The bill, which Ford unveiled on the opening day of the new legislative session in Illinois, would create a regulated psychedelic therapy program that would be overseen by an advisory committee. The measure, which has been designated as House Bill 1 (HB1), also removes the criminal penalties for the personal use of psilocybin, a provision Ford said in a statement was needed to protect patients and providers. Ford noted that while existing criminal prohibitions on the drugs are rarely enforced, “formally removing them ensures that patients won’t be turned into criminals simply for seeking health, healing and wellness.”

“I’ve been seeing more and more legitimate scientific evidence, including information coming from the FDA, showing that psychedelic therapy is not only safe, but also very effective, particularly for the toughest patients for whom other treatments have not worked,” Ford said in a press release about the legislation. “At the same time, I am also hearing from patients and from their medical providers, that Illinoisans should have access to these exciting new treatment options.”

HB 1 Legalizes Psychedelic Therapies in Illinois

Under the legislation, adults aged 18 and up will be permitted to seek supervised psychedelic therapy from trained facilitators. Psychedelic compounds used under the program must be produced and tested at licensed facilities. Ford stressed that while the measure legalizes possession of psychedelics, it does not authorize any type of commercial sales of entheogenic compounds.

“I want to be clear that this is a health measure. My proposal does not allow retail sales of psilocybin outside of a regulated therapeutic setting and ensures that medicines purchased for therapeutic use at a service center must be used under medical supervision, and cannot be taken home,” said Ford. “Only licensed facilitators will be allowed to provide treatment at closely regulated and licensed healing centers, approved health care facilities, in hospice, or at a pre-approved patient residence.”

Ford noted in his statement that a growing body of research into entheogenic plants and fungi such as psilocybin is showing that the drugs have the potential to treat a wide range of mental health conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety. Psychedelics may also be effective treatments for neurological conditions such as cluster headaches, migraines, cancer, and phantom limbs. Psychedelic-assisted therapy is so promising that psilocybin has been given “breakthrough treatment” status designation by the FDA.

Bill Marks A New Step In Psychedelics Policy Reform Efforts

Although the bill is focused on naturally occurring psychedelic compounds, Joshua Kappel, founding partner of the cannabis and psychedelic law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, notes that the bill’s provisions are not limited to traditionally cultivated or foraged entheogens. The difference marks a significant evolution of psychedelics policy reform efforts, which so far have resulted in two states legalizing psilocybin for therapeutic use.

“It builds off Colorado and Oregon in a very thoughtful and progressive way, including permitting synthetic varieties of the natural medicines permitted in Colorado,” Kappel writes in an email to High Times, “which is key development from a sustainability perspective.”

House Bill 1 has already gained the support of a broad coalition of medical and mental health professionals, researchers, patients, and grassroots psychedelic reform activists. Many have joined forces to form Entheo IL to lead the psychedelics policy reform efforts in Illinois.

“The push for legal access to entheogenic medicines is broad at the state level, such as in Oregon and Colorado, as well as at the federal level,” Jean Lacy, the executive director of the new group, said in a statement. “This legislation will ensure Illinois is a leader in developing the infrastructure needed for this work.” 

The post Illinois Lawmaker Introduces Psychedelics Legalization Bill appeared first on High Times.

The company, MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, said that it had completed “confirmatory phase three” of the multi-site study, which “met both the primary endpoint as measured by the change from baseline in Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (‘CAPS-5’) and the key secondary endpoint of improvement in functional impairment associated with PTSD as measured by the change from baseline in the Sheehan Disability Scale (‘SDS’).”

“The Phase 3 confirmatory results support the development of MDMA-assisted therapy as a potentially new breakthrough therapy to treat individuals with PTSD—a patient population that is often left to suffer for years,” said Amy Emerson, chief executive officer of MAPS Public Benefit Corporation. 

Last week’s announcement comes after the company said in November that it had completed “the second of two Phase 3 pivotal trials.” 

“Now with two positive Phase 3 trials complete, we can add this important data to the new drug application which we expect to submit in the third quarter of this year,” Emerson said last week. 

The study, known as “MAPP2,” was “a randomized, double-blind, multi-site Phase 3 study of the efficacy and safety of MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of PTSD,” the company said last week.

“The study enrolled 121 participants and of those enrolled 104 were randomized to either a group that received 80 to 120 mg MDMA hydrochloride followed by a supplemental half-dose of 40 or 60 mg during three extended sessions of therapy, or a group that received placebo plus extended sessions of therapy. The MAPP2 study enrolled participants with PTSD for the 12-week treatment period. The MAPP2 participants reflected the U.S. demographics of those living with PTSD with people of color representing more than half of those enrolled in the study,” the company said in a press release. 

