folks are some of the best clientele, they don't have jobs and they are done with all of the hassles of making a family and working hard for their job, etc. Microserving Microserving is one hit Holding cannabis in longer doesn't get you higher, it's about the surface area of your lungs So if you expand your lungs very lightly, you will get less high than if you would if you fully expand your lungs when taking a hit Expansion Cultivating Spirits operates all over Colorado They are working to expand to Las Vegas They also opened up Cannabition They are taking this business to other places with good heart Cannabis Nightclubs and Social Consumption Lounges Cannabis isn't the reason for the decline in alcohol sales, but the desire for new experiences Philip believes it will happen first through coffee shops Everyone needs food, so it's a great market to integrate into "I use cannabis like I use a cup of coffee, I use it, but I don't use it all day" - Philip Wolf Cannabis… Psychedelic? There is a psychoactive part to cannabis Philip says he uses cannabis to deepen his meditation and yoga practice He is a Certified Yoga Teacher Although he is certified to teach, he did it for himself and to learn tools he can use during his whole life Cannabis is a mirror - it's what's inside already but getting amplified First Dinner Approved by Municipality The opening of X-games in Aspen, CO in 2015 5 courses, 5 wines, 5 strains of cannabis A DJ from Thievery Corporation deriving beats from where the food dishes come from Jessica Catalano - Infusion Chef Learning More Lemonine makes your mind energized and Alphapinine and Betapinine will help you focus Leafly Essential oils are made up of terpenes Doterra Max Montrose - Trichome Institute Daniel McQueen - Medinical Mindfulness Links Cultivating Spirits Website Cannabis Wedding Expo Facebook Check out this FREE online course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Philip Wolf Philip Wolf is one of the world's first pot sommeliers, an expert and pioneer in the field. In 2014, he opened Cultivating Spirits with a mission to show mainstream America how cannabis should be treated. Setting tables with forks, wine, and pipes, Wolf's pairings are grounded in the science of interpening, which the institute calls "a method used to identify and understand cannabis variety [by] interpreting … terpenes and flower structure." Wolf can sniff a bud, identify the strain and terpenes, and interpret both the flavor profile and high. The protocol for his dinner with bud pairings is puff, eat, drink.

Download Today in the show, Joe talks to Maria Carvalho and Helena Valente, founding members of Kosmicare, a drug testing, and harm reduction service at the Portugal Festival, Boom. Joe talks to Maria and Helena on their personal backgrounds, how they got into Boom, research on recreational use, what harm reduction looks like, and what populations are underserved. Drug use is decriminalized in Portugal, and the focus of risk minimization has been useful in getting the population served versus putting people in prison. 3 Key Points: Kosmicare is a harm reduction and psychedelic emergency service starting at Boom music festival in Portugal. Working to support other events in Europe. Boom is in Portugal, where drugs are decriminalized and drug testing is legal. Drug policy has directly affected the number of emergencies that Boom has had. The Portuguese drug policy has resulted in fewer overdoses, drug-related deaths, and HIV infection. Other countries like the US should consider a drug reform with the current opioid crisis. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Kosmicare Kosmicare is a non-profit organization that looks to transform nightlife culture through humanistic, comprehensive and evidence-based policies and interventions They work toward a world where drugs can be used with liberty and wisdom Making festivals safe in Europe About Maria Psychologist, graduated in 1999 at University of Porto She started working in the field of problematic drug use Growing up in a difficult neighborhood was her purpose for getting into studying psychology and drug use She began focusing on recreational use Her younger brother was into the Electronic Dance scene and positioning himself with using substances She was interested in studying other motivations to use drugs than just using drugs to feed a problem She heard an announcement by MAPS in 2008 recruiting volunteers to do work in psychedelic emergency at Boom It was the perfect match considering her interest in psychology and drug use in recreational environments About Helena Helena is a Psychologist who was interested in drug use She wanted to have field experience, and she volunteered in a needle exchange program She began working for a harm reduction project to work in recreational settings that needed volunteers She became interested in the potential that drug checking has in the harm reduction strategy They are working toward a 'drop-in' where people can show up to a permanent space for drug checking and harm reduction The Numbers Over 20,000 people showed up to Kosmicare's information session This year for the first time, Kosmicare had an HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) to identify LSD and pills They tested over 700 drug samples in 6 days Maria says half of the Boom population gets in contact with Kosmicare They serve 1% of the Boom population for psychedelic emergency (about 350 cases out of 35,000 attendees) The episodes usually have to do with psycho-spiritual situations versus just an emergency about the drug taken Psychedelic Emergencies Boom is a transformational festival that hosts attendees from over 50 countries Boom is different from Burning Man in that Boom is in Portugal which has a much more legal framework which helps with the services that can be offered Drug policy has directly affected the number of emergencies that Boom has Joe states that there are numbers of regulatory police at Burning Man Kosmicare is included in the entire setup of Boom, which helps reduce the number of scenarios that would cause an emergency at the festival, such as providing shaded areas all over It gets up to 43 degrees Celcius (108 Fahrenheit) But there is a water element so people can refresh themselves In the largest dance areas at the festival, they included medical emergency Teepees so attendees could be helped as quickly as possible Recreational Drug Use They did a survey on recreational drug use and most of the respondents said they use drugs in a beneficial way that doesn't interrupt their lives in a bad way Similarly with Boom attendees, most of them want to use harm reduction techniques so they have positive experiences and don't develop problems with their drug use Mat Southwell "drug users are calculated risk takers" "The legal framework has a terrible influence on people's relationship with drugs" - Helena Lessons Learned Maria says they have had many groundbreaking challenges In 2016 they had someone die on them while having a psychedelic emergency It made her really question why she was doing this Her first impression was that she was doing this work to save the inexperienced user She was caught off guard by the person who died because they were an experienced user and didn't taking unadulterated substances "People may go over the top for a wide v

Download In this episode, Lori shares her first hand experience of MDMA Therapy assisted by Therapist, Shari Taylor. Shari Taylor is a PhD, MSN and RYT(Registered Yoga Teacher). Both from New Orleans, Lori Tipton was Shari's MDMA patient who suffered from traumatic life experiences and PTSD. 3 Key Points: Lori shares her heartfelt story about her experience in healing her PTSD in MDMA Therapy Before her therapy, Lori says she struggled with loving herself, and the fact that she loves herself now after her healing is the reason she is alive today Lori says she wants people to understand that this is a legitimate form of therapy, and wants this to be accessible to everyone Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Lori Lori has a love/hate relationship with social media She saw on Facebook that they were opening the phase 3 trials for MDMA therapy in New Orleans Sent an email on a whim and Shari replied They looked for people who suffered from significant traumatic events in their lives Lori lost her brother to a drug overdose, her mother killed two people and she was the one to discover their bodies, and she was raped by someone she trusted and got pregnant and then had an abortion Lori says there was an extensive screening process and psychometric testing "You become more of a manifestation of the disorder, and it starts to become who you are" - Lori She felt so 'untethered' and removed from everyone and everything because of her PTSD Day one of Therapy There are many sessions before even taking MDMA to get to know each other first Set and setting are so important Lori says she went in with an open mindset, but was so skeptical She had seen psychologists, psychiatrists, endocrinologists, dietitians, taken anti anxiety meds and antidepressants, went vegan, became a yoga teacher, and even saw a witch doctor But she was nervous that she was going to go into the sessions and come out a different person, which had her start to question who she really was Taking the MDMA She was offered the MDMA, and she accepted it She lied there, started to feel the effects, listened to the music playing and it reminded her of a film she had seen Buddy Boulden a trumpet player, who passed away at 30 at a mental institution in Louisiana So this just popped into her head and then she told Shari about it and then next thing she knew she was telling her about her mother and her rape The way that MDMA worked for her in the first session is that when she had a memory, she could feel it, and she hadn't truly felt the feelings from those memories before As the session ended, it was anticlimactic She said it was like dipping the corner of a towel in water, the water would eventually cover the whole towel The amygdala is getting shut down in therapy, so you're able to bring up these memories without getting overwhelmed Days Following Therapy Lori said after the first session, it was awesome! She went and got pizza and it was the best pizza she has ever had in her life! The first session of MDMA allowed her to experience life in a way she hadn't been in years Her partner noticed her enjoying the world, and noticed the changes the most Lori wrote a lot before going into the sessions, and writing has helped her with her healing The Second Session Having PTSD led her to repress her feelings When she locked up her fear and anxiety, she unfortunately locked up happiness too In the second session she took more MDMA, and it really helped her She felt she was able to really separate herself from her memories and feelings and emotions "It was like taking off a pair of foggy glasses and it was so empowering" - Lori Joe mentions that after his one and only ayahuasca session, he got a strong message that he needed to reconnect to his family He says MDMA is so special in that it allows you to feel love in such a strong way, unbounded Lori says she struggled with loving herself, and the fact that she loves herself now is the reason she is alive today She says her experience is proof that MDMA is not a schedule 1 drug Joe says he hopes that the testing goes well to move MDMA into an accessible space Lori agrees and wants this to be accessible for everyone in her life She believes its revolutionary for psychology After the second session, she didn't want to run away from her feelings, she didn't want to kill herself Healing isn't always pretty, sometimes it looks like crying on the couch for 6 hours of the day She knew she had to be with those feelings Her therapist and her tarot card reader both said she would be more of herself after the therapy The Third Session She believes in the power of the drug, but it was also the support of the therapists. The combination of the two is where magic happened After walking into her mother's death, she couldn't remember so m

Download James Oroc is the Author of Tryptamine Palace and the New Psychedelic Revolution. Show topics include Burning Man, visionary art, drug war, and politics around the 5-MEO-DMT experience. 3 Key Points: James Oroc is cautious about the medicalization of psychedelics. He believes psychedelics do not necessarily heal sick people, but instead bring a new perspective to healthy users. The 5-MEO-DMT experience is not like the typical psychedelic experience, not everyone should do it, and there are some serious negative side effects that could last for years if not integrated properly. The Bufo Alvarius desert toad is at risk. With climate change and the demand for using them for their 5-MEO-DMT, there is a lot of pressure on their survival as a species. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About James James has written a few psychedelic books, and is kind of a psychedelic icon His interests are in noveling and extreme sports journalism He wrote a book for Burning man, and gave away 500 copies at the festival He is a world class paragliding competitor He believes always being in nature is important In the late 80's the psychedelic culture had crashed, except for the mountain towns, which is where psychedelic community ended up Joe lives in the Rockies, and was hanging out in Aspen and ran into an old hippie deadhead who talked about skiing on mescaline, when everyone would typically ski on acid In James new book he goes into psychedelics and extreme sports, about using a dose smaller than the psychedelic dose but larger than a micro dose Joe references a movie, Valley Uprising, where most of the climbers would hang out on the side of a mountain face, party all night, drop a bunch of acid and then sprint to the top James' Interest in Psychedelics James says that 5-MEO-DMT converted him from to being a scientific, rationalist, atheist to agnostic, being merged and one with the god source, through the classic mystical experience He says it took him multiple years to figure out how a 40 minute trip experiences shifted his entire perspective for the rest of his life That's why he wrote his Burning Man book, as a way to help others relate to the experience and make their own sense of it Joe says James Book is far more fascinating than Michael Pollan's Book, especially for people that have been in the psychedelic space for a while Michael Pollan states in his book that LSD was given to Tim Leary by Alfred Hubbard, but James says that's not true, he says that a man by the name of Michael Hollingsworth gave LSD to Leary, after coming to America with a jar of mayonnaise full of LSD James says its amusing for Pollan to form stories to fit his own narrative He says Pollan has talked about using psychedelics only four times, and that he doesn't like the psychedelic culture and by using them we will become more depressed James thinks depression is a result of the paradigm that we are in "I don't like the idea of psychedelics being used as bandaids to help people except the current paradigm, I like the idea of psychedelics being dynamite, to help bring the next paradigm shift" - James Smart people are depressed because they are realizing we are screwing this planet up, and we may not have that much time left on it He called it 'extinction denial' in his last book, and after writing his last book in 2009, its gotten exponentially worse Joe asks James why he thinks people are denying the extinction narrative James replies saying people feel like they can't do anything about it, they worry about paycheck to paycheck, and get caught up in all the small distractions of life. He says no wonder people are depressed Psychedelics aren't a Medicine James thinks the only reason they didn't take hold as medicines in the 60's is because they were difficult to use, and didn't fit in the medical model "The problem with medicalization is it puts psychedelics in one box, I'm more interested in giving psychedelics to healthy people than sick people" They don't fall under the true classification of medicines James thinks they should be called therapy, instead of medicine He understands the interest of why people want to use them as medicines, but that shouldn't be the only way they are used Joe adds that the medicalization doesn't mean rescheduling - via drug policy alliance James says that last year alone had the most arrests for cannabis than any other year, even as more states are 'legalizing' Joe mentions a comment from Brian Normand who runs Psymposia, "Is cannabis really legal, if you can only have 6 plants? It's just heightened regulation." James thinks that keeping cannabis illegal in the south is the main tool for racial profiling, it's the gateway drug to prison Brooklyn wants to release 20,000 cannabis offenders America James thinks living

