Psychoactive substances that induce spiritual experiences

Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior[1] for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwise[2] in sacred contexts.[2][3] Anthropological study has established that entheogens are used for religious, magical, shamanic, or spiritual purposes in many parts of the world. Entheogens have traditionally been used to supplement many diverse practices geared towards achieving transcendence, including divination, meditation, yoga, sensory deprivation, asceticism, prayer, trance, rituals, chanting, imitation of sounds, hymns like peyote songs, drumming, and ecstatic dance.[citation needed] The psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as those experienced in meditation,[4] near-death experiences,[5] and mystical experiences.[4] Ego dissolution is often described as a key feature of the psychedelic experience.[6]

The neologism entheogen was coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists and scholars of mythology (Carl A. P. Ruck, Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, Richard Evans Schultes, Jonathan Ott and R. Gordon Wasson). The term is derived from two words of Ancient Greek, (ntheos) and (gensthai). The adjective entheos translates to English as "full of the god, inspired, possessed", and is the root of the English word "enthusiasm". The Greeks used it as a term of praise for poets and other artists. Genesthai means "to come into being". Thus, an entheogen is a drug that causes one to become inspired or to experience feelings of inspiration, often in a religious or "spiritual" manner.[7]

Ruck et al. argued that the term hallucinogen was inappropriate owing to its etymological relationship to words relating to delirium and insanity. The term psychedelic was also seen as problematic, owing to the similarity in sound to words pertaining to psychosis and also due to the fact that it had become irreversibly associated with various connotations of 1960s pop culture. In modern usage entheogen may be used synonymously with these terms, or it may be chosen to contrast with recreational use of the same drugs. The meanings of the term entheogen were formally defined by Ruck et al.:

In a strict sense, only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens, but in a looser sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial, that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens.

In 2004, David E. Nichols wrote the following about nomenclature:[9]

Many different names have been proposed over the years for this drug class. The famous German toxicologist Louis Lewin used the name phantastica earlier in this century, and as we shall see later, such a descriptor is not so farfetched. The most popular nameshallucinogen, psychotomimetic, and psychedelic ("mind manifesting")have often been used interchangeably. Hallucinogen is now, however, the most common designation in the scientific literature, although it is an inaccurate descriptor of the actual effects of these drugs. In the lay press, the term psychedelic is still the most popular and has held sway for nearly four decades. Most recently, there has been a movement in nonscientific circles to recognize the ability of these substances to provoke mystical experiences and evoke feelings of spiritual significance. Thus, the term entheogen, derived from the Greek word entheos, which means "god within", was introduced by Ruck et al. and has seen increasing use. This term suggests that these substances reveal or allow a connection to the "divine within". Although it seems unlikely that this name will ever be accepted in formal scientific circles, its use has dramatically increased in the popular media and on internet sites. Indeed, in much of the counterculture that uses these substances, entheogen has replaced psychedelic as the name of choice and we may expect to see this trend continue.

Entheogens have been used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years.[13]

R. Gordon Wasson and Giorgio Samorini have proposed several examples of the cultural use of entheogens that are found in the archaeological record.[14][15] Hemp seeds discovered by archaeologists at Pazyryk suggest early ceremonial practices by the Scythians occurred during the 5th to 2nd century BCE, confirming previous historical reports by Herodotus.[16]

Most of the well-known modern examples of entheogens, such as Ayahuasca, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and morning glories are from the native cultures of the Americas. However, it has also been suggested that entheogens played an important role in ancient Indo-European culture, for example by inclusion in the ritual preparations of the Soma, the "pressed juice" that is the subject of Book 9 of the Rigveda. Soma was ritually prepared and drunk by priests and initiates and elicited a paean in the Rigveda that embodies the nature of an entheogen:[citation needed]

Splendid by Law! declaring Law, truth speaking, truthful in thy works, Enouncing faith, King Soma!... O [Soma] Pavmana (mind clarifying), place me in that deathless, undecaying world wherein the light of heaven is set, and everlasting lustre shines.... Make me immortal in that realm where happiness and transports, where joy and felicities combine...

The kykeon that preceded initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries is another entheogen, which was investigated (before the word was coined) by Carl Kernyi, in Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Other entheogens in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean include the opium poppy, datura, and the unidentified "lotus" (likely the sacred blue lily) eaten by the Lotus-Eaters in the Odyssey and Narcissus.

According to Ruck, Eyan, and Staples, the familiar shamanic entheogen of which the Indo-Europeans brought knowledge was Amanita muscaria. This fungus could not be cultivated and thus had to be gathered from the wild, making its use compatible with a nomadic lifestyle, rather than that of a settled agriculturalist. When they reached the world of the Caucasus and the Aegean, the Indo-Europeans encountered wine, the entheogen of Dionysus, who brought it with him from his birthplace in the mythical Nysa, when he returned to claim his Olympian birthright. The Indo-European proto-Greeks "recognized it as the entheogen of Zeus, and their own traditions of shamanism, the Amanita and the 'pressed juice' of Soma but better, since no longer unpredictable and wild, the way it was found among the Hyperboreans: as befit their own assimilation of agrarian modes of life, the entheogen was now cultivable."[17] Robert Graves, in his foreword to The Greek Myths, hypothesises that the ambrosia of various pre-Hellenic tribes was Amanita muscaria (which, based on the morphological similarity of the words amanita, amrita and ambrosia, is entirely plausible) and perhaps psilocybin mushrooms of the genus Panaeolus. Amanita muscaria was regarded as divine food, according to Ruck and Staples, not something to be indulged in, sampled lightly, or profaned. It was seen as the food of the gods, their ambrosia, and as mediating between the two realms. It is said that Tantalus's crime was inviting commoners to share his ambrosia.

Entheogens have been used in various ways, e.g., as part of established religious rituals or as aids for personal spiritual development ("plant teachers").[18][19] There are also instances where people have been given entheogens without their knowledge or consent (e.g., tourists given ayahuasca).[20]

Shamans all over the world and in different cultures have traditionally used drugs, especially psychedelics, for their religious experiences. In these communities the absorption of drugs leads to dreams (visions) through sensory distortion. The psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as those experienced in meditation,[21] and mystical experiences.[21] Ego dissolution is often described as a key feature of the psychedelic experience.[6]

Entheogens used in the contemporary world include biota like peyote (Native American Church[22]), extracts like ayahuasca (Santo Daime,[23] Unio do Vegetal[24]), and synthetic drugs like 2C-B (Sangoma, Nyanga, and Amagqirha[25][26][27]).Entheogens also play an important role in contemporary religious movements such as the Rastafari movement.[28]

Bhang is an edible preparation of cannabis native to the Indian subcontinent. It has been used in food and drink as early as 1000 BCE by Hindus in ancient India.[29]The earliest known reports regarding the sacred status of cannabis in the Indian subcontinent come from the Atharva Veda estimated to have been written sometime around 20001400 BCE,[30] which mentions cannabis as one of the "five sacred plants... which release us from anxiety" and that a guardian angel resides in its leaves. The Vedas also refer to it as a "source of happiness", "joy-giver" and "liberator", and in the Raja Valabba, the gods send hemp to the human race.[31]

It has been suggested that the Amanita muscaria mushroom was used by the Tantric Buddhist mahasiddha tradition of the 8th to 12th century.[32]

In the West, some modern Buddhist teachers have written on the usefulness of psychedelics. The Buddhist magazine Tricycle devoted their entire fall 1996 edition to this issue.[33] Some teachers such as Jack Kornfield have suggested the possibility that psychedelics could complement Buddhist practice, bring healing and help people understand their connection with everything which could lead to compassion.[34][self-published source?] Kornfield warns however that addiction can still be a hindrance. Other teachers such as Michelle McDonald-Smith expressed views which saw entheogens as not conducive to Buddhist practice ("I don't see them developing anything").[35]

The fifth of the Pancasila, the ethical code in the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, states that adherents must: "abstain from fermented and distilled beverages that cause heedlessness".[36] The Pali Canon, the scripture of Theravada Buddhism, depicts refraining from alcohol as essential to moral conduct because intoxication causes a loss of mindfulness. Although the Fifth Precept only names a specific wine and cider, this has traditionally been interpreted to mean all alcoholic beverages.[citation needed]

The primary advocate of the religious use of cannabis in early Judaism was Polish anthropologist Sula Benet, who claimed that the plant kaneh bosem - mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible, and used in the holy anointing oil of the Book of Exodus, was cannabis.[37] According to theories that hold that cannabis was present in Ancient Israelite society, a variant of hashish is held to have been present.[38] In 2020, it was announced that cannabis residue had been found on the Israelite sanctuary altar at Tel Arad dating to the 8th century BCE of the Kingdom of Judah, suggesting that cannabis was a part of some Israelite rituals at the time.[39]

While Benet's conclusion regarding the psychoactive use of cannabis is not universally accepted among Jewish scholars, there is general agreement that cannabis is used in talmudic sources to refer to hemp fibers, not hashish, as hemp was a vital commodity before linen replaced it.[40] Lexicons of Hebrew and dictionaries of plants of the Bible such as by Michael Zohary (1985), Hans Arne Jensen (2004) and James A. Duke (2010) and others identify the plant in question as either Acorus calamus or Cymbopogon citratus, not cannabis.[41]

It has also been suggested[by whom?] that in modern times cannabis can be used within Judaism to induce religious experiences.[42]

Alcohol is often used in the Christian tradition for religious ceremonies; for example, the Eucharist, however, many[weaselwords] Christian denominations disapprove of the use of most illicit drugs.[citation needed] Nevertheless, scholars such as David Hillman suggest that a variety of drug use, recreational and otherwise, is to be found in the early history of the Church.[43]

The historical picture portrayed by the Entheos journal is of fairly widespread use of visionary plants in early Christianity and the surrounding culture, with a gradual reduction of use of entheogens in Christianity.[44] R. Gordon Wasson's book Soma prints a letter from art historian Erwin Panofsky asserting that art scholars are aware of many "mushroom trees" in Christian art.[45]

The question of the extent of visionary plant use throughout the history of Christian practice has barely been considered yet by academic or independent scholars. The question of whether visionary plants were used in pre-Theodosian Christianity is distinct from evidence that indicates the extent to which visionary plants were utilized or forgotten in later Christianity, including heretical or quasi-Christian groups,[46] and the question of other groups such as elites or laity within orthodox Catholic practice.[47]

The Native American Church (NAC) is also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion. Peyotism is a Native American religion characterized by mixed traditional as well as Protestant beliefs and by sacramental use of the entheogen peyote.

The Peyote Way Church of God believe that "Peyote is a holy sacrament, when taken according to our sacramental procedure and combined with a holistic lifestyle".[48]

Santo Daime is a syncretic religion founded in the 1930s in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Acre by Raimundo Irineu Serra,[49] known as Mestre Irineu. Santo Daime incorporates elements of several religious or spiritual traditions including Folk Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritism, African animism and indigenous South American shamanism, including vegetalismo.

Ceremonies trabalhos (Brazilian Portuguese for "works") are typically several hours long and are undertaken sitting in silent "concentration", or sung collectively, dancing according to simple steps in geometrical formation. Ayahuasca, referred to as Daime within the practice, which contains several psychoactive compounds, is drunk as part of the ceremony. The drinking of Daime can induce a strong emetic effect which is embraced as both emotional and physical purging.

Unio do Vegetal (UDV) is a religious society founded on July 22, 1961 by Jos Gabriel da Costa, known as Mestre Gabriel. The translation of Unio do Vegetal is Union of the Plants referring to the sacrament of the UDV, Hoasca tea (also known as ayahuasca). This beverage is made by boiling two plants, Mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi) and Chacrona (Psychotria viridis), both of which are native to the Amazon rainforest.

In its sessions, UDV members drink Hoasca Tea for the effect of mental concentration. In Brazil, the use of Hoasca in religious rituals was regulated by the Brazilian Federal Government's National Drug Policy Council on January 25, 2010. The policy established legal norms for the religious institutions that responsibly use this tea. The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously affirmed the UDV's right to use Hoasca tea in its religious sessions in the United States, in a decision published on February 21, 2006.

The best-known entheogen-using culture of Africa is the Bwitists, who used a preparation of the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga.[50] Although the ancient Egyptians may have been using the sacred blue lily plant in some of their religious rituals or just symbolically, it has been suggested that Egyptian religion once revolved around the ritualistic ingestion of the far more psychoactive Psilocybe cubensis mushroom, and that the Egyptian White Crown, Triple Crown, and Atef Crown were evidently designed to represent pin-stages of this mushroom.[51] There is also evidence for the use of psilocybin mushrooms in Ivory Coast.[52] Numerous other plants used in shamanic ritual in Africa, such as Silene capensis sacred to the Xhosa, are yet to be investigated by western science. A recent revitalization has occurred in the study of southern African psychoactives and entheogens (Mitchell and Hudson 2004; Sobiecki 2002, 2008, 2012).[53]

Among the amaXhosa, the artificial drug 2C-B is used as entheogen by traditional healers or amagqirha over their traditional plants; they refer to the chemical as Ubulawu Nomathotholo, which roughly translates to "Medicine of the Singing Ancestors".[54][55][56]

Entheogens have played a pivotal role in the spiritual practices of most American cultures for millennia. The first American entheogen to be subject to scientific analysis was the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii). One of the founders of modern ethno-botany, Richard Evans Schultes of Harvard University documented the ritual use of peyote cactus among the Kiowa, who live in what became Oklahoma. While it was used traditionally by many cultures of what is now Mexico, in the 19th century its use spread throughout North America, replacing the toxic mescal bean (Calia secundiflora). Other well-known entheogens used by Mexican cultures include the alcoholic Aztec sacrament, pulque, ritual tobacco (known as 'picietl' to the Aztecs, and 'sikar' to the Maya (from where the word 'cigar' derives)), psilocybin mushrooms, morning glories (Ipomoea tricolor and Turbina corymbosa), and Salvia divinorum.

Datura wrightii is sacred to some Native Americans and has been used in ceremonies and rites of passage by Chumash, Tongva, and others. Among the Chumash, when a boy was 8 years old, his mother would give him a preparation of momoy to drink. This supposed spiritual challenge should help the boy develop the spiritual wellbeing that is required to become a man. Not all of the boys undergoing this ritual survived.[57] Momoy was also used to enhance spiritual wellbeing among adults. For instance, during a frightening situation, such as when seeing a coyote walk like a man, a leaf of momoy was sucked to help keep the soul in the body.

The mescal bean Sophora secundiflora was used by the shamanic hunter-gatherer cultures of the Great Plains region. Other plants with ritual significance in North American shamanism are the hallucinogenic seeds of the Texas buckeye and jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). Paleoethnobotanical evidence for these plants from archaeological sites shows they were used in ancient times thousands of years ago.[58]

The indigenous peoples of Siberia (from whom the term shaman was borrowed) have used Amanita muscaria as an entheogen.

In Hinduism, Datura stramonium and cannabis have been used in religious ceremonies, although the religious use of datura is not very common, as the primary alkaloids are strong deliriants, which causes serious intoxication with unpredictable effects.

Also, the ancient drink Soma, mentioned often in the Vedas, appears to be consistent with the effects of an entheogen. In his 1967 book, Wasson argues that Soma was Amanita muscaria. The active ingredient of Soma is presumed by some to be ephedrine, an alkaloid with stimulant properties derived from the soma plant, identified as Ephedra pachyclada. However, there are also arguments to suggest that Soma could have also been Syrian rue, cannabis, Atropa belladonna, or some combination of any of the above plants.[citation needed]

In the mountains of western China, significant traces of THC, the compound responsible for cannabis psychoactive effects, have been found in wooden bowls, or braziers, excavated from a 2,500-year-old cemetery.[59]

Fermented honey, known in Northern Europe as mead, was an early entheogen in Aegean civilization, predating the introduction of wine, which was the more familiar entheogen of the reborn Dionysus and the maenads. Its religious uses in the Aegean world are intertwined with the mythology of the bee.

In 440 BCE, Herodotus in Book IV of the Histories, documents that the Scythians inhaled cannabis in funeral ceremonies, stating they "take some of this hemp-seed, and throw it upon the red hot stones" and when it released a vapor, the Scyths, delighted, shout[ed] for joy.[59]

Dacians were known to use cannabis in their religious and important life ceremonies, proven by discoveries of large clay pots with burnt cannabis seeds in ancient tombs and religious shrines. Also, local oral folklore and myths tell of ancient priests that dreamed with gods and walked in the smoke. Their names, as transmitted by Herodotus, were "kap-no-batai" which in Dacian was supposed to mean "the ones that walk in the clouds".