Founded in 2014, MAPS Public Benefit Corporation says that its vision is to create a “world where all people have opportunities to heal and grow through psychedelic medicines and therapies.​”

The company’s mission statement reads: “Lead the research, development, and integration of psychedelic medicines and therapies into the healthcare system, prioritizing purpose over profits.​”

That mission has been buttressed by the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which in 2017 “granted MDMA-assisted therapy Breakthrough Therapy designation, a process designed to expedite development and review of drugs intended to treat serious conditions and that demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapies,” the company said in last week’s press release.

“Reaching agreement with [the] FDA on the design of our Phase 3 program and having the ability to work closely with the agency has been a major priority for our team,” Emerson said in 2017. “Our Phase 2 data was extremely promising with a large effect size, and we are ready to move forward quickly. With breakthrough designation, we can now move even more efficiently through the development process in collaboration with the FDA to complete Phase 3.”

The company said last week that it “expects to submit the new drug application to the FDA in the third quarter of 2023.” 

“MAPS PBC plans to submit the full data set for publication in a peer-reviewed journal,” the press release said. “MDMA-assisted therapy has not been approved by any regulatory agency. The safety and efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy have not been established for the treatment of PTSD.”

The post MDMA Treatment for PTSD Shows Promise in Clinical Trial appeared first on High Times.

Back in January 2020, Meghan and Henry stepped down as senior members of the royal family and moved to the Duchess’s native Southern California. Ever since then, it’s been quite the public spectacle, with interviews from Oprah to Netflix series that document the out-of-touch, conservative, and yes, at times, racist behavior. Next up on the couple’s media agenda is Prince Harry’s autobiography, Spare, which came out on January 10.

According to the Telegraph, Harry writes that as a “deeply unhappy” 17-year-old, he would try “anything that altered the pre-established order.” And yes, your intuition is correct. Just like anyone else navigating teenage angst, this includes drugs. Let’s hope the anti-drug crowd takes a moment to consider the death of his mother, Diana, the whole pressure of being a royal, the weirdness that must come with being the “spare,” a term that spawned his memoir title. Yes, while it’s hard to feel bad for royals, one can understand the appeal of a bit of chemical escape. The 38-year-old royal explains that he took psychedelics for recreational and therapeutic reasons, revealing that he smoked cannabis since he was a teenager. Harry writes that drugs allowed him to see “another world where the red mist didn’t exist,” he reportedly wrote. From interviews to Spare, Harry talks a lot about “red mist,” which, while certainly sounds like an expression for royal champagne problems, is defined as a “feeling of extreme anger” by the Cambridge Dictionary, according to People. 

The Duke also dabbled in cocaine, although, as Time reports, he didn’t care much for it. In an interview with Tom Bradby, who asked Henry about the drug use and if he still hoped for reconciliation with his family, Harry said: “I want reconciliation. But first, there needs to be some accountability.” And, to be frank, from all the other bombshells Harry and Meghan’s press tour has unleashed, from bickering in the royal family over their child’s level of melatonin to constant bullying to the role of the press, not to mention that poor Harry’s had to deal with this his entire life, starting with his mother Diana, who cares about any claims of drug use? Reading his accounts makes you want to pass him a joint and urge the public to focus on what is really in question: does Britain need a monarchy, and how many people’s lives must implode before they get it straight?

By the way, from shroom-induced garbage bins aside, as Time reports, Spare also contains tales of how he lost his virginity to an older woman who loved horses and spanked him when they were finished, not to mention Harry gets honest about how many people he killed while fighting in Afghanistan. So, put away your spooky garbage bin, grab a cup of tea, and cuddle with Harry’s new book to form your take on these dramatic royals. 

The post Prince Harry Talks to Toilet While Tripping Shrooms appeared first on High Times.

The aptly named non-profit Utah Mushroom Therapy has launched a petition to “strongly encourage Utah legislators to pass a bipartisan bill that allows the legal use of psilocybin for clinical and academic purposes, and includes protection for individuals practicing under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” 

Utah Mushroom Therapy says it intends to present the petition to members of the state Senate next month. The group’s efforts come almost a year after the state’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, signed a bill that created a task force to study the use of psychedelics as a mental health treatment. 

According to the group, the creation of the task force means that “legalizing and decriminalizing Psilocybin in Utah is now very likely but still needs public support.”

Utah Mushroom Therapy outlines a number of reasons why it backs the legalization of mushrooms for therapy and research, arguing that it could improve mental health and support spiritual practice. 