Download Tom Hatsis is an intellectual, occultist, psychedelic user and advocate from Portland, Oregon. In the show, Joe and Tom talk about his new book about microdosing. Joe prepares listeners about the controversial topic, magick, which is highly discussed in the show. Witch craft, western shamanism, old religion and magick are all mentioned during the conversation. Tom is a coordinator for Sanctum Psychedelica, a psychedelic club in Portland. 3 Key Points: Tom's book Microdosing Magic is a book of templates for people to fill in the blank according to what works for them Magic isn't the 'hocus pocus' witchy stuff that people always assume, it's actually mind hacking, reframing and neurogenesis, that every individual is born with the ability to tap into Magic is a great way to create containers to frame our psychedelic experiences Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Tom Tom's Book - Microdosing Magic: A Psychedelic Spellbook Tom thinks having a childlike wonder and being curious helped him write his book He has written 4 books, 3 have been in psychedelic topics Tom's background - a part of the Roller derby background since 2005 His first book was called The Roller Derby: A Sensation that caused a Book, the Confessions of a Roller Derby Mascot. Then he got into psychedelic history and wrote The Witch's Ointment, Psychedelic Mystery Traditions and his newest book, Microdosing Magic. Portland is a great place for the psychedelic renaissance Microdosing Magic Tom said we should be using psychedelics in a magical way Joe agrees saying when using psychedelics we should be flexible philosophically Joe mentions the Robert Anton Wilson reality tunnels We all have a B.S. (Belief System) and then reality tunnels are the marxist sunglasses and the capitalist sunglasses and feminist sunglasses, instead of having 40 glasses to see behind bias, we all have our own pair of shades Microdosing is a tool that helps people become childlike, more genius Magic Microdosing Magic is a book of templates for people to fill in the blank to what works with them Tom never tells people what to do with psychedelics, he is offering insight and techniques Using his own techniques, him and his partner are about to win a guinness world record "If microdosing is like a healthy diet and magic is like exercise, that's great. But what happens when you put healthy diet with exercise? You have something far more powerful than those two things could have been by themselves. That's how microdosing magic works." Magic = mind hacking, re-framing and neurogenesis The Four Gifts Tom talks about 'The Four Gifts' in his book They make up the beginning of his personal magical system that he has cultivated over his lifetime Carl Sagan quote, "The cosmos are within us, we are a way for the universe to know itself" Tom agrees strongly with that saying, he thinks we are microdoses of that cosmic magic and from it, we've received 3 immaterial gifts, Intellect, Emotion and Will, however, due to our evolution in physical bodies, we've inherited a fourth gift, action The magical system is about aligning your intellect, emotion and will, so that when we take action, we are acting in pure magic Magic is super powerful, not something that happens at Disney World. It's a very real thing that every individual is born with the ability to tap into Orenda - the magic that you are born with Microdosing Magic is Tom's small contribution to bettering the world Joe says there are so many people that practice subtle magic and don't even know it; in catholic religion, in yoga practice Tom has a friend who 'doesn't believe in magic', who is a hardcore material reductionist, who has a 'lucky hat' Tom - "This isn't for people with claws and fangs, magic is for anybody who recognizes their own power and wants to harness their power to make their lives and the world around them a better place" Neurogenesis, better firing, and re-framing happens in a person's brain after consuming Psilocybin, Lions Mane and Reishi Tom says he was addicted to coffee, and after using Microdosing Magic, he hasn't needed a cup of coffee on 8 months because of his new neural pathways Joe jokes about overdosing on coffee for a few months on his coffee addiction Tom jokes back that he'd just drink it out of the pot Creative Genius Dr. George Land study - 98% of 5 year old scored in the creative genius category in the same test that 32 year-olds only scored 2% The modern education system robs us of our creative genius that we all had when we were kids, but at no fault to the teachers. The education system, buys these education models that just don't work Tom - "You have to use the internet wisely and not foolishly, to educate yourself and not de-educate yourself" The Book Tour Joe asks about the most interest

Download Key Takeaways Bluebird Botanicals is leading the industry in third-party testing and Lab results, green initiatives and a stand on hemp policy. CBD helps cushion the psychoactive impact of THC on CB1 receptors, making for a less intense 'high'. Lex has a lot of hope for the 2018 Farm Bill, and believes hemp has widespread uses that will open many market opportunities in the future. Intro Joe interviews Lex Pelger, Science Director of Bluebird Botanicals, a Colorado-based company. They talk about CBD and the issues with the FDA talking about health benefits. The use cases of hemp and drug war are discussed. Who is Lex Pelger? He is a Science Director of Bluebird Botanicals. Lex moves from New York to Colorado. He did a psychedelic storytelling open mic tour (Blue Dot tour) across the USA and it culminated at the MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference. Moved from the hustle of New York to Colorado to have his baby. The Cannabinoid Lex gets excited the more he learns about how intricate the endocannabinoid system is to humans and all mammals Bluebird Botanicals doesn't make any medical claims CDB supports health and homeostasis The cannabinoid system was discovered in the body only 25 years ago Opium and Cannabis were the two oldest plants used in the body There isn't anyone connection for cannabis, because there are so many receptors in the human body There is a ton of research happening on cannabinoids Lex thinks the research ban on phytocannabinoids is unfortunate Cannabis and cannabinoids are the most studied drugs in the US CBD functions as a homeostasis molecule Anandamide was the first endogenous cannabinoid discovered in the human brain in 1991 by a team led by Raphael Mechoulam in Israel Raphael Mechoulam discovered the final structure of THC in 1963 CB1 Receptor in the brain was discovered in 1991 also CB1 Receptor If the CB1 receptors are blocked in a human or animal, they won't get 'high' on weed The presence of CBD doesn't allow THC to fully bind to the CB1 receptor, so when CBD is present in THC, you won't get quite as high Lex thinks it's unfortunate that because weed has been in prohibition, it has been bred so hard to only have THC He thinks all weed should have a little bit of CBD to cushion the psychoactive nature of THC The Endocannabinoid System Joe says there is no profile to test the endocannabinoid system to know if a person is deficient or not, that he knows of Lex says if you get your genetic results from a company like 23 and me, it will tell you about your cannabinoid alleles A bad trip to a young brain can damage it forever The activists that annoy Lex are ones that refuse the obvious negatives Weed should not be given to all children The 'Right to Fly' Jonathan Thompson - Psychedelic Parenting Blog and Podcast How to create a community on psychedelics Noah Potter - Psychedelic Law Blog An open-source thought experiment in psychedelic law and policy "This plant is tied down by so many regulations" - Lex In the state of Colorado, you can't make new genetics Lousy laws made it hard to diversify the cannabis plant Lex believes Aldous Huxley's book The Island is the best blueprint for what a sane integration of psychedelics and psychoactive might look like. Lex says people taking mushrooms in the woods together is so special, simply because a group of people is spending 6-8 hours with nature and with each other. Bluebird Botanicals Many different products - isolates, oils, vape juice, and topicals will be back soon Independent Lab Verification Leading the industry with third-party lab results Transparent about ingredients, NO pesticides used! Paired with Eurofins - world's biggest testing lab Bluebird partners with the farmers, packaging partners, etc to be green and more eco-friendly always CEO Brandon hears about a new point of quality to be added, he goes for it Passed 99% inspection quality, CGMP Lex thinks its so nice to work for a company that focuses on giving back to the customers, focusing on employees, quality, the planet, and just giving back CBD Drug Law Changes in California The regulations restrict being able to add CBD to food, which goes is against the 2014 Federal Farm Bill Bluebird is on the board for the US Hemp Roundtable - Hemp Policy Jonathan Miller - Lawyer of the group and writer to address misinterpretation of the law "It's foolish to have the 1950's 1960's mindset of cannabis" - Joe Marijuana vs Hemp Both are cannabis plants Cannabis is the species, THC is more than .3% THC, Hemp is less than .3% THC "If a state inspector comes in and tests 6 samples and the results come up as .4% or .5%, they make you burn it. They don't burn it for you, you have to burn it yourself while you watch." - Lex Cannabis is tricky to grow for commercial use It takes 3 generations for the plant to get used to the environment "Thank you, farmers, for being farmers" - Joe 2018 Farm Bill Mitch McConnell majority leader of the Senate, is pushing this because he comes from Kentucky

Joe Moore interviews Brian Pace. He studies Evolutionary Ecology, is a science consultant at The Third Wave, and is the director of the project, Mind Manifest Midwest, and instigator of the "Find the Others" project. 3 Key Points: Psychedelics are not just illegal, they are also taboo, and Brian's efforts are aimed to create spaces that make it more comfortable to talk about psychedelics. Online resources are great, but having local, and real psychedelic societies to create community will help people "come out" and be comfortable talking about their experiences. Brian's interest evolved from ecology to psychedelics when he realized the issue of global warming. The top environmental problems are selfishness and greed, and changing people's minds with psychedelics is a big hope for the planet. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes Getting Involved with The Third Wave Met Paul Austin of The Third Wave at the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance Conference. The conference was foundational in him becoming outspoken about psychedelics. Ibogaine - last resort option for people suffering from addiction. Brian and the team built The Third Wave with the goal to bring the conversation about psychedelics to be more comfortable among the general public. It has been good about building bridges to invite all types of people to the community, not just white males. It's important to be inclusive in this space. Find the Others Started at Psychedelic Science, to talk about what psychedelic societies are. Aware Project by Ashley Booth (www.awareproject.org) Psychedelics are not just illegal, they are also Taboo - Michael Pollan "Were having a cultural hangover from the upheavals we've had in the late 60's and early 70's." - Brian "We can fight taboos when we can have conversations - about that which was taboo - in the grocery store, in the bar, with our parents. I think that's definitely what's needed with psychedelics." - Brian Had the first psychedelic society meeting at a bar that included a presentation about plant secondary compounds and human health and ended with storytelling. 20% of Americans over the age of 15 have had some experience with psychedelics, 11% with LSD. (source unsure) Mitch Gomez from Dance Safe - more than 50% of the population of the U.S has done illegal compounds at age 15 and up. Psychedelics have taken a big chunk of that number. Cannabis is a great help for football players and traumatic brain injury. "If psychedelics are ever going to be reintegrated meaningfully in society, we are going to need some kind of mentorship." - Brian Timothy Leary - "You're born with the right to fly". If you start driving on LSD, you might lose that right. Find the Others, Mind Manifest Midwest, The Third Wave A collaborative project that allows people to speak in their own words what they are doing in their psychedelic societies. Psychedelic Societies are real, local and create community. MDMA for PTSD will be passed at the Federal level very quickly. Evolutionary Ecology Psilocybin - PhD focused on plant secondary compounds. The mycorrhizae network - "the Earth's natural internet" - Paul Stamets Climate change Consumption - eating meat and driving cars The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy. Changing people's mindsets with psychedelics could be an only hope. "Given that psychedelics have reliably induced mystical and/or religious experiences in people throughout time and across a variety of contexts, it seems natural that we should start organizing communities that help unpack and contextualize these experiences." - Brian The status of our society Why do we have to work 55 hours a week to barely afford a 2 bedroom apartment? Guaranteed minimum income - an experiment in other countries. What does our society look like when it is less stressed? Timothy Leary "Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others…" Helped create the importance of set and setting. Saw the inside of 36 prisons for possession of marijuana. Link Mind Manifest Midwest Find The Others Project Aware Project Check out this FREE online course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Brian Brian Pace, M.S. is a scientist by training and psychonaut by inclination. His interest in biology was piqued acutely as a teenager while experimenting with his own neurochemistry. For more than a decade, Brian has worked on agrobiodiversity, food sovereignty, urban cycling, and climate change in the US and Mexico. Brian is the co-founder of Mind Manifest Midwest (facebook.com/mindmanifestmidwest), a Columbus, Ohio based psychedelic society and the instigator of the Find the Oth

