Talking Monkeys in Space
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In 2013, while living in Taiwan, after listening to Joe Rogan’s discussion about DMT during his Q&A, I fell into an Internet rabbit hole and learned about psychedelics and discovered the Maestro, Don Howard.
This led me on a journey into psychedelic realms and consciousness exploration. I tripped on psilocybin mushrooms on gorgeous beaches in Southeast Asia. I sat with Don Howard and other Ayahuasca shamans deep in the Amazon jungle and went on a Huachuma pilgrimage to the ancient temple of Chavin in the high Andes. I also had multiple ceremonies with the TOAD, or 5-MeO-DMT, riding the rocket ship experience of the God Molecule. I studied yoga and meditation, used biofeedback to hack my consciousness, micro-dosed, and integrated through different modalities the Work over the years.
Psychedelics, or entheogens, are a profound medicine that changes… reality and our perception of it. However, I’ve also found that the more I’ve done plant medicines, the less I find myself called to do them.
“If you get the message, hang up the phone. For psychedelic drugs are simply instruments, like microscopes, telescopes, and telephones. The biologist does not sit with eye permanently glued to the microscope, he goes away and works on what he has seen.” -Alan Watts
It seems as though we are experiencing a purge. There is so much anger and rage being projected everywhere, and in the past few years, the strain of the Culture Wars, the Pandemic, geopolitical tensions and the cascade effects have created stress on our systems and the collective consciousness.
During the controversial 2020 U.S. Election, a few important measures were passed:
Oregon Measure 109: Psilocybin Mushroom Services Program Initiative
Oregon Measure 110: Drug Decriminalization and Addiction Treatment Initiative
Washington D.C., Initiative 81: Entheogenic Plants and Fungus Measure
Six states also passed marijuana legalization measures.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) recently raised $30 million for Phase 3 MDMA clinical trials with the FDA.
This milestone means we are further on our journey to making MDMA-assisted psychotherapy an approved prescription treatment for PTSD. Phase 3 clinical trials build on the promising results of MAPS’ completed Phase 2 trials and are the final phase of research required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before deciding whether to approve MDMA as a legal prescription treatment for PTSD.
The Psychedelic Health Research Initiative (PHRI) at UC San Diego and Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination are researching psychedelics for the treatment of pain.
Significant evidence has emerged in the last fifteen years that shows how classical psychedelics, such as psilocybin (the major psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms”), can be used to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, and other psychological disorders. Pain has both physical and affective/cognitive components, and our promising preliminary findings indicate that psychedelics, alone or as part of multi-pronged treatment, can produce significant, meaningful, and lasting reductions of chronic pain conditions like cluster headache, complex regional pain disorder, phantom-limb pain, tinnitus, and others. As a non-addictive alternative to opioids, psychedelics represent a revolutionary and much-needed new approach to the treatment of pain.
It is an exciting time. Modalities to treat and heal the root causes of trauma are incredibly important. But, there are no silver bullets. How do we collectively steward and usher in a Psychedelic Renaissance?
This is an important inquiry.