“Numerous robust studies have shown that psilocybin therapy is beneficial in reducing treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, addiction, trauma, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other mental health disorders. It is more effective than synthetic pharmaceuticals by a large margin. Psilocybin has also shown effectiveness in easing fear and anxiety in people with terminal cancer. For instance, a groundbreaking study performed by John Hopkins Medicine found that psilocybin reported better moods and greater mental health after participating in a single clinical dose,” the group says on its website. 

“The use of mushrooms has been documented in 15 indigenous groups in America and various religious communities in Utah. This petition supports those groups who wish to use psilocybin safely, sincerely, and as a necessary part of their religion. The use of psilocybin does not contradict other Utah cultures and is protected by the first amendment as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This petition is to advocate Utah law to protect the religious rights of Utahns,” the group continued. 

In addition, the group says that legalization of shrooms would reduce criminality and would serve as a safe and effective treatment.

“Psilocybin is a natural, non-toxic substance. Despite this, it is currently a Schedule I substance. Scientists have demonstrated it has profound medicinal value and believe serotonergic hallucinogens assist cognitive processes and should be decriminalized. Psychedelics can change perception and mood, help people soften their perspective and outlook, and process events that may otherwise lead to substance abuse, trauma, and criminal behavior,” the group says on its website. 

“Psilocybin mushrooms are considered one of the least toxic medicines known to man. Recorded cases of death exclusively attributed to psilocybin mushrooms are extremely rare. To put this in perspective, Internationally, there were 30,811 deaths from antidepressants between 2015 and 2020,” the group added. 

In urging Utah voters to sign, the group stresses that the “petition is in no way an endorsement of illegal drug use.”

“By signing this petition, you are supporting the safe and legal use of Psilocybin, a naturally occurring compound,” the group says. 

Psilocybin and hallucinogenics represent the next frontier in the legalization movement, as state and local officials increasingly reconsider the once taboo substances.

On New Year’s Day, Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to legalize psilocybin use for adults after voters there approved a ballot measure in 2020. 

That proposal, Measure 109, “allowed local authorities to opt out of Measure 109 by forwarding to voters either two-year moratoriums or bans on psilocybin services,” the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported in November.

“Authorities in 27 Oregon counties and 114 cities and towns asked voters to consider two-year moratoriums or bans. Among the latter, only two – Phoenix in Jackson County and Wheeler in Tillamook County – authorized psilocybin services,” the outlet said. “Nevertheless, most of Oregon’s most populous counties and cities have cleared the way for psilocybin production by authorized facilities. Supporters of psilocybin services say that therapy with the hallucinogen will be locally available to nearly 3 million Oregon residents beginning in 2023. In all, 17 of Oregon’s 20 most populous cities are allowing psilocybin services along with 11 Oregon counties.”

The post Utah Group Aims To Legalize Shrooms in the State appeared first on High Times.

With over 300 million people battling depression, ketamine serves as a vital tool for mental illness, pain relief, as a party favor, and as a meditative aid. Consider it your very own genie in a bottle, but instead of rubbing it to have your wishes come true, you simply set an intention. Oh, and let’s not forget the importance of going into it with the right vibration, too. 

Someone in Bali once said to me, “Let’s go to the moon?” and it stuck. But interestingly, while being on K, I could look at the sun; the sun would start projecting halos, almost emitting its vibrant aura and talking directly to me. It was a pleasant reminder that not only are we connected to the moon, but also the sun. 

• Plus, it’s good to know that you can open your third eye (the pineal gland) by sun gazing during the first few minutes of sunrise and the last few minutes of sunset.

Everything is energy, and all matter carries a vibration. That said, it makes sense that your energetic vibration and mindset would affect your ketamine trip. Unfortunately, ketamine is widely misunderstood and therefore many people go into it without preparing properly. This, I can’t emphasize enough, is exceptionally important if you want to go to the moon (as opposed to getting stuck in a bathtub at someone’s house party).

Call it a “horse tranquilizer,” “special K,” “ket,” or whatever you want, but there’s no denying the fact that ketamine is one genuinely fascinating drug. It could also be described as a kind of “fairy dust,” because when used wisely, it can catapult you to fairytale-like realms. (Not to be confused with angel dust, however – the nickname for PCP).

On the other end of the spectrum, when ketamine is abused with alcohol, one can plummet into a “k-hole.” If you’ve never experienced one and want to avoid it, you’re going to want to keep reading. If you have found yourself climbing out of a k-hole before, then you’ll know it’s not the kind of place one dreams about…

Jumping on the ketamine express can be quite an alluring prospect for anyone who wants to indulge in some magical moments and tap into altered states of awareness. The medicine can also enhance focus and deliver some super creative ideas (so long as the body is well prepared).

Featured on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, this unique medicine is starting to claim more media coverage than ever before, and there’s no wonder why.