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Kyle and Joe dig into and create conversation over an email received about the cost of psychedelics, the facets of capitalism and about feeling isolated after a psychedelic experience. 3 Key Points: Capitalism in psychedelics is a complex topic and includes factors such as the schooling system, the medical system, monopoly, trade, and other facets that go into the cost of psychedelics. There are other forms of therapy that don't have to involve psychedelics or lots of money. Feeling isolated after an experience is sometimes our own blockage, by refusing to create community because a person hasn't had the same experience as us. Psychedelics aren't always needed for a psychedelic experience. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes Email concern: Some psychedelic experiences seem segregated by a price bracket. Ketamine Therapy - believed it would help with their depression, but ended up spending a thousand dollars every two weeks. Joe - curious that ketamine lozenges may be a cheaper option that could help. Kyle - although the drug itself may be cheap, you're not just paying for the lozenges, you're paying for a therapist or a psychiatrist. Kyle - in America, healing is a privilege. We work hard to pay for health insurance, or even if we are insured through work or family, it gets hard to pay for because of the premiums. "I would rather pay for taking care of myself, than going out and partying with friends." Healing may have to be a choice sadly, you may have to ask yourself "do I want this or do I need this?" Joe - One treatment of ketamine is beneficial for a short-term intervention in an urgent state One session of ketamine therapy helps the user understand the situation clearer and can reduce the thoughts of suicide Kyle - "some of my greatest healing experiences were done through my own work, with myself or with friends" "How do you feel about the resurgence of spirituality and psychedelics and it's capitalism?" Joe - Going from the states to Peru to do ayahuasca to reach spiritualism isn't the only means of spirituality. There are so many other options than capitalist outlets to find spiritual development. Kyle - "I want to offer a lot of help, and do free workshops, but need money to survive." Joe - Jokingly "You're three months behind on your rent Terrence!" A person doesn't need hundreds of trips to be complete and happy, Aldous Huxley says you need three to four strong trips throughout your life. "How do we protect the planet, and how do we maintain freedom?" To talk about Capitalism and psychedelics, we are assuming that something needs to mediate the trade or exchange for therapy. Let's continue to educate ourselves so that we don't blame capitalism on the fact that therapy has a cost. It's a hard conversation to have, it's a complex topic. Joe - pro-socialized medicine $30,000 for a first responder to take an overdose death away $20-$30 for a Narcan Let's prevent and heal more. Capitalism does incentivize doctors and healers. Kyle - "how can we use these as tools and not toys?" Medicalization of psychedelics may have a potential tie to capitalism The difference between doing it legally for an extremely high price, versus paying the market price for a gram of mushrooms (illegally) and doing the work (therapy) on your own. Joe - Monopoly=capitalism Kyle - the Education system Student loan debt can be a half a million dollars to be a doctor or therapist That debt plays an effect on how much those doctors or therapists charge "How do you deal with isolationism that certain psychedelic experiences bring forward?" Kyle - "this has been a huge issue in my life, this resonates with me. After having my near-death experience, I didn't know to talk to people, how to function in the world. A near-death experience is one of the most psychedelic things. To slowly slip away and 'die', and come back to this place and not feel like this is where I belong, how do I exist here? It can lead to isolation. It can be extremely heavy." "We're all experiencing this reality through our own lens, so we have to meet people where they are." The reason these experiences can make us feel lonely is that of the lack of community. Kyle believes in not just constantly going into these experiences, but more about the integration of the experiences. Joe - Tim Leary says "Find the others". But there are a lot of psychedelic people out there who don't take psychedelics that can be a part of your 'community'. Kyle - it makes sense to feel like you need to connect with someone who has done psychedelics in order for them to understand, but we can connect with other people who may not have had psychedelic experiences. The psychedelic experience isn't the only way. We can also experience spiritualism and healing wi

Download In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe interviews Shane LeMaster, Therapist and host of the new Podcast, Conversations with the Mind. In this discussion, we cover personal journeying, changing behavioral processes, Jiu Jitsu and where we are headed as a collective consciousness. 3 Key Points: Psychedelics can be a helpful tool for personal journey work. Each type of psychedelic works as its own tool. They are all useful in their own context and should not be compared to each other as better or worse. Shane has used psychedelic therapy to help rewire past imprinted constructs of his mind to learn new behaviors in his Jiu Jitsu practice and his daily life. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes Using Psychedelics for personal journey work How we can enhance growth using these substances Big journey work sessions bring large insights "Recently, I've been working on softening my hard edges" Construct – the scared child. Our childhood leaves imprints that effect our behavior as adults. Hyper-masculinity is a result of repressing past issues. Are there different messages after a journey in ketamine versus peyote? Substances produce a different feeling as if there is an "other" or "entity" that sends the messages where with breathwork it's more of a self realization Drug chauvanism "my drug is better than your drug" "Is lsd worse than mushrooms for spiritual development? Or breathwork? We can't say yes or no definitively." -Joe Stan Grof – "why would you do breathwork if you have lsd?" "There is something special about the group work process in breathwork, that deeper sense of connection is hugely valuable." -Joe Some substances are better when done alone in some circumstances, and substances used in a community setting as better for different circumstances. We have a choice in which tool "You can't build a house with just a hammer. If lsd is a hammer and ketamine is a saw, you can't say a hammer is better than a saw, they are both essential." Ketamine in Fort Collins, CO Dr. Scott Shannon Shane Therapist, making great changes but small changes, looking to make a greater impact through social work, helping people to better themselves. Interest in mindfulness, positivity interventions, helping people see their power to fix their own issues The changing landscape of how we understand consciousness DMT vape pens Make it more convenient for the consumer Democratizes the experience, knocks down barriers to be able to have a profound experience Podcasts – creating conversation about a shift in consciousness Elon musk – our intelligence is heightened through proper use of the cell phone Stan Grof – technology of the sacred (ex. Breathwork) Tim Leary – "hedonic engineering" how to live a maximally more pleasurable life Positive psychology meets wearable technology – developing the steps to the most enjoyable life Tim Ferriss twitter feed - "Creation is a better means of self expression than possession, it is through creating not possessing that life is revealed." "Be a creative force in the universe, it feels so good to create, and bring something to fruition, and share it with everybody, not to possess it." -Shane Conversations with the mind – Shane's podcast "One mind having a conversation with another mind. Two minds interacting, sharing knowledge, sharing distress, sharing solution, and adding the sum of the two parts coming together, and sharing it with the collective mind." - Shane on the purpose behind his podcast Guests on the show How psychedelics help in jiu jitsu PhD credential people PTSD patients Advice from Stan Grof 30-60 days without alcohol is needed before using Breathwork for therapy when treating alcoholism Analogy – default brain behavior like sledding down a hill, we always choose the same route. With psychedelics, it helps us see a new route. You stand up, and for the first time, you look up and take a 360 degree turn and see so many new routes that you have the choice to take. Analogy used to reprocesses trauma, brings new options to think about the experience differently Microdosing helps bring out new patterns of behavior to learn new skills "In wrestling, the last place you want to be is on your back, that's when you get pinned, that's when you lose a match. In jiu jitsu, being in your back is a good place to be, because there's a lot of options from there. So I had to unlearn the fear of being on my back. It's all about retraining my neural pathways, retraining my thinking." -Shane Jiu Jitsu It's been said, earning a black belt is as much time and effort as earning a PhD The transferable skills of Jiu Jitsu can be used in therapy, breathwork and integrating psychedelic experiences. It's all consciousness work. Link www.mind-ops.com Conversations with the Mind - Shane's podcast https://anchor.fm

Download In this episode, Joe Moore interviews Mike from the podcast "End of the Road". Its a great podcast covering psychedelic and spiritual topics that are probably of interest to you. Mike is an attorney and he joins us to share some insights around patent law in the psychedelic space. Kyle and Joe were even feature on the show a few months back. Disclaimer - This interview is for informational purposes only, not for obtaining legal advice. "Opinions expressed by me, at my own only, and not my firms." 3 Key Points: Patent law is worth understanding and shouldn't be ignored in our current psychedelic era. It can be used to help protect inventions and innovations that took time and money to develop. Patents aren't all bad. They can help protect the small guy as well and large corporations. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes Patent on Ayahuasca 1986 Boston College Law review article (source) Warren Miller, scientist and entrepreneur obtained a patent on a strain of ayahuasca vine. 400 indigenous tribes challenged the validity of the patent. Controversy over the patent created hostility between Ecuador and US. Patent criteria A patent must be a process, machine, or manufacture or composition of matter. A patent does not depend on whether a composition of matter is living or non-living, but rather that it is altered and is not a naturally occurring substance. Taking a plant from South America, and not altering it should not receive a patent. Organizations owning a genome? Transgenic modification – able to be patented Plant patent – specific category Psilocybin Compass pathways – applied for a patent for growing psilocybin – "good manufacturing practice" global standard for manufacturing pharmaceuticals, know your dose each time, etc Compass Pathways applied for a British patent called the "Preparation for Psilocybin" FDA requires that you meet certain standards when you test a product for purity. Trying to patent a pure form of psilocybin. "Non naturally occurring" Using the patent as justification to cover the cost for FDA trials. Group of scientists who created a statement on open practice – 4 point manifesto. (Ram Dass supports it) Trying to make it non-capitalistic – so no one can create a monopoly on it. Full rights can bring the risk of unfair pricing moves Martin Shkreli – marked up a life-saving drug by 3000x Previous groups have decades of open sharing. Compass does not have the same origins Scare – Compass marks up psilocybin. Could be unethical things happening within Compass, but not much journalism done here yet. Once a patent is made, harder to make a similar patent. Broad-based patents make it harder to create further patents down the line since they have to be novel or significantly different and precisely new The process Compass is trying to patent is not the only way to produce GMP psilocybin, there are many other ways. May pull a move that gives them special access to administer Paul Stamets – psilocybin patent application Using psilocybin and niacin for neural regeneration – a neural regenerated composition based upon constituents isolated from or contained within mushroom fruit bodies or psilocybin or the corresponding synthetic molecules combined with niacin Google patents – US PTO 154914503 filing date April 23, 2017, another in 2018 Claims - Mushrooms have improved memory, cognition, motor skills, complex computer coding challenges, hearing, sensory, vision, learning, promote neurogenesis. Therapeutic applications of psilocybin. A broad patent that covers a large variety of application for using psilocybin therapeutically, not approved yet. Probably would capitalize on the patent. Keen for data sharing and being public with his work. Previous patent: Pesticide replacement – fungi that infects ants and brings them back to their homes. More effective than pesticide. Good he applied for a patent – it would mean that it wouldn't block people from accessing it or developing their own Andrew Chadeayne – inventor and patent attorney Has psilocybin patent update blog Applied for patents in the psilocybin space Monopoly law If there is a popular drug used in the market, a drug company wanting to capitalize – it will cover all their bases with a patent Daniel Pinchbeck – theories that could work (Marxist society) Cuba – healthcare model – government funds certain health care practices for the public good/applications that the US would not. A model that Marxists could use to get these products on the market vs capitalist model The basic idea of patents: Inventor – creates a patent to protect the invention, not to dominate the market. International Administration of Ketamine to treat Depression – Yale Method for treating depression University of California – scientists using "compounds for increasing neur

