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THE PSYCHEDELIA ISSUE COVER ART BY ALEX GREY & ALLYSON GREY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW INSIDE F RE E / L E A F M AGA Z I N E S . COM
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THE PSYCHEDELIA ISSUE
AUG. 2022
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O U T S I D E A RT W O R KS
STONED APE THEORY DID HUMANS EVOLVE THROUGH THE USE OF PSYCHEDELICS?
MUSHROOMS FOR THE MASSES INSIDE SACRED FRUITS
36 THE OUTLAW FILMMAKER SETH FERRANTI
AROUND THE REGION
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CANNTHROPOLOGY TIMOTHY LEARY AL MY
ERIC GIN ARD
16 LOCAL NEWS
“FLE S H O F THE G OD S” B Y AL EX GR E,Y 2021
THE LEAF’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH VISIONARY ART POWER COUPLE ALEX GREY & ALLYSON GREY
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EDITOR’S NOTE NATIONAL NEWS LOCAL NEWS PT. 1 LOCAL NEWS PT. 2 STRAIN OF THE MONTH ALEX GREY & ALLYSON GREY STONED APE THEORY MUSHROOM PRODUCTION THE OUTLAW FILMMAKER END OF LIFE PSYCHEDELICS CONCENTRATE OF THE MONTH TOPICAL OF THE MONTH CANNTHROPOLOGY STONEY BALONEY
C O U R T E SY S A C R E D F R U I T S
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T H E E N L I G H T E N E D VO I C E
N O RT H W E S T L E A F / O R EG O N L E A F / A L AS KA L E A F / M A RY L A N D L E A F / CA L I F O R N I A L E A F /
A B O U T T H E C OV E R EVER SINCE THE LEAF first started doing a Psychedelia Issue, whenever we discussed who should be interviewed or featured on the cover, one name has always topped our wish list: Alex Grey. Alex and his wife Allyson are, in our minds, the greatest visionary artists alive today—and anyone who’s seen their work up close (especially under the influence of entheogens!) knows why. The custom image the Greys crafted for our cover is actually a mash-up of two works of art: Alex’s “CannaFist” and Allyson’s “New Order 2.” We are honored to have their sensational art gracing our cover and to have an exclusive interview with them inside. Thanks to Alex, Allyson, and their entire team for sharing their genius with us.
ART by ALEX GREY & ALLYSON GREY @ALEXGREYCOSM | @ALLYSONGREYCOSM
CONTRIBUTORS
WES ABNEY C E O & F O U N D E R wes@leafmagazines.com MIKE RICKER O P E R AT I N G PA R T N E R ricker@leafmagazines.com TOM BOWERS C H I E F O P E R AT I N G O F F I C E R tom@leafmagazines.com DANIEL BERMAN C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R daniel@leafmagazines.com
MIKE GIANAKOS S E N I O R E D I T O R mikeg@leafmagazines.com DAN VINKOVETSKY S E N I O R E D I T O R dan@leafmagazines.com 844-4NELEAF MICHAEL CZERHONIAK S A L E S D I R E C T O R michael@leafmagazines.com O’HARA SHIPE O N L I N E E D I T O R ohara@leafmagazines.com
We are creators of targeted, independent Cannabis journalism. Please email us to discuss advertising in the next issue of Northeast Leaf Magazine. We do not sell stories or coverage. We can offer design services and guidance on promoting your company’s medicinal, recreational, commercial or industrial Cannabis business, product or event within our magazine and on our website, LeafMagazines.com. Email michael@leafmagazines.com to start advertising with NE Leaf!
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WES ABNEY
Editor’s Note Thanks for picking up the Psychedelia Issue of the Leaf! While I didn’t listen to my DARE instructors about Cannabis, or a few other fun substances in college, one warning I always believed in through my college years was to beware of psychedelics. We had all heard the stories of the friend who took 10 hits of acid and wasn’t the same, or the horror stories of eating the wrong mushroom and dying. To be fair, these are true warnings – and I took them seriously until one fateful winter night.
