In this episode, Joe gets on the mic to chat about some current events in the psychedelic space such as the recent passing of psychedelic icon Ralph Metzner, the Psilocybin decriminalization initiatives in Denver and now Oakland, and psychedelic use in the Military.
3 Key Points:
- Psychedelic Icon, Ralph Metzner passed away on March 14th, 2019. He had a remarkable career and published a ton of books around psychedelics in his time.
- A recent study found that a single dose of Psilocybin can enhance creative thinking and empathy for up to 7 days after use.
- Activists are planning an initiative to decriminalize Psilocybin in Oakland. Denver will vote on decriminalization on the May 7th ballot.
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Show Notes
Ralph Metzner
- Ralph Metzner passed away on March 14th, 2019
- He was a part of the Leary, Alpert trio
- Ralph was a psychologist, writer and researcher who participated in psychedelic research in the 60’s.
- He had a remarkable career and published a ton of books:
- The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead
- Maps of consciousness;: I Ching, tantra, tarot, alchemy, astrology, actualism
- The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience
- Green Psychology: Transforming Our Relationship to the Earth
- Sacred Mushroom of Visions: Teonanácatl: A Sourcebook on the Psilocybin Mushroom
- Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca
- The Expansion of Consciousness (Ecology of Consciousness)
- Alchemical Divination: Accessing your spiritual intelligence for healing and guidance (The Ecology of Consciousness)
- Ecology of Consciousness: The Alchemy of Personal, Collective, and Planetary Transformation
- Overtones and Undercurrents: Spirituality, Reincarnation, and Ancestor Influence in Entheogenic Psychotherapy
- Searching for the Philosophers’ Stone: Encounters with Mystics, Scientists, and Healers
- The Toad and the Jaguar a Field Report of Underground Research on a Visionary Medicine: Bufo Alvarius and 5-Methoxy-Dimethyltryptamine
- The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead
Psilocybin and Creativity
- A single dose of Psilocybin enhances creative thinking and empathy for up to 7 days after use
- It was a 55 participant study in the Netherlands
Decriminalize Psilocybin in Oakland
- Activists plan to decriminalize Psilocybin in Oakland
Decriminalize Psilocybin in Denver
- It will be voted on, on May 7th
- Joe believes all drugs should be decriminalized
- We need to have a compassionate drug policy
- Placing people in jail for non-violent offences tears apart families
- We should not favor one drug over another in terms of decriminalization
Use of Psychedelics to do War More Effectively
Harm Reduction
- Joe mentions conversation he had with a friend of the show
- He mentioned that Ayahuasca sometimes has mold on it
- Ayahuasca is labor intensive to make, so they make it once and then it grows mold
- Then people come and drink the mold infested Aya and it can make a person more sick than they need to be
- “If you have the option to be more safe, should you be?”
- If we have less harm and less deaths in the drug world over time, in the next 5 or 6 years we are going to see huge benefits with these substances
- Staying out of jail, not dying, and by being safer with drugs we have more of a chance to influence policy and make these substances and drug checking more available for the future culture
About Joe
Joe studied philosophy in New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A.. After stumbling upon the work of Stanislav Grof during his undergraduate years, Joe began participating in Holotropic Breathwork workshops in Vermont in 2003. Joe helped facilitate Holotropic and Transpersonal Breathwork workshops while he spent his time in New England. He is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts. Joe now coordinates Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork workshops, in Breckenridge, Colorado.