Download In this episode, Joe Moore interviews Marisa Novy, a wonderful psychedelic artist living and working in Breckenridge, Colorado who has been helping Psychedelics Today with some awesome art and more. 3 Key Points: Harm reduction was top notch at Shambhala but the festival could have done a bit more. Early psychedelic experiences added substantial depth to her yoga practice and art. Marisa has helped us at Psychedelics Today a ton and we are very excited to keep working with her. Show Notes Martian Curiosities - Instagram Shambhala Festival in BC An electronic music festival with different producers coordinating music and art for each stage. No alcohol is allowed at the festival. Almost promoted as a psychedelic-friendly festival. The biggest win for the festival this year - no fentanyl found in any of the drugs tested. Marisa's favorite part about Shambhala is the people/community. Shambhala provides harm reduction/drug testing services. Drug testing is done by ANKORS. ANKORS also provides drug safety information. Drug testing helps to clean up the scene because people understand what is found in their substances. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcEoMUYtug4] Drug testing is illegal or not allowed in the United States Marisa did some outreach for Psychedelics Today at Shambhala festival to promote drug safety, harm reduction, and our course Navigating Psychedelics Marisa's favorite artists at Shambhala CharlestheFirst Liquid Strangers DeFunk Marisa's introduction to psychedelics Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson What would it look like if festivals provided integration services to help process the overall festival experience? Links Shambhala Festival Marisa's site Martian Curiosities Marisa on Instagram Etsy Shop Check out this FREE online course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Marisa Novy I am Marisa, a 24 year old explorer of consciousness and purpose of life. I graduated UW-Milwaukee with a BBA in Marketing and International Business with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. I grew up making art, and for the most part, I am constantly creating. I have my own small creative business for my artwork at MARtianCuriosities on Etsy, and @martiancuriosities on Instagram for more consulting projects. I became interested in Psychedelics after reading some cosmic literature, delving deeper into my yogic practice, and through my search for meaning and enlightenment. Psychedelics have helped my creativity to blossom and to be my truest self.

Download In this episode of Psychedelics Today we interview Emanuel Sferios, founder of DanceSafe and host of the new Drug Positive Podcast. The discussion mainly revolves around what "drug positive" means, MDMA, and harm reduction. 3 Key Points: The history of MDMA is different than we have been taught. MDMA is quite safe and the harms are very low. Risk reduction is a more appropriate term at times. Emanuel is positive that his early drug experiences substantially helped improve his life. Show Notes There is an largely unknown history of MDMA. Sasha Shulgin apparently was not the first to synthesize it in the modern era. He created a new synthesis method. MDMA was the first designer drug in a sense. MDA became illegal and chemists decided to change the molecule Manuel Noriega of Panama used MDMA at least once and gave permission to some chemists to manufacture in Panama shortly before the US invasion. Harms from MDMA are quite minimal and small. Parents who have lost a child can be natural allies to the drug positive movement. Best practices for drug testing MDMA and Cocaine. It is going to be really hard to convince the public to legalize drugs other than cannabis. About Emanuel Sferios Emanuel Sferios is an activist, educator and harm reduction advocate. Founding DanceSafe in 1998 and starting the first laboratory pill analysis program for ecstasy users that same year (now hosted at Ecstasydata.org), Emanuel pioneered MDMA harm reduction services in the United States. His MDMA Neurochemistry Slideshow has been viewed over 30 million times and remains a primary educational resource for physicians, teachers, drug abuse prevention counselors and MDMA users alike. Emanuel resigned from DanceSafe in 2001 and went on to work in other areas of popular education and harm reduction. He has recently come back as a volunteer. Oh! And he's making a movie. Links Drug Positive Independent - Meet the Man Who Wants your to Him him Legalise MDMA DanceSafe - Wiki DanceSafe MDMA The Movie

Download Introduction During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Kyle Buller interviews Robin Kurland-West, a licensed marriage and family therapist based out of California. Kyle and Robin chat about challenges and other questions in regard to providing psychedelic integration services. Psychedelic integration is a new territory, and there are plenty of questions to still answer and cover. Show Notes Psychedelic Support Psychology Today About Robin Kurland-West She offers integration services through her therapy practice. Robin had questions about how to create an introduction practice and how to follow up. She was licensed in 2010 and graduated from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2006. About a year ago she decided to do a karma cleanse and began to talk to a friend about psychedelics. Her friend sent her a podcast that spoke to her. She was doing some shadow work and dealing with her addiction experiences. She said a prayer over the psilocybin and was open to what it would show her. A spirit appeared and the forest started sending her messages. It was a female spirit and used two trees to illustrate the inside of her brain. It taught her that her mind was holding onto negative beliefs. She taught her that she needed to let go, that it was "all so absurd." What has been the difference between experimenting in college vs. doing the work as an adult? In college, it was seen as a party drug. She had a hard time having conversations with people. She doesn't see it as a party drug anymore, it's something that you honor. She now views it as a medicine that heals parts that have been cut off. Having had a history of addiction, some people are afraid psychedelics might be addictive. Psychedelics are non-addictive because other drugs are about escaping, and psychedelics are about being fully present. What is integration work for you and how do you approach it? This is new territory for her after having her own experience. She joined a network called the psychedelic support network. Because it's not yet legal, it's a bit of a struggle. She offers pre and post ritual services. People meet with her and do a pretty thorough assessment. They set the intention for the experience. Afterward they look at what some of the messages were and how to incorporate it into their daily lives. Do you help with dosage? She focuses more on intention setting because she's still new at this. She refers people to resources to help with other things. Is there a therapeutic approach you use with people? She uses expressive arts therapy to tap into the unconscious and subconscious. She always uses family systems, there's usually a root to behavior. She uses CBT and DBT. She uses journaling and narrative therapy. It's an opportunity to rewrite your story - a new perspective to an old story. She uses mandala work and drawing. She has them stand up and move around. Utilizing movement to integrate is huge. After having her profound experience with psychedelics, she finds it to be a warm blanket she can reach for to remind you that things are different now. What type of challenges have you had providing integration services to people? She wants to know how soon she should see a client after they start on this journey. How many times should she see a client after, and how many times? It could be more individual. She started to do psychotherapy to go deep and heal. It's possible to put your medical license at risk by providing certain services. She can't sit with people when they have their experience and has to be clear that it's a decision that they're making. She has to detach herself from a lot of it. She likes the idea of immediacy in following up with clients. She sees a client 3-4 times beforehand to make sure they're healthy enough and set intention. Afterward she wants to see them soon so they can hold onto the gold they discovered in the journey. How do you choose the right psychedelic experience for a person? The idea of doing a diagnosis to find out what will work is tricky. Throw it back on the person to see what they're looking for. It's not a scary experience, but you want to make sure you're with someone who's trained. There's a couple that wants to come in and do integration therapy together. She wants to meet with them individually and together beforehand. People are in therapy to discover themselves and they might find something different than they've been looking for. How do you approach people who think integration specialists can get them drugs or be a guide during experiences? She says it isn't about her telling them to use illicit drugs and she doesn't do drugs with them or hook them up. The difference between integration therapy and a guide: A guide is someone you trust who sits with you. An integration therapist is just pre and post where she's not involved in the drug. Have you had any clients reach out trying to integrate a really difficult experience? Not yet, but she's looking forward to it.

Download During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Kyle Buller interviews Duli Wilkins, aka the "Beantown Ghetto Shaman" about his work and future plans. In this conversation, Kyle talks to Duli about his work with sacred plant medicines, how he got involved in this type of work, and also explore the topic of people of color and diversity in the psychedelic world. Show Notes About Duli Wilkins He's from the Boston area born and raised. He gives credit to his parents for getting him into what he's into right now. His dad used to play jazz music and met a bunch of famous musicians. He learned that sound and frequency can be used as a tool for healing. He lived between two warring projects. A lot of his friends got into the gang life. He got heavily into Tai Chi and Chi Kung. He became a multi-dimensional healer He had a friend who gave him a mushroom and that's when the magic begins. How did everything begin for Duli? His empathic abilities heightened more when he used cannabis. He started getting deeper into the teachings of Rastafarians. In the black community, you didn't see a lot of people using psychedelics. Using a mushroom was very new to him. Duli's experience with mushrooms? At first he just felt some tingling and checked on his friend looking at the painting. He started to see things happen before they were happening. He was seeing the fabric of reality. He started having out of body experience and heard drumming from the heavens. "What was it like for you to be involved in this work when the people around you aren't?" Things are changing, more people across the globe are becoming aware of the benefits of teaching plants. A lot of people report seeing ancestors that have passed away. There's a resistance to psychedelics in the black community because of the history of drugs. It was easy for the government to shut down everyone but their own children. We have to be patient and time will bring things to the surface. Discussion about the pharmaceutical system. It's great when you have a broken bone, etc. The pharmaceutical establishment is a business and it runs like a business. When we deal with ancestral memory or epigenetics the medical industry can't touch it. Safety in a teaching plant ceremony is key. Discussion about the dark night of the soul. Work in the shadow is important if you want to become whole. We're all walking around with trauma. He's had a lot of past life experiences, even one where his son died very young. It takes a lot of courage to try psychedelics and you have to have a good setting. "Do you see a lot of spiritual bypassing?" Yes, people try to hide behind things. Some people hide behind the psychedelics. Psychedelics and teaching plants are tools, how are you using the tools? When we deal with wealthy people, maybe it's the lack of struggle to obtain psychedelics. There's much more to us and as time goes by we're going to have disclosure. Duli talks about some experiences with extraterrestrials during psychedelic trips. We're going through cycles and making the same mistakes every time. Last words? Find him on Facebook under @abdukwilkins Find him on YouTube under The Beantown Ghetto Shaman Sign up for our free online course Episode Quotes Something inside me said, I should take the mushroom and that was the gateway to shamanism. Things are changing, more people across the globe are becoming aware of the benefits of teaching plants. We have to have a re-education and awareness around teaching plants. About Duli Wilkins, a.k.a Duli Tha Beantown G.H.E.T.T.O Abdul K. Wilkins a.k.a Duli Tha Beantown G.H.E.T.T.O (Gifted. Hearts. Equal. Towards. Total. Oneness) Shaman is a Boston Native...He grew up in the Inner City of Roxbury where he overcame an environment of gang street violence, neighborhood drug abuse, and police brutality! Duli was influenced at a young age by both of his parents in the interest of spirituality, mysticism, natural healing etc. While attending College at Northeastern University he had a very mystical experience with psilocybin mushrooms and has been using mushrooms and other psychedelics as a tool for healing and conscious awareness ever since! He is a father of 2 and does massage therapy and natural healings in his community!