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I’d finally decided to indulge in magic mushrooms, and unknowingly ate about three grams of blue-tinged caps (this was before identification of mushrooms or weed strains was common) and proceeded to have an epic melt at a house party. I don’t remember much, except for walking around a house with a container of Quaker Oatmeal, repeatedly asking people, “Why is the Quaker Oats man so happy?” I also reportedly ate a lot of raw oats. Needless to say, this wasn’t my idea of a typical college party night and I went back to my weed smoking ways for nearly a decade, with the memory of eating too many mushrooms burned into my brain as a powerful warning against psychedelics. I HOPE Fast forward to my 29th birthday and I had tickets to see the Terracotta Warriors Exhibit at the Seattle Science Center on Friday, and chose to indulge in a little LSD at the suggestion of close friends. Standing in the immersive Augmented Reality exhibit with amazing color-changing, motion-triggered exhibits while in the presence of the 2,250-plus-year-old warriors gave me a feeling of connection unlike anything I’d ever felt. It was transcendental, and I knew in that moment I would have a new relationship with psychedelics. I felt connected to the past and present in a whole new way, which was heightened by the presence of ancient talismans meant to protect the Chinese Emperor in the afterlife. The experience changed my frame of reference in many ways, especially in regards to opening my mind and consciousness to new experiences.
MY WORDS CAN INSPIRE THOSE WITH FEAR ABOUT PSYCHEDELICS (OR LIFE ITSELF) TO EXPLORE, LEARN AND LIVE IN THE MOMENT.
Since that fateful trip I’ve had the pleasure of unlearning the DARE propaganda, and also ignoring the wooks at festivals offering drugs – instead finding a happy medium between research and controlled experiences, with much intention into the set, setting and those around me as I opened my mind with psilocybin, LSD and DMT in ceremonies that have had major benefit in my life. I went from scared to take a substance (for many good reasons) to being scared not to challenge my own frame of reference while confronting the issue of consciousness and my place in the universe. Today, that fear is what drives me to explore the final frontier of psychedelic therapies and substances. Over 2,000 years ago, Socrates famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I believe that wholeheartedly, and that the use of entheogenic plants is a way to explore one’s life in a way that should be part of everyone’s life experience. We have but a short time on this planet, and finding peace and meaning within the journey will help us to find peace when we reach the destination. While I don’t plan to go out like Aldous Huxley, I have learned from his writings and plan to be in a happy place when my brain releases DMT for the final time, as I pass into the great beyond. On that note, check out Dan Vinkovetsky’s piece on End of Life. I hope my words can inspire those with fear about psychedelics (or life itself) to explore, learn and live in the moment – and that this amazing Psychedelia Issue put together by our amazing Leaf team can be an inspiration and guide to your future experiences. Thanks for reading, and please share the Leaf!
-Wes Abney aug. 2022
leafmagazines.com
MEGHAN RIDLEY C O PY E D I T O R meghan@leafmagazines.com
BOBBY BLACK, DESIGN + FEATURES JOSHUA BOULET, ILLUSTRATION TOM BOWERS, FEATURES MARY CARREON, FEATURES AMANDA DAY, FEATURES JENN DOE, SALES EARLY, PRODUCTION WYATT EARLY, REVIEWS STEVE ELLIOTT, NATIONAL NEWS GILBERT GJERSVIK, REVIEWS MIKE GIANAKOS, FEATURES ALEX GREY, ILLUSTRATION ALLYSON GREY, ILLUSTRATION BAILEY JONSON, FEATURES + PHOTOS BOBBY NUGGZ, FEATURES + PHOTOS LEXI PADUSSIS, FEATURES + SALES JEFF PORTERFIELD, DESIGN JESSE RAMIREZ, DESIGN MIKE RICKER, FEATURES MIKE ROSATI, PHOTOS ZACK RUSKIN, FEATURES OUTSIDE ARTWORK, ILLUSTRATION CHARLES TAGGART, FEATURES + PHOTOS JAMIE VICTOR, DESIGN DAN VINKOVETSKY, FEATURES NATE WILLIAMS, FEATURES
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POLITICS
HEALTH & SCIENCE
SENATE DEMS TO INTRODUCE FEDERAL LEGALIZATION BILL
TRUCKING STUDY: LEGAL MARIJUANA MEANS SAFER ROADS
S
enate Democrats plan to introduce a bill to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. The legislation faces long odds in the evenly divided chamber due to the opposition of Senate Republicans. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer worked with Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon on the measure. The senators circulated a draft of the bill last year and made tweaks after feedback from Senate committees. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would remove marijuana from the list of drugs covered by the federal Controlled Substances Act. States, unfortunately, can still maintain and create prohibitions on the production and distribution of marijuana. The Cannabis Administration and The legislation Opportunity Act would remove faces a steep marijuana from the list of drugs. climb in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to pass most meaningful bills. Most Republicans and a few Democrats, including Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Jon Tester, have opposed decriminalizing marijuana.