Ketamine clinics are cropping up all over the country and, according to the Ketamine Clinics Direct that represents Ketadosage, some people are paying up to $2,000 per session. 

The Rise of Ketamine

Ketamine’s history rewinds back to 1956, when it was first synthesized by the Parke-Davis chemist Victor Maddox at Parke-Davis and Company‘s laboratories in Detroit, Michigan, USA. It was at that point that it was being used as an ‘ideal’ anesthetic for monkeys. The drug was named because of the ketone and for the fact that its chemical structure falls into the amine group.

On August 3, 1964, intravenous ketamine was injected into a human being for the first time. Subjects described the experience as “floating in space, as if they were disconnected from their body and environment with a loss of feeling in their limbs.”

Due to the strange sensation, ketamine is considered to be a dissociative anesthetic. Following the stamp of approval that ketamine received from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1970, ketamine was eventually used to treat wounded soldiers during the Vietnam War because of its large margin of safety. 

Since this time, the market (both black market and legal) has swelled to immense proportions. A report by Fairfield Market Research indicates that ketamine will exhibit a CAGR of 16.0% between the years of 2021 and 2026 as clinical trials explore its suitability for treating alcohol dependence, bi-polar depression, suicide ideation, and social anxiety.

Using Ketamine with Crystals for Meditation

There’s a very spiritual element to ketamine, so you’d better get ready to awaken your inner light. We are souls, we have a body. Our body is just our avatar and the way we treat it certainly influences our experience on ketamine. (By the way, I’d like to take a moment to ask anyone who’s reading this to raise their hand if they have ever watched Avatar in 3D on ketamine…) 

We all signed up for this. Maybe you just don’t remember why yet, but wouldn’t you like to know? That’s the thing about ketamine, it can remind you of your soul’s purpose. Ketamine – as well as some other very important ingredients, might I add – can be infused with the body to unleash the soul.

In a nutshell, if you don’t prepare your body before you consume ketamine, ketamine will consume you. Use it wisely and you’ll be treated to immense pleasure, as well as gain the privilege of delving into some majestic realms of divine white light and blissful dimensions of consciousness.

Remember when Aldous Snow strokes the furry wall in Get Him to the Greek? Well, let’s substitute the furry wall for some selenite, and the snow for the K. Ketamine can be used as an amplifier tool for meditation and when used with crystals, it’s entirely possible to become a master not only of your own mind, but your reality.

The late writer and artist Timothy Wyllie claims to have had conversations with angels on ketamine, which can be snorted in the form of a crystalline powder (it can also be swallowed, smoked or injected) crystals can be held in our hands while using ketamine to completely change the trip. Yes, you read that right. Crystals. If you’re snorting ketamine crystals, might as well be holding a complimentary crystal to bolster the medicine’s magical touch.

K can be used in such a way that you can recall your true higher self and understand why you came here, but it can also be abused (such as with alcohol) and send you into states of shit, instead of hiking you up to sublime states of golden slumber. This is why it’s important to prepare for the ride.

Manifesting

I truly believe that ketamine can be harnessed as a tool for manifesting by tapping into altered states of consciousness and getting into what Abraham Hicks likes to call “the vortex”.

Ketamine can essentially help us to raise our vibration or lower it. The outcome depends on the preparation. It’s entirely possible to customize your trip based on your vibration and mindset. With a high vibration, we can enter the quantum field. That being said, ketamine may serve as a magic tool for slipping into the quantum field and manifesting our desired reality through visualization meditation.  

According to Dr. Joe Dispenza, “you cannot perceive the reality of the quantum field with your senses, it exists on another plane. You have to perceive it with your consciousness.”

The expert states that at this level you start to feel like you already have everything you dream of, and I believe ketamine can shift us into this state if used smartly. 

“When you are in the place called the quantum field and you feel like you already have everything you dream of, you don’t have to fight anymore. Creating something through the field creates changes in three-dimensional reality. This can be healing from illness or negative experiences, for example.”

Preparing for the Ride…

So many people are confused about K. They think it’s bad. They fall into an ugly mess and don’t want to try it again because they feel that they may have the same experience, of course. It’s not nice to be out of control, but if you go into it unknowingly, you may not like the experience whatsoever.

Research indicates that both ketamine and meditation impact our default mode networks in our brains. This part of the brain is what we default to when we are not actively focusing on the outside world and in a depressed individual, it can be “hijacked.” Could ketamine be the cure for soothing a busy mind? Perhaps.