Download Kyle and Joe interview Robert Forte who has been around the psychedelic world for decades as a writer, facilitator and researcher. He has known or has worked with most of the biggest names in psychedelic history including Dr. Stanislav Grof and Timothy Leary among others. The interview covers a lot of ground and will likely ruffle some feathers. Robert has extensively studied the history of psychedelics and has drawn some conclusions about the origins of the field. Psychedelics as Weapons From the early days, scientists have been working with psychedelics to weaponize them. From project artichoke to MK Ultra, the US government and many foreign governments have spent a tremendous amount of effort researching these powerful compounds and likely still are. Robert states that various governments particularly the United States government have groups that are using drugs to derange the public to make it easier for these groups to meet their desired outcomes - less democracy, increased plutocratic power, etc. Think Brave New World and Brave New World Revisitied. Deranged from Miriam Webster: 1: mentally unsound : crazy2: disturbed or disordered in function, structure, or condition My leg was propped up on a library chair at the time, as it was too deranged to bend.3: wildly odd or eccentric He makes a compelling argument, but we want you the listener and reader to "Think for Yourself and Question Authority". That was a Leary line that we think is valuablein situations like this. Read books on the subject, question the purpose behind them, think critically and see where you want to go with it. After recording this interview Joe Moore read the amazing and comprehensive 2016 history The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government. The book filled in some gaps for me (Joe) but didn't really change my mind much on the topic of psychedelics specifically. Please enjoy the episode and if you want to discuss it, please join us at our facebook group here. Links & Show Notes Colin Ross - Researcher Psychiatrist John Potash | Drugs as Weapons Against Us MK Ultra - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra Acid Hype -American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience (History of Communication) Henry Luce Theodore Shackley - CIA Officer Reinhard Galen Samuel Russell - Russell Trust opium \ skull and bones Brave new world revisited - https://www.huxley.net/bnw-revisited/ Entheogens and the Future of Religion The Devil's Chessboard Allen Dulles 10 Global Businesses That Worked with the Nazis http://www.businesspundit.com/10-global-businesses-that-worked-with-the-nazis/2/ JP Morgan Bank complicit in financial crimes in WWII The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade Mossad Israeli Mafia One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church J. Tony Serra (born December 30, 1934) is an American civil rights lawyer, activist and tax resister from San Francisco - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Serra About Robert Forte James Fadiman calls Robert Forte, "a major but not well known hero of the psychedelic movement." A scholar, editor, publisher, professor, researcher of the subject for over 3 decades, Forte has come to some disturbing realizations about the psychedelic renaissance that he helped to start. Huston Smith called his first book, Entheogens and the Future of Religion, "the best single inquiry into the religious significance of chemically occasioned mystical experience that has yet appeared." Forte was introduced to psychedelics in 1980 by Frank Barron, who initiated Timothy Leary and started the Harvard Psilocybin Project with him. From the University of California Forte was invited to Esalen to study with Stanislav Grof, before going to the University of Chicago to study the history and psychology of religion under Mircea Eliade. Over the years Forte has worked closely with many of the most prominent leaders of the psychedelic movement, including R. G. Wasson, Albert Hofmann, Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Alexander Shulgin, Claudio Naranjo, and many others. His early MDMA research in 1981-85 turned on 100s of people to this new medicine. Though this project led to the creation of MAPS, Forte is a vocal critic of MAPS government collusion and deceptive policies. His second book is a rounded view of Timothy Leary, Outside Looking In: Appreciations, Castigations, Reminiscences. He first experienced ayahuasca in 1988, and conducted ayahuasca research with cancer patients in Peru, yet he is now suspicious of the globalizing of ayahuasca as an form of "spiritual colonialism." He is a enthusiastic supporter of conscious, independent psychedelic healing and recreation, and an equally fierce opponent of psychedelics for mind control, profiteering, and social engineering by political and economic elites.

Download During this episode of Psychedelics Today, Kyle Buller interviews Dr. Richard Grossman, an ayahuasca ceremony facilitator and expert with a background in healing and acupuncture. Episode Quotes I find mystical poetry to be an amazing aid in ceremony work. Is it the vision or the emotion that you feel and then the vision comes? In my work, the psychedelic experience is about going beyond the visionary state. The core of all creation is in the heart and breath. Show Notes About Dr. Richard Grossman Has a long background in healing. He used to be a macrobiotic chef. Primeval meditations and licensed acupuncturist. Works with ayahuasca and San Pedro. How did Richard get involved in ayahuasca? A friend brought some up from Peru and his life changed in one night. It took him years as an acupuncturist learning more about healing. He's been doing this for about thirty years. Do you integrate your acupuncture practice into ceremony? Not so much with ayahuasca - that's done traditionally. He had a lot of experience with the Shipibo Tradition. With the San Pedro method, the body change happens in one day. Opinions on psychedelic visions. Many people want them and they're a distraction. The real thing is that the source of everything is within. If a person can experience that for an instant, their life changes. There are a lot of things happening on subtle levels. The psychonaut and healing processes are quite different. What are some examples of ideas you've seen in the psychedelic community? People trying to draw in gods and goddesses. You need to see how deep a human being can go, it's an infinite journey. What is it like to go deeper and deeper? If you can imagine a series of curtains parting over and over and over again. You begin to see places of illusion. During one of his trips, he visualized himself in a Nazi concentration camp. A voice told him to trust and forgive. He began to question what forgiveness and trust mean. Some people are seeking spirituality and not really healing within. Ayahuasca tourism is a fairly good thing, rather than people coming and ruining the jungle. How would you define a healing process? It's a complex subject, he likes the idea of a series of concentric circles. Do you work with a person's energy? People get very relaxed. If there is someone who can't get relax he calms them with acupuncture. Do you think intoxicants affects the chi? San Pedro or ayahuasca are not considered intoxicants. He sees that ayahuasca is only good for the body. Psilocybin has a rough effect on the liver. The tannins in ayahuasca are valuable and bind toxins in the body. Do you have to worry about any cardiovascular problems? It is a stimulant so he screens people before doing the ceremony. Beauty is a healing process, beauty heals. Is there anything you're excited about in the psychedelic world? When the community comes together to heal it's powerful. We're all going to a place of more love, peace, joy, and healing. What's the outcome of thousands of people experiencing love and joy? What's the ayahuasca ceremony structure? Constant music, keeping things from going totally wonky. There's a point in the ceremony that it could go in either direction: Total group insanity or total group healing. Iowaska ceremonies can be dangerous. It's something to be respected with its own spirit. You must hold close to the traditions of generations. There's always a point during the ceremony where he feels it's the most important and beautiful place he's ever been. Drama's not necessary, our culture wants the drama. We need to outgrow externalizing the blame. Life in our heart is meant to be enjoyed. Suffering to heal just doesn't work. Culture seems to dwell on suffering, is that conditioning? The worst thing a human can possibly do is feeling guilty. "Guilt can't fly and God wants you to fly." The nature of reality is joy and love. You need to be willing to let go of the things that don't work. Psychedelics can be used as a guiding light. Any final advice, events? Find him on his website or on Facebook. Heartfeather.com - Dr. Richard Grossman's website. Don't stop, just keep going. Sign up for our free course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Richard Grossman, L.AC., O.M.D., Ph.D. Richard Grossman studied Oriental Medicine at the California Acupuncture College in Los Angeles and received his post-graduate acupuncture training in Beijing, in a course sponsored by the World Health Organization and attended by physicians from around the world. He earned a Masters in Acupuncture, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine degree, a Ph.D. in Oriental Medicine, a Diplomat in Acupuncture, a Diplomat of Pain Management, and a Diplomat in Acupuncture Orthopedics.

Download During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your hosts Joe Moore and Kyle Buller interview Dr. Monnica Williams from the University of Connecticut and Dr. Will Siu a psychiatrist IN private practice based in Manhattan, and a therapist on MAPS's MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD clinical trials at the University of Connecticut. They join us to discuss race-based trauma, people of color in psychedelics, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Show Notes About Dr. Will Siu He's a psychiatrist and therapist on the MDMA for PTSD clinical trials with the supervision of Dr. Monnica Williams. Based in NYC and has a private practice. Does some work in emergency psychiatry at a local hospital. About Dr. Monnica Williams Associate professor at the University of Connecticut. Does graduate teaching and multicultural psychology and research in the health center. Currently doing a study on MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. What is race-based trauma? There had been some studies previously. When people become traumatized by experiences of racism, oppression, marginalization based on their perceived identity. Often because of ongoing experiences, like microaggressions Eventually, people have so many of these experiences that they start to have symptoms of PTSD. People get so distressed and afraid that they act in a way that might harm them. You have to think about trauma in a non-single event way. Exploring the topic epigenetics. Trauma has been passed down from generation to generation. Layer epigenetics on top of what's currently going on and trauma is understandable. How has recruiting been going for the MDMA study? It's challenging, they're not drawing from the same population the other sites are. They're creating a culturally safe, welcoming environment for people of color. There is fear and misinformation that requires them to do a lot of education on the front end. Research abuses haven't stopped, they're still continuing today. Psychedelic drugs are almost exclusively used by white people. Are there any big problems you're trying to tackle now in prepping the study? Traditionally there has been no compensation for study participants, but it's needed for this study. Another layer is paying via direct deposit vs. cash and getting the university on board. How do you send someone back into the trauma you're trying to heal. How do you support people in the study? Support them as much as possible during the study. Continue to follow-up with people after the treatment is over. There is a lack of people of color in the therapy field, especially MAPS. Often people of color don't have a good experience with white therapists. Why do you think there aren't very many people of color in psychedelics? People of color haven't had the same advantages to become therapists. It's not safe to talk about substances when your license is on the line. Culturally, psychedelics haven't played as big of a role with people of color. What does an ideal training model look like for you? Watching the videos of people getting well was a big game changer. The training needs a fuller understanding of what people from other ethnic and cultural groups need. Monica is altering the training to be more relatable. Talk about enrollment. They have people at all different stages right now. They have about 18 people total who have gone through the stages. They still have to follow the guidelines of an indexed trauma to be accepted. How big is your team right now? Three therapist pair teams. A few other people who assist in various ways. Several people are doing double-duty. How can the psychedelic community be more inclusive of people of color? Make some close friends who are not white. Do you have any fantasy projects you'd like to see play out? Start a master's program with a specialty track in minority mental health and psychedelic therapy. All scholarships for people of color. Any advice you'd give to a young person or professional? There's a lot of work to be done and we need enthusiastic minds. Change won't happen overnight or be easy, but it's worth it. Be involved in the community Episode Quotes The psychedelic community is a very, very white community - most people of color haven't had an experience with psychedelics. Ultimately, psychedelics and psychotherapy will be an accepted, licensed form of treatment. About Monnica Williams Monnica Williams, Ph.D. is a board-certified, licensed clinical psychologist, specializing in cognitive-behavioral therapies. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut, and Director of the Laboratory for Culture and Mental Health Disparities. She is also the Clinical Director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinic, LLC in Mansfield, Connecticut, and she has founded clinics in Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Will Siu, MD, DPhil I grew up in southern California, where I completed college at UC Irvine and medical school at UCLA. Midway through medical sch

Download This is a great episode featuring Daniel Greig. He is a student at the University of Toronto and psychedelic community organizer working with CSSDP and the Toronto Psychedelic Society. We go all over the map but some notable things discussed on this episode including: Measuring wisdom Mindfulness The promise of psychedelics Future research opportunities How friendly the University of Toronto is to psychedelic research Interesting philosophical overlaps with psychedelics and occultism and much more!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y5qB-fgWV4 Quotes We're very much detached from our own traditions here in the west. Just imagining practicing something can have just as much of an effect of your performance than actually practicing it. You have to bring your insights back into the community to be an effective member of society. There's a strong relationship between wisdom and psychedelics. Without intervention, life will tend toward suffering. Links - Daniel Grieg Youtube - Daniel Grieg Academia.edu Relevance realizing https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2017.00814/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2018.00100/full Wisdom - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/wisdom https://www.academia.edu/1762150/A_route_to_well-being_intelligence_vs._wise_reasoning http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550616652206 http://www.wisdompage.com/Ardelt01.html Development Lines - Ken Wilbur Wiki Marta Kaczmarczyk Entity Contact Paper: Mental Imagery: Functional Mechanisms and Clinical Applications https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmGNhDUe19M&t=7319s

Download In this 94th episode of Psychedelics Today, host Joe Moore interviews Dr. Benjamin Malcolm, professor of pharmacy at the Western University School of Pharmacy. The discussion revolves around ibogaine, alkaloids, and addiction therapy solutions. Show Notes: Dr. Benjamin Malcolm discusses psychedelic alkaloids that have potential to treat addictions. When conducting human subjects research, it's a good idea to at least run it past an IRB. There are risks involved in taking in ibogaine that can be used to treat addiction. For people age 18-24, opiates are a major cause of death. Holistic House teaches addicts heath habits for treatment. Ibogaine is still an unregulated area. 2CB haven't had that many research studies. Surveys tend to have a bit of bias, often given to supportive subjects to begin with. Mescaline, San Pedro, and peyote appears to lack research. There is going to be a need to potentially or switch between traditional therapeutic modalities and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies.

