“Welcome to the psychedelic 20’s!”
- Rick Doblin, founder of MAPS, at the opening ceremony for Psychedelic Science 2023
“Welcome to the psychedelic 20’s!”
- Rick Doblin, founder of MAPS, at the opening ceremony for Psychedelic Science 2023
Louis outside of the Colorado Convention Center where Psychedelic Science was hosted
A couple of weeks ago a convergence of minds took place in Denver, Colorado. 12,000 scientists, academics, business leaders, tribal elders, politicians, advocacy groups, therapists and myriad other entheogenic medicine enthusiasts attended the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in shared enthusiasm for the so-called psychedelic renaissance. It was held in Denver where Proposition 122 was approved last November; decriminalizing psilocybin, laying the groundwork for psychedelic therapies in the city and creating a framework for other municipalities to emulate across the country.
The three day conference was hosted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and, from the vantage point of this attendee, it managed to pull off the difficult task of bringing together a diverse contingency of advocates with harmonious mutual respect, though my feeling about the conference isn’t universal. With a couple of weeks back home in Maine behind me it’s a good moment to reflect on the conference and to explain why North Spore attended it, to highlight some of the exciting initiatives we discovered, and to opine on the current state of the psychedelic movement.
Louis outside of the Colorado Convention Center where Psychedelic Science was hosted
North Spore with mycologist Alan Rockefeller
Art installation in the ‘Deep Space’ area of the conference
The Mushroom Summit was a two day meeting of the minds in the functional (i.e medicinal) mushroom industry that took place before the main MAPS conference officially began. Industry leaders, content kings, and brand ambassadors participated in panel discussions, and at times heated debates, about science and trends in the functional mushroom space.
It was at the summit that North Spore was able to connect with old friends like Kyle and Erin of Far West Fungi, Amir Karian of Monterey Mushrooms (check out this video where we visit both of these amazing farms), and William Padilla-Brown of MycoSymbiotics (and this video where we grow cordyceps with Will) while also forging new friendships with Tony Shields of Fresh Cap Mushrooms, Adam Chilton of Nammex and Real Mushrooms, and the esteemed expert in psilocybe taxonomy, mycologist Alan Rockefeller.
North Spore with mycologist Alan Rockefeller
No retrospective about the Mushroom Summit would be complete without noting the summit’s most heated and ongoing debate whether mycelium grown supplements are as efficacious as mushroom fruiting body supplements. The debate’s two primary pugilists were Fungi Perfecti, Paul Stamets’ company, which mounted an impassioned, if not overly defensive, presentation on the medicinal value of their fermented rice media/mycelium supplement line and Jeff Chilton of Nammex who currently has an open letter to the FDA imploring them to change the labeling requirements for mycelium based functional fungal products. For the record, here are North Spore’s thoughts on the matter. (Go team fruiting bodies!)
The Mushroom Summit was a two day meeting of the minds in the functional (i.e medicinal) mushroom industry that took place before the main MAPS conference officially began. Industry leaders, content kings, and brand ambassadors participated in panel discussions, and at times heated debates, about science and trends in the functional mushroom space.
It was at the summit that North Spore was able to connect with old friends like Kyle and Erin of Far West Fungi, Amir Karian of Monterey Mushrooms (check out this video where we visit both of these amazing farms), and William Padilla-Brown of MycoSymbiotics (and this video where we grow cordyceps with Will) while also forging new friendships with Tony Shields of Fresh Cap Mushrooms, Adam Chilton of Nammex and Real Mushrooms, and the esteemed expert in psilocybe taxonomy, mycologist Alan Rockefeller.
No retrospective about the Mushroom Summit would be complete without noting the summit’s most heated and ongoing debate whether mycelium grown supplements are as efficacious as mushroom fruiting body supplements. The debate’s two primary pugilists were Fungi Perfecti, Paul Stamets’ company, which mounted an impassioned, if not overly defensive, presentation on the medicinal value of their fermented rice media/mycelium supplement line and Jeff Chilton of Nammex who currently has an open letter to the FDA imploring them to change the labeling requirements for mycelium based functional fungal products. For the record, here are North Spore’s thoughts on the matter. (Go team fruiting bodies!)
Conservative politician and former Governor of Texas Rick Perry speaking about the potential of psychedelics to heal trauma
Conservative politician and former Governor of Texas Rick Perry speaking about the potential of psychedelics to heal trauma
Speaker Maya Padilla recognizing the importance of including indigenous folks at the conference while also highlighting the diversity of the attendees
From the Mushroom Summit we moved on to Psychedelic Science, where the conversation expanded beyond mushrooms and the vibe was serious science conference crossed with Burning Man, in fact, the Burning Man CEO even attended the conference. Psychedelic Science attracted exhibitors ranging from ketamine clinics, psychotherapists, and ayahuasca retreat centers, to veteran advocacy groups, research institutions, and plant medicine law firms but the real magic was in the hundreds of simultaneous meetings taking place in the conference rooms and presentation halls in the 2 million square foot convention center. Talks from celebrities like author Michael Pollan, podcaster Andrew Huberman, musician Melissa Etheridge, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers abutted science presentations from lead researchers at Johns Hopkins University, chemists like Hamilton Morris, and a host of ethnobotanists and mycologists. Revelations of psychedelic inspiration from business leaders like John Mackey, the founder of Wholefoods, and David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap juxtaposed discussions of equity and access for indigenous communities, practitioners, and thought leaders. Even the conservative ex-governor of Texas and former Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, spoke to the profound potential of psychedelic medicine to heal trauma. To call this decade ‘the psychedelic 20’s’, as MAPS founder Rick Doblin coined it at the conference’s opening ceremony, is not a euphemism. The energy of the event was confirmation: we’re at the cusp of something big.