To ensure a desired outcome, there are a few key elements of any ketamine trip:

• Stay hydrated with water
• Load up on colorful fruits and vegetables to awaken the chakras and promote a better overall experience
• Avoid doing it in unfamiliar spaces
• Chew raw ginger before doing it (this raises your vibration and will catapult you into some wonderful worlds)
• Prepare your music playlist wisely – the frequency of music affects us while tripping. Reggae classics on Spotify is a pretty good choice. Steer clear of unusual sounds

It also helps to take some vitamin C beforehand. Since research indicates that vitamin C may reduce anxiety levels, it’s guaranteed to give your mind an extra dose of calm, so as to ensure that you get the most out of your experience.

Steering Clear of a K Hole 

In Kit Kelly’s book, The Little Book of Ketamine, he notes that you will probably have “telepathic synergistic” communications with God while on ketamine. He’s not wrong – I (and I’m sure many others) have been flung into otherworldly portals of divination while under the influence of ketamine. A k-hole won’t take you there, however. 

There are many misconceptions about ketamine, because most people do it on a low vibration. Slipping into a k-hole seems to be common practice for partygoers who snort ketamine powder with alcohol. It’s tricky to distinguish the effects of ketamine combined with alcohol. Both drugs impair coordination and thought processes.

If you want to see what this drug can do, I suggest going into the experience well-hydrated and loaded up on vitamins. What I’ve learned to discover with ketamine is that the higher our vibration, the better the overall experience. After all, everything is energy and every single substance we consume carries an energetic frequency. Energy is everything.

The post Healing the Mind With Ketamine appeared first on High Times.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a process that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to create noninvasive images of the body, its organs, and biological functions. Images created through MRI can provide healthcare professionals with a wealth of data about their patients, but the confining space and loud noises of an MRI machine can cause discomfort and anxiety for many people who undergo the procedure. MRI manufacturers have responded by making more patient-friendly machines, but being subjected to an MRI scan can still be an unwelcome and stressful experience for many patients.

To address the issue, researchers at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University in Australia are conducting a study to investigate how psilocybin affects participants during an MRI scan of 60 healthy participants. Dubbed PsiConnect, the research is the first of its kind in Australia and is one of the world’s largest psychedelic trials to use brain imaging technology, according to the researchers. In 2021, the Australian government announced it would provide $15 million in funding to investigate the potential use of psychedelics to augment psychotherapy.

“Finding people was hard because we wanted people who had never taken this drug before and don’t have any mental health history, even in their first-degree relatives,” Adeel Razi, a neuroscientist from the Monash Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health and the lead researcher for the study, told the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Study participant Michael Taylor fit the bill perfectly. In his late 40s, he was healthy and had never used drugs recreationally.

“I hadn’t been that kind of person, you know,” said Taylor. “I’ve never even smoked a cigarette in my life.”

Study Participants Receive Small Dose Of Psilocybin

To conduct the study, the participants will undergo an MRI examination both before and after taking a small, sub-therapeutic dose (19 milligrams) of synthetic psilocybin. Researchers will then use the images produced during the MRI to assess any potential changes in activity after the administration of the psychedelic drug. The researchers hope that the information gleaned from the imaging combined with data from other evaluations will provide information that can be used to develop new drugs and therapies to more effectively treat mental illnesses. 

“I can look at how the brain is reacting to these compounds, and that gives me a window into understanding consciousness,” said Razi. “We need to have the evidence base of how it actually works in a brain without depression, and then the insights that we get, we can translate into use in a clinical setting.”

After he had been administered psilocybin and was put in the MRI machine, Taylor said that the loud, clanking noises created by the imaging were anything but distressing.

“It was the most magical music that I have ever heard,” said Taylor.

Taylor remembers the music rising to a crescendo like a wave, which eventually broke over him and flooded him with joy.

“I felt myself smiling, laughing; I’m sure I giggled at one point,” he said. “I was thinking: ‘I can’t believe this is happening. Why don’t more people get to experience this?’”

As the imaging process progressed, Taylor says that he lost all sense of self.

“I actually felt myself melding with the MRI machine and becoming one with it,” Taylor remembers. “Which is crazy – but that’s what it was like, I was just part of everything else around me. I was everything. And everything was me.”

About 60% of the participants said that the experience with psilocybin was one of the most meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives. Among those who did not find the experience spiritually significant or meaningful, slightly less than half still said it was one of the most interesting or amazing experiences of their lives. About 10% of the participants said that they did not experience much of an effect from the psilocybin and about 5% said that they experienced unpleasant effects. Razi said that the initial findings of the research will be published in about six months.

“We will make all the imaging data and behavioral data open access,” he said. “It is one of the largest studies in the world, and anyone will be able to analyze the data, so it will have a long-lasting legacy.”

The post Study Finds Psilocybin Eases the Stress of MRIs appeared first on High Times.