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, host Kyle Buller interviews Alyssa Gursky, a Masters student at Naropa University with a focus in mental health counseling and transpersonal art therapy. Their discussion dives into the intersection between art therapy, transpersonal art, and psychedelics. Ketamine, symbols, and meaning are also areas of this interview. 3 Key Points: Alyssa Gursky has been working with the MDMA research In Boulder, Colorado and now in Fort Collins for the last three years as a night attendant. Creating art is a gift from our unconscious, to be able to see what is happening within ourselves. There is art in therapy and there is art as therapy. More at: www.psychedelicstoday.com Navigating Psychedelics: psychedelicstoday.teachable.com/p/navigatingpsychedelics

Introduction In this episode of Psychedelics Today, host Joe Moore and Kyle Buller interview Matt Pallamary, and have a discussion with him about his writing, research, and ayahuasca experiences. He also shares his concerns about self-proclaimed gurus and some issues that have been emerging because of the popularity of ayahuasca. 3 Key Points: Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury was a mentor of Matt Pallamary. There are pros and cons to ayahuasca shamanism in Peru. The more in touch with the natural world you are the more balanced you are. Show Notes Matt Pallamary was part of the early psychedelics podcast scene. Matt grew up in Dorchester near Boston, and he began early experiences with sniffing glue, weed, and getting acid from a chemist from M.I.T.. He has almost 20 years experience with ayahuasca. Too many people have a couple of ayahuasca experiences and claim to be a guru. Famed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury was a mentor of Matt Pallamary. Everything is energy—the whole universe exists between our eyes. Matt labels shamans as the first storytellers, the first musicians, the first performers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and first performers. Being in touch with the natural world makes a person more balanced. The boundaries between your conscious and subconscious are blurred, overlapping your visions, dreams, and waking life. When going through an ayahuasca experience, you have to be in a safe place where you can be vulnerable and around people you can trust. For ayahuasca experiences, be sure to get references from people that have successfully worked with a group. Resources Mentioned: Matt Pallamary – Website for Matt Pallamary [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCKedqiAQ7g] About Author Author, Editor, and Shamanic Explorer Matthew J. Pallamary is an award winning writer, musician, and sound healer who has been studying shamanism all of his life. He incorporates shamanic practices into his daily life as well as into his writing and teaching. He has over a dozen books in print that cover several genres, many of which have been translated into foreign languages. His book on writing, Phantastic Fiction: A Shamanic Approach to Story took First Place in the International Book Awards Writing and Editing Category, and his popular Phantastic Fiction Workshop has been a staple of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and the Southern California Writer's Conference for over twenty five years. He has also lectured about writing and shamanism at numerous venues throughout the United States. Matt has spent extended time in the jungles, mountains, and deserts of North, Central, and South America pursuing his studies of shamanism and ancient cultures. Through his research into both the written word and the ancient beliefs of shamanism, he has uncovered the heart of what a story really is and integrated it into core dramatic concepts that also have their basis in shamanism.

Download Caution!! A few important notes. This is an episode of an individual experimenting with powerful drugs to see if he can get any sort of relief from autism. In this case, it appears to have been successful. That said, this came with a substantial amount of risks, and people need to be aware. Please read the below bullets so you understand. Autism is not what is treated. The thing being treated would be a symptom like social anxiety. "The field of autism science includes a long and shameful history of quack treatments and parents taking desperate and harmful measures to "fix" their children. Autism is a spectrum of congenital and neurocognitive variants, and there are no published research data in support of any compound that can influence its course." Alicia Danforth, PhD Please do not administer these drugs to children with autism. There are only two researchers investigating where MDMA and autism meet - Alicia Danforth PhD and Dr. Charlie Grob. A scientific paper will likely be available on this in the next few months. Expect to see more here. These drugs have not been shown to cure or treat autism, but in some cases, just like with neuro-typical individuals, some have seen meaningful changes. Even if changes are noticed the person is still autistic no matter how many high doses of psychedelics they take. Obtaining pure drugs is very difficult if not impossible in black markets. Verifying purity will require the resources of mass spectrometry from organizations offering these services like Energy Control or Ecstasy Data Providing unsafe, dirty or compromised drugs to people can cause serious harm or death. If you are planning to use MDMA to alleviate some suffering on your own, please wait or don't. Do substantial research and have skilled people available to help. Thanks to Alicia Danforth for helping us understand the nuance's in this area. ..autism is a genetically determined cognitive variant. It's pervasive, and it affects the whole person, not just the brain. No chemical compound has been shown to treat, cure, or alter the course of autism. However, for some people, substances like MDMA can help them manage symptoms such as anxiety, social anxiety, and trauma effects. - Alicia Danforth, Ph.D Introduction Joe Moore and Kyle Buller interview Jon and Dre of the Voices in the Dark podcast out of England. The discussion addresses treating autism with MDMA and LSD, what types of doses you should take, and how to in part do it safely. Note there are always risks with any kind of drug. Learn the basics over at our Navigating Psychedelics course. 3 Key Points: A lot of autism is sensory overload. As far as emotions are concerned, we see potentially too many things in other people's faces. A good range for MDMA dosages is between 100mg and not going over 200mg. 125 micrograms per drop of liquid LSD, and not going above 250 micrograms is recommended. Show Notes Jon's first psychedelic experience shifted his academic career path and helped him to deal with depression. Dre first tried MDMA as a first step and it unlocked emotional empathy. Sensory overload is a lot of Autism according to Dre. Jon's experiences with MDMA made him feel like himself without the fear and the worry. MDMA and LSD at the same time didn't feel as emotional when combined to Jon. 125 micrograms per drop of liquid LSD, and not going above 250 micrograms is recommended. Democratising psychedelic therapy is where Joe would like to see the industry go. Jon is against the fetishizing of any particular concept of belief system in its totality. Jon is excited that he is starting to see more types of research on LSD/MDMA and autism. Dre's experiences have shifted his autism by feeling that he has a foot in both worlds to know how living without it feels in his mind. Resources Mentioned: Voices in the Dark – Website for Voices in the Dark Instagram – Psychedelics Today Instagram Patreon – Psychedelics Today Patreon donation page DMTX.org – Website for DMTX.org Ecstasy Could Help Adults With Autism Cope with Social Anxiety - Discover Magazine MDMA-Autism - MAPS.org MDMA-assisted therapy: A new treatment model for social anxiety in autistic adults Autism and LSD-25 Additional Resources https://vimeo.com/198405527 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eINBXdqTfOQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ5P4AYAvuE About Voices in the Dark LEARNING HOW TO HUMAN At Voices in the Dark, we bring you powerful, mind- and soul-expanding conversations about real life psychology, philosophy, psychedelics, spirituality, social dynamics and much more. We're a podcast, a blog, and a community of likeminded individuals who want to become the best versions of themselves. We're dedicated to never stop Learning How To Human. Our mission is to entertain, provoke, inform, and make you question everything you think you know. DRE A disturbingly quick study in most fields, Dre's autism made learning people more of a challenge. The works of Robert Greene shone a light on the ot

Download Kyle and Joe discuss professionalism in the psychedelic field. There are a number of people out there doing very unprofessional things. We need to be aware of what professionalism could look like, what self care, ethics and boundaries look like in this world we are actively developing. In light of festival season, we are offering a $30 off coupon for our online store with every purchase of our course, Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care and Integration throughout the month of June. If you are a student, please email us with your university email address to receive a special discount! Joe and Kyle will also be offering some special live online course options. If you want to stay up-to-date about these offerings, sign up for our email list. If you're interested in learning more about DMTx, you can enroll in the DMTx 4-week Psychonaut Training. Proceeds go towards the DMTx project.

In this 88th episode of Psychedelics Today, host Joe Moore interviews Mike Brancatelli of the Mikeadelic podcast. After returning from a three-month Amazonian ayahuasca sojourn, Mikeadelic himself shares information about this extraordinary experience, how he has gotten involved in psychedelics and his journey. Show Notes: ● Mike Brancatelli spent his three-month trip in Peru at the Temple of the Way of Lights with their residency program in the heart of the Amazon jungle during an ayahuasca retreat. ● Mike was previously doing stand-up comedy in New York City with his friend Dave Smith called "Part of the Problem." ● Mikeadelic the podcast began in the spring of 2016. ● Drinking ayahuasca will produce an effect on you, especially when coupled with ceremony and healing songs. ● During an intense healing ceremony, a song cut to the core of the collection of pain that Mike was experiencing, and it felt like he was being unclogged of this negative energy, and it came out in the form of a very vocal purge. ● He feels passionate about ending the war on drugs and the prison industrial complex. ● You can remain filled with passion and compassion without being emotionally attached. Sit with your feelings without letting them control how you respond. ● The information overload of media drowns your spirit. ● A morning routine with meditation is helpful to get centered and focused for the rest of the day. ● The Netflix TV series "Wild Wild Country" is a true story about a controversial cult leader claiming to enlighten people. ● "Enlightenment Now" is a book about the enlightenment philosophy "science, reason and humanism". It is a contemporary take on that philosophy - you could call Pinker's take a Modern Enlightenment philosophy. Steven Pinker wrote the book. Joe Moore, suggests it and found out about it from the Bill Gates's. ● "The Internet of Money" Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Andreas M. Antonopoulos is another interesting read suggested by Joe Moore. ● Before ayahuasca use, listen to your heart to understand why you want to try it. 3 Key Points: 1. During an intense healing ceremony, a song cut to the core of the collection of pain that Mike was experiencing, and it felt like he was being unclogged of this negative energy, and it came out in the form of a very vocal purge. 2. It is incredibly brave to be willing to confront your stress and be willing to stare into your soul and slay your demons. 3. Remain passionate, compassionate, and acknowledge the problems in the world, but don't stay emotionally attached to them. Become mindful of how you respond.

