Psychedelics Today

In this episode, Joe interviews Nick Kadysh: Founder and CEO of PharmAla Biotech and member of the board of directors for The Canadian Psychedelic Businesses Association.  PharmAla Biotech is a Toronto-based Life Sciences company with two focuses: contracting with manufacturers to provide researchers with GMP MDMA (created under Good Manufacturing Practice regulations), and creating and researchin...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, Joe and temporary-Colorado-resident Kyle once again record in-person, discussing how psychedelics could change business, the drug war and safe supply, and more.  They cover:  -a Rolling Stone profile on David Bronner, who makes the case for multi-stakeholder capitalism; where businesses are accountable to their workers, customers, the environment, and surrou...

In this episode, Joe interviews Erica Rex: award-winning journalist, past guest and writer, and participant in one of the first ever clinical trials using psilocybin to treat cancer-related depression; and Mona Sobhani, Ph. D.: cognitive neuroscientist and the author of "Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist's Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe." As Rex discovered the po...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, Joe and Kyle record in-person again, discussing psychedelics and parenthood, sports, music, and more.  They cover: -an Elle (!) article about how mushrooms are becoming the new 'Cali sober,' with more and more people starting to microdose – including parents;  -ESPN's documentary, "Peace of Mind," highlighting the rise of psychedelic use among athletes, incl...

In this episode, David interviews two founding members of Fireside Project: activist, healing justice practitioner, musician, and Chief Ambassador, Hanifa Nayo Washington; and lawyer, aspiring researcher, and Executive Director, Joshua White, Esq. Fireside Project  was created after White volunteered for a help line for years and realized a few things: that follow-up calls made a big difference; t...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, David speaks with Kyle, who recorded at Joe's place while he was away at Trailblazers in NYC.  They talk about David's trip to the UK last week for Breaking Convention, then discuss a recent Vice article about looking outside the binary and confined thinking of Western medicine and embracing the underground – that there are cheaper and more accessible peer s...

In this episode, Joe interviews Deborah Parrish Snyder: ecologist, Director and VP of the Institute of Ecotechnics, and Co-owner and CEO of Synergetic Press, which has published over 40 books on ethnobotany, psychedelics, biospherics, and social and ecological justice.  Straddling the line between ecology, psychedelics, and psyche, she discusses the many projects of the Institute: Biosphere 2, the...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, Joe and Kyle once again record in person, diving into novel compounds, changing opinions, Bicycle Day, and more.  They start by dissecting a very recent controversy around The Church of Psilomethoxin and whether the sacrament they label as psilomethoxin – supposedly created by adding 5-MeO-DMT to the substrate of cultivated Psilocybe mushrooms – actually con...

In this episode, on the eve of Bicycle Day, Victoria and Kyle interview two long-standing icons of visionary psychedelic art: Alex and Allyson Grey. They talk about the LSD trip that saved Alex's life, connected him to Allyson, inspired his art, and even made him change his name; his decades-in-the-making "Sacred Mirrors" project of 21 7-foot tall pieces depicting the complex layers of human exist...

In this episode, Joe interviews Melissa Lavasani: CEO of Washington, DC-based Psychedelic Medicine Coalition and now, President of the brand new Psychedelic Medicine PAC. She discusses her path to psychedelics, how she ended up running the Initiative 81 campaign (the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020), and how she came to realize that decriminalization efforts can't be the only optio...

In this episode, Joe lets Court Wing take lead in interviewing two of the leaders behind Clusterbusters: Founder and Executive Director, Bob Wold; and President, Eileen Brewer. A long-time friend of the show, Court Wing has become our resident expert on chronic pain, writing articles about how psilocybin relieved his chronic pain, and hosting Timothy Furnish, MD & Joel Castellanos, MD in their epi...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, Kyle is back in Colorado and in-person with Joe, and they discuss what stood out to them in the news this week: -A New York Times interview with Roland Griffths, where he talks about his cancer diagnosis and how meditation and psychedelics have helped him prepare for the inevitable end; -An article on the rising popularity of psychedelics among mothers, and...