The growth of Roman Christianity also saw the end of the two-thousand-year-old tradition of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the initiation ceremony for the cult of Demeter and Persephone involving the use of a drug known as kykeon. The term 'ambrosia' is used in Greek mythology in a way that is remarkably similar to the Soma of the Hindus as well.

A theory that naturally-occurring gases like ethylene used by inhalation may have played a role in divinatory ceremonies at Delphi in Classical Greece received popular press attention in the early 2000s, yet has not been conclusively proven.[60]

Mushroom consumption is part of the culture of Europeans in general, with particular importance to Slavic and Baltic peoples. Some academics argue that the use of psilocybin- and/or muscimol-containing mushrooms was an integral part of the ancient culture of the Rus' people.[61]

It has been suggested that the ritual use of small amounts of Syrian rue[by whom?] is an artifact of its ancient use in higher doses as an entheogen (possibly in conjunction with DMT-containing acacia).[citation needed]

John Marco Allegro argued that early Jewish and Christian cultic practice was based on the use of Amanita muscaria, which was later forgotten by its adherents,[62] but this view has been widely disputed.[63]

In general, indigenous Australians are thought not to have used entheogens, although there is a strong barrier of secrecy surrounding Aboriginal shamanism, which has likely limited what has been told to outsiders. A plant that the Australian Aboriginals used to ingest is called Pitcheri, which is said to have a similar effect to that of coca. Pitcheri was made from the bark of the shrub Duboisia myoporoides. This plant is now grown commercially and is processed to manufacture an eye medication.

There are no known uses of entheogens by the Mori of New Zealand aside from a variant species of kava,[64] although some modern scholars have claimed that there may be evidence of psilocybin mushroom use.[65] Natives of Papua New Guinea are known to use several species of entheogenic mushrooms (Psilocybe spp, Boletus manicus).[66]

Kava or kava kava (Piper Methysticum) has been cultivated for at least 3,000 years by a number of Pacific island-dwelling peoples. Historically, most Polynesian, many Melanesian, and some Micronesian cultures have ingested the psychoactive pulverized root, typically taking it mixed with water. In these traditions, taking kava is believed to facilitate contact with the spirits of the dead, especially relatives and ancestors.[67]

Notable early testing of the entheogenic experience includes the Marsh Chapel Experiment, conducted by physician and theology doctoral candidate Walter Pahnke under the supervision of psychologist Timothy Leary and the Harvard Psilocybin Project. In this double-blind experiment, volunteer graduate school divinity students from the Boston area almost all claimed to have had profound religious experiences subsequent to the ingestion of pure psilocybin.[citation needed]

Beginning in 2006, experiments have been conducted at Johns Hopkins University, showing that under controlled conditions psilocybin causes mystical experiences in most participants and that they rank the personal and spiritual meaningfulness of the experiences very highly.[68][69]

Except in Mexico, research with psychedelics is limited due to ongoing widespread drug prohibition. The amount of peer-reviewed research on psychedelics has accordingly been limited due to the difficulty of getting approval from institutional review boards.[70] Furthermore, scientific studies on entheogens present some significant challenges to investigators, including philosophical questions relating to ontology, epistemology and objectivity.[71]

Some countries have legislation that allows for traditional entheogen use.[citation needed]

Between 2011 and 2012, the Australian Federal Government was considering changes to the Australian Criminal Code that would classify any plants containing any amount of DMT as "controlled plants".[72] DMT itself was already controlled under current laws. The proposed changes included other similar blanket bans for other substances, such as a ban on any and all plants containing mescaline or ephedrine. The proposal was not pursued after political embarrassment on realisation that this would make the official Floral Emblem of Australia, Acacia pycnantha (golden wattle), illegal. The Therapeutic Goods Administration and federal authority had considered a motion to ban the same, but this was withdrawn in May 2012 (as DMT may still hold potential entheogenic value to native or religious peoples).[73]

In 1963 in Sherbert v. Verner the Supreme Court established the Sherbert Test, which consists of four criteria that are used to determine if an individual's right to religious free exercise has been violated by the government. The test is as follows:

For the individual, the court must determine

If these two elements are established, then the government must prove

This test was eventually all-but-eliminated in Employment Division v. Smith 494 U.S. 872 (1990) which held that a "neutral law of general applicability" was not subject to the test. Congress resurrected it for the purposes of federal law in the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993.

In City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997) RFRA was held to trespass on state sovereignty, and application of the RFRA was essentially limited to federal law enforcement. In Gonzales v. O Centro Esprita Beneficente Unio do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418 (2006), a case involving only federal law, RFRA was held to permit a church's use of a DMT-containing tea for religious ceremonies.

Some states have enacted State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts intended to mirror the federal RFRA's protections.

Peyote is listed by the United States DEA as a Schedule I controlled substance. However, practitioners of the Peyote Way Church of God, a Native American religion, perceive the regulations regarding the use of peyote as discriminating, leading to religious discrimination issues regarding about the U.S. policy towards drugs. As the result of Peyote Way Church of God, Inc. v. Thornburgh the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 was passed. This federal statute allow the "Traditional Indian religious use of the peyote sacrament", exempting only use by Native American persons.

Many works of literature have described entheogen use; some of those are:

See the article here:

Entheogen - Wikipedia

As cannabis legalization continues to sweep the nation, another movement has emerged in its wake.

In the past three years, ballot measures and city council resolutions to legalize or decriminalize naturally-occurring entheogenic plants and fungithe term refers to a substance with mind-altering effectshave sprung up across the country.

That list of substances typically includes psychedelic mushrooms, ayahuasca, mescaline, ibogaine, and peyote. Cannabis is also considered an entheogen. These decrim measures generally do not apply to LSD or MDMA.

Related

How to dose psychedelic mushrooms

While Oregon is currently the sole US state where psilocybin has become legal for therapeutic use, over a dozen additional cities and counties have effectively decriminalized psilocybin and other entheogens as well.A measure that would legalize psychedelics statewide will go before Colorado voters in November, 2022.

Its important to remember that decriminalization, in this context, simply means that law enforcement deprioritizes the enforcement of their prohibition as much as possible. Entheogens technically remain illegal in these cities and counties.

Read on for a list of Americas emerging psychedelic hot spots and the legal dos and donts in each to ensure youre staying within your legal rights.

Related

Election 2022: Colorado psychedelic legalization and decriminalization guide

In November 2020, Oregon voted in favor of Measure 110which reduces the penalty for possession of small quantities of any and all drugs to a minor violationby a margin of 58-42.

Under the new law, if you get caught with a small quantity of any illegal drug, you simply pay a $100 fine.

Measure 110 also establishes a robust drug addiction treatment and recovery program. Oregon will fund the program with both cannabis sales revenue and the anticipated savings achieved from the current cost of enforcing criminal drug possession penalties.

In the same election, Oregon passed Measure 109 by a margin of 56-44. That measure legalizes, regulates, and taxes the manufacture, sale, and administration of psilocybin for mental health purposes. Measure 109 permits the consumption and sale of psilocybin exclusively at a licensed psilocybin service center, and only under the supervision of a licensed psilocybin service facilitator.

It taxes the sale of psychedelic mushrooms at 15%.

The program will go into effect on January 1, 2023. Beginning this November, Oregon localities can vote to opt out of permitting sales: At least eleven cities and two counties will hold such a vote.

Related

Which psychedelic drugs are legal?

In September 2020, the Ann Arbor City Council voted unanimously to effectively decriminalize the use, possession and personal cultivation of naturally occurring entheogenic plants and fungi.

Washtenaw County, where Ann Arbor is located, subsequently expanded the measure to apply county-wide. Law enforcement in the county will still charge anyone driving under the influence of an entheogenic substance, however.

In October 2021, the Arcata City Council voted unanimously to effectively decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi for all adults.

In February 2021, Cambridge became the second Massachusetts city to effectively decriminalize entheogens. The vote passed in City Council on a vote of 8-1. The policy furthermore prevents the city from allocating funds towards the arrest of individuals for entheogens, and asks the County District Attorney to stop prosecuting people for the use, possession or cultivation of psychedelics without intent to distribute.

In May of 2019, Denver voters narrowly approved a ballot measure to effectively decriminalize psilocybin use and possession.

A few weeks later, Governor Jared Polis (D) signed House Bill 19-1263, which made the possession of small quantities of Schedule I or Schedule II substances a misdemeanor instead of a felony. That law went into effect in March 2020.

This November, Colorado will vote on the Natural Medicine Health Act. The measure would legalize the use, possession, and cultivation of most entheogens and open the door to regulated therapeutic treatment at licensed healing centers. It does not include possession limits. Nor does it legalize the recreational sale of entheogenic plants and fungi.

In November 2021, Detroit passed a measure to effectively decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi within city limits by a margin of 61-39.

In October 2021, Easthampton City Council voted to effectively decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi within city limits.

In March 2022, Hazel Parkdirectly north of Detroitvoted to effectively decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi within city limits.

In March 2021, Northampton City Council voted unanimously to effectively decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi.

In June 2019, Oakland became the first US city to effectively decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi for adults via a unanimous City Council vote.

In December 2021, the Port Townsend City Council voted unanimously to effectively decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi for adults.

On Sept. 6, 2022, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to decriminalize all entheogens, naming psychedelic drugs the lowest priority for local law enforcement agencies.

Related

San Francisco decriminalizes psychedelics

In February 2020, the Santa Cruz City Council voted unanimously to effectively decriminalize the possession and personal cultivation of entheogenic plants and fungi.

In October 2021, Seattle City Council voted unanimously to effectively decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi. The resolution dictates that the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of anyone engaging in entheogen-related activities should be considered the lowest priority for local law enforcement.

In January 2021, Somerville City Council voted unanimously to effectively decriminalize the use and possession of entheogenic plants and fungi.

In November 2020, DC residents voted 76-24 to effectively decriminalize the use and possession of entheogenic plants and fungi.

Max Savage Levenson

Max Savage Levenson likely has the lowest cannabis tolerance of any writer on the cannabis beat. He also writes about music for Pitchfork, Bandcamp and other bespectacled folk. He co-hosts The Hash podcast. His dream interview is Tyler the Creator.

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Where are psychedelics legal or decriminalized in the US? - Leafly

Last week a colleague at Psychedelic Spotlight forwarded an image so shocking and offensive it was hard to tell if it was a badly made racist meme or a troubling 4chan conspiracy manifesto. The antisemitic image featured yellow stars of David with the words Scarcity, Profits, and Control below a conspiracy pyramid of alleged peyote profiteers. The image immediately raised red flags and called into question the judgment of the person who made it. Imagine my surprise when I was told it was the work of Carlos Plazola, a co-founder of the wildly popular Decriminalize Nature organization, which lobbies for the decriminalization of natural entheogens nationwide.

By the time the image landed in my feed it had been shared widely enough to make it back to the subjects of the alleged The 605 peyote conspiracy, David Bronner of Dr. Bronners soap and Cody Swift and Miriam Volat of the River Styx Foundation. David Bronner had already posted a response to this image a week earlier, entitled Responding to the Anti-Semitic Bigotry and Anti-Indigenous Colonialism of Decriminalize Natures Leadership. Bronner makes a link to the image available in his post, which you can view by clicking here.

Later that day I was informed that the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) had just released a statement entitled Students for Sensible Drug Policy Ends Partnership with Decriminalize Nature National. Both statements from Bronner and SSDP condemned Decriminalize Natures Leadership, but failed to mention Plazola by name. But to be clear, Plazola was the person who made and shared this image, and he eventually took responsibility for it in an Instagram story on Decriminalize Natures feed where he posts a lengthy description of how he is under constant attack from intensive divide and conquer strategies and that Microsoft Paint made him accidentally do an antisemitism.

Plazolas Instagram statement and other statements hes made in the comments on Bronners blog post indicate his clear frustration with policy positions regarding the decriminalization of peyote (which Plazola insists on calling Peyotl). Amidst rising concerns that the wild population of peyote is over-harvested and scavenged to the point of extinction, many local decriminalization efforts carve out an exception for peyote, requesting that the harvesting of wild peyote remain prohibited for everyone except the indigenous groups who gather peyote for ceremonies in yearly rituals. The reasons for these exemptions are clear it takes ten years for a peyote blossom to mature, and over-harvesting peyote would lead to the extinction of native gathering rituals and ceremonies within a decade. To date, the Native American Church (NAC) is the only group with the religious exemption to gather and use peyote, and most decriminalization efforts support the continuance and extension of this policy.

Plazola sees it differently, and his argument centers around the fact that Peyotl is also widely used by Mexican nationals who have no affiliation to indigenous peoples or the NAC. Plazola claims that it would be unfair to criminalize the use of Peyotl for some groups while allowing other groups exclusive access to the limited natural supply. If you want to get into the weeds on the issue, local decriminalization efforts are different in every state and county. Some groups call for full decriminalization of all natural entheogens, but many groups specifically leave peyote off the list of natural entheogens for conservation reasons and to respect the wishes of the NAC and other indigenous groups. Plazola was once seen as the face of the Decriminalize Nature movement, but his stance on peyote has set him at odds with the prevailing sentiment in the decim scene.

Before the problematic image came to light I had heard there was some friction with Plazola in the larger decrim movement. Decriminalize Nature Seattle had a major victory in 2021 when they successfully lobbied the Seattle City Council to decriminalize natural entheogens, including psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, ibogaine, and non-peyote-derived mescaline. Notice that they intentionally left naturally sourced peyote off the list. This decision caused some friction with Plazola, and within months the Seattle decrim group changed their name to the Psychedelic Medicine Alliance of Washington (PMAW).

I reached out to Kody Zalewski, the Co-Director of PMAW to ask what their ongoing relationship was with Plazola and the national Decriminalize Nature (DN) organization. We severed ties with DN because we disagree with his stance on peyote and continue to support the wishes of the Native American Church, says Zalewski. Carloss response to this decision was disappointing and could have been handled with more tact and maturity.

When asked about Plazola sharing the problematic image, Zalewski responds, With the recent allegations, we strongly condemn any antisemitism and are disappointed to see continued discord in the psychedelic community.

There is a lot to unpack with this story, but it should be noted that even before Plazola produced this antisemitic image he had already created many divisions within the larger decrim movement. For many this image was the straw that broke the camels back, and now many groups are seeking to make a clean break from him. For me, its not just about the clashes with other decrim groups, or the accidental antisemitic imagery, it is about the unhinged irrationality and poor judgment that would go into crafting and sharing such an image, and the creepy non-apology pre-accusing anyone who would call him antisemitic of gaslighting and using ad-hominems and divide and conquer strategies.

I can go on about how much is wrong with both the image and the Instagram non-apology, but let us just step back for a moment and think about what is going on when a man sits down to make a conspiracy chart in Microsoft Paint. This alone is a questionable decision. And how in the world could Plazola look at his finished product and think, I gotta get this out there right now! It looks like an unhinged meme from an alt-right troll, and the yellow stars are really something else. Plazola claims, I have found there to be only one useful color in Microsoft Paint that can be used to highlight a word: Yellow. The software provides about a half dozen shapes useful to insert around a word, half of these shapes being stars. In other words, Plazola implies that it is Microsoft Paint that is inherently antisemitic, not him. He then claims that anyone calling his use of the yellow star antisemitic is gaslighting, and claims that many BIPOC people probably dont even know the history of the Nazis forcing Jews to wear yellow stars in occupied territories.

There are more troubling statements in his non-apology. For instance, he says, I shared this document with about 50 people of various backgrounds, receiving no feedback related to the stars. Several of these people shared it with several people and again we received no feedback related to the stars. Okay, well how about the feedback that this document looks like the kind of propaganda used to stoke stochastic terrorism in online hate forums. Did you get any of that feedback? Because if not, I have to ask why nobody said, How about you make this a PowerPoint slide and delete the stars, because the vibe you are sending here is unhinged racist troll.

You can only take this image two ways. Either Plazola is so clueless he made antisemitic hate propaganda on accident because he is out of touch and incompetent, or he knew exactly what he was doing and he is now trying to cover his ass. In Plazolas defense, he claims that he is out-of-touch and incompetent, and at this point I am starting to believe him. Do you think he is trying to gaslight me?