Joe Moore interviews Britta Love, a passionate writer and sex educator based in New York City. Britta shares about the overlap of sexuality and psychedelics, her field of consciousness and embodiment studies, and dealing with the psychedelic patriarchy. She shares her desires to diversity the field and make supporters he safe and supported. Quotes We have to be OK with the fact that as we get confronted by the internalized racism and patriarchy and privilege that our psychedelic sub-culture carries, that its going to be a little messy for a while, and we are all going to have to feel uncomfortable at times. Giving up your privilege is the ultimate psychedelic trip. There is something about that surrender that's really deep. If you are someone who does what we call holding space or facilitates in someway, to actively hand that power back as often as possible, when you realize someone is trying to give it to you it, is a really powerful meditation." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmzDUK-EZqQ Show Notes ● Britta Love talks about sexual abuse stories that were discussed on a panel on psychedelic patriarchy she participated in. ● In Britta's anti-racist work, whenever she starts to feel uncomfortable, she recognizes that that discomfort is not as bad as what it must feel like to get oppressed by systemic racism. ● Author Robert Anton Wilson's idea of "reality tunnels" is that we all have our B.S. (Belief System). What if we could flip between belief systems and be more flexible and be more literate with reality and open-minded. ● Britta speaks about a healer who was sexually abusive to a woman she knows. ● A woman was raped by a male nurse and she was strong-armed to sign a non-disclosure agreement. ● The psychedelic community needs more diversity, more women and people of color to balance out the equality of voices. ● We need healthy models of sexuality to express sexual energy in a positive and constructive manner to get rid of sexual aggression and power dynamics. ● We are too willing to hand over our power to healers and shamans. We can become our own healers when we are in safe environments. ● Psychedelic therapy can be demystified and taught, and doesn't have to remain esoteric with a hierarchy of privilege structures. ● Forming collectives of up to 100 people with different skills to form a safe, supportive, and collective village of awareness and wisdom. ● How do we create containers that are encouraging of and supportive of the deep reflection that is required to undo racism and patriarchy and systems of oppression require? 3 Key Points: 1. In Britta's anti-racist work, whenever she starts to feel uncomfortable, she recognizes that that discomfort is not as bad as what it must feel like to get oppressed by systemic racism. 2. We are too willing to hand over our power to healers and shamans—we can become our own healers when we are in safe spaces. 3. Know your value and contribution within a group. People feel better when they are a giver. Resources Mentioned Instagram - BrittaLoved The Daily Transmission Links 10 Reasons to End the War on Drugs and the War on Sex Workers Britta Love Britta Love is a writer, somatic sex educator and multi-dimensional healer based in Brooklyn, NY. A graduate of the London School of Economics and Goddard College, she wrote her thesis in Consciousness Studies on the healing and spiritual potential of altered states, specifically those induced by conscious sexual practice and the ritual use of psychoactive plant medicines. She writes for Alternet, Psymposia and Reality Sandwich, gives talks and facilitates workshops in NYC, and blogs on sex, drugs and consciousness

Download During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Joe Moore interviews Daniel McQueen of Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder, CO about his DMTx project and some of the reasons he is so interested in the DMTx project. Show Notes What is DMTx Who originated the concept. Dr Rick Strassman and Dr Andrew Gallimore. Daniel's story of a very intense and meaningful DMT experience Much more! Resources Mentioned Medicinal Mindfulness DMTx.org Daniel McQueen, MA Daniel discovered meditation and spiritual practices at twelve and has been interested in exploring inner states ever since. He apprenticed under a number of shamanic teachers and has been a practicing intentional journeyer for over 16 years. For Daniel, working in the professional field of Cannabis and Psychedelics isn't a career interest, but represents a core identity and life calling. Finding a place to honor such a life calling within a world that has until recently prohibited it has been an interesting challenge. After graduating from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Communication, Daniel traveled down a many forked and unmarked road through the wild terrain of political activism, corporate accountability research and campaign finance reform for many years in Washington, DC. Disillusioned by the city, he moved to Florida and opened a small meditation center to explore grassroots community organizing before moving to Boulder, CO and returning to school at Naropa University. Daniel earned a Masters Degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa and received advanced training in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy through a year internship with the MAPS Boulder MDMA for PTSD Study. It was his experience with MAPS that inspired Daniel to explore alternative visions in cannabis and psychedelic activism and entrepreneurship. Daniel bridges transpersonal paradigms with the grounded clinical and organizational skills necessary to begin addressing the significant ecological and mental health crises facing our society today. Although Daniel no longer practices as a clinical psychotherapist, he supports his clients as a teacher, coach, ally and event facilitator, providing individual and group transformational experiences and deeply held intentional conversations. In his practice, Daniel quickly realized that the most important intervention he could provide to his clients, who were isolated and longed for meaningful contact with others, was a sense of community. Medicinal Mindfulness is, in a very real way, a cultural intervention that provides a safe and transformational community container for healing and awakening... a program based on skill development and not dogma. Since 2012, Daniel has been teaching a psychedelic harm prevention and intentional psychedelic use course called Psychedelic Sitters School. Since the legalization of recreational cannabis in Colorado, he has been facilitating group journey experiences called Conscious Cannabis Events and guiding individual cannabis journeys. In addition to his work with Medicinal Mindfulness, Daniel has a successful spirituality and life coaching practice with his wife, Alison, through their company, Aspenroots Counseling LLC. Highly skilled in identifying and cultivating giftedness in young people and supporting significant life transitions, Daniel is inspired to support passionate and talented individuals striving to live into their calling. A primary focus of his practice involves assessing and addressing the benefits and difficulties related to psychedelic and cannabis use and misuse. Daniel co-founded the Naropa Alliance for Psychedelic Studies and helped organize the first annual Psychedelic Symposium at Naropa University in 2012. About Medicinal Mindfulness Medicinal Mindfulness® LLC and Medicinal Mindfulness Events LLC Medicinal Mindfulness is a grassroots consciousness community/membership organization and education program that supports individuals and groups who choose to use cannabis and psychedelics with intention. Founded by Daniel McQueen, MA, and his wife, Alison McQueen, MA, our community has come together to provide an enjoyable, safe, open and affirming space to share transformational cannabis and breathwork experiences. We use clinically informed, mindfulness-based approaches within a somatically oriented, transpersonal and community paradigm to create an holistic (mind, body, spirit) process that initiates powerful transformations in healing and personal development. Services are available for individuals, couples, families and groups. Given the common misunderstandings and concerns that accompany the field of psychedelics and cannabis harm prevention and advocacy, we are committed to making ourselves available to public service and safety professionals to answer questions regarding psychedelic and cannabis harm reduction programs.

Download During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Joe Moore interviews Brian Normand of Psymposia and coordinator of the Cryptopsychedelic Conference. Banks are devaluing currency by charging high fees. With block chain, you've got to think in the long-term. There's so much going on with crypto, you can't keep up. What blockchain developer wants to go work for Facebook? Show Notes Joe and Brian discuss the CryptoPsychedelic Conference the took place in Tulum, Mexico. What is blockchain? A next-gen decentralized ledger. A peer-to-peer border-less, institution-less payment system. Money will be one of the first users of blockchain. Banks are devaluing currency by charging high fees. The whole concept of money will transform, it will be a border-less thing. When Napster came out, peer to peer transfer became a very popular technology. When the record companies worried about being irrelevant, they sued. There could be something like Spotify that pays artists more fairly than Spotify currently does. Social media could be rebuilt. We could no longer be the product being sold, but get paid for our contributions. Could crypto be used to trace the history and purity of substances? Yes, that's a definite use case. The first voting on a block chain happened in Sierra Leone. You've got to think in the long term. What were some of the more interesting things that came out of the CryptoPsychedelic conference? Some of the new relationships and seeing the potential collaboration between the two communities. Projects in this space need to be taken on. It was a time to question, not really a time for answers. Watch the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey in one sitting. Every time you watch it you come away with a new experience. Cryptocurrencies are border-less, some have minimal fees, and it's instant. Decentralized systems Information is easier to access, it doesn't have to climb up a ladder. The DAO is the Decentralized Autonomous Organization – there is no hierarchy. Government could eventually be run via blockchain. How could we use the internet to further the message of psychedelics? Before the internet, the only way you were exposed to information was top down. Networks, authority institutions. Because of the internet, information is moving more horizontally. How do you change incentive structures in the drug war? Could it be these new technologies? The rate of innovation now is way faster than it was when the internet was first coming out. You cannot keep up with what's going on, there's too much going on. Look at money as a tool or form of energy. Crypto will change everyone's concept of paying taxes. Air BnB cut the cities completely out of the picture. Taxes and healthcare or both extremely important and impossible for people to understand. Internet privacy is a big deal in crypto and psychedelics alike. Brian doesn't think that Facebook will ultimately make it. Developers want to build new tools to take down the giants like Facebook. Recently, Facebook announced a decline in users. What can you do to reverse becoming "uncool"? Reddit's price per impression is much lower. Steemit has a fascinating model. It would be cool if you could be compensated for putting helpful content online. We assume that the way the internet is now is how it's always going to be. How can we use the tool to help the people whose lives aren't privileged like ours? In a lot of refugee camps, you can't have cash, so crypto is huge for them. What happens when people who are impoverished around the world can now crowdfund? Resources Mentioned Psymposia CryptoPsychedelic Brian Normand Viveros Brian Normand is CoFounder of Psymposia, entrepreneur, and advocate of psychedelic science, therapy, and drug reform. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and holds a B.S. in Plant, Soil, and Insect Science, Magna Cum Laude.

Download Introduction During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your hosts Kyle Buller and Joe Moore talk to Zach Leary host of the MAPS podcast and It's All Happening. We have an incredible time talking to Zach and his worldview, experiences, opinions and much more. It was a very fun time recording with Zach and we hope it can happen again in the near future. Show Notes Joe and Kyle discuss Zach's connections with Ram Dass Zach Leary calls himself a futurist and we discuss what a futurist is. A natural way to continue the narrative of our physical evolution and our spiritual development. Cyberspace is an invention as a result of our human condition. The way and the reason we invented it is that we found a need to create another dimension. Futurism and transhumanism and embracing the way technology is augmenting the human experience is a great place to be. Do you see any major problems in psychedelia? Overall, it's a great time to be into psychedelics. There's so much research and data available to the end-user and the discussion is improving. Many people are starting to be more open about their beneficial relationship with psychedelics. It's important to get people in the mainstream aware of their beneficial properties. The Ayahuasca fad going on in the U.S. has many people calling themselves shamans, which raised a red flag to Zach. It used to be that going to the medicine man was a common occurrence in any culture. Mysticism didn't go away, it just got turned into a more doctrinal practice. The part of the church that bothers Zach is the authoritarian aspect, that there is only one god. There's an element of fanaticism when someone says there's only one drug that's worth taking. April 19 is the 75th anniversary of the first intentional use of LSD (Bicycle Day). We have to start re-thinking about what "natural" means. The human imagination and what it creates is a by-product of nature. There's no stopping the technological march, the train has left the station. A return to nature can include biodiverse rooftop gardens in New York. It's very hard to get off the grid. What do we have that's readily available and sustainable? Mushrooms LSD Other synthetic compounds that don't bother the rainforest, etc. Drugs that may not be sustainable: Ayahuasca, Peyote, 5-MeO (Sonoran Desert Toad - Bufo Alvarius toad venom) Some people are playing fast and loose with 5-MeO There are people who give do things to "patients" that are non-consensual while they are under the effect of the drug. Psychedelics are often highly individualistic. It's nice to be able to jump in with a shaman, but to what extent? There is some cultural appropriation here when you take ancient practices and move them into new environments. It's best not to ignore the roots and traditions of these practices but honor them as best as you can. How do we not make mistakes in psychedelics? There's so much data, examples and role models now. There are best practices based on data now. Zach would like to see less consumption of MDMA. People over-consume MDMA. More of a concern about bodily harm. 2-3 times a year is probably enough. There are parallel paths going on and if the parallel path of computers and humanity are going on, what does that look like eventually? What are some of your major influences in the psychedelic world? Terence McKenna, Jim Fadiman, Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, Dennis McKenna How would you like to see the future of psychedelics evolve? We're seeing the rumblings of what's to come. There's going to be a firmly legitimate place in the psychiatric world for the psychedelic therapy. Hopefully, it carries over into recreational use and cognitive therapy. Links ZachLeary.com The MAPS Podcast Psychedelicstoday.teachable.com Bluebird Botanicals About Zach Leary Zach is the host of both the "It's All Happening with Zach Leary" podcast and "The MAPS Podcast." They have helped to cement him as one of the most thought provoking podcasters in the cultural philosophy genre of podcasting. He's also a blogger/writer, a futurist, spiritualist, a technology consultant and socio-cultural theorist. In all of Zach's work he blends his roles as a spiritual aspirant and a futurist into a unique identity all his own. His spiritual background has it's roots in being a practitioner of bhakti yoga as taught through many of the vedantic systems of Northern India, in particular Neem Karoli Baba as taught by Ram Dass. Through the practice of bhakti yoga he has found keys that unlock doorways that allow the soul to experience it's true nature of being eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. In addition to bhakti yoga, Zach is influenced by many different methods and traditions of consciousness exploration ranging from trans-humanism to buddhism and clinical psychology. Zach is also a frequent pundit on the political systems that are fueling todays economic and cultural structures. At the core of all of Zach's work is the belief that we have been fused tog