This matters to you, dear reader and presumed drug enthusiast, because growing shrooms is really damn hard. Most people can figure out how to grow an ounce or two using Google (or High Times articles) but a majority of people find it far too complicated at first glance and most processes involved with psychedelic production are much easier to understand with visual aids. Being as it were that a lot of people would prefer to consume their drugs without engaging in some sweaty, parking lot exchange with a dude named Indigo, a lot of folks would be shit out of luck if it weren’t for people like Willy and Philly. 

These guys are really putting their money where their mouths are in the sense of taking big legal and personal risks to advance the science of psychedelic production and educating the masses on how to safely replicate the processes for themselves. They both hide their identities in different ways. Willy wears a face mask in his videos and PGT has yet to show his face or reveal what his voice sounds like. Their channels and messages are not associated with one another but they have each amassed an impressive following and each contributed crucial information about psychedelics directly to the people who need it.

High Times caught up with Willy and Philly both together and individually to talk shop about psychedelic culture and their efforts to preserve, promote and advance it.

Willy Myco

Willy is, I shit you not, a Harvard graduate with degrees and qualifications out the wazoo who walked away from a quarter-million dollar salary at a big-name pharmaceutical company to make his educational YouTube and Patreon videos. The videos span from DIY shroom growing techniques to how LSD is synthesized and more. He now pays his bills almost entirely through YouTube and Patreon, thanks to his organically grown community which he refers to as the “trip team family” or TTF. 

“I ain’t shit without you guys,” Willy said. “Without that community behind me, supporting me and being there for me, then I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

The TTF is hard to quantify but according to Willy it ranges anywhere from 70 to 120,000 people. They have a private Discord server that is genuinely a positive place to explore with super friendly people, all of whom are stoked to help other budding mycologists and psychedelic enthusiasts on their individual journeys. 

Not only that, but these cats throw one hell of a party by the sound of things. Willy puts on this big event every year called “Trip-A-Ween” where they basically fry balls on world-class psychedelics and do fun shit like rent out an entire amusement park or live large in Costa Rica for a week. They spare no expense and talk about it like it’s a big family reunion.

As a Patreon supporter and member of the TTF discord, I won’t reveal much of what I’ve seen in there for obvious reasons but I will note that right before I started writing this article, a big member of the TTF community who goes by the alias Watr was arrested and had their children taken away from them for allegedly distributing psychedelics. Inside of a week, Willy had a sweatshirt made up and started an in-house fundraiser to raise money and bring Watr back home to his kids. Willy has also personally given thousands of dollars out of his own pocket to finance medical treatment for some supporters of his who needed help.

Willy is currently in the process of buying a house in Puerto Rico where he will be setting up a cannabis grow to provide employment for the people living there, not to mention hosting a podcast, likely throwing more shroom parties and providing mycology/cannabis cultivation classes to impoverished Puerto Ricans. Willy told High Times his ultimate goal is to preserve the legacy of the people who came before him.

“I want to see people be able to support their families and build their empires off of psychedelics, I want to be able to see people flourish and do well—the people that actually deserve it, and are doing it for the right reasons,” Willy said. “I don’t want that culture to be gone. I don’t want it just to become a machine like cannabis has become. It’s an industry now. It’s a big thing. Before, when it was underground, it was about the members of the community and the people who actually put in the work to preserve it. And then once it became an industry, it just became about money. It was no longer about community.” 

Philly Golden Teacher

Philly is a bit more elusive than Willy but his videos are very detailed and dive deep into the art of shroom growing. Whereas Willy’s videos encompass all psychedelics, Philly strictly focuses on mycology and mushroom cultivation. He’s a prolifically paranoid man (for VERY good reason) who used a voice modulator when speaking to High Times. 

“I’m scared. I’m scared to put myself out there,” Philly said. “That fear really puts me into anxiety mode.”

Philly didn’t tell me many specifics about himself other than he tries to blend into society as much as possible to avoid detection. He works a 9-5 at a call center and spends his off-time working on advanced mycology projects, one of which is attempting to crossbreed psychedelic mushrooms to make a new “strain.” Strain is in quotes because it’s even less accurate when used to refer to mushrooms than how it’s commonly used for cannabis but for our purposes, strain is fine. 

“You have to understand crossbreeding is a lot more complex than putting two different mycelium together on a plate and having them go ‘here, kiss.’ You have to isolate a single spore to be able to do it at a microscopic level. It’s hard to do that; it’s hard to verify that without a microscope so people don’t get into crossbreeding unless you can afford a microscope to put the work behind to do it,” Philly said.

The thing with mushroom growing is that much like cannabis, a fair amount of the legwork on figuring out how to do it properly is pioneered by guys like Philly, who lives in constant fear of federal police raids at worst and losing his YouTube account at best.