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Conspiracy and Antisemitism in the Debate Over Peyote Decriminalization - Psychedelic Spotlight

DENVER Its been three years since Denver voted to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms to deprioritize law enforcement actions against the possession of psilocybin, and to mark the occasion, activists fighting for that change gathered to celebrate at Cheesman Park Saturday.

Marijuana was legal and people have this feeling of just like, what's the difference between this plant and this fungus? Why is this plant available in stores on every corner, and this fungus you go to jail for? said freelance reporter Reilly Capps.

Initially thinking it would take five years to decriminalize magic mushrooms, Capps said he was surprised it only took three years for the decriminalize movement to coalesce.

So that story was just fascinating to watch it evolve and grow and grow and grow, he said, adding that more people started getting interested in the movement, including lawyers and influencers.

Decriminalize Denver campaign organizer Travis Tyler Fluck also shared how Denvers passing of the ballot initiative had a ripple effect throughout the country, inspiring other cities across the nation to launch their own campaigns.

Within 18 months of us passing by .5%, Washington D.C. voted on decriminalizing all entheogens and it was able to pass 76% (on the) yes (vote). It's really beautiful to be able to reflect in that way, to see that every time I went outside and collected signatures in 10-degree weather, that it meant something. We won by such a narrow margin that it really showed that each and every person contributed to pulling that win over the line, and I think that that is an important new story that we need in our culture today, Fluck said. The interbeingness of it, that my fate is wrapped up in yours.

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Decriminalize Denver, 3 years on: A campaign that had a ripple effect throughout the country - Denver 7 Colorado News

Mescaline molecule, a natural hallucinogenic substance present in the flesh of several cacti, 3D ... [+] illustration

Pushed to the periphery of public awareness during Covid-19 pandemic, the disease of substance addiction continues to ravage humanity. Substance abuse deaths are often deaths of despair, as addiction is a brain disease that is often coincident with other mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression. The need for new ways to treat substance use disorder has never been greater, yet medicine possesses few pharmacological tools with which to combat this pernicious disease. In addition to the burgeoning opioid epidemic, addiction to alcohol has been increasing, driven in part by the stresses of pandemic life and by the economic disparities made worse in the wake of Covid-19.

The treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD), in particular, has limited pharmaceutical options with which to augment non-pharmacological therapies. Among the few drugs approved in the US for treatment of AUD, disulfiram, green-lit by the FDA in 1949, causes patients to experience swift and powerful hangover symptoms if they consume alcohol, thereby acting as a deterrent. More recently-approved naltrexone blunts the pleasure derived from alcohol consumption, while acamprosate helps to protect against the neurotoxicity that can occur during alcohol withdrawal. While these pharmaceuticals can be used to treat AUD, each has limitations and drawbacks. There is therefore a high unmet medical need for additional FDA-approved therapeutics targeting this disease.

After decades of neglect by the scientific community, a renaissance is occurring in the study of entheogens in the treatment of mental health disorders, with the goal of developing approved therapeutics. An entheogen is a psychoactive substance that has been historically used in spiritual contexts. For millennia, societies have used entheogens to improve their members well-being. Since many effective therapeutics, including the heart drug digoxin and the anti-malarial artemisinin, have been derived from traditional medicines, there is interest in exploring entheogens to treat mental illnesses. Among the sources of these psychoactive substances is peyote, which has been used by Native Americans for thousands of years. Apache, Huichol, Utes, Comanche, and Navajo peoples are among the current heirs of peyotes ancient discoverers and stewards of its spiritual and medicinal uses.

Journey Colab, a California biopharma startup, leads the effort to develop an FDA-approved form of mescaline, a psychoactive molecule that occurs naturally in peyote, as a therapeutic to assist with the treatment of AUD. Cognizant of the traditional discoverers of this potential therapeutic, this company, in an arrangement that is to my knowledge unique among biopharma startups, set aside a 10% equity stake to benefit traditional peyote stewards and the AUD treatment communities. I spoke with Journey Colabs founder and CEO, Jeeshan Chowdhury, its acting COO and CLO, Rebecca Lee, indigenous rights activist, impact advisor and trustee Sutton King, and addiction expert and recently-appointed scientific advisor Kelly J. Clark about the companys goals, genesis, and unique structure.

The prevalence of alcohol use disorder has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Louis Metzger: Why is Journey Colab developing mescaline for AUD?

Jeeshan Chowdhury: Mescaline is very interesting relative to other psychedelics because it has a relatively long duration (10-12 hours). The extended experience allows people to navigate core traumas in a way that other psychedelics don't. Mescaline may give people more of an opportunity for extended neuroplasticity, which allows them to make the most of talk therapy and community support as part of holistic therapy for AUD. Despite the medical worlds best efforts, conventional therapies for AUD have yielded abysmal rates of durable remission and harm reduction. We have very clear observations that mescaline, when combined with therapy and community support, is incredibly powerful at alleviating suffering from this disease.

Metzger: Kelly, youve recently joined Journeys scientific advisory board. What drew you to Journey Colabs approach?

Kelly J. Clark: I was pleased to see that Journey Colab is approaching the development of mescaline for AUD treatment in a way thats evidence-based, with appropriately designed clinical trials. AUD is an underserved disease and has suffered from addiction treatment being largely segregated from the rest of medicine. I see mescaline as having the potential to assist psychotherapy by enabling acute episodes of care within a chronic care paradigm. The medical community and regulators are moving toward measuring addiction treatment outcomes in terms of harm reduction and functioning, rather than utter abstinence. Journeys work is part of that paradigm shift.

Metzger: Jeeshan, what inspired you to found Journey Colab and to create its unusual ownership structure?

Chowdhury: I never thought that I would start a psychedelic drug company. I'm very much a product of two things: First, coming from a conservative Muslim family, where there's a very strict conservative view on substances; and second, being a child of the 1980s from Canada with its war on drugs. I grew up thinking that psychedelics would fry your brain.

I founded this company through my own mental health journey. From the outside, my life looked great. I became a physician and was subsequently a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where I earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in health informatics. Later, much to the chagrin of my immigrant parents, I dropped out of medical residency to come to San Francisco to participate in a startup incubator program called Y Combinator. My first company was ListRunner, a digital health startup that was acquired by Commure through its expansion.

Everything looked great from the outside, but I always felt like I was drowning in my mental health problems. I sought out care, the best that we had available at the time antidepressants and talk therapy. These helped, but to a limited extent. It was like having a life preserver to keep my head above water, but these therapies didnt get me out of my immersion in depression.

I came to psychedelic medicine out of desperation for something that would work after trying so many things that didn't improve my mental wellness in a transformative way. Psychedelic therapy enabled me to see maladaptive patterns that had formed since childhood, and in combination with talk therapy, enabled me to change them. It also helped to catalyze my understanding of how these patterns arose. Psychedelic therapy completely saved my life.

I have been on both ends of the stethoscope and have seen that there are people suffering from mental illnesses, including AUD, far more intensely than I had. I realized that we don't have adequate tools with which to help many of them. I took the California Institute of Integral Studies course on psychedelic training and research. On this learning journey, I met Sam Altman (board member of Journey Colab). Together we realized that not only do we need to advance psychedelic therapy, particularly around addictions, but we need to do it in the right way. If we take psychedelic medicine and just put it into an existing system that does not serve us well, we will not get transformational results. Thats why we set up Journey Colab as a stakeholder model, where 10% of the founding equity is set aside in reciprocity to give back to the communities where psychedelic use originated and to help the therapist and community partners with whom were working.

Metzger: How is Journey Colab learning from these traditional users of mescaline?

Chowdhury: We are creating a space of trust and dialogue in our consultation process to apply what we learn from traditional mescaline users to clinical and scientific methods. We aim to create a clinical protocol that is accessible to people where they are. We are making something new that fits into a clinical environment, and we are ensuring that we share the value that is created from this dialogue with these communities.

Metzger: Can you tell me more about how this sharing of equity is structured?

Rebecca Lee: We created a perpetual purpose trust that holds 10% of our founding equity. It's different from more familiar forms of trust because instead of naming a particular person or entity as the beneficiary, the beneficiary is a defined purpose in this case, the purpose of the Journey Reciprocity Trust is to share the value created by the company with Indigenous communities that have traditionally used psychedelic medicine, with groups that are working on the conservation of the organisms producing naturally occurring psychedelics (because so many of theses are threatened due to environmental degradation and over-harvesting), with the therapists who will be delivering this care, with other nonprofit psychedelic partners in the space, and with communities that are under-served by mental healthcare. We wanted to share this sort of co-founder ownership of Journey Colab with our stakeholder community. The trust will be led by an independent stewardship committee of five members, who will each represent the beneficiary communities. One of the seats will be filled by Sutton King, a powerful advocate for Native Americans, a descendant of Wisconsins Menominee and Oneida Nations, and Journey Colabs founding Head of Impact. Sutton has spent her whole life advocating for underserved communities.

Metzger: Sutton, as impact advisor and trustee at Journey Colab, in what ways do you envision the trust impacting indigenous communities? What is the type of impact you would like to see?

Sutton King: The Journey Reciprocity Trust represents a principle that is central to my identity as an Afro-Indigenous woman: the Seventh-Generation Principle. This Haudenosaunee philosophy inherited from my people holds that our decisions today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. The Journey Reciprocity Trust embodies this principle by sharing the success of Journey Colab with stakeholders far into the future, supporting equitable access to mental health services, and ensuring the protection of sacred plant medicines. Indigenous-led, the trust emphasizes the importance and validity of Indigenous voices and their autonomy to make decisions. Such voices are oftentimes excluded and alienated. We cannot use the medicines that Indigenous cultures have protected without valuing Indigenous ways of being and thinking. The trust has the ability to support Indigenous communities with the economic investment necessary to continue strengthening sovereignty and the preservation of culture and land. Through centering access and benefit-sharing, the trust has an opportunity to redistribute wealth in a way that respects the plight of Indigenous peoples and begins using money as a tool for restorative healing.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Mental Health Startup Journey Colab Aims To Develop Mescaline As An FDA-Approved Treatment For Alcohol Use Disorder - Forbes

In her youth, Martha Hammel suffered from severe anorexia, anxiety and suicidality. One chance encounter with psilocybin mushrooms changed everything.

She recalls being in an outdoor atmosphere sitting on blankets with a small group of friends. Soft music played in the background. She and her peers had researched the correct way to engage with the psychedelic compound and designated a sitter the term to describe a sober person who assists others under the influence of psychedelic drugs to accompany their trip.

At the time, Hammel had never drunk alcohol, consumed marijuana nor smoked a cigarette. Eating the entheogenic fungi was her first intake of any sort of mood- or mind-altering substance. And it was done mindfully and respectfully, Hammel said: It was done well.

In that experience, I felt the eating disorder lift, and this anxiety that had been weighing me down for my entire life and this self-hatred intention I had been feeling, it all lifted, Hammel said. And I distinctly remember experiencing this thought of, I dont need that anymore. And it stayed gone.

It would be years before Hammel tried psilocybin mushrooms again, because the initial encounter was such a relief, she said.

Psilocybin is the naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by more than 200 species of mushrooms. It is among chemicals such as ayahuasca, mescaline, LSD and ibogaine, known as entheogens. Commonly interchanged with the term psychedelics, entheogens refer to a psychoactive substance derived primarily from plant sources when it is used for its religious or spiritual effects.

Entheogenic plants and fungi have been used by humans in indigenous and religious rituals for centuries. These compounds trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness which often include hallucinogenic effects and if exercised in a safe set and setting, Hammel explains, they can produce therapeutic outcomes.

In just a three-hour time span, I found my way out its really powerful medicine, Hammel said. It was actually the moment I decided to become a nutritionist; I had this realization that I wanted to help other women with eating disorders.

Hammel is now a certified nutrition specialist, natural food chef, addiction recovery coach and psychedelic integration coach. She earned a masters degree in nutrition and integrative health from the Maryland University of Integrative Health and has undergone advanced training programs for mindfulness-based psychedelic therapy and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.

She spends her time between Aspen and Boulder, where she is the nutritionist and guide at the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness one of the first legal psychedelic therapy clinics to operate in North America that offers services in cannabis- and ketamine-assisted therapies.

These plant medicines, they can be profoundly healing in so many more ways than you could ever see possible, Hammel said. And to discount the power of that big experience is dangerous.

From healing her mental health to shaping her career, Hammel commends the power of her own big experience with plant medicines years ago. She has become a prominent voice in psychedelic activism and education across all of Colorado, and right now, her efforts are honed in on Aspen.

Hammel is the lead campaign manager for Right To Heal Aspen, the citizen-led initiative seeking to decriminalize plant medicines within the city of Aspen for therapeutic use.

Following a yearlong collaborative process involving community members, city council members, attorneys and experts in the field of psychedelics, Hammel and fellow representatives Isaac Flanagan and Laura Betti recently presented a citizen-initiated ordinance and petition regarding therapeutic access to plant medicines and the decriminalization of these compounds in the city of Aspen.

On Tuesday, April 12, Aspen City Clerk Nicole Henning officially approved the proposed petition as submitted. According to her acceptance letter, the petition proponents have 180 days to circulate the petitions following the clerks approval. The letter also notes that 925 signatures of city electors will be required to place this matter on the ballot. Hammel said she aims to collect signatures from 1,500 Aspen voters.

With the petition hitting the ground running, Aspen may be the next city to hop on the psychedelic train.

Renewed scientific interest and clinical research involving psychedelic medicine has gained traction in recent years. In turn, a number of U.S. cities and states are revising their legal frameworks around these drugs.

Denver was the first city to decriminalize psilocybin in 2019, followed by similar initiatives surrounding entheogenic plants and fungi in Washington, D.C.; Oakland and Santa Cruz, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Seattle, Washington which became the largest city to decriminalize noncommercial activity around psychedelic substances and Detroit.

On the state level, Oregon was the first to legalize psilocybin-assisted therapy and decriminalize the personal possession of such compounds in November 2020. In Colorado, advocates are pushing to get a statewide decrim initiative on the upcoming November ballot. At the same time, Sen. Joann Ginal and Rep. Alex Valdez, both Democrats, are sponsoring a new bill that would create a panel to study plant medicines in mental health treatment.

Whether it be state lawmakers proposing the formation of working groups for research on these compounds or local governments taking steps to enlist the personal use and possession of entheogenic plants among the lowest law enforcement priorities, America has entered an era of psychedelic drug reform, and its only on the rise.

The Aspen movement was spurred just over a year ago in a city council meeting when Councilmember Skippy Mesirow introduced the idea of psychedelic-assisted therapies as a healing modality amid the communitys mental health crisis.

Pictured is a hut located at the Soltara Healing Center in Costa Rica. Skippy Mesirow experienced his first and second ayahuasca ceremonies within this hut.

It was an offhand comment that I think we should be looking at bringing these incredibly beneficial compounds of healing to our community that is struggling with issues of mental health, suicidality, substance abuse and disconnection, Mesirow said. I expected to get laughed at, and surprisingly, my colleagues were really receptive.

Like Hammel, Mesirows passion and support for the initiative stems from his own life-altering experience with entheogenic plants. Having long suffered from acute and chronic anxiety, Mesirow said he tried out different healing modalities for 15 years.

Three years ago, Mesirow embarked on a weeklong retreat in Costa Rica at the Soltara Healing Center, where he engaged in an ayahuasca ceremony. Ayahuasca which can induce a much more intense experience than mushrooms, Hammel explained is an herbal brew that has been used for ritual and healing purposes since pre-Columbian times.

The ceremonial concoction originated in the Shipibo tribe tradition out of the Amazons Peruvian region. Through a series of ceremonies followed by integration, many Western facilitators understand ayahuasca to clear and cleanse past traumas, to put the entheogen in simple terms.

Mesirow explained that while he did not necessarily uncover a clear answer to the root of his anxiety during the first ceremonies, it was the post-integration work that allowed him to hold onto those learnings, and unknowingly, he had created the environment to answer the question for himself.

The moment you set the intention to work with these plants, they begin to work on you, Mesirow said. But the substances are not the answer in of themselves; theyre a tool or the gateway its the setting, the safety and the integration that allows for them to change lives.

A year later, Mesirow returned to the same retreat in Costa Rica for his second ayahuasca experience, where his intention at that point was to put eyes on his childhood.