Download During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your hosts Kyle and Joe Moore talk to Dr. Matt Segall, a philosopher with a Ph.D. working at CIIS as an administrator and adjunct lecturer. In this episode, we explore psychedelics through the lens of philosophy and Alfred North Whitehead. Show Notes: Philosophy is really important when talking about psychedelics. This movement is working on a lot of different levels. Looking to get accepted into academia therefore it's important to be precise. About Dr. Matt Segall Strong interest in Alfred North Whitehead 12 levels of abstraction away from Plato. Ropes in all of western philosophy and science into a cohesive system that seems to reenchant the world a bit. Extended state DMT research Use an IV pump to keep a steady stream of DMT in the bloodstream for an undetermined amount of time. The initial phase of the study is 10-20 minutes. Not just for medical research, it's for the community. Join the class at psychedelicstoday.teachable.com. How did Matt Segall stumble his way into the Whitehead world? Philosophy came first, but not by much. He had a teacher who introduced him to some psychedelic teachers. His first experience with psychedelics was when he was 19 years old with mushrooms. He realized that there were many other worlds running in parallel with this one. These substances open up our perceptions of other worlds and other facets of the same world. We need to incorporate the experience induces by these substances. Western philosophy is rooted in the psychedelic experience. Plato's encounter with the ideal forms that led him out of the cave proves that the origins of philosophy include psychedelics. There is chemical evidence that the rituals in Athens were psychedelic in nature. When ancient Greeks refer to wine, they're talking about something that was way more mind altering. What drew you into Whitehead? In college, he listened to a McKenna lecture and he mentioned Whitehead a lot. McKenna introduced him to Whitehead. He waited until he started graduate school, so he could take a course on him and study him alongside other graduate students. Whitehead incorporated 20th century physics and a version of Darwin's understanding of evolution expanded to a cosmological level. Combining advanced science with an enchanted view of the universe. The modern era has alienated human beings from the rest of the natural world. The industrial revolution made this alienation even more profound. There has been a gradual isolation of the human being from the rest of life and the universe. Human beings have come to think of the rest of life and just robots seeking to reproduce. Value has to be assigned to anything non-human by humans. This thinking is highly destructive. Our idea has not fit the reality and it's destroying the reality. Whitehead helps us re-inhabit the planet as one of the many species. When human beings come to recognize that value is not just made up in our human society but it's an intrinsic cosmic value, they can act accordingly. Whitehead's process is called a process-relational process. We've traditionally been thought to have a soul or mind that's independent of others. Whitehead proposes that our soul or mind is in relation to others. So that what it means to be me is that I'm not unique, but my uniqueness comes from my unique perspective and works with the other souls in the environment. This attempts to move us away from thinking of ourselves as isolated minds. The biggest challenge is to get people to not shut down when they see Whitehead's terminology. Philosophy can serve to help us develop a language that actually serves to represent our experience. It's well worth it to learn the dictionary that Whitehead provides. Whitehead's understanding of perception is welcoming more indigenous ways of knowing back into the realm of philosophy. Whitehead helps us make sense of indigenous experience. All of human culture stems from these shamanistic practices. We don't yet have the words to explain yet what these psychedelic journeys are doing to us. A downside to being in the west is that we don't have relationship with psychedelic substances. The plants that are a part of the ayahuasca brew told the indigenous people how to brew them. People talk about nature deficit disorder, kids being raised indoors being told the outdoors is dirty. The problem is not one of trying to reinvent the wheel, we have to stop beating this capacity out of children. When we talk about the human nervous system in the context of symbiotic relationships with our ecosystem: It doesn't make sense to consider the human brain and nervous system as enclosed within the skull. The human nervous system is actually a lot more ecological in its extent than most physiologists would let on. The chemical metabolism of our brain extends out into the environment. Richard Doyle wrote a book called Darwin's Pharmacy where he coins the term "ecodelic" which challenges the idea of an autonom

Download In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Kyle and Joe speak to Dennis McKenna (of Dennis McKenna fame) and Mark Plotkin founder of the Amazon Conservation Team. We discuss a broad range of subjects. One of the most interesting was a project that Dennis and many others have been working on for over a year at the time of recording this, titled Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs, which was a conference in the UK in 2017. It was a 50 year follow up to the initial event (and later seminal book) that Richard Evan Schultes, Ph.D helped coordinate and host. This link will take you to a page where you can see all of the talks that were given at ESPD50. https://vimeo.com/album/4766647 We really think you'll enjoy the show. Please let us know what you think and if you can, pre-order the ESPD 50 to save some money on the post release price. About Mark Plotkin, Ph.D Dr. Plotkin has led ACT and guided its vision since 1996, when he co-founded the organization with his fellow conservationist, Liliana Madrigal. He is a renowned ethnobotanist who has spent almost three decades studying traditional plant use with traditional healers of tropical America. Dr. Plotkin has previously served as Research Associate in Ethnobotanical Conservation at the Botanical Museum of Harvard University; Director of Plant Conservation at the World Wildlife Fund; Vice President of Conservation International; and Research Associate at the Department of Botany of the Smithsonian Institution. Among his many influential writings, Dr. Plotkin may be best known for his popular work Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice (1994), which has been printed continuously and has been published in multiple languages. Other works include the critically acclaimed children's book The Shaman's Apprentice - A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest, illustrated by Lynne Cherry, and Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature's Healing Secrets. His most recent book, The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria, coauthored with Michael Shnayerson, was selected as a Discover Magazine book of the year. In 1998, he played a leading role in the Academy Award-nominated IMAX film Amazon. Dr. Plotkin's work also has been featured in a PBS Nova documentary, in an Emmy-winning Fox TV documentary, on the NBC Nightly News and Today Show, CBS' 48 Hours and in Life, Newsweek, Smithsonian, Elle, People, The New York Times, along with appearances on National Public Radio. Time magazine called him an "Environmental Hero for the Planet" (2001) and Smithsonian magazine hailed him as one of "35 Who Made a Difference" (2005), along with Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, and fellow New Orleanian Wynton Marsalis. Dr. Plotkin has received the San Diego Zoo Gold Medal for Conservation; the Roy Chapman Andrews Distinguished Explorer Award; an International Conservation Leadership award from the Jane Goodall Institute; and, with Liliana Madrigal, the Skoll Foundation's Award for Social Entrepreneurship. In 2010, he received the honorary degree of "Doctor of Humane Letters" from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Plotkin was educated at Harvard, Yale and Tufts University. About the Amazon Conservation Team The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving South American rainforests. This small but robust outfit occupies a unique niche among other environmental non-profits working in the tropics: ACT works hand in hand with local indigenous communities to devise and implement its conservation strategies. About Dennis McKenna Dennis Jon McKenna is an American ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer and author. He is a founding board member and the director of ethnopharmacology at the Heffter Research Institute, a non-profit organization concerned with the investigation of the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelic medicines. McKenna received his Master's degree in botany at the University of Hawaii in 1979. He received his doctorate in botanical sciences in 1984 from the University of British Columbia,[2] where he wrote a dissertation entitled Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in Amazonian hallucinogenic plants: ethnobotanical, phytochemical, and pharmacological investigations. McKenna then received post-doctoral research fellowships in the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health, and in the Department of Neurology, Stanford University School of Medicine. Dennis McKenna Links Dennis on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/dennisjonmckenna/ Dennis's Recent book - Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss Symbio Life Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKiKfAmysrI Links https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_plotkin_what_the_people_of_the_amazon_know_that_you_don_t

Download Joe had the opportunity to interview an old friend Tarif Ahmed while visiting Long Island, New York recently. They had the opportunity to record about all sorts of things from diversity, privilege, open source experimentation with different psychedelic regimens, bringing psychedelics safely into Islam and much more. If you enjoy the episode, please let us know what you think by leaving an iTunes review!

Malin Vedøy Uthaug, a PhD candidate from Prague, joins Psychedelics Today to talk about her interest and research with ayahuasca and 5-MeO-DMT. Malin shares her experience how she got involved studying psychedelics and shares a little bit about her personal experiences with ayahuasca. Malin is currently working on an interesting research study examining the potential influence that the ritual and ceremony may have on the overall ayahuasca experience. More at https://psychedelicstoday.com

Download James Norwood, MA, joins Kyle and Michelle Hobart for a talk about spiritual emergence, madness, entheogens, and the Gnosis Retreat Center. Learn more about Gnosis: http://www.gnosisretreatcenter.org/ [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4-lJWwwRc8] A brief introduction to Gnosis Suppose you come to the end of your tether, can no longer cope, have a break-down, fall apart, go to pieces. To whom would you turn? Where would you go? What alternatives do you have when you desperately need help, but have little, if any, say in the kind of help available? When a person's suffering becomes insupportable, to him or herself and to others, and yet persists, that person is in a state of distress. Once you find yourself in distress you come to realize that you are at the mercy of other people. Which of those people are you willing to be at their mercy, for better or worse? To whom are you willing to entrust your life? If you don't happen to know anyone who comes to mind, then how will you go about finding someone you can trust? Do such persons exist? Gnosis Retreat Center aspires to be such a place, by providing a safe place to be, when you are alone and afraid, confused, bereft, and not sure whom to turn to for help. Gnosis is a household that is populated by others like yourself, a refuge for those who are lost, afraid, bewildered, or simply seeking a fresh start, who may, if they choose, get over their ordeal and see it through, without jeopardy. If you want to learn more about spiritual emergence(y) check out this online webinar: Spiritual Emergence or Psychosis? Links Gnosis Website: Gnosisretreatcenter.org Gnosis Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Gnosisretreatcenter/ Gnosis Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA1MQyM14pcKhu96Zr5e2WA?view_as=subscriber Gnosis donations: https://www.youcaring.com/gnosisretreatcenter-752245 Gnosis Twitter: https://twitter.com/GnosisRetreatC Tickets for our upcoming event, Mad To Be Normal | The West Coast Premiere can be found here: madtobenormal.eventbrite.com Additional video link of interest to the viewers: This is the video of the talk on Why Radical Community is Vital https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOI_qT0mDKs&t=15s About James Norwood, MA James Norwood, MA, is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, California. Norwood is presently working as a clinical intern, researching MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in concert with the Multi-Disciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, and is on the board of directors of Free Association Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides alternatives to treatment for people with altered experiences of reality in the Bay Area. About Michelle Anne Hobart, MA Michelle Anne Hobart, MA: is a practitioner of energy medicine and holistic health educator. She holds a BS in Biology, and an MA in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. Currently, she is doing coursework in Integral Counseling Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies. Michelle is an advocate for the Neurodiversity movement and a certified Spiritual Emergence Coach. She supports sensitive, empathic people whose gifts and experiences have been judged or oppressed and who are in the process of reclaiming and recovering their self-care, power, and personal truth. Michelle offers workshops, retreats, support groups, and one-on-one sessions.