I
t’s the first study ever on the impact of Cannabis legalization upon the trucking industry. And, guess what? It’s good news. A group of researchers from the University of Tennessee, University of Arkansas and Iowa State University found adult-use marijuana legalization actually reduced heavy truck accidents by 11% in the eight states studied. Six of the eight saw a decrease in truck accidents; just two saw increases. (The study is a preprint, meaning it hasn’t undergone peer review yet.) “We’re not saying definitively that legalization will reduce trucking accidents, but there is some evidence that legalization across the board doesn’t necessarily increase accidents,” said Iowa State University Assistant Professor Jonathan Phares. “There are reasons why accidents could decrease as a result of legalization.”
LEGALIZATION
MIDWEST
NORTH DAKOTA ACTIVISTS SUBMIT LEGALIZATION SIGNATURES
THC EDIBLES AND DRINKS BECOME LEGAL IN MINNESOTA
T
he group behind a North Dakota marijuana legalization initiative reported submitting 25,672 signatures on July 11, to qualify for the November 2022 ballot. For the initiative to qualify, 15,582 of the signatures must be valid, reports Ballotpedia. “This signature drive showed us that, from Williston to Grand Forks, people all across our state are ready for responsible Cannabis policy reform,” said New Approach North Dakota Chairman Dave Owen. “We’re looking forward to all of our hard work paying off when we receive the official word that we’re on the ballot.” Along with North Dakota, campaigns also submitted signatures for legalization initiatives on the November ballot in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
M
innesota is a real oddity in the world of Cannabis. The North Star State on July 1 became the only state to allow adult-use THC-infused edibles and drinks – without legalizing marijuana itself. State residents 21 and older are now able to legally purchase edibles and beverages that contain THC, with the new law permitting the products to contain up to 5mg of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) per serving and 50mg per package. A 5mg THC edible can cause a high feeling for first-time users, but people accustomed to marijuana often require a larger State residents 21 dose to feel the effect. and older are now In most states where adult-use marijuana is legal, able to legally 10mg is considered a ”serving.” Weed devotees purchase edibles and medical marijuana patients, however, often and beverages that prefer much higher doses – even measured in the contain THC. hundreds of milligrams. THC products in Minnesota must be derived from legally-certified hemp, which contains trace amounts of the psychoactive compound, according to the law. But THC will produce the same effect whether it’s derived from hemp or marijuana.
WEIRD
LEAFMAGAZINES.COM
MAN LEAVES COURTHOUSE AFTER WEED CHARGES, GETS BUSTED AGAIN WITH 70 LBS
Y
ves Duboc tried leaving a Massachusetts courthouse in July with 70 pounds of marijuana after appearing in court for Cannabis offenses. Duboc, 43, of Biddeford, Maine, appeared in Newburyport District Court for driving without a license and illegal marijuana possession on June 29. Authorities released Yves under the condition that he didn’t drive until he got his Maine driver’s license. That license was already suspended. As he left the courthouse, a Massachusetts State Police trooper watched him get into a Toyota SUV with a Florida license plate and drive off.
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The trooper promptly pulled Duboc over and arrested him for driving without a license, according to state police. After handcuffing Duboc and putting Troopers him in the back of the police cruiser, reportedly found the trooper searched the SUV. While 70 pounds of searching, the trooper found a total of 70 marijuana and pounds of marijuana and 20 pounds of 20 pounds of marijuana extract. extract in the car.