Though North Spore’s products are only intended for edible and medicinal mushroom cultivation, we remain advocates of the psychedelic renaissance and hope to see a proliferation of psychedelic clinics and therapeutic modalities as these substances become legal. Until then, we’ll be here keeping an eye on the movement, attending the conferences, and disseminating information!
From the Mushroom Summit we moved on to Psychedelic Science, where the conversation expanded beyond mushrooms and the vibe was serious science conference crossed with Burning Man, in fact, the Burning Man CEO even attended the conference. Psychedelic Science attracted exhibitors ranging from ketamine clinics, psychotherapists, and ayahuasca retreat centers, to veteran advocacy groups, research institutions, and plant medicine law firms but the real magic was in the hundreds of simultaneous meetings taking place in the conference rooms and presentation halls in the 2 million square foot convention center. Talks from celebrities like author Michael Pollan, podcaster Andrew Huberman, musician Melissa Etheridge, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers abutted science presentations from lead researchers at Johns Hopkins University, chemists like Hamilton Morris, and a host of ethnobotanists and mycologists. Revelations of psychedelic inspiration from business leaders like John Mackey, the founder of Wholefoods, and David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap juxtaposed discussions of equity and access for indigenous communities, practitioners, and thought leaders. Even the conservative ex-governor of Texas and former Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, spoke to the profound potential of psychedelic medicine to heal trauma. To call this decade ‘the psychedelic 20’s’, as MAPS founder Rick Doblin coined it at the conference’s opening ceremony, is not a euphemism. The energy of the event was confirmation: we’re at the cusp of something big.
Speaker Maya Padilla recognizing the importance of including indigenous folks at the conference while also highlighting the diversity of the attendees
Though North Spore’s products are only intended for edible and medicinal mushroom cultivation, we remain advocates of the psychedelic renaissance and hope to see a proliferation of psychedelic clinics and therapeutic modalities as these substances become legal. Until then, we’ll be here keeping an eye on the movement, attending the conferences, and disseminating information!
Art installations in the ‘Deep Space’ area of the conference
Here are some of the initiatives I encountered during the conference that could use financial support and more publicity:
The Shulgin Archiving Project
For those of you familiar with the science and history of psychedelic study in North America there are few people more influential than the late Alexander Shulgin. A researcher at the Dow Chemical Company in his early career, Dr. Shulgin would go on to discover and synthesize hundreds of novel psychedelic compounds at his home laboratory including MDMA, and 2CB. The story of his life synthesizing and testing these compounds and his budding romance with his second wife Ann is documented in the two books they co-penned, PiHKAL (an acronym of Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved) and TiHKAL (Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved). The second halves of both books detail the synthesis and effects of the hundreds of psychedelic substances he created.
Ann Shulgin passed away in 2022 and passed on a treasure trove of 250,000 books, photographs, and other paper documents to the kind folks named Earth and Fire who run the website Erowid. I had a chance to speak with both of them as well as Ann Shulgin’s daughter, Wendy, at the conference. They're looking for financial help to scan all of the material and digitize it for future reference and are trying to raise a total of $160,000. Erowid actually began the process of archiving material before Alexander Shulgin’s death in 2014 and to date has spent over $375K on the project from their general budget. You can donate to the project here. You can also email them directly at donations AT erowid DOT org. You can learn more about the Shulgins by visiting the Shulgin Foundation website.
The Chacruna Institute
Psychedelic use and therapies are expanding to new communities in the U.S. but collectively, we should be conscious and committed to equal access and respect for the indigenous communities and peoples that traditionally use plant and mushroom medicines too. Continuing to evolve the conversation about reciprocity and protecting cultural traditions is key to preventing a repeat of the exploitation and traumas of the past. Chacruna is a great resource for learning about these criticisms and concerns.
At The Chacruna Institute ‘[they][they][they][they] foster cultural and political reflections on the field of psychedelic science and facilitate conversations about controversial topics that have been simmering on the sidelines as psychedelics go mainstream.”
Check out the Chacruna website and think about donating to the project!
Dennis McKenna speaking at the Biognosis presentation
The McKenna Academy’s Biognosis Project
The ethnobotanical and ethnomycological work of Terence and Dennis McKenna is legendary in the psychedelic community. I consider Terence McKenna’s book about his and his brother Dennis’ psychedelic escapades in the Amazon basin, True Hallucinations, to be formative for the interest in mushrooms that ensnared me at a young age. Though Terence died over twenty years ago, his younger brother, Dennis’, work on psychedelic mushrooms and plants continues.
I had the privilege of hearing Dennis speak and present a short documentary and project called Biognosis: Bridges to Ancestral Wisdom at the conference. The project ‘aims to renovate and digitize an immensely important collection of 150,000 biological specimens currently housed at the Herbarium of the Amazon in Iquitos, Peru.’
Watch the film and learn more about the initiative here and consider leaving a donation.
The Heroic Hearts Project
‘PTSD has killed more soliders by suicide in the U.S. than were killed in war since 9/11’ so states the homepage of The Heroic Hearts Project, which ‘has helped hundreds of veterans overcome their suffering from PTSD by providing them not only with access to psychedelic programs, but with professional coaching, peer support, and other resources to empower them along their healing journeys.’
The organization’s founder, Jesse Gould, suffered from PTSD and found relief through psychedelic therapy and is looking for help through donations, volunteering and advocacy.
Artist Vincent Gordon live-painting at the North Spore x Out Front Magazine Rooftop Party
North Spore influencers and affiliates enjoying the sun and networking
Artist Vincent Gordon live-painting at the North Spore x Out Front Magazine Rooftop Party