He describes this go-around as walking through the Great Library of Alexandria of his own mind, recalling memories that he had blocked out before the age of 13. In this second series of ceremonies, Mesirow said he experienced terrifying moments, followed by a distinct feeling of singularity, in which he said he understood everything he needed to heal.

I may have gotten to where I am now in terms of my well-being without that experience, Mesirow said. But, for me, its been very central to my own healing development it changed my life profoundly.

After Mesirow planted the psychedelic-healing seed at a council meeting last year, council held two public work sessions on the topic. Mesirow brought in neuroscientists, psychiatrists and drug reform activists from all over the country to educate council members on these compounds.

In building this network, one of the organizations Mesirow reached out to was the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder, where he connected with Hammel and brought her on board.

A patient undergoes a psychedelic-assisted therapy treatment at the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder.

During a council work session held last May, it was apparent not all members were sold on the decrim movement. While there was interest, Mesirow said his colleagues were unsure if council was the right body to be putting this forward. The matter was turned over to Aspen citizens.

We put out the ask to our community to see who would be interested, and it was a huge amount of energy that showed up more than Id ever seen on any other topic, Mesirow said.

Spearheaded by Mesirow and Hammel, the Psychedelic Task Force formed at the start of summer 2021. The working group made up of about 30 community members including Roaring Fork residents outside of Pitkin County met twice a month at the Here House Club in Aspen over the course of eight months.

We opened the first meeting by discussing why we were there, and almost everyone in the room had had their lives saved in some capacity by plant medicines, Hammel said. So there was this deep sense of respect for the medicines, and we wanted to really look at: What is therapeutic use?

Mesirow emphasized the groups focus on therapeutic use, stating that this is the first attempt in the nation a municipal legislation around this movement has been so heavily grounded in the therapeutic and healing benefits of these compounds, he said.

The group came together with a very clear why we have one of the highest suicide rates, substance abuse problems and severe cases of depression and anxiety, Mesirow said. These compounds are showing the most profound ability to mediate, heal and in some instances cure those things plaguing our community.

Another significant discussion Hammel recalls emerging early on in the task force meetings had to do with whether they were looking to decriminalize just psilocybin or all plant medicines.

The thing that we kept coming back to was nobody should ever get arrested for possessing or eating a plant ever, Hammel said.

Through working with activists nationwide and analyzing the language of the Denver petition that led to the capital citys ballot passage three years ago, the local task force crafted a proposed legislation. After undergoing changes and tweaks, the initiated ordinance and petition was finalized in early April and is now circulating in the community. The final version and details on the legislation can be accessed through the Right To Heal Aspen website.

The initiatives three-step framework is rooted in a model Mesirow calls The 5 Ss of Psychedelic Success: screening, set, setting, support and sanctity.

If passed upon voter approval, the ordinance will first establish a six-month advisory committee to develop educational strategies to enable the safe, therapeutic access to plant medicines by adults defined in the document as an individual 21 years of age or older.

Six months after the effective date of the ordinance, plant medicines would then be decriminalized in the city of Aspen. According to the legislation, plant medicines include ayahuasca, ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), psilocybin, psilocin and mescaline excluding peyote.

Mayor Torre said that while he supports people using plant-based therapies and is all for the petition process in its intention and essence, he believes the ordinance as drafted could still be improved and hes weary about some of the language.

There should be no mistaking the true intention here, and that true intention is therapeutic use, Torre said. The language that decriminalizes it or deprioritizes it was not language that I thought shouldve been in this ordinance.

Torre also said he thinks the six-month advisory committee should go into effect before the actual ordinance, rather than post-approval, emphasizing that there is more educational work to be done in the community prior to the ordinance potentially passing.

One message that needs to be clear is that there is a difference between using any of these substances recreationally versus therapeutically, there is a difference, Torre said. Simply getting some mushrooms and taking them does not always mean that youre going to be using them positively or effectively for yourself.

Aspen School District Board of Education President Katy Frisch expressed concerns on exactly that point when it comes to the youth community.

Im super nervous about having another substance more accessible to kids, Frisch said. No matter what the ballot language is, theres a lot of possible ways that kids will get their hands on this stuff and wont use it in the right way.

Though the school board has not yet held a meeting to discuss Aspens decriminalization initiative, Frisch anticipates this matter as something they will have to deal with which takes more time away from academics to talk about and implement training around yet another substance that is illegal for kids, and illegal for a reason, she said.

Ive already spoken to admin about if something like this passes, we need to think about what well do from an educational perspective for students and staff, Frisch said. A teacher can probably tell if a student is drunk in class, I dont know whether theyre going to be able to tell if a student has taken this sort of drug.

Frisch said she understands why people support the use of plant medicines for mental health issues among adults, but looking at this from the perspective of how access may impact younger community members, she fears the already appalling drug-use levels will worsen.

I can tell you right now, our self-reported numbers for kids drug and alcohol use are extremely high relative to other parts of the country and even the state, she said. We have a huge substance abuse problem here, and the availability of psychedelic drugs is a big question mark for me.

The psychedelic reform movement elicits many question marks from myriad research fields to the legal and political arenas.

As decriminalization efforts meet success in cities around the country, it is worth noting that psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs are still illegal in those jurisdictions under state law. The term decriminalize is technically inaccurate, according to the psychedelic drug policy reform tracker. Rather, local governments have taken steps to deprioritize enforcing criminal penalties on the city level, and these municipal reforms are progressing in different ways based on different cities motives.

With Aspens focus on therapeutic use, the ordinance language around its decrim initiative involves protecting the use of these plant medicines for therapy by deprioritizing the imposition of criminal penalties on adults for therapeutic use.

According to the proposed legislation, therapeutic use includes the possession, storage, planting, cultivating, transporting and noncommercial sharing of these compounds. This does not include the sale of plant medicines for remuneration. Meaning, unlike marijuana, psychedelics would not be displayed publicly nor sold in stores.

To further support that decrim factor, the Aspen ordinance would prohibit all departments, agencies, boards, commissioners, officers and employees of the city of Aspen from using city resources to assist in the enforcement of criminal penalties on adults for therapeutic use of these plant medicines.

Ninth Judicial Chief Deputy District Attorney Don Nottingham said that if this ordinance were to pass in Aspen, not one thing would change in his jurisdiction. Psychedelics like marijuana are still federally illegal, he said, and from his point of view, they would remain illegal.

Aspen can decriminalize all they want, Nottingham said jokingly. My job is to follow state laws, not city laws.

Nottingham did throw in a comment that of all the substance-use related cases that come to the 9th Judicial District Attorneys Office serving Pitkin, Garfield and Rio Blanco counties a very small percentage of those cases involve psilocybin mushrooms.

Like cannabis, psilocybin is considered a Schedule I drug which the United States Drug Enforcement Administration defines as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential of abuse.

Signed into law by former President Richard Nixon, the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) of 1970 established this legal framework in efforts to categorize drugs into five schedules based on their medical application and the drugs abuse or dependence potential. According to the legislation, Schedule I drugs are considered to have the highest potential for abuse and the potential to create psychological and/or physical dependence.

The CSA was a precursor to Nixons War on Drugs, which he proclaimed in 1971, followed by other federal funding for drug-control agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency, and strict drug crime measures under the Nixon administration.

In the two decades prior to the War on Drugs which has been largely condemned as a political campaign motivated by racist ideology rather than medical reasons by many social advocacy nonprofits and academics psychedelic research was rampant, and culture followed suit.

The early 1950s saw breakthrough studies on the therapeutic potential of LSD, for instance. Due to the growing anti-drug legislature, these studies were short lived. By the late 1960s, psychedelic research had halted with only hippy counterculture left in its place.

Thoryn Stephens grew up in San Francisco chasing Grateful Dead concerts and Hunter S. Thompsons lore. While plant medicines were an integral part of his life from a young age, Stephens relationship with the compounds changed after a ceremonial experience involving mescaline (peyote) in the upper Amazon jungles of Ecuador.

Fascinated and inspired, Stephens started ordering plant materials from all over the world, studying and extracting these compounds to understand their nature.

I really began to understand the power of these plants as tools, essentially for us as humans, Stephens said. And thats really what drove me to be really interested in science: molecular biology and biotechnology.

Stephens who now lives in Aspen and was a part of the Psychedelic Task Force is the founder and CEO of the newly launched software company, Eve Health Systems. The digital platform uses data to drive measurement-based care involving mental-behavioral health, which includes case management and data analysis of legal psychedelic therapy and studies.

Connected to plant medicines on a professional, scientific and spiritual level, Stephens is well versed in the nationwide research efforts around these compounds. He mentioned the movement with ketamine-assisted therapies in helping veterans, explaining how many companies are in the process of stewarding different psychedelic drugs through clinical trials. MDMA is in phase three trials for post traumatic stress disorder therapies, Stephens adds, and psilocybin is in phase two trials for multiple indications, including depression, alcohol use disorder and anorexia nervosa.

While it could take years of research and clinical trials to prove any potential efficacies of these plant medicines, many are sold on the anecdotal evidence from their own personal experiences.

Seven years ago, Jim Harris was at a music festival in California. He was in his ninth month of recovery following a snowkite accident on the Patagonian Icecap, where he was paralyzed from the waist down. Given the state of his spine, Harris was not able to stand without a walker on the outdoor field where the festival took place his knees would ache and lock out, and he could not lift up his right foot due to his hamstring and glute lacking functionality.

Harris said his friends were getting loose with booze, but at that point, even a small amount of alcohol would have made it difficult for him to be mobile. He ate half of a small chocolate square containing psilocybin mushrooms.

Jim Harris during his journey to recovery following an accident that paralyzed him waist down. Harris, who is now a printmaker living in Carbondale, once made a living as a mountain guide and photographer.

Harris remembers leaning on his walker in the big-open field with his group of friends, about 100 yards from the stage. He recalls admiring the pink cotton candy patterns in the clouds, feeling slightly stoned in the cannabis sense when all of a sudden, he realized that he was able to pick his right foot up off the ground.

Muscles that hadnt worked in nine months since my accident began firing, Harris said. Through the psychedelic state, some part of my brain was tasked with something it hadnt been.

While the experience did not magically fix the injury, Harris said, that one muscle activation persisted and the recruitment of the nerve pathway stayed, which was a major progression for his walking functionality.

Two months ago, Harris attended a conference on psychedelics and chronic pain. One of the researchers brought up the potential for psychedelics among spinal cord injuries. Harris said he was immediately taken back to the moment at the music festival seven years ago.

Right now, there is a lot of focus in the medical world on different psychiatric uses, and my hunch is, it seems there will be emerging interest in psychedelics and pain management, especially neuropathic pain and phantom pains people have from different nerve damage, Harris said. Psychedelics seem like they have promise to rewire some of that pain reception.

Read more:

Breaking down the decrim movement: Discoveries, doubts and personal ins & outs - Aspen Daily News

(Ann Clancy/Leafly)

Welcome to Leaflys guide to psychedelics, where we explore the therapeutic and recreational benefits of these amazing substances.

The word entheogen is commonly used for these substances nowadays, a word in Greek which means generating the god within.

Entheogens are understood as compounds that promote life-altering experiences, encouraging profound insights into the nature of life and consciousness, and the term also alludes to the spiritual aspect of these substances and the idea of them as plant teachers.

Psychedelics are potent psychoactive chemicals or plants that can alter perception, mood, and cognitive processes. Some of the most common psychedelics include:

Mind-altering psychedelic plants naturally grow as far afield as the Amazon, the Himalayas, and the Pacific Northwest of the US.

Psychedelics arent a new fad. Their use predates the written word, with archaeologists confirming their use in ancient ritual and ceremonial contexts. While the ingestion of psychedelics for recreational and sacred purposes has been ongoing, their therapeutic potential was first recognized by scientists in the mid-20th century.

The word psychedelics was first coined in 1957 to identify drugs that reveal useful aspects of the mind. In recent years scientists have begun referring to psychedelic compounds more properly as entheogens.

The term entheogen is commonly used for psychedelics nowadays, meaning generating the god within in Greek.

One of the motivations for this renaming was a concern among scientists that psychedelics carried negative cultural baggage from the 1960s. Use of the term entheogens is intended to allow patients, medical practitioners, policymakers, and the public to approach this emerging field of medicine and discovery without stigma or bias.

Between 1950 and the mid-60s, more than 1,000 clinical papers were published on psychedelic drug therapy, spearheaded by researchers awed by the assorted medical benefits these compounds could potentially offer.

The introduction of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970 saw psychedelics research slow to a trickle as government-sanctioned research ceased, and the compounds became tarred by the War on Drugs.

Fast forward to the present day, and studies into this fascinating compound have picked up momentum again. Scientists are delving back into psychedelic research, exploring the myriad ways this unique medicine may help heal diverse ills. Recent research has shown promise in using psychedelics to treat substance dependency, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and to help with end-of-life care.

Check out more in-depth articles on these topics:

As the stigma of psychedelics is waning, more studies are showing the benefits these substances can offer to help treat a multitude of conditions, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, addiction and much more.

Learn how psychedelics affect the human brain, and how they interact with serotonin receptors and the default mode network (DMN).

See how psychedelic have seen used in some cultures for thousands of years, and how interest in the substances increased in the 20th century, up to today.

The psychedelic legalization movement has been picking up steam recently with cities, districts, and states decriminalizing them, and some even legalizing.

Get to know more about MDMA, LSD, mushrooms, and DMT, their histories, how they make you feel, and why people take them.

Is it a good idea to mix the two, or a recipe for a bad trip? Research is sparse, but we look into the benefits of combining these two substances.

Pat Goggins and Emma Stone contributed to this article.

More:

What Are Psychedelic Drugs (Hallucinogenics)? | Leafly

Your dedicated resource to learn about marijuana, from legalization efforts and its history to resources about growing cannabis and more.

The history of cannabis prohibition

Learn how cannabis came to America, how it was prohibited, and how the country is starting to embrace it once again.

The world of dabbing might be confusing to the uninitiated, but fear not: Our guide to dabbing will show you what dabbing is, how to dab, all the different types of dabs and how theyre made, and more.

Whether you want to start your own home grow or are looking for tips on how to improve your existing garden, Leafly has plenty of resources designed to help marijuana growers.

Psychedelics, or entheogens, can alter the mind, encourage profound insights, and promote life-changing experiences. Learn about these many substances and the incredible medical benefits they can offer.

Perplexed by pulegone? Befuddled about BHO? Gobsmacked by guaiol? Browse our marijuana glossary to learn about the many terms, from scientific to slang, used in a cannabis context.

Leaflys guide to growing marijuana

Educate yourself and learn more about social justice to help build a stronger cannabis community.

Marijuana legalization in the United States is a long, ongoing process. Learn about the history of cannabis prohibition and legalization efforts in the US, what decriminalization means (and why it doesnt do enough to help in the fight towards legalization), the differences between recreational and medical marijuana legalization, and why expungement is a necessary step of legalizing weed.

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Cannabis & Marijuana Education: Learn All About Weed | Leafly

ANN ARBOR, MI University of Michigan police are planning to keep an eye on a psychedelic plant and mushroom festival planned for Sept. 19 on the UM Diag in Ann Arbor.

Our top priority is ensuring the safety of the community, said Melissa Overton, UMs deputy police chief. Any significant violation of state or federal law or any use of entheogenic plants that poses a threat to public health, safety and welfare still could result in law enforcement involvement.

A group called Decriminalize Nature Michigan is organizing the three-hour event known as EntheoFest to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Ann Arbors move to declare entheogenic plants and fungi the citys lowest law-enforcement priority, effectively decriminalizing them at the city level.

That includes ayahuasca, ibogaine, mescaline, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms and other natural compounds with hallucinogenic properties deemed illegal under state and federal law, though not synthetic compounds like LSD.

UM police enforce state laws and technically still can make arrests for such substances on campus.

Shroom festival planned in Ann Arbor to celebrate psychedelic awareness month

Next months festival on the Diag is expected to include speakers, musical entertainment and educational booths, followed by a walk to UMs Nichols Arboretum.

Decriminalize Nature Michigan is coordinating with a student group known as the Student Association for Psychedelic Studies, which has reserved the Diag, organizers said.

Moss Herberholz, the student groups president, described it as a sacred plant and mushroom festival with a focus on Mother Nature and the incredible plants and fungi that she provides.

UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the student groups application for use of the Diag is still under review.

Local psychedelics activist Chuck Ream is secretary of Decriminalize Nature Michigan, which grew out of Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor. Ream said he supports good policing and agrees with the UM police about focusing on public health, safety and welfare.

This is a free speech event, Ream said. This is not a chance to come in and get really high. You can do that at home and we would prefer that you did that at home.

The festival is for people to come together to share information and enthusiasm about psychedelic plants and fungi and how they can be used for therapeutic and spiritual purposes, in addition to enjoyment, Ream said.

He expects about 200 to 300 people will show up, though its hard to predict and there could be as many as 2,000 to 3,000, he said. He doesnt expect police to bother people who arent bothering anyone, he said, and as a former government official and kindergarten teacher, his advice to festival-goers is, Everybody better behave properly.

We dont see it as a place to get high, he said. If someone is high, theyll be smiling a lot and that wont bother anyone at all. I assume police wont bust people for smiling too much.

Ream said he once drank a magic mushroom-infused tea and the next day his face hurt from smiling so much. He has used psychedelics for spiritual exploration, seeking what Mother God wants him to do to help save the earth, he said.

Its going to be mainly a shroom fest, in terms of what people are involved in now, he said of EntheoFest, adding it also will focus on other entheogenic plants with which people could become more involved in the future.

Jim Salome, Decriminalize Nature Michigan deputy director, said EntheoFest is a celebration of sacred medicines.

The organizing group will be advising people not to take any psychedelics at the event, Salome said.

Its not a party necessarily, he said, adding its a way to build the movement and also motivate people to contact state lawmakers to get Michigan laws changed.

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, and state Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, are on the list of speakers for EntheoFest.

Savit has taken a stance against criminally charging people for use, possession or small-scale distribution of entheogenic plants and fungi, and Irwin has said he plans to introduce legislation next month to try to decriminalize the natural substances across Michigan.

After success in Ann Arbor, Decriminalize Nature Michigan has been working to advance its cause in other cities, including Lansing, East Lansing and Hazel Park. The group anticipates Grand Rapids and Detroit will act on the issue in the coming months.

I think this is really historic and happening fast, Ream said.

Organizers said theres still a chance EntheoFest could be canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Theyre watching infection rates and case counts and waiting to see what decisions UM makes about campus events in the next month.

Were watching the numbers every day, Ream said. This whole thing is about health and safety and wholesomeness and we cannot have it become a vector of disease.

City Council voted 10-0 this week to approve a resolution declaring September to be Entheogenic Plant and Fungi Awareness Month, in hopes of increasing understanding of the potential benefits of psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelic plants and fungi for mental health, personal and spiritual growth, as well as honoring the longstanding ancestral practices and relationships with these entheogens.

EntheoFest, which is planned for the same venue as the long-running Hash Bash marijuana rally in Ann Arbor, will take place every September, the council resolution states.

Clinical studies and research in the U.S., Canada and Europe have shown the safety and efficacy of entheogenic plants/fungi for treating a variety of mental health illnesses going back to the 1960s, the resolution states.

Further, it adds: The FDA has granted breakthrough therapy designation to psilocybin for use in major depressive disorders; psilocybin has been shown to ease treatment-resistant depression, end-of-life anxiety and cluster headaches, ibogaine has been shown to be an effective treatment for opiate addiction, and ayahuasca studies are currently underway to better understand its ability to address depression and substance dependence.

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Ann Arbor using $59K in city funds to support a dozen community events

Ann Arbor housing development gets initial OK, but lack of EV chargers a concern

Mixed-use redevelopment proposed across from Ann Arbors Amtrak station

Ann Arbor surpasses Lansing for fifth-most populous Michigan city

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University of Michigan police say safety will be top priority at psychedelic shroom festival - MLive.com

The fear began creeping in when I realized that I could no longer remember who I was.

I knew that I was on a beach beneath the starry sky, but concrete information like my name, past, where I was, or how Id gotten there were all frightfully elusive. I knew that I probably should recall my identity, but try as I might, I could not. As my mind spun and my heart galloped, the fear continued to bloom.

And then a thought arose: this feels familiar. There was a sensation coursing through me that I couldnt quite distinguish, but Id experienced it before. Wait I got it

I was bad tripping on LSD.

With this awareness came the understanding that, with time, my identity would ebb back in like the tide. No need to freak out. It was just a matter of time. At that moment I could be content to merely sit and consider the stars. The panic subsided. Bad trip averted, but only just.

Psychedelics arent new. In fact, thats an understatement, as psychedelics have been an integral aspect of human society for thousands of years. Come to think of it, what is rather new is their repression, which was virtually unheard of until LSD was banned in the United States back in 1967.

This prohibition put an effective end to mainstream research on substances like LSD, psilocybin (the delightful compound in so-called magic mushrooms), and mescaline for several decades, but the movement continued to bubble underground. Recently however, psychedelics also widely known as entheogens are enjoying a major comeback.

The FDA has declared that psilocybin and MDMA have the potential to be game-changing therapy tools. Cities and states have been decriminalizing the drugs left and right. Psychedelic therapy clinics are popping up across the country and around the globe, and there are even psychedelic stocks being traded on the market.

According to Dr. Julie Holland, a worldwide expert on street drugs and member of the Advisory Board at a psychedelic support organization called the Fireside Project, Clinical research is underway to see if psilocybin mushrooms may help to treat depression or the existential anxiety that often accompanies a terminal illness (at Johns Hopkins), or to treat addiction to alcohol (at NYU), cigarettes (Hopkins), or cocaine (in Alabama).

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is being studied for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (multi-center Phase IIII trials), and psilocybin is being studied in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) at Yale.

Suffice to say that with their potentially wide-ranging benefits, psychedelics might be one of the cures to what ails you.

That being said, its possible for the darkness to eclipse your trip regardless of your intentions. Theres only so much you can do to tame a tiger, and these substances have vivid stripes.

With this in mind, the Fireside Project has launched a new app to provide peer-to-peer support for psychonauts undergoing the rigors of a rough trip.

At the press of a button, the app connects you with an ambassador to walk you through the situation. That means different things for different people, but it can include anything from lending a sympathetic ear, to talking through the problem, to making helpful suggestions, to simply reminding you that the experience is temporary and that you will in fact come down.

And the support app is not solely for those having bad trips. It can also be used by people having a positive trip who want to talk about their experience with someone.

The general idea about a bad trip is that using psychedelics will cause you lose your mind and probably die. How dramatic.

Most of the risks with psychedelics have to do with behavioral toxicity, not physical toxicity, explains Holland. If someone isnt properly prepared, educated, and supervised, the risks increase.

But the truth is, while bad trips most certainly can happen, their actual results are almost always much less dire.

While this can indeed be taxing, its almost never dangerous. And the fact is that the majority of people who experience bad trips report that they turned out to be beneficial. A third of respondents described their trip down the dark rabbit hole as the most meaningful experience of their lives.

It may be unpleasant or uncomfortable, but sometimes, deep, significant behavioral changes still occur, says Holland. Sometimes facing your fears allows you to work through them better than running away from them.

Bad trips are often nothing more than you facing something you probably needed to face in the first place. Its your opportunity to look at and perhaps address repressed traumas or even aspirations.

A trip doesnt have to stumble its way into the bad zone to impart psychedelic wisdom. Sometimes you enjoy the same enlightening conclusions via a truly blissful experience.

Your best bet is to lessen the potential for a bad trip altogether by considering your set and setting beforehand. In a nutshell, this means taking steps to provide yourself with the appropriate surroundings (enjoyable companions, beautiful scenery, safety, etc.) and a prepared mindset (lack of immediate distress, healthily nourished, awareness of the rigors of the psychedelic state, and so on).

The Fireside Project app is the first of its kind, and well likely see similar tools emerge as the psychedelic space develops. But what if youre experiencing the fear and you dont have your phone handy? Here are a few tips for soothing or even ending a bad trip:

Remind yourself that it will end. One of the most common causes of a bad trip involves a fear that it will never end. It will. Remind yourself that youve taken a powerful substance and that while it feels overwhelming at the moment, it will start to wane, and within a few hours things will feel much more normal.

Change your setting. It might be that all you need is a quick change of scenery. That might mean going for a walk or even just moving to a different room.

Have some food or water. It could be that youre simply hungry or dehydrated, or you just need the distraction provided by food. Youd be amazed at how much the simple process of peeling an orange can do for your situation.

Art it up. This can mean many things: Put on some music (or change what youre listening to). Watch a movie. Play an instrument. Draw or paint. Sing. Its almost impossible to have a bad trip when youre singing.

Your best chance of enjoying a positive psychedelic trip is achieved through preparation creating the right set and setting. But if the grimness does set in, just remember that its not the end of the world.

The techniques above can work wonders for alleviating the situation, and tools like the Fireside Project app can provide much-needed support.

If all else fails, keep in mind that your so-called bad trip might be exactly what you needed. Its quite possible that youll emerge from your psychedelic adventure with a new perspective that will help you moving forward.

Nick Hilden is a travel, fitness, arts, and fiction writer whose work has appeared in the Daily Beast, the Los Angeles Times, Salon, Mens Health, Thrillist, Vice, and more. You can follow his travels and connect with him via Instagram or Twitter.

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Psychedelic Drug Therapy: Tips and Support for the Experience - Greatist

In a normal year, the worlds largest annual cannabis event would have taken place in August, on the Seattle waterfront, drawing 100,000+ attendees and featuring multiple stages and hundreds of vendors.

This year, the 2020 Seattle Hempfest has moved on-line with a two day livestreamed event this weekend, featuring panel discussions and musical guests from all over America and beyond.

The theme of this years event is The Green Renaissance. Its organizers present an argument that the cannabis / hemp plant offers more solutions to humanitys growing problems than any other single renewable, natural resource. Legalization is one step, actualization is the journey ahead.

From renewable energy and safe, compassionate medicine to sustainable construction practices and nutritious food products, the cannabis plant is the one natural resource that can play a role in practically every issue we face as we experience the devastation wrought by climate change, says Seattle Hempfest executive director Vivian McPeak.

Our panel discussions are jam packed with educational content from the nations leading experts.

The two day virtual event will feature panel discussions all day both days on one channel, and music performances, guest speakers, and keynote presentations on the other channel.

Travel guru Rick Steves will be making a presentation about ongoing efforts to expand cannabis legalization, and TV personality Jason Gann from the Wilfred series will be speaking about cannabis and its use for spiritual development.

Musical acts from Japan, Ukraine, and Chile will perform, as well as Grammy Award winning acts Rickie Lee Jones and Bone, Thugs N Harmony. In addition musical guests from all across America will be performing at Seattles MOB Studios, or livestreamed from other regions, and pre-recorded video including Nirvana producer Jack Endinos band, Beyond Captain Orca.

On the educational channel, panel topics will include: Pediatric medicine and cannabis use, Race and inequity within cannabis, positive masculinity within the cannabis community, Hemp Construction: US Innovations & Supplies in Critical Times, Hemp & Regenerative Agriculture: How to Heal the Soil While Healing the World, Cannabis and hemp as food, Prisoner Advocacy, Cannabis, Entheogens, and Public Spiritual Health, and more.

Hemp is superior for super capacity batteries, being more efficient than graphene for hemp fiber battery storage.

Hemp-crete concrete is carbon negative, non-toxic to the environment, mold and mildew resistant, and many times lighter than gypsum based concrete. Hemp -board composite aids carbon sequestration by reducing the consumption of tree wood. Hemp wood is currently used for flooring, furniture, accent walls, and countertops. And while it takes 50 100 years for an oak tree to reach maturation, it only takes hemp 120 days to be a harvestable, useful resource.

Stores already stock hemp foods rich in protein and omega fatty acids such as hemp milk, hemp flour, and hemp oil. Cannabis is a crop that be grow on infertile soil preserving fertile, farmable soils for other food crops. Cannabis has been used as medicine for millennia, and is a safer recreational substance than alcohol or tobacco.

Surprisingly, cannabis represents a multifaceted gateway to a more sustainable future, says McPeak.

To learn more, be sure to join online this weekend.

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Check out virtual Hempfest protestival, live this weekend - The Leaf Online

Some drugs are toxic.

Its no accident that the etymological origin of the word toxic stems directly from the Greek toxicon that refers to thebow used in poison arrows. The difference between a poison, a medicine and a narcotic is only one of dosage. Digitalis for example, is a popular cardiac medicine yet in higher doses it remains fatal.We all recognise the term intoxication with reference to alcohol but in reality any toxic substance (like cannabis) may alter our state.

Entheogenshowever, are non-toxic partly because they have no detrimental effects upon the human body and can pass from our system within minutes. They are oftenused in religious, shamanic or spiritual contexts. The word entheogen takes its origins from the Greek word entheos, which means full of the god, and genesthai, which means to come into being.

Entheogens are usually derived from plant sources and have been used in a variety of religious ceremonies. Throughout history, they have been employed all over the world by religious cultures. Entheogens are very different from pleasure drugs, which tend to stimulate the lower chakras of procreation and willpower.

The word endogenousrefers to any compound that is found and produced within the human body itself. Serotonin is one example, DMT is anotheras powerful endogenous entheogensthey can invoke mystical experiences when we dream.Because these entheogens possess the same basic structure as neurotransmitters, they are able to cross the human blood-brain barrier which allows them to have a dramatic effect upon human consciousness. In essence, we are all biologically and chemically sympathetic with these compounds:

Ancient initiates also used the fly agaricmushroomAmanita muscaria. This fungusis noted for its hallucinogenic properties which derive from the psychoactive constituents ibotenic acid and muscimol. Muscimol is a potent, selective agonist for the GABAA receptor that produces sedative, depressant and deliriant effects. The Amanita muscaria mushroom grows almost exclusively beneath pine trees; it cannot live without themand remains asymbiont.

When given Amanita muscaria the body begins to produce a superconductor called Pinoline. Pinoline induces cell replication in a state that is otherwise only activated in the womb and during a Near Death Experience (NDE).The pinealgland may then start to produce 5-MeO-DMT, a hormone that is highly luminiscent due to the amount of phosphene that it transmits onto the visual cortex.Eventually, the brain synthesizes DMT. This chemical has come to be known as the spirit molecule. It is the visual third eye neuro-transmitter.

Even at the very roots of our Christmas tradition is the secret of the Amanita muscaria mushroom. The legend of Santa Claus derives from shamans in the Siberian and Arctic regions who dropped into homes with bags full of magicmushrooms as presents in December.Santa wears red and white clothing and his sled is pulled by reindeer (famous for their play after eating this fungus).

Imagine your consciousness is a TV that has been tuned to the same channel your entire life. This awareness is the product of our rational western culture: it deals with everyday reality. Now image that with the help of entheogens you can overlay the channel for the first time. Using three eyes instead of just two, you can now experience multiple realms simultaneously. Amazingly, they are sympathetic with each other. But the experience is richer, more nuanced and carries deeper lessons.

From the plant kingdoms to the spirit domains you will discover that plants have been here much longer than humanity. Their wisdom may shock you as you start to become a fully-realised person.

Link:

Entheogens | Sacred Geometry

Global Psychoactive Drug Marketwas valued at US$ XX million in 2018 and is expected to reach US$ XX million by 2026 at a CAGR of xx% over forecast period 2019-2026.

Global Psychoactive Drug MarketThe report study has analyzed revenue impact of COVID -19 pandemic on the sales revenue of market leaders, market followers and market disrupters in the report and same is reflected in our analysis.A psychoactive drugs changes brain function and results in alterations in perception, mood, behaviour, consciousness and cognition. These substances are be used medically, recreationally, to purposefully improve performance or alter ones consciousness entheogens for ritual, spiritual, shamanic purpose or for research.

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The global psychoactive drug market is mainly driven by, Rise in R&D expenditure, increased prevalence of diseases across the globe, increased geriatric population, rise in awareness regarding various diseases in developing countries, and rich pipeline of innovative treatment options are some factors that are expected to boost the global psychoactive drugs market during the forecast period.Moreover, increasing research and development activities in disease modifying drugs and surge in investment by key players in the clinical studies of advanced treatment options are expected to propel the global psychoactive drugs market over the forecast period.Psychoactive drugs misuse, dependence and addiction have resulted in legal measures and moral debate. Governmental controls on manufacture, supply and prescription attempt to reduce problematic medical drug use. Ethical Concerns have also been raised about over-use of these drugs clinically, and about their marketing by manufacturers.