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STORIES by STEVE ELLIOTT, AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MARIJUANA
LOCAL NEWS
PSYCHEDELICS IN NEW JERSEY
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Photo by Merlin Lightpainting
New Jersey legislator hopes to legalize psilocybin in the Garden State. Senate President Nicholas Scutari – who was a major supporter of Cannabis legalization in New Jersey – has introduced a measure that would not only legalize the psychedelic, but also establish a psilocybin dispensary system consisting of licensed providers. Interestingly, Scutari’s bill would also allow for home cultivation of psilocybin. Should the measure become law, Garden Staters would be legally permitted to grow their own ‘shrooms while home Cannabis cultivation remains banned. New Jersey is the only state to outlaw home cultivation of
both recreational and medicinal marijuana. The New Jersey bill is the latest effort in the psychedelic-law reform movement that is gaining momentum across the country, from Oregon’s statewide legalization ballot initiative in 2020 to local ordinances cropping up throughout Massachusetts. While some advocates approach reform from a standpoint of making psychedelics the lowest law enforcement priority, others like Scutari view psilocybin as a vital therapeutic substance. According to the newly filed New Jersey bill, “It is the intent of the Legislature to facilitate the establishment of safe, legal and affordable psilocybin service centers to provide residents of New Jersey who are 21 years of age or older with opportunities for supported psilocybin experiences to alleviate distress, provide preventative behavioral health care, and foster wellness and personal growth.” Additionally, the measure would legalize up to four grams of psilocybin to “possess, store, use, ingest, inhale, process, transport, deliver without consideration or distribute without consideration.” Furthermore, “it will also not be unlawful for a person over 21 years of age to grow, cultivate, or process plants or fungi capable of producing psilocybin for personal use, or to possess the psilocybin produced if the plants and fungi are kept on the grounds of a private home or residence and are kept secure from access by persons under 21 years of age,” the bill states. Senate President Scutari previously introduced a bill to reduce penalties for possession of up to an ounce of psilocybin in 2020, which Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law. This new measure would go much further – both in legal protections as well as therapeutic use. While psychedelic-law reform is doubtlessly a worthy endeavor that could prove beneficial to many, should the bill pass, it would be difficult for Cannabis advocates to accept state-sanctioned home psilocybin cultivation before even medical marijuana patients are allowed to grow their own medicine.
NY FIREFIGHTERS BURN ONE DOWN LEAFMAGAZINES.COM
T
he New York Fire Department (NYFD) will no longer drug test its employees for Cannabis. The decision, based on the state’s adult-use marijuana law, prevents the NYFD from conducting pre-employment testing for THC as well as random or scheduled Cannabis tests. New York City already banned employers from drug testing for THC, with limited exceptions for safety-sensitive positions. In fact, the city outlawed preemployment testing for pot prior to passing its recreational Cannabis law. Now, like most other New Yorkers, firefighters can consume Cannabis during off hours without fear of reprisal from their employer – meaning they’re free to blaze when they’re not battling a blaze. The New York Police Department (NYPD) issued a similar statement, suggesting that police would not be subject to screenings for THC consumption. However, the department quickly backtracked, clarifying that no official changes had been made to their drug testing policy. The NYPD cited concerns over federal conflicts, which has become the go-to move to avoid changing pot policies. Fortunately, the Fire Department will move forward with its policy change. However, the NYFD union asked its members to “wait until the Department announced the official changes before considering any legal recreational or medicinal marijuana use.” Of course, firefighters and cops are subject to drug screening if they’re suspected of being high while on duty.
AUG. 2022
Photo by Ron Fisher
Meanwhile, west of the Hudson River in neighboring New Jersey, lawmakers are hard at work crafting legislation that will make it easier for employers to punish people for consuming Cannabis while off duty – despite marijuana being legal in the Garden State. Three bills introduced in New Jersey’s legislature specifically target off-duty Cannabis use by police and first responders. Lawmakers decided to intervene after the state attorney general announced that, as written, New Jersey’s adult-use law allows cops to consume Cannabis while off duty. The state’s pro-pot governor Phil Murphy has expressed his support for restricting pot use by police.
LEGALIZE IT AND I WILL ADVERTISE IT
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon
W
hile Cannabis advertising continues to be a touchy subject, a Massachusetts marijuana company found a creative way to market their dispensary. Polar Park, home to the minor league Worcester Red Sox, agreed to an advertising deal with Southbridge-based dispensary Green Meadows. Because Cannabis advertising rules dictate that 85 percent of the audience for a marijuana-related advertisement must be 21 or older, Green Meadows would not be able to advertise in the ballpark. But, the dispensary teamed up with the WooSox on a three-year deal to place co-branded banners in the area outside the park, which complies with advertising guidelines.