In this episode, David interviews neuroscientist, artist, and educator, Melanie Pincus, Ph. D.; and Ph. D. candidate in Neuroscience, lead or co-author on over a dozen scientific publications, and regular contributor to PT, Manesh Girn.  They tell their stories of how they became interested in neuroscience, and stress the importance of staying radically open-minded (or "epistemically naive") when...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, Joe calls in from Los Angeles to cover the week's news with David.  They review:  -Dr. Julie Holland's recent appearance on the The Cannabis Investing Podcast, where she discussed the concept of cannabis being a psychedelic; -Vancouver Island University in British Columbia, Canada, planning to establish a Psychedelic Research Centre, with a focus on the hist...

In this episode, David interviews  Sunny Strasburg, LMFT : Clinical Director at TRIPP PsyAssist; psychedelic trainer, consultant, therapist, and writer, specializing in EMDR and Internal Family Systems, and offering ketamine-assisted therapy as well as ketamine therapy retreats (often co-led by Dr. Richard Schwartz).  She talks about her family history with magic, and how the act of calling energy...

In this episode, Joe interviews Ph. D. student in the Drug Use and Behavior Lab at the University of Alabama Birmingham, Haley Maria Dourron. She talks mostly about the paper she co-authored last year with Dr. Peter Hendricks and Camilla Strauss: "Self-Entropic Broadening Theory: Toward a New Understanding of Self and Behavior Change Informed by Psychedelics and Psychosis," which analyzes the long...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, Joe and Kyle are back at it, talking about news and what's going on at Psychedelics Today (applications for Vital close this Sunday, March 26, and we've just announced a new neuroscience course!). Following up on last week's news that Field Trip Health had closed five clinics, they start with more unfortunate news: that Field Trip is laying off a lot of peop...

In this episode, Joe interviews the Co-Founder and CEO of Beckley Retreats, Neil Markey.  Markey describes Beckley Retreats as comprehensive well-being programs, and talks about the importance of holistic wellness – that, while the retreats are centered around two group psilocybin experiences, the true benefits come from complementary factors: the four weeks of online prep and community building b...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, Joe and Kyle join up once again to discuss the news and articles they found the most interesting this week.  They start with the business news everyone is talking about: Field Trip Health & Wellness closing 5 of their clinics due to financial struggles (a deficit of $48.7 million since their inception and a net loss of $6.9 million reported for the last quar...

In this episode, David hosts another Vital Psychedelic Conversation, this time with Bennet Zelner, Ph. D.: Vital instructor who teaches economics at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business; and Giles Hayward: Vital student and Co-Founder of Woven Science (a company backing and building psychedelic and wellness tech companies) and El Puente, which focuses on Indigenous biocultural prese...

In this episode, Joe interviews Graham Hancock: legendary bestselling author and writer and presenter of the new Netflix docuseries, "Ancient Apocalypse," where he travels the world looking for evidence of lost civilizations likely much more advanced than historians previously believed. Hancock talks about his early books and how ayahuasca influenced his writing; the similarities in cave art and t...

In this episode of Psychedelics Weekly, David is joined by Kyle, who is finally home after a lot of traveling, to talk shop and dig into the articles they found the most interesting this week.  They begin with the news that Paul Stamets now has a species of mushroom named after him (Psilocybe stametsii), then take a look at a recent self-report study called "Prevalence and associations of challeng...

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, David interviews Vital instructor, Dr. Devon Christie: Senior Lead of Psychedelic Programs at Numinus, MAPS-certified MDMA therapist, and now four-time guest; and Vital student, Emefa Boamah: coach, facilitator, and trauma-informed intuitive guide specializing in embodiment.  We've all heard the trope, "It's all in your mind," but it's also in yo...

In this episode, in celebration of International Women's Day, Victoria interviews Tracey Tee: co-founder and CEO of Band of Mothers Media, co-producer and co-host of the Band of Mothers podcast, and founder of Moms on Mushrooms, an online educational community for psychedelic-curious moms outside the prying eyes of social media. With similar histories of womb trauma, self discovery, and body recon...

In this episode, Psychedelics Weekly is back after a brief hiatus (everyone was either traveling or sick last week!), with the OG PT team: Joe and Kyle.  With the exception of some commentary on John Oliver's recent piece on psychedelics (which was excellent), they skip the psychedelic news this week in favor of Psychedelics Today news, as a lot has been going on! In the last few weeks: Joe sustai...