“I have to really be careful what I put out on there,” Philly said. “I’m trying to steer things forwards, just trying to to drive things to Patreon because I can’t really rely on YouTube.”

Philly told High Times he’s particularly excited about mushroom lineage cards he and his wife have been working on with information about the breeders and history behind the different “strains” of psychedelic mushrooms.

“We basically went full Pokemon,” Philly said. 

Both PGT and Willy expressed parallel views to High Times on how psychedelics should be used or looked at going forward. They both hammered home two distinct points multiple times over:

• Psychedelics can be used as medicine but should more so be looked at as tools.
• Decriminalization instead of legalization.

“I’m more comfortable with decriminalization than legalization,” Willy said. “I don’t think people should go to jail or be charged for cultivating their own medicine, whether that’s mushrooms or extracting DMT or cultivating cannabis, whatever the case may be. People should be able to do it freely. But, legalization brings a whole nother slew of problems: oversaturation, stepping on the toes of all the cultivators that have been doing this for a long time. You have companies that have millions of dollars of backing and you just can’t compete with that.”

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The OHA’s final rules were created through recommendations from the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board, the Rules Advisory Committee, and public comments. Initially the OHA released its first subset of rules in May 2022, and with the final rules now in place, Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS) will begin accepting applications for four license types starting on Jan. 2, 2023.

According to a letter co-written by André Ourso, Administrator of the Center for Health Protection, and Angie Allbee, Section Manager for OPS:

“OPS received over 200 written comments and six hours of comments shared in the public hearings during the November 2022 public comment period,” wrote Ourso and Allbee. “These comments helped to further refine and improve the rules, which have now been adopted as final. The final rules are a starting place for the nation’s first regulatory framework for psilocybin services, and we will continue to evaluate and evolve this work as we move into the future.”

These new rules include an option for microdosing with the hope that it will “increase access, equity, and affordability while ensuring public safety.” “The final rules on duration of administrative sessions have been revised to create a new tier for subperceptual doses. These doses are defined as products containing less than 2.5 mg of psilocybin analyte. After a client’s initial session, the minimum duration for a subperceptual dose of 2.5 mg of psilocybin analyte or less is 30 minutes.”

The OPS also established rules to create translated materials in English, Spanish, along with interpretation materials to best serve a wide variety of potential patients. The agency also created numerous rules to address confidentiality of client data, improvements to the application form, and certain limitations for applicants if they have recently had thoughts about causing harm to themselves, or are pregnant or breastfeeding.

As for fees, the OPS will offer less expensive options to those who qualify, with the opportunity to consider making the service more affordable in the future. “The final rules include reduced license fees for applicants who are veterans, receiving social security income, receiving food stamp benefits, or are enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan,” the OPS letter states. “Creating a more complicated tiered license fee structure is not feasible due to the work required to identify appropriate tiers and evaluate license applications and supporting documentation. This work would require more staff capacity, which would result in higher license fees overall.”

With applications opening in less than a week, the OPS letter signs off with a hopeful statement. “OPS will strive to support applicants in navigating license application requirements and will continue to provide technical assistance as we launch the nation’s first regulatory and licensing framework for psilocybin services,” the letter concludes.

Meanwhile in cannabis, end-of-year analysis discuss the past year’s oversupply issues. The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis (OEA) released a forecast in December covering a wide variety of businesses in Oregon, including cannabis. “Now, this is great news for consumers who can enjoy widely available products at low prices,” OEA economists wrote about the cannabis industry. “This is bad news for firms trying to operate a profitable business. One challenge there is even as businesses do leave the market, to date there has always been another willing to step in and take their place.”

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“Coloradans voted last November and participated in our democracy,” Polis said in a statement from the governor’s office. “Officially validating the results of the citizen and referred initiatives is the next formal step in our work to follow the will of the voters and implement these voter-approved measures.”

In his proclamation, Polis noted that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold had certified on December 12 that Proposition 122 “was approved by a majority of the votes cast.” The ballot measure received more than 53% of the vote in the midterm election, garnering the approval of nearly 1.3 million voters on November 8.

The Natural Medicine Health Act creates a state-regulated therapeutic system for adults to access natural psychedelic medicines, such as psilocybin mushrooms, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, and mescaline not derived from peyote. The measure decriminalizes the possession, cultivation, and sharing of the naturally occurring psychedelic drugs, and establishes a system for controlled distribution by licensed professionals in a therapeutic setting. 

Psychedelics will be available under the guidance of a licensed and supervised facilitator at designated healing centers and healthcare facilities such as hospice centers. The medicines are prohibited from leaving the facilities, and no retail sales are allowed in any form.