According to Green Meadows, “It was very apparent that [the WooSox] as an organization were looking to lean more into the Cannabis space while still doing it compliantly. Minor League Baseball, the parent company, is not going to touch Cannabis, so we had to come up with a pretty creative way of how to do it.” With any luck, we could soon see Cannabis companies advertising their wares on television and radio stations as well. Last month, the House Appropriations Committee passed a measure that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from blocking broadcasters from running Cannabis advertisements in legal pot states. TV and radio are subject to federal law (the FCC), which continues to treat Cannabis as a Schedule I narcotic. And so broadcasters are forced to forgo billions in advertising dollars due to the federal government’s outdated, prohibitionist stance. However, the new appropriations bill offers hope. It has already passed its first hurdle – next, it would need to be approved by the House and the Senate, at which point it would need to be renewed each year. And in other positive pot advertising news, actor Sacha Baron Cohen – who brought a $9 million lawsuit against a Massachusetts Cannabis dispensary for using his likeness on a billboard without permission last year – has dropped his suit against Solar Therapeutics. The billboard featured Cohen as Borat giving a thumbs-up with the words, “It’s Nice!” implying the actor supported Solar Therapeutics and Cannabis. This, it turns out, is not the case, as the actor claims never to have tried marijuana and does not support its use. While the billboard was removed three days after Solar Therapeutics received Cohen’s cease-and-desist letter, the actor filed the lawsuit to protect his image. Fortunately, cooler heads have prevailed and the case has been dropped.
Connecticut Takes The Lead C onnecticut has pulled ahead of neighboring New York in the race to retail as Gov. Ned Lamont claims the Nutmeg State is a mere six months from launching adult-use sales. The Northeast is truly a Cannabis hotspot with recently-legal states New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island joining Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont (we’re waiting on you, New Hampshire). And while New Jersey has launched an initial version of retail sales (consisting of hybrid medicinal/ recreational shops), the race is on between New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island to get to market. In Connecticut, the Social Equity Council has designated 16 hopeful Cannabis growers as qualifying to apply for cultivator licenses as social equity applicants. This is the first step in issuing the state’s first cultivation licenses and it prompted Lamont to tweet that, based on Cannabis regulators’ progress, Connecticut is “about six months away from opening a safe, equitable market.” Before receiving one of the state’s recreational marijuana licenses, applicants will need to be reviewed by the state Department of Consumer Protection, pass a background check and pay an application fee. Of course, this wouldn’t be a conversation about Cannabis if it didn’t also include prohibitionist rhetoric. While Gov. Lamont, a long-time supporter of legal pot, took a recent victory lap over getting an adult-use law passed, he committed the unforgivable sin of tweeting out song lyrics that include the words that it’s “cool to smoke some pot.” Pouncing on this faux pas, Bob Stefanowski, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, took the opportunity to chastise Lamont, saying that “our governor should not be encouraging kids to smoke marijuana.” Stefanowski even called for an attorney general investigation. Yes. You read that correctly. That’s just the kind of leadership Connecticut needs! Won’t someone think of the children?
Photo by Esteban Lopez
Meanwhile, Lamont – the person actually governing and improving lives in his state – recently signed a budget bill that includes access to psilocybin and MDMA treatments for qualified patients.
STORIES by MIKE GIANAKOS @MIKEGEEZEEY
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ONE CRIME AT A TIME
LOCAL NEWS
>> Continued from pg. 17
W
hile much of the Northeast has legalized Cannabis, there are still limits for just how much marijuana you can possess. A Maine man found this out the hard way after leaving a Massachusetts courthouse. Forty-three-year-old Yves Duboc was in court being arraigned for driving without a license and for illegal pot possession. Duboc was released from Newburyport District Court under strict orders not to drive, as his Maine driver’s license was suspended. It’s safe to say that Duboc didn’t learn his lesson from his brush with the law as he hopped into an SUV immediately upon leaving court and promptly drove off. Unfortunately the scofflaw was observed driving away by a Massachusetts State Trooper who quickly pulled him over and arrested him (again) for driving without a license. While getting busted committing the same crime for which you were just arraigned in court is bad enough, it appears Duboc is unfamiliar with the old adage of only committing one crime at a time. After being removed from the SUV and getting cuffed, the trooper searched Duboc’s car and discovered Cannabis in zip lock baggies, vacuum sealed bags and duffel bags, as well as several large jars containing marijuana extract. In all, Duboc left the courthouse riding dirty with more than 70 pounds of pot, 20 pounds of concentrates, a bong and a large roll of cash. Duboc’s mobile stash far exceeded the legal limit in the Bay State, as Massachusetts law allows adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of weed and as much as 10 ounces of Cannabis secured in their home. Those caught with more than an ounce of pot in public could face up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.