Stringent government regulations, high cost of advanced treatments and severe side-effects associated with certain injectable treatments are expected to hamper the psychoactive drugs market.

Global Psychoactive Drug Market is segmented by type, by application and by region. By type market is segmented into stimulants, depressants, narcotics, hallucinogens, cannabis and others. Stimulate segment is expected to exhibit highest global market share at a CAGR of XX% over forecast period. Stimulants range from nicotine and caffeine to cocaine and crystal meth. Stimulants block the reuptake or reabsorption of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which can lead to increased energy, panic and anxiety.By geography, the global psychoactive drugs market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global psychoactive drugs market owing to the low cost of manufacturing, acceptable regulatory scenario and presence of major players in the region.

Moreover, the market in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a significantly high CAGR during the forecast period, owing to improving health care infrastructure, rising investments in research and development and increasing disposable income in countries such as China and India, and Japan.

Key players operating in global psychoactive drug market are Abbott Laboratories (U.S.), Sanofi S.A. (France), Cipla Limited (India), and Biocon Limited (India), Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (India), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (India), Cadila Pharmaceuticals (India), Lupin Limited (India), Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (India), Novartis International AG (Switzerland), Dr. Reddys Laboratories Limited (India), and Alkem Laboratories Limited (India). These Drug companies discovered a way to synthesize medications rather than having to rely on extracts from natural products.

The objective of the report is to present a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology. The report also helps in understanding global psychoactive drug market dynamics, structure by identifying and analysing the market segments and project the global market size. Further, the report also focuses on the competitive analysis of key players by product, price, financial position, product portfolio, growth strategies, and regional presence. The report also provides PEST analysis, PORTERs analysis, and SWOT analysis to address the question of shareholders to prioritizing the efforts and investment shortly to the emerging segment in the global psychoactive drug market.

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Global Psychoactive Drug Market Segmentation by Types

Stimulants Depressants Narcotics Hallucinogens Cannabis Others (Inhalants, sports drugs, psychiatric medications, compulsive behaviours)Global Psychoactive Drug Market Segmentation by Application

Anaesthesia Pain management Mental disorders Recreation Ritual and spiritual OthersGlobal Psychoactive Drug Market Segmentation by Region

North America Europe APAC MEA& Africa Latin AmericaGlobal Psychoactive Drug Market Major players

Abbott Laboratories (U.S.) Sanofi S.A. (France) Cipla Limited (India) Biocon Limited (India) Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (India) Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (India) Cadila Pharmaceuticals (India) Lupin Limited (India) Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (India) Novartis International AG (Switzerland) Dr. Reddys Laboratories Limited (India) Alkem Laboratories Limited (India)

MAJOR TOC OF THE REPORT

Chapter One: Psychoactive Drug Market Overview

Chapter Two: Manufacturers Profiles

Chapter Three: Global Psychoactive Drug Market Competition, by Players

Chapter Four: Global Psychoactive Drug Market Size by Regions

Chapter Five: North America Psychoactive Drug Revenue by Countries

Chapter Six: Europe Psychoactive Drug Revenue by Countries

Chapter Seven: Asia-Pacific Psychoactive Drug Revenue by Countries

Chapter Eight: South America Psychoactive Drug Revenue by Countries

Chapter Nine: Middle East and Africa Revenue Psychoactive Drug by Countries

Chapter Ten: Global Psychoactive Drug Market Segment by Type

Chapter Eleven: Global Psychoactive Drug Market Segment by Application

Chapter Twelve: Global Psychoactive Drug Market Size Forecast (2019-2026)

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The rest is here:

Global Psychoactive Drug Market Forecast and Analysis (2019-2026), by Type, by Application, by Region. - Good Night, Good Hockey

A new article by Brian Hales has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:

Visions, Mushrooms, Fungi, Cacti, and Toads: Joseph Smiths Reported Use of Entheogens

Abstract:An article recently published in an online journal entitled The Entheogenic Origins of Mormonism: A Working Hypothesis posits that Joseph Smith used naturally occurring chemicals, called entheogens, to facilitate visionary experiences among his early followers. The entheogenic substances were reportedly derived from two mushrooms, a fungus, three plants (including one cactus), and the secretions from the parotid glands of the Sonoran Desert toad. Although it is an intriguing theory, the authors consistently fail to connect important dots regarding chemical and historical cause-and-effect issues. Documentation of entheogen acquisition and consumption by the early Saints is not provided, but consistently speculated. Equally, the visionary experiences recounted by early Latter-day Saints are highly dissimilar from the predictable psychedelic effects arising from entheogen ingestion. The likelihood that Joseph Smith would have condemned entheogenic influences as intoxication is unaddressed in the article.

***

And heres another item from the Interpreter Foundation:

A Video Supplement forCome, Follow MeBook of Mormon Lesson 30 The Great Plan of Happiness (Alma 39-42)

***

This is coming up soon, so dont miss it:

Questions about the gospel? Find answers at the FairMormon Virtual Conference

***

Finally, my attention was just now called to this petition, which, I think, first appeared about twenty-four hours ago:

Emphasizing Christ-Centered Education at Brigham Young University

I have no connection with the petition, and I neither know the principal figures involved nor known anything about them.

Originally posted here:

Visions, Mushrooms, Fungi, Cacti, and Toads: Joseph Smith's Reported Use of Entheogens - Patheos

Entheogens (from the Ancient Greek entheos ["god", "divine"] and genesthai ["generate" - "generating the divine within"]) are a family of psychoactive substances, typically of plant origin, that are used in religious, ritual, or spiritual contexts. Jonathan Ott is credited with coining the term in 1979.[2]

Entheogens have been used in a ritualized context for thousands of years and their religious significance is well established with anthropological and academic literature. Examples of traditional entheogens include psychedelics like peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, and iboga; atypical hallucinogens like salvia and Amanita muscaria; quasi-psychedelics like cannabis; and deliriants like datura.

With the advent of organic chemistry, there now exist many synthetic drugs with similar psychoactive properties, many of which are derived from these plants. Many pure active compounds with psychoactive properties have been isolated from these respective organisms and synthesized chemically. These include the naturally occurring mescaline, psilocybin, DMT, salvinorin A, ibogaine, ergine, and muscimol, the semi-synthetic LSD, and synthetic substances (e.g., DPT used by the Temple of the True Inner Light and 2C-B used by the Sangoma).[3]

More broadly, the term entheogen is used to refer to any psychoactive substance used for its religious or spiritual effects, whether or not in a formal religious or traditional structure. This terminology is often chosen to contrast with the recreational use of the same substances. Studies such as the Marsh Chapel Experiment have documented reports of spiritual experiences from participants who were administered psychoactive substances in controlled trials.[4] Ongoing research is limited due to widespread drug prohibition; however, some countries have legislation that allows for traditional entheogen use.

The term "entheogen" comes from the Greek en, meaning in or within; theo, meaning god or divine; and gen, meaning creates or generates. It translates as generating or creating the divine within".[citation needed]

Many modern chemicals with little human history have been recognized to be able to catalyze intense spiritual experiences, and many synthetic entheogens are simply slight modifications of their naturally occurring counterparts. Some synthetic substances like 4-AcO-DMT are prodrugs that metabolize into psychoactive substances that have been used as entheogens.

While synthetic DMT and mescaline are reported to have identical entheogenic qualities as extracted or plant-based sources, the experience may wildly vary due to the lack of numerous psychoactive alkaloids that constitute the material. This is similar to how isolated THC produces very different effects than an extract that retains the many cannabinoids of the plant such as cannabidiol and cannabinol.

Consumption of the imaginary mushroom anochi as the entheogen underlying the creation of Christianity is the premise of Philip K. Dick's last novel, "The Transmigration of Timothy Archer".

Aldous Huxley's final novel, Island (1962), depicted a fictional entheogenic mushroom termed "moksha medicine" used by the people of Pala in rites of passage, such as the transition to adulthood and at the end of life.

In his book "The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East", John M. Allegro argues etymologically that Christianity developed out of the use of a psychedelic mushroom, the true body of Christ, which was later forgotten by its adherents.

Read more here:

Entheogen - PsychonautWiki

1.Entheogens & Psychedelics

"'Entheogen' is a word coined by scholars proposing to replace the term 'psychedelic' (Ruck, Bigwood, Staples, Ott & Wasson, 1979), which was perceived to be too socioculturally loaded from its 1960s roots to appropriately denote the revered plants and substances used for traditional sacred rituals.What kinds of plants or chemicals fall into the category of entheogen is a matter of debate, as a large number of inebriants - from tobacco and marijuana to alcohol and opium - have been venerated as gifts from the gods (or God) in different cultures at different times (Fuller, 2000). For the purposes of this paper, however, I will focus on the class of drugs that Lewin (1924/1997) terms 'phantastica,' a name deriving from the Greek word for the faculty of the imagination (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1973). Later these substances became known as hallucinogens or psychedelics, a class whose members include lysergic acid derivatives, psilocybin, mescaline and dimethyltryptamine; these all shared physical, chemical, and, when ingested, phenomenological properties and, more importantly, have a history of ritual use as cultural tools to cure illness and/or to mediate cosmological insight (Grinspoon & Bakalar, 1998; Rudgley, 1994, Schultes & Hofmann, 1992;)."

Tupper, Ken, "Entheogens & Education: Exploring the Potential of Psychoactives as Educational Tools," Journal of Drug Education and Awareness, Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 146.https://www.researchgate.net/p...

View post:

Entheogens and Psychedelics including Ayahuasca, LSD ...

This entry covers entheogens as psychoactive substances used in religious or shamanic contexts. For general information about these substances and their use outside religious contexts, see psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants.

An entheogen, in the strictest sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious or shamanic context. Historically, entheogens are derived primarily from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious practices. With the advent of organic chemistry, there now exist many synthetic substances with similar properties.

More broadly, the term entheogen is used to refer to such substances when used for their religious or spiritual effects, whether or not in a formal religious or traditional structure. This terminology is often chosen in contrast with recreational use of the same substances. These spiritual effects have been demonstrated in peer-reviewed studies (see below) though research remains problematic due to ongoing drug prohibition.

Entheogens have been used in a ritualized context for thousands of years. Examples of entheogens from ancient sources include: Greek: kykeon; African: Iboga; Vedic: Soma, Amrit. Chemicals used today as entheogens, whether in pure form or as plant-derived substances, include mescaline, DMT, LSD, psilocin, ibogaine, and salvinorin A.

The word "entheogen" is a neologism derived from two words of ancient Greek, (entheos) and (genesthai). The adjective entheos translates to English as "full of the god, inspired, possessed," and is the root of the English word "enthusiasm." The Greeks used it as a term of praise for poets and other artists. Genesthai means "to come into being." Thus, an entheogen is a substance that causes one to become inspired or to experience feelings of inspiration, often in a religious or "spiritual" manner.

The word entheogen was coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists and scholars of mythology (Carl A. P. Ruck, Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, Richard Evans Schultes, Jonathan Ott and R. Gordon Wasson). The literal meaning of the word is "that which causes God to be within an individual." The translation "creating the divine within" is sometimes given, but it should be noted that entheogen implies neither that something is created (as opposed to just perceiving something that is already there) nor that the experienced is within the user (as opposed to having independent existence).

It was coined as a replacement for the terms "hallucinogen" (popularized by Aldous Huxley's experiences with mescaline, published as The Doors of Perception in 1953) and "psychedelic" (a Greek neologism for "mind manifest," coined by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond, who was quite surprised when the well-known author, Aldous Huxley, volunteered to be a subject in experiments Osmond was running on mescaline). Ruck et al. argued that the term "hallucinogen" was inappropriate due to its etymological relationship to words relating to delirium and insanity. The term "psychedelic" was also seen as problematic, due to the similarity in sound to words pertaining to psychosis and also due to the fact that it had become irreversibly associated with various connotations of 1960s pop culture. In modern usage "entheogen" may be used synonymously with these terms, or it may be chosen to contrast with recreational use of the same substances.

The meanings of the term "entheogen" were formally defined by Ruck et al.:

In a strict sense, only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens, but in a looser sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial, that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens.

Since 1979, when the term was proposed, its use has become widespread in certain circles. In particular, the word fills a vacuum for those users of entheogens who feel that the term "hallucinogen," which remains common in medical, chemical and anthropological literature, denigrates their experience and the world view in which it is integrated. Use of the strict sense of the word has, therefore, arisen amongst religious entheogen users, and also amongst others who wish to practice spiritual or religious tolerance.

The use of the word "entheogen" in its broad sense as a synonym for "hallucinogenic drug" has attracted criticism on three grounds:

Ideological objections to the broad use of the term often relate to the widespread existence of taboos surrounding psychoactive drugs, with both religious and secular justifications. The perception that the broad sense of the term "entheogen" is used as a euphemism by hallucinogenic drug-users bothers both critics and proponents of the secular use of hallucinogenic drugs. Critics frequently see the use of the term as an attempt to obscure what they perceive as illegitimate motivations and contexts of secular drug use. Some proponents also object to the term, arguing that the trend within their own subcultures and in the scientific literature towards the use of term "entheogen" as a synonym for "hallucinogen" devalues the positive uses of drugs in contexts that are secular but nevertheless, in their view, legitimate.

Beyond the use of the term itself, the validity of drug-induced, facilitated, or enhanced religious experience has been questioned. The claim that such experiences are less valid than religious experience without the use of any sacramental catalyst faces the problem that the descriptions of religious experiences by those using entheogens are indistinguishable from many reports of religious experiences which, are presumed in modern times to, have been experienced without their use. Such a claim, however, depends entirely on the assumption that the reports of well-known mystics were not influenced by ingesting visionary plants, a derivation which Dan Merkur calls into question.

In an attempt to empirically answer the question about whether neurochemical augmentation through entheogens may enable religio-mystical experience, the Marsh Chapel Experiment was conducted by physician and theology doctoral candidate, Walter Pahnke, under the supervision of Timothy Leary and the Harvard Psilocybin Project. In the double-blind experiment, volunteer graduate school divinity students from the Boston area almost all claimed to have had profound religious experiences subsequent to the ingestion of pure psilocybin. In 2006, a more rigorously controlled version of this experiment was conducted at Johns Hopkins University, yielding very similar results.[1] To date there is little peer-reviewed research on this subject, due to ongoing drug prohibition and the difficulty of getting approval from institutional review boards. However, there is little doubt that entheogens can enable powerful experiences that are subjectively judged as important in a religious or spiritual context. Rather, it is the precise characterization and quantification of these experiences, and of religious experience in general, that is not yet developed.

Naturally occurring entheogens such as psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine, also known as N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or simply DMT (in the preparation ayahuasca) were discovered and used by older cultures, as part of their spiritual and religious life, as plants and agents which were respected, or in some cases revered. By contrast, artificial and modern entheogens, such as MDMA, never had a tradition of religious use.

Entheogens have been used in various ways, including as part of established religious traditions, secularly for personal spiritual development, as tools (or "plant teachers") to augment the mind,[2][3] secularly as recreational drugs, and for medical and therapeutic use.

The use of entheogens in human cultures is nearly ubiquitous throughout recorded history.

The best-known entheogen-using culture of Africa is the Bwitists, who used a preparation of the root bark of Iboga (Tabernanthe iboga).[4] A famous entheogen of ancient Egypt is the blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea). There is evidence for the use of entheogenic mushrooms in Cte d'Ivoire (Samorini 1995). Numerous other plants used in shamanic ritual in Africa, such as Silene capensis sacred to the Xhosa, are yet to be investigated by western science.

Entheogens have played a pivotal role in the spiritual practices of American cultures for millennia. The first American entheogen to be subject to scientific analysis was the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii). For his part, one of the founders of modern ethno-botany, the late Richard Evans Schultes of Harvard University documented the ritual use of peyote cactus among the Kiowa who live in what became Oklahoma. Used traditionally by many cultures of what is now Mexico, its use spread throughout North America, replacing the toxic entheogen Sophora secundiflora (mescal bean). Other well-known entheogens used by Mexican cultures include psilocybin mushrooms (known to indigenous Mexicans under the Nhuatl name teonancatl), the seeds of several morning glories (Nhuatl: tlitlltzin and ololihqui) and Salvia divinorum (Mazateco: Ska Pastora; Nhuatl: pipiltzintzntli).