“Prop. 122 puts the wellbeing of patients and communities first, removing harsh criminal penalties for personal possession and employing a multi-phase implementation process that will allow time to develop an appropriate safety and regulatory structure,” Josh Kappel, who co-authored the proposition and led the campaign for the successful ballot measure, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Under Colorado law, ballot measures approved by the voters do not go into effect immediately. The state constitution requires the governor to issue a proclamation declaring the majority vote for the proposition no later than 30 days after the state canvasses the election results. 

Psilocybin And Mental Health

Psychedelics such as psilocybin are receiving renewed interest in the potential of the drugs to treat a wide range of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders. The Food and Drug Administration has designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy” but has not approved the use of the drug.

Recently, the New England Journal of Medicine released a new study showing that psilocybin can quickly and significantly reduce symptoms of treatment-resistant depression. Prior research from the nation’s top medical research universities including Johns Hopkins University, the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, and New York University have shown positive patient outcomes for depression and anxiety. Additionally, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has started offering psychedelics to patients as a part of clinical trials.

With the Natural Medicine Health Act now officially Colorado state law, the governor has until January 31, 2023, to appoint 15 members to a new Natural Medicine Advisory Board, which will advise the state’s Department of Regulatory Agencies on implementing the measure. The board’s first recommendations are due by September 30, 2023. Recommendations on a facilitator training program for the medical use of psilocybin mandated by the measure are due on January 1, 2023. Regulated access to psilocybin should become available from authorized therapists by late 2024.

Kappel said that with the proclamation from Polis, implementation of Proposition 122 can now begin.

“Our goals include creating an accessible and balanced facilitator training system, an effective equity program, a first-of-its-kind ESG screen, and safe access to natural psychedelic therapies,” Kappel said. “In the meantime, adults in Colorado can begin to have more open and honest conversations about these medicines with their doctors. Adults who can benefit from these substances will finally be able to engage in psychedelic therapies without fear of arrest and prosecution.”

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The outlet reported that the company’s chief executive officer, Joel Shacker, “explained that the company is on course with the initial phase of testing its commercial capabilities for high-grade psilocybin.”

“We anticipate positive results regarding Core One’s commercial capabilities and quickly moving towards commercialization of our products; a milestone we anticipated will attract potential investors and please our current shareholders,” Shacker said.

In October, Core One announced that it was “nearing good manufacturing practices (GMP) production of its psychedelic compounds, as the Company has progressed its negotiations with a certified facility and is developing a detailed plan to provide high quality and affordable psychedelic medicine to properly licensed clinics and distributors.”

The company said at the time that its goal was to “create pharmaceutical grade psychedelic products for patients to treat a range of diseases including, anxiety, depression, addictions, Parkinson’s and other mental health and neurological disorders.”

“By partnering with a GMP production facility, our plan is to start with manufacturing psychedelic compounds and putting them in an easy to take format for patients, such as capsules. This can be done for Core One’s proprietary API grade psilocybin as well as other compounds the Company has been testing. As Core One’s drug pipeline progresses, we plan to create our own drug formulations that can also be manufactured at these GMP facilities,” the company said in the announcement in October. “GMP is a pillar of the quality assurance process that seeks to ensure that products are manufactured in a consistent manner that meets or exceeds mandated safety and quality standards.”

Benzinga reports that, along with beginning psilocybin production next month, Core One “intends to advance market production of its other Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) psychedelic compounds towards eventually manufacturing and supplying them to licensed medical clinics and professionals, researchers and treatment development companies across Canada and other countries as well.”

The company “has developed and filed a patent for a novel psilocybin production system using engineered bacteria through its subsidiary company Vocan Biotechnologies,” in addition to already holding “four provisional patents for the development of psychedelic-based pharmaceutical formulations that target neurological and mental health disorders under its subsidiary Akome Biotech as well as three provisional patents for additional synthetic technologies for psilocybin and psilocin production methods under subsidiary Awakened Biosciences.”

The moves by the company come at a time when Canadian leaders are revising laws and regulations surrounding psilocybin. In October, the Province of Alberta began regulation of the use of psychedelic drugs for people in therapy, a first for a Canadian jurisdiction and a decision that Core One hailed as “groundbreaking.”

“Alberta’s new regulations would require medical directors to apply for a license before treating patients with psychedelics for mental health disorders. A psychiatrist would have to oversee any treatment, according to the regulations taking effect in January 2023. Health professionals could not charge money for the drugs, and a qualified professional must only give patients the drug at a medical facility – unless the person is in palliative care,” the company said in October. “This significant step being taken by a Canadian government body is groundbreaking, and the Company foresees this as the beginning of a complete paradigm shift in Canada.”

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