20 Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko
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S C H O O L DA ZE
Photo by Elsa Olofsson
A
new state regulation will require Rhode Island school districts to create policies for administering medicinal Cannabis to qualified students. Under the new rules, school nurses are charged with administering medical pot to students and the state is calling on school districts to establish the protocol. In order to qualify for in-school Cannabis use, students are required to have a valid medical marijuana card, a doctor’s signature and a parent’s signature allowing the child to use Cannabis. According to Rhode Island’s Department
AUG. 2022
of Health, there are 22 patients under the age of 18 with medical Cannabis cards in the state. After a lengthy legislative process, Rhode Island became the nineteenth state to legalize adult-use Cannabis on May 25 when Gov. Dan McKee signed a legalization bill into law. McKee approved the landmark legislation one day after it easily passed both the Senate and the House, which put the bill on the governor’s desk. The Ocean State’s legalization law allows adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to an ounce of pot with as much as 10 ounces permitted to be stored in a household. Home cultivation is also allowed, with a maximum of six plants for personal use. However, the new school regulation had nothing to do with the state’s new recreational law according to the health department. Qualified medical Cannabis use had been allowed in Rhode Island schools prior to the adult-use legislation. In addition to establishing the pot protocol, school districts also need to select a space where medical Cannabis can be administered. Students are not allowed to administer marijuana to themselves and smoking Cannabis is strictly prohibited. Medical marijuana is also not allowed on school trips. However, students with a medical Cannabis prescription cannot be disciplined for being under the influence of pot. The new regulations have left some nurses feeling uncomfortable with their role and the Rhode Island Certified School Nurses Teachers Association has expressed concerns regarding the new rules. School nurses do have the right to refuse to administer medical Cannabis to students – provided that alternative arrangements are put in place to ensure that students receive their medicine.
PATIENTS FIRST IN NJ N
ew Jersey officials have fined five multistate operators (MSOs) hundreds of thousands of dollars for making illegal adult-use sales during times allocated exclusively for medical Cannabis patients. Earlier this year, as New Jersey struggled to implement its adult-use retail program, officials from the Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) expressed concerns that shops wouldn’t have enough supply to service both recreational and medicinal customers. The concerns were serious enough to jeopardize the state’s retail sales launch. While lawmakers and Gov. Phil Murphy ultimately pushed pot industry regulators to move forward with the launch, it was clear that the Commission did not want adult-use sales to come at the expense of the state’s pot patients. At the start of retail sales in April, rules were put in place to help ensure medical patients weren’t neglected. These rules included medical patient-only hours, during which dispensaries aren’t allowed to serve recreational customers. And, in an effort to keep the MSOs honest, the Commission announced it would fine retailers $10,000 each day they prioritized adult-use customers over medical pot patients. It turns out, this was not a bluff: According to Bloomberg News, the CRC accused five MSOs of making approximately 3,200 adult-use sales during medical Cannabis-only hours from the start of retail sales on April 21 through April 29.
The companies in violation of the CRC’s medical pot rules incurred a combined $360,000 in fines. They are Chicagobased Verano Holdings (fined $90,000), Illinois-based Green Thumb Industries (fined $80,000), New York-based Ascend Wellness (fined $80,000), New York-based Acreage Holdings (fined $60,000) and Massachusetts-based Curaleaf Holdings (fined $50,000). The CRC’s Executive Director Jeff Brown explained that the adult-use sales these companies are accused of making are “to the detriment of the medicinal patient population.” Brown told Bloomberg that the Commission will continue issuing fines to companies that ignore medical patientonly hours. “Any Cannabis business that does not prioritize medicinal Cannabis patient access should expect similar action,” he said. For its part, Curaleaf has accepted responsibility for its violation of patientonly hours and has already paid its fines. Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich A company spokesperson said Curaleaf is “living up to our promise to provide two designated hours to the medical community at each of our locations every day.”