Indigenous peoples of South America employ a wide variety of entheogens. Better-known examples include ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi plus admixtures) among indigenous peoples (such as the Urarina) of Peruvian Amazonia. Other well-known entheogens include: borrachero (Brugmansia spp); San Pedro Trichocereus spp); and various tryptamine-bearing snuffs, for example Epen (Virola spp), Vilca and Yopo (Anadananthera spp). The familiar tobacco plant, when used uncured in large doses in shamanic contexts, also serves as an entheogen in South America. Additionally, a tobacco that contains higher nicotine content, and therefore smaller doses required, called Nicotiana rustica was commonly used.

Over and above the indigenous use of entheogens in the Americas, one should also note their important role in contemporary religious movements, such as the Rastafari movement and the Church of the Universe.

The indigenous peoples of Siberia (from whom the term shaman was appropriated) have used the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria) as an entheogen. The ancient inebriant Soma, mentioned often in the Vedas, may have been an entheogen. (In his 1967 book, Wasson argues that Soma was fly agaric. The active ingredient of Soma is presumed by some to be ephedrine, an alkaloid with stimulant and (somewhat debatable) entheogenic properties derived from the soma plant, identified as Ephedra pachyclada.) However, there are also arguments to suggest that Soma could have also been Syrian Rue, Cannabis, or some combination of any of the above plants.

An early entheogen in Aegean civilization, predating the introduction of wine, which was the more familiar entheogen of the reborn Dionysus and the maenads, was fermented honey, known in Northern Europe as mead; its cult uses in the Aegean world are bound up with the mythology of the bee.

The extent of the use of visionary plants throughout European history has only recently been seriously investigated, since around 1960. The use of entheogens in Europe may have become greatly reduced by the time of the rise of Christianity. European witches used various entheogens, including thorn-apple (Datura), deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) and henbane (Hyoscyamus niger). These plants were used, among other things, for the manufacture of "flying ointments."

The growth of Roman Christianity also saw the end of the 2,000-year-old tradition of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the initiation ceremony for the cult of Demeter and Persephone involving the use of a possibly entheogenic substance known as kykeon. Similarly, there is evidence that nitrous oxide or ethylene may have been in part responsible for the visions of the equally long-lived Delphic oracle (Hale et al. 2003).

In ancient Germanic culture, cannabis was associated with the Germanic love goddess Freya. The harvesting of the plant was connected with an erotic high festival. It was believed that Freya lived as a fertile force in the plant's feminine flowers and by ingesting them one became influenced by this divine force. Similarly, fly agaric was consecrated to Odin, the god of ecstasy, while henbane stood under the dominion of the thunder godThor in Germanic mythologyand Jupiter among the Romans (Rtsch 2003).

An ancient entheogenic substance in the Middle East is hashish. Its use by the "Hashshashin" to stupefy and recruit new initiates was widely reported during the Crusades. However, the drug used by the Hashshashin was likely wine, opium, henbane, or some combination of these, and, in any event, the use of this drug was for stupefaction rather than for entheogenic use. It has been suggested that the ritual use of small amounts of Syrian Rue is an artifact of its ancient use in higher doses as an entheogen.

Philologist John Marco Allegro has argued in his book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross that early Jewish and Christian cultic practice was based on the use of Amanita muscaria which was later forgotten by its adherents, though this hypothesis has not received much consideration or become widely accepted. Allegro's hypothesis that Amanita use was forgotten after primitive Christianity seems contradicted by his own view that the chapel in Plaincourault shows evidence of Christian Amanita use in the 1200s.[5]

Indigenous Australians are generally thought not to have used entheogens, although there is a strong barrier of secrecy surrounding Aboriginal shamanism, which has likely limited what has been told to outsiders. There are no known uses of entheogens by the Mori of New Zealand. Natives of Papua New Guinea are known to use several species of entheogenic mushrooms (Psilocybe spp, Boletus manicus).[6]

Kava or Kava Kava (Piper Methysticum) has been cultivated for at least 3,000 years by a number of Pacific island-dwelling peoples. Historically, most Polynesian, many Melanesian, and some Micronesian cultures have ingested the psychoactive pulverized root, typically taking it mixed with water. Much traditional usage of Kava, though somewhat suppressed by Christian missionaries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is thought to facilitate contact with the spirits of the dead, especially relatives and ancestors (Singh 2004).

There have been several examples of the use of entheogens in the archaeological record. Many of these researchers, like R. Gordon Wasson or Giorgio Samorini,[7][8] have recently produced a plethora of evidence, which has not yet received enough consideration within academia. The first direct evidence of entheogen use comes from Tassili, Algeria, with a cave painting of a mushroom-man, dating to 8000 BP. Hemp seeds discovered by archaeologists at Pazyryk suggest early ceremonial practices by the Scythians occurred during the fifth to second century B.C.E., confirming previous historical reports by Herodotus.

Although entheogens are taboo and most of them are officially prohibited in Christian and Islamic societies, their ubiquity and prominence in the spiritual traditions of various other cultures is unquestioned. The entheogen, "the spirit, for example, need not be chemical, as is the case with the ivy and the olive: and yet the god was felt to be within them; nor need its possession be considered something detrimental, like drugged, hallucinatory, or delusionary: but possibly instead an invitation to knowledge or whatever good the god's spirit had to offer" (Ruck and Staples).

Most of the well-known modern examples, such as peyote, psilocybe and other psychoactive mushrooms and ololiuhqui, are from the native cultures of the Americas. However, it has also been suggested that entheogens played an important role in ancient Indo-European culture, for example by inclusion in the ritual preparations of the Soma, the "pressed juice" that is the subject of Book 9 of the Rig Veda. Soma was ritually prepared and drunk by priests and initiates and elicited a paean in the Rig Veda that embodies the nature of an entheogen:

Splendid by Law! declaring Law, truth speaking, truthful in thy works, Enouncing faith, King Soma!... O [Soma] Pavmana, place me in that deathless, undecaying world wherein the light of heaven is set, and everlasting lustre shines.... Make me immortal in that realm where happiness and transports, where joy and felicities combine...

The Kykeon that preceded initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries is another entheogen, which was investigated (before the word was coined) by Carl Kereny, in Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Other entheogens in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean include the poppy, Datura, the unidentified "lotus" eaten by the Lotus-Eaters in the Odyssey and Narkissos.

According to Ruck, Eyan, and Staples, the familiar shamanic entheogen that the Indo-Europeans brought with them was knowledge of the wild Amanita mushroom. It could not be cultivated; thus it had to be found, which suited it to a nomadic lifestyle. When they reached the world of the Caucasus and the Aegean, the Indo-Europeans encountered wine, the entheogen of Dionysus, who brought it with him from his birthplace in the mythical Nysa, when he returned to claim his Olympian birthright. The Indo-European proto-Greeks "recognized it as the entheogen of Zeus, and their own traditions of shamanism, the Amanita and the 'pressed juice' of Soma but better since no longer unpredictable and wild, the way it was found among the Hyperboreans: as befit their own assimilation of agrarian modes of life, the entheogen was now cultivable" (Ruck and Staples). Robert Graves, in his foreword to The Greek Myths, argues that the ambrosia of various pre-Hellenic tribes were amanita and possibly panaeolus mushrooms.

Amanita was divine food, according to Ruck and Staples, not something to be indulged in or sampled lightly, not something to be profaned. It was the food of the gods, their ambrosia, and it mediated between the two realms. It is said that Tantalus's crime was inviting commoners to share his ambrosia.

The entheogen is believed to offer godlike powers in many traditional tales, including immortality. The failure of Gilgamesh in retrieving the plant of immortality from beneath the waters teaches that the blissful state cannot be taken by force or guile: when Gilgamesh lay on the bank, exhausted from his heroic effort, the serpent came and ate the plant.

Another attempt at subverting the natural order is told in a (according to some) strangely metamorphosed myth, in which natural roles have been reversed to suit the Hellenic world-view. The Alexandrian Apollodorus relates how Gaia (spelled "Ge" in the following passage), Mother Earth herself, has supported the Titans in their battle with the Olympian intruders. The Giants have been defeated:

When Ge learned of this, she sought a drug that would prevent their destruction even by mortal hands. But Zeus barred the appearance of Eos (the Dawn), Selene (the Moon), and Helios (the Sun), and chopped up the drug himself before Ge could find it.

According to The Living Torah, cannabis was an ingredient of holy anointing oil mentioned in various sacred Hebrew texts.[9] The herb of interest is most commonly known as kaneh-bosm (Hebrew: -). This is mentioned several times in the Old Testament as a bartering material, incense, and an ingredient in holy anointing oil used by the high priest of the temple. Although Chris Bennett's research in this area focuses on cannabis, he mentions evidence suggesting use of additional visionary plants such as henbane, as well.

The Septuagint translates kaneh-bosm as calamus, and this translation has been propagated unchanged to most later translations of the Hebrew Bible. However, Polish anthropologist Sula Benet published etymological arguments that the Aramaic word for hemp can be read as kannabos and appears to be a cognate to the modern word 'cannabis',[10] with the root kan meaning reed or hemp and bosm meaning fragrant. Both cannabis and calamus are fragrant, reedlike plants containing psychotropic compounds.

Although philologist John Marco Allegro has suggested that the self-revelation and healing abilities attributed to the figure of Jesus may have been associated with the effects of the plant medicines [from the Aramaic: "to heal"], this evidence is dependent on pre-Septuagint interpretation of Torah, and goes firmly against the accepted teachings of the Holy See. However Merkur contends that a minority of Christian hermits and mystics could possibly have used entheogens, in conjunction with fasting, meditation and prayer.

Allegro was the only non-Catholic appointed to the position of translating the Dead Sea Scrolls. His extrapolations are often the object of scorn due to Allegro's theory of Jesus as a mythological personification of the essence of the psychoactive sacrament, furthermore they seem to conflict with the position of the Catholic Church in regards to the exclusivity of the non-canonical practice of transubstantiation and endorsement of alcohol ingestion as the exclusive means to attain communion with God. Allegro's book, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, relates the development of language to the development of myths, religions and cultic practices in world cultures. Allegro believed he could prove, through etymology, that the roots of Christianity, as of many other religions, lay in fertility cults; and that cult practices, such as ingesting visionary plants (or "psychedelics") to perceive the Mind of God [Avestan: Vohu Mana], persisted into the early Christian era, and to some unspecified extent into the 1200s with reoccurrences in the 1700s and mid 1900s, as he interprets the Plaincourault chapel's fresco to be an accurate depiction of the ritual ingestion of Amanita Muscaria as the Eucharist.

The historical picture portrayed by the Entheos journal is of fairly widespread use of visionary plants in early Christianity and the surrounding culture, with a gradual reduction of use of entheogens in Christianity.[11] R. Gordon Wasson's book Soma prints a letter from art historian Erwin Panofsky asserting that art scholars are aware of many 'mushroom trees' in Christian art.[12]

The question of the extent of visionary plant use throughout the history of Christian practice has barely been considered yet by academic or independent scholars. The question of whether visionary plants were used in pre-Theodosius Christianity is distinct from evidence that indicates the extent to which visionary plants were utilized or forgotten in later Christianity, including so-called "heretical" or "quasi-" Christian groups,[13] and the question of other groups such as elites or laity within "orthodox" Catholic practice.

James Arthur asserts that the little scroll from the angel with writing on it referred to in Ezekiel 2: 8,9,10 and Ezekiel 3: 1,2,3 and Book of Revelation 10: 9,10 was the speckled cap of the Amanita Muscaria mushroom.[14]

The substance melange (spice) in Frank Herbert's Dune universe acts as both an entheogen and a geriatric medicine. Control of the supply of melange was crucial to the Empire, as it was necessary for, among other things, faster than light navigation.

Consumption of the imaginary mushroom anochi as the entheogen underlying the creation of Christianity is the premise of Philip K. Dick's last novel, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, a theme which seems to be inspired by John Allegro's book.

Aldous Huxley's final novel, Island (1962), depicted a fictional entheogenic mushroomtermed "moksha medicine"used by the people of Pala in rites of passage, such as the transition to adulthood and at the end of life.

Bruce Sterling's Holy Fire novel refers to the religion in the future as a result of entheogens, used freely by the population.

In Stephen King's The Gunslinger, Book 1 of The Dark Tower series, the main character receives guidance after taking mescaline.

The Alastair Reynolds novel Absolution Gap features a moon under the control of a religious government which uses neurological viruses to induce religious faith.

All links retrieved August 22, 2017.

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Entheogen - New World Encyclopedia

If people in power were no longer able to hide secretsand spin lies about what's going on in the world, all of ourmajor problems would come to an end. Because secretive andmanipulative power structures are the source of all of ourmajor problems.

If the public could see what'sactually happening in their world, they would immediatelybegin using the power of their numbers to overhaul ourcurrent system. This is why our current system pours so muchenergy into preventing the public from seeing what'sactually happening in their world.

If it weren't forthe constant campaign of obfuscation and manipulation ofpublic perception via veils of government secrecy andpropaganda, humanity would naturally find its way out of thepower-driven tribulations it now faces, as surely as you'llavoid obstacles and hazards in your path when you arewalking with your eyes open. The only problem in this caseis that our eyes have not been permitted toopen.

May All BeRevealed

"The fight for humanitys futurebegins at your own eyelids."https://t.co/j1JQcolxIh

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) June24, 2020

It isn't actuallynecessary to hold a bunch of hard, rigid ideas about exactlywhat kind of society we should have, what kind of politicalsystem we should have, what kind of economic system weshould have. There's nothing wrong with promoting ideas andhaving preferences of course, but really if you just gavehumanity the ability to navigate through its own troubles byremoving the blindfolds of propaganda and power opacity, itwould organically create a healthy society, andrealistically such a society probably won't look a whole lotlike our mental models.

You do have the option, then,of simply promoting the end ofgovernment/political/corporate/financial opacity and the endof establishment perception management. Wanting humanity tosee with clear eyes so that it can make its own informeddecisions about where to take itself is a complete politicalposition, in and of itself. You don't have to hold any otherpolitical preferences of any kind if you don't wantto.

The desire for an end to the obfuscations andmanipulations of the powerful so that humanity can find itsown way is the most anti-authoritarian position you canpossibly take, because it also protects the world from yourown authoritarian impulses.

I personally am veryleftwardly inclined and believe that if humanity had itsperception management blindfolds removed it would naturallycreate a world where we're all truly equal and everyone istaken care of by the collective each according to theirneed, but what the hell do I know? Maybe if the blindfold isremoved I'd be proven wrong. I respect human sovereigntyenough to want to find out, free from my own politicalpreferences. I should not be the one making such societaldecisions, society as a whole should. I just want humanperception to be freed up enough to make thatcall.

How To Defeat TheEmpire

"What I do advocate, in as manydifferent ways as I can come up with, is a decentralizedguerrilla psywar against the institutions which enable thepowerful to manipulate the way ordinary people think, actand vote."https://t.co/4F5dWaURdq

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) September10, 2019

If you choose to makethe end of perception management your foremost priority,that means you push for government transparency at everyopportunity and support any movement to take away secrethiding places from the powerful.

It means opposing theway the powerful bolt shut all the doors on public scrutinyof their behavior, smear anyone who speculates about whatthey might be up to as a crazy conspiracy theorist, andimprisons anyone who leaks information about what they'rereally doing to the people.

It means you supportwhistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden whohelp shine light on the things power tries to keep hidden inthe dark.

It means you support WikiLeaks and JulianAssange and any journalist who helps expose the secrets ofthe powerful.

It means you fightthe empire's propaganda machine at every opportunity tobreak public trust in its manipulations.

It means yousupport breaking up the monolithic mass media and givingeveryone the equal ability to influence the dominantnarratives.

It means opposing internet censorship,since Silicon Valley plutocrats proppingup the establishment their kingdoms are built upon bycensoring anti-establishment voices is another way ofkeeping people from being shown the truth about theirworld.

I personally would add that it means supportingthe decriminalization of psychedelics, because seeing withinourselves is just as important as seeing what's happening inour world and entheogens can facilitate this seeing, butmaybe that's just me.

