Meet The People’s Champion of Psychedelic Drugs – Narratively

By Britta Lokting February 27, 2017

Since Neal Goldsmith saw his soul during a particularly wild acid trip in 91, he's been at the forefront of the movement to normalize the psychedelic experience.

Photos by Vincent Tullo

Theformercab driverwithinNeal Goldsmithisunleashedas he swerveshis Audipastsignpostsin Dumbo, Brooklyn,andwhipsthroughan intersectionon his way into the cityaround seven p.m.He merges onto the Manhattan Bridge and lightsuponeof the eight joints he rolled anhour prior in his home office. He cracks the window and inhales. TheFreedom Towercomes into viewand the city lightsfloat closer in momentary silence.

Im not a masochist, Goldsmithsaysasthe bridge spits the car out ontoChrystieStreet. I dont want to die.

Hesnottalking abouthis driving, but rather hisuse of psychedelics, which,like marijuana, he candidly broadcasts.Aftera revelatory trip 25years ago at age forty, he left his consulting career, opened a psychotherapy practice,and hasbecome a leadingproponentofdrug policy reform.Hissuccessas a public speaker,partially due to his purring voice andeasewithnormalizingthis once-shunned topic,haselevated him to aprominentposition in themovement to revivepsychedelics.

Hes really emerged as a leader in organizing serious professional and cultural events around psychedelics, says AndrewTatarsky,the founder and director of the Center for Optimal Living, a treatment facility for those with substance use issues.TatarskycallsGoldsmitharenaissance man,a guy whos really thinking at a very high level.He has a kind of encyclopedia grasp of the psychedelic literature, the research, and the history.

Goldsmithbeganexperimentingwith psychedelics as a college student in the early70s at Case Western Reserve University, where his listed activities and societies on LinkedIninclude, pre-med hippie. Yetthe drugsdidnt give him the deep, self-explorative experience he wouldlaterencounteras a middle-aged man.Rather,it wasthe mother of all tripsin 1991 that awakened himto understanding humanitys natural state, he says.

That yearhetooka blotterLSDfor the first time in nineteen years,at a relatives suggestion. Following some initial panicky feelings andthe need to pastereassuringPost-It notes aroundthehouse,Goldsmithsettled intothevisions.With his eyes closed, he followed himselfsinkingdeepintothesoilwhere hecame acrossa glowing, throbbing orb, which he then touched.

I hadrealized,in essence,I was perfect, he says, explaining that hed found his core,aplaceof puritywhen everyone was sweet and wonderfulbefore your parents fucked you up.To demonstrate this inconcreteterms, he spreads his legs, lifts the right one and grabs his crotch.

This is the fundamental existence, he says,launching intoan explanationof the seven levels of chakra and how hallucinogens illuminatethis path.

Over the past twenty years, Goldsmith hasgiven dozens of lecturesandWebinars,facilitatedpanel discussions,writtenforPsychology Todayandappearedon podcasts.His mostinfluentialstrideshave beenas the host ofHorizons, a psychedelics conference in New York each fall,and his2011bookcalledPsychedelic Healing: The Promise ofEntheogensfor Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development,whichTatarskyrefers to as the premiere book on psychedelics and emotional healing.

Its only in recent years thatstudying the positive effects of psychedelicshasgained traction in mainstream media after several well-known studies emerged followinga decades long ban of its use in labs and clinical trials since 1970.Goldsmiths leverage has helped publicize the results.

Foran outside person who isnt directly involved in the research, Neal has really been helpful andveryambitious in bringing the findings to the general public in his lectures and his book, says Dr. AnthonyBossis, a co-principal investigator of the New York UniversitysPsilocybin Cancer Anxiety Study, which examined how the main psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms can alleviate angst about dying.

Hes been one of the most intelligent champions for psychedelics as medicine, says Alex Grey, a visionary painter. At this point, at least the info is getting outthere thatthere has been a rebirth and worldwide international interest in and experiences of psychedelics.

Still, Goldsmith wantsto seemore.

These new studies are a good start, but far from ideal,he writesin his book.

***

Now that hes smoking a jointat the wheel, Goldsmith adheres to the traffic rules.Only the silver coloring of his hair, an enviable, feathery plumage, andsomefaint smile lines give away his age. At 65, his skin still glows and stretches taut across hisforehead.He wears a black stud in the left lobe andacabin-cozycable-knit cardigan with slacks for the occasion.

Aftercarefullycruisingup Bowery to Cooper Union, hesnagsaparkingspotinfront of the apartment building that for the past ten years has been home to his monthly, word-of-mouthsalon called PoetryScience Talks or PST(pssst).

In a loft on the third floor, about45peoplewhosigned up to heara lectureabout the mind-body problem fromthe science journalist JohnHorganand engage in alively, albeitsomewhat abstract, discussion, begin arriving.Some attendees include a sex therapist, a psychedelics lawyer and a shaman.

As the guests mingleon couches, chatting about God and evolution,orin the kitchen near aspreadof homemadecharredchicken(madeto representones sense of desire), cauliflower (brain-shaped), and devils food cake (indulgence), Goldsmith taps the shoulders offourguests includingan investment bankerand whispers, Were going to the roof, whichiscode for, Letsgosmokenow.

Aftera couplehitsand light gossip,Goldsmith heads backto the elevatorwherethe building manager stops to question himlike aparent who whiffed somepot.After assuringthe man hes visiting a friendandreturningsafelybacktothe third floor,Goldsmith runshis fingertipsalong the hallway walland muses about the night ahead.Hemight call up a womanlater.

There is something appealing about me, he says, referring to howquicklywomen flock to him.They like my standing in the psychedelic community and that Im intelligent.

During the discussion,Goldsmith interjects from the back,where hes been taking notes on his iPhone, to challengeHorgansviewpoints includinga statementthat consciousness comes out of matter and anotherreferencing thephrasepeople who are too smart to believe in God.

Whenthe salon ends attenp.m., Goldsmith looks tired but no less assured of his ability tokeepa room rapt.

Theres no one like me, he says. Iama genius actually, but thats a numerical thing.

Britta Lokting is a writer and journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in The Village Voice and The Forward, among other publications. She is also a Narratively Features Reporter.

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Meet The People's Champion of Psychedelic Drugs - Narratively