Cancel GovernmentSecrecy: Notes From The Edge Of The NarrativeMatrix

"Government says it needs secrecy tomake war on its enemies effectively, and, curiously, themore secrecy we allow it the more wars and enemies it seemsto have."https://t.co/fLWa478cva

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) July20, 2020

Again, there's no harmin engaging in politics and pushing for the changes you'dlike to see in your world, and there can be many benefits todoing so. But as long as people are successfully preventedfrom seeing and understanding what's really happening intheir world by the obfuscation of information and by themanipulation of people's perception of that information, thestatus quo will always remain in place.

So in myopinion this is the most sensible point upon which toconverge our energy. I personally have no interest incontrolling what humanity does, and desire only that peoplecome to see freely enough to make their owndecisions.

It's absolutely insane that informationwhich affects us all is kept hidden away from our clearvision by secrecy and propaganda. It's even crazier thatthey shame us when we wonder what's really going on andthrow us in prison when we try to find out. We must liberateourselves from this madness so we can create a healthy worldtogether.

_______________

Thanks for reading!The best way to get around the internet censors and makesure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to themailing list for my website,which will get you an email notification for everything Ipublish. My work is entirelyreader-supported, so if you enjoyed this pieceplease consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook,following my antics onTwitter,checking out my podcast on either Youtube,soundcloud,Applepodcasts or Spotify,following me on Steemit,throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreonor Paypal,purchasing some of my sweetmerchandise, buying my books Rogue Nation:Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstoneand Woke:A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more infoon who I am, where I stand, and what Im trying to do withthis platform, clickhere. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, hasmy permission to republish, use or translate anypart of this work (or anything else Ive written) in anyway they like free ofcharge.

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Rogue journalist

Caitlin Johnstone is a 100 percent crowdfunded rogue journalist, bogan socialist, anarcho-psychonaut, guerilla poet and utopia prepper living in Australia with her American husband and two kids. She writes about politics, economics, media, feminism and the nature of consciousness. She is the author of the illustrated poetry book "Woke: A Field Guide For Utopia Preppers."

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The Only Obstacle To A Healthy World Is Government Secrecy And Propaganda - Scoop.co.nz

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While cannabis takes a breather from the capital markets rollercoaster ride that has characterized that sector lately,psychedelics are in the news lately and all the rage in thecapital markets. Junior pharmaceutical companies, specializedclinics and Caribbean retreats are common water-cooler topics ofconversation these days among capital markets investors andobservers alike. To be sure, momentum is building and publicperception is changing in Canada and in some parts of the UnitedStates toward reducing barriers to access for psychedelics. Lowenforcement priorities in Denver, Oakland and Santa Cruz, as wellas Oregon's proposed laws to regulate cultivation,manufacture and sale of psilocybin products for medical purposes,broadens the discussion. Today's momentum has been a longtime coming particularly as a viable new option for mentalhealth treatment.

Psychedelics, entheogens, entactogens and dissociativeanesthetics are a broad group of substances that are intenselypsychoactive, with effects including visual and other illusions,mystical-type experiences, synesthesia, intensified emotionalstates and other disorienting effects. Duration of these effectsmay range from 15 minutes or less to more than 24 hours. The termsfor these compounds and the plants or fungi they are sourced fromvary depending on the perspective and context. For simplicity, weuse the term familiar to most psychedelics as ablanket term for psychedelics, entheogens, entactogens anddissociative anesthetics.

Psychedelics are not illegal. That said, many psychedelics arescheduled in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (theCDSA), making them controlled substances and unless otherwiseauthorized, possession and manufacture of any controlled substanceis prohibited. Most psychedelics that are controlled substances arewithin a certain class of controlled substances calledrestricted drugs. Investigators for clinical trials,preclinical studies and other researchers may possess restricteddrugs through exemptions issued under the CDSA. Authorization tomanufacture, compound, package and otherwise work with restricteddrugs is available through a dealer's licence issued underthe Food and Drug Regulations (the FDR).

Like any drug substance, a drug product including a psychedelicsubstance as an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is saleableunder the FDR once a drug identification number (DIN) is issued byHealth Canada for use of the drug product in association with agiven therapeutic indication. Clinical evidence establishing safetyof a drug product and efficacy for treating a given condition isrequired for Health Canada to issue a DIN for the drug product. AnMDMA drug product is on track to receive a DIN for use in treatmentof post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the equivalentregulatory approval in the United States within the next two tofour years. A psilocybin drug product for treatment-resistantdepression appears to be close behind.

Administration and application of psychedelic drugs divergesfrom previous approaches to the use of medication for treatment ofmental health disorders. This point of divergence changes theeconomics of cost recovery for clinical trial expenses after beingissued a DIN. Drug products traditionally used in treatment ofmental health conditions are taken daily and unsupervised at dosageranges intended to suppress symptoms of mental illness and tominimize overtly psychoactive effects. In contrast, in clinicaltrials MDMA and psilocybin are typically administered a smallnumber of times at strongly psychoactive flood doses in asupervised therapy setting. Similar approaches will be followed inapplications using flood doses of LSD, and for use of MDMA andpsilocybin for other therapeutic indications. Clinics thatcurrently administer racemic ketamine off-label for treatment ofdepression follow a similar model.1

The long duration of the effects resulting from a flood dose ofmost psychedelics increases the time required from therapists,often in specialized clinic settings designed to maximize thebenefits of the psychoactive effects of psychedelics. Compared withprevious approaches to management of mental health conditions,psychedelic assisted therapy uses a lower amount of drug substanceand involves a greater amount of time spent with therapists. As aresult, a much greater portion of the value chain foradministration of a psychedelic drug product is captured bytherapists relative to the manufacturer of the drug product.Microdosing psychedelics, which is generally definedas taking about five to ten per cent the dosage of a flood dose,presents a potential commercialization pathway for a drug productto be taken regularly and without supervision.

Mental health is a serious problem globally. This problem islikely exacerbated by the current global pandemic. Based onscientific evidence, psychedelics are likely to play a significantrole in correcting this problem. Particularly in the last ten yearsor so, there has been growing attention on psychedelics and theirpotential therapeutic applications. World-class academicinstitutions and sophisticated, well-financed public companies arestudying the potential benefits of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, ibogaineand DMT for indications including end of life depression, treatmentresistant depression, PTSD, eating disorders, Alzheimer'sdisease, substance use disorder and others. Commercializationefforts are underway and we can expect to see MDMA, psilocybin andpotentially other psychedelics used as APIs in drug productsholding a DIN.

While it is natural to draw a comparison to cannabis,psychedelics are not the next cannabis. Cannabisproducts are a commodity-based and highly regulated category ofconsumer packaged goods (CPG). Cannabis has a well-definedadult use market that was built on a multi-participant commercialmedical cannabis industry. Cannabis is also commonly used on adaily basis. Robust consumer demand for cannabis products supportsan industry including cultivation, processing, retail sale and allthe picks and shovels needed to maintain consumeraccess to cannabis products.

In contrast to cannabis, there is no psychedelics industry at least not today. Rather, psychedelics are a disruptorfor health care delivery and pharmaceuticals. Cannabis is a singleheterogeneous commodity in high demand for manufacture of CPGs. Incontrast, psychedelics are a diverse group of chemicals that varywidely in their effects.2 Also contrasting with acommodity-based CPG industry, psychedelics for use in a therapeuticcontext are typically used sparingly and can currently becommercialized only as drug products regulated under the FDR.

There is plenty of noise circulating around psychedelics. Whiledrug products holding a DIN and including a psychedelic substanceAPI are likely to disrupt how therapy is delivered, there is nomedical access program in Canada similar to the Marihuana forMedical Purposes Regulations for any psychedelics and theremay never be. We believe that the market, and the strengths thatdistinguish the leaders, will be very different for psychedelicscompared with cannabis.

BordenLadner Gervais LLP's Cannabis Industry Focus Group has aproven track record of helping companies in the cannabis ecosystemachieve their goals. We have leading regulatory, capital markets,intellectual property, corporate and commercial subject matterexperts in the cannabis industry. Our focus group is national inscope and includes professionals across many disciplines.

We work with leading processors, retailers, technologycompanies, cultivators and others in the cannabis industry. Wecarry significant technical expertise alongside our legalexperience. We understand the cannabis industry and are passionateabout helping the legislative purpose of the Cannabis Actsucceed.

Psychedelics are not cannabis. That said, overlapping legal andtechnical expertise positions our Cannabis Industry Focus Group forsuccess in supporting clients working with psychedelics.BLG's entrepreneurial and leading approach to legal practiceis a perfect match for working with clients operating in thepsychedelics space. Our Cannabis Industry Focus Group has developeda strong practice advising clients focused on innovation, finance,drug substance and precursor manufacture, clinical work and dataanalysis in relation to psychedelics. We are also representingclients on key pro bono efforts to broaden access to psychedelicsfor medical purposes.

If you are considering directly entering, investing in,partnering into or otherwise pursuing a business plan that includespsychedelics, we would be pleased to speak with you to assess howour expertise can benefit your project.

Footnotes

1.Spravato (esketamine) is a drug productinitially approved in Canada on May 19, 2020 that includes a nasalspray formulation of esketamine for treatment of depression. Asindicated in the Spravato product monograph, and analogouslyto off-label administration of racemic ketamine by health carepractitioners to patients suffering from depression,self-administration of the Spravato product by patientssuffering from depression is intended to be completed only underthe direct supervision of a healthcare professional withpost-administration monitoring.

2.Examples include LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, DMT,harmaline, salvinorin A, mescaline, 2C-B and other 2,5 substitutedphenethylamines, DOM and other ring-substituted amphetamines,ketamine, mitragynine, ibogaine and many others.

About BLG

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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Reopening The Doors Of Perception: The Psychedelics Renaissance In Canada - Cannabis & Hemp - Canada - Mondaq News Alerts

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When 20-year-old university student Zaya (whose name has been changed for this article) entered Seattles Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, otherwise known as the CHOP, it was more out of coincidence than deliberate action. She and her mother were only in Seattle to attend a bridal shower. Gearing up to head home with a last-minute coffee run, Zayas plans changed when a man mentioned that the CHOP was just around the corner from the caf.

The two entered the CHOP from the north end of Cal Anderson Park, initially spotting only a cluster of tents and mistaking it for a homeless encampment. I didnt really know what to expect because I hadnt really seen pictures of it before, she recalled. Despite playing an active role in signing petitions, reading about ongoing protests (including the CHOP) and often being the one to educate family members about the Black Lives Matter movement, Zaya couldnt paint a concrete image of the area in her mind before her visit.

Indeed, the CHOPs composition has been thoroughly difficult to nail down from the outside looking in. Originally called the CHAZ for Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, the area (including a police precinct) was occupied by protesters starting on June 9, after long and occasionally violent demonstrations against the murder of George Floyd. Law enforcement was not allowed inside, as street access was blocked off with concrete barriers and monitored by a group of volunteers. This is where the facts largely end, and speculation begins: a New York Post article called the area a continuing experiment in anarchy, chaos and brute-force criminality, while a piece by Vox stated that the neighborhood has flourished since police left the area to protesters.

Zaya was already skeptical of most mainstream news outlets and their coverage of the CHOP. There also isnt that much media coverage on the good parts of it. All the [mainstream news] covers is when the police go off. They dont cover what leads up to that. She had seen Facebook posts from friends and family that condemned the protest, but Zaya was wary of accepting those statements at face value. Her hour-long visit on June 21 convinced her that these accusations were unwarranted.

Heading south past the tents in Cal Anderson Park, Zaya was surprised to discover that there was more to the CHOP than just an encampment: the nearby Bobby Morris Field had been occupied as well, serving as a multi-purpose space for protestors. There were people doing organized yoga there were people teaching each other how to defend themselves in a fight, there were people just playing music. Just people running around playing games. There were tents lining the edges of the field but nothing in the middle. Zaya also recalled a distinct image of Black women practicing yoga on the Bobby Morris Field, surrounded by a chain of protestors who formed to protect them from any outside interference.

Beyond the Bobby Morris Field is East Pine Street, home of the now-defunct East Precinct of the Seattle Police Department. Many vendors populated the street to create a makeshift farmers market, giving away free food and supplies to anyone who approached them. In Zayas eyes, the CHOP appeared to be self-sufficient, even featuring a community garden that hosted a variety of crops. Everything you could ask for is there supplies, a place to sleep, community, self-defense.

The East Precinct itself was unoccupied. Zaya had taken photos of the site, which was boarded up with plywood and covered in graffiti that carried a wide range of messages. One reads, Fire Steven McNew, referencing an officer who shot and killed a pregnant Black woman, Charleena Lyles, in 2017 after she had reported a burglary. Another states, If Seattle is so progressive, decriminalize entheogens and plant medicine just like Denver, Oakland and Santa Cruz have done. The most widely publicized graffiti from the precinct is likely the sign that adorns its entrance, which now reads, Seattle People Department.

Several lawn chairs had been set up outside the precinct for guards to watch over the area. In Zayas photos, two of these guards can be seen talking: one, in a black hoodie and sweatpants, is looking at something on a smartphone. The other, wearing a black shirt and pink shorts, drinks from a disposable coffee cup. Neither appears to be armed. Both are wearing crocs.

Zaya was quick to mention how this image contradicts those depicting militancy at the CHOP. You know how [the guards] get portrayed on media as these really intimidating, scary people who are strapped and guarding the entrances thats just not the case. [One of them] was just this chill white dude, sitting in a lawn chair just saying Hi to everyone, with a little radio on his belt. Thats it. It is worth noting that demonstrators within the CHOP have mentioned guards carrying concealed weapons before, but Zaya did not observe the presence of any weapons while on site.

After exploring the site, reading graffiti messages, talking with demonstrators and approaching vendors, Zaya returned the way she came, passing a 30-foot-tall Black Lives Matter fist in the Bobby Morris Field. Her time in the CHOP was brief, but its impact would last far beyond the flight home.

Im sure there was stuff going on behind the scenes, but out in public, it was just people living. Something Zaya noted during her time in the CHOP was how the politics of its existence were only a small percentage of the conversation taking place within the community. Many people were just going about their day, taking yoga classes or growing crops amid the backdrop of an ongoing protest.

Zaya said that the CHOP could be something akin to a communist society, pointing out that labels and economic status had no real impact on how one was treated within the CHOP, which largely operated without money. The emphasis on communal bonds was revitalizing for Zaya, who had felt weighed down by the animosity of living in cities and suburbs. I think what [made it a revitalizing experience] was the innocence and the pure community nobody cared what you looked like, nothing mattered. You dont really get that sense of community anymore in our society. Especially [during the pandemic].

While the makeshift nature of CHOPs vendors and gardens has dissuaded some from accepting its community model, Zaya noted a demographic that directly benefitted from open access to consolidated resources: the homeless population. It gave a safe haven for a lot of homeless people to get food. Have a community to talk to. Be safe. Not worry about getting jumped every night when they go to bed.

The CHOP was disbanded by police on July 1, less than a month after it was established and a mere 10 days after Zayas visit. Honestly, I did expect the CHOP to get dismantled, Zaya noted. They had taken up so much space. Especially since its a police precinct, you know, [the police] have got big egos. They werent gonna let [demonstrators] keep it for too long.

The final days of the CHOP saw a shooting that resulted in the death of a 16-year-old one of four shootings that took place in the CHOP and its surrounding area. Many have criticized the CHOP for this reason, deeming it a failed experiment and proof that an anti-police or self-policing society cannot function. Zaya doesnt see it that way, stating in reference to the latest shooting: Youre gonna get crazy people no matter where you go. You cant blame the entire CHOP for one persons actions.

She also rebutted with an example of success in demilitarizing police: a 55% drop in NYPD arrests in 2014 that generally saw similar or lower crime rates, despite the drastic decrease in police presence. I personally dont think we should absolutely abolish the police, but I do think we should defund and reform the police, she clarified.

The CHOP has remained a topic of intense discourse and controversy, but Zaya still believes in its promise: It set out to be a safe haven. And I think it was successful in that. For the time it was there most people greatly benefitted from the community that they had made. They were a part of something again. The conversation has continued with attempts to mirror the CHOP in cities like Portland, where a friend of Zaya is still actively working to establish an occupation with similar goals in mind.

While the zone itself may no longer exist, Zayas visit endures in her mind, as a reminder to actively manifest and advocate for ideals that fueled the CHOP in the first place. Me going to the CHOP I did absolutely nothing. I didnt participate. I just visited. You need to actively do things on your own to make a difference.

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There's More to the CHOP Than What the Media Will Have You Believe - Study Breaks