GET WITH THE PROGRAM V
ermont Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed a bill aimed at creating safe consumption sites that would allow the use of illegal drugs under medical supervision. Technically, the bill would have simply established a panel charged with developing a plan to implement safe consumption sites. At a time when many local governments are investigating options to help reduce overdose deaths created by the country’s opioid epidemic, Gov. Scott appears resolute in his commitment to ignore safe consumption and overdose prevention plans. In his veto statement, Scott wrote, “it seems counterintuitive to divert resources from proven harm reduction strategies to plan injection sites without clear data on the effectiveness of this approach.” Scott touted the state’s current “harm reduction strategies, including syringe programs, distribution of Narcan, fentanyl test strips and comprehensive community education [which are] proven, evidence-based approaches to saving lives.” However, when it comes to safe consumption sites and other life-saving measures included in the bill approved by Vermont lawmakers, Scott is not on board. “Unfortunately, this bill proposes to shift state policy and financial resources away from prevention and toward unproven strategies such as overdose prevention sites. It’s important to note that what little data exists on this approach is for sites located in large cities, so it’s not applicable to the vast majority of Vermont,” Scott said. Scott’s views on harm reduction are at odds with most Vermont voters, as a recent poll found that 59 percent of respondents were in favor of creating overdose prevention sites.
Photo by Nastya Dulhiier
Additionally, Scott also recently vetoed a bill that would have established a commission to explore the possibility of decriminalizing personal use amounts of illicit drugs. This, too, is at odds with the views of most Vermonters. The same survey, conducted by Data for Progress and the Drug Policy Alliance, found that the vast majority of voters in Vermont (84 percent) support decriminalizing personal-use possession of drugs. Furthermore, 81 percent of respondents support treating drug use as a health issue and not a criminal matter – and that support went across party lines, with 91 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of Republicans and 84 percent of independent voters in favor of a health-based approach to drug use.
STORIES by MIKE GIANAKOS @MIKEGEEZEEY
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star 91
aug. 2022
A SPICY AND FUEL FLAVORED CHEMDOG ANCESTOR WITH A CITRUS-LEMON ZING. HAPPY VALLEY brings us Star 91, a powerful, indica-dominant cross that’s absolutely out of this world. Boasting a Chemdog 91 and Stardawg lineage, this magnificent flower is heavy on the caryophyllene – providing some seriously peppery, pungent aromatics sure to make it one of the loudest in the room. Along with the spicy notes, you’ll also detect the coveted fuel flavor with notes of citrus in this delicious variety. Bred by NYC-based Top Dawg Seeds, Star 91 has a distinct East Coast flavor and style that is unique and utterly unmistakable. The packaging provided by Happy Valley is sleek and modern, with the flower sold in a small, shiny, red and white cardboard box that feels like a gift to yourself. Upon opening the package, you’ll find a hermetically sealed glass jar that instills confidence that your product won’t be dried out and crunchy – no matter how long it sat on a dispensary shelf. The weed itself has a fluffy texture and light green color with tons of orange hairs throughout. The buds are big and round and break down nicely. They are fresh and sticky enough to work well in a chillum or bowl. And, importantly, they won’t disintegrate too quickly after you take a couple hits. Star 91 affects the body and could even impact your coordination. An evening of chilling on the couch is just right when consuming this particular strain. Simply lay back and unwind after a long day at work and let Star 91 melt away the stress – ideal for a relaxing evening at home after shooting for the stars all day.
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the psychedelia issue
THEARTOF TRANSCENDENCE The Leaf gets inside the heads of visionary art power couple Alex Grey & Allyson Grey to find out what effects Cannabis and psychedelics have had on their art, spiritual beliefs, and lives. INTERVIEW by BOBBY BLACK @BOBBYBLACK420/LEAF NATION
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ince its emergence in the late 1960s, psychedelic culture has continued to grow, evolve and express itself – primarily through music and art. And over the past few decades, no psychedelic artists have achieved higher notoriety or had a more meaningful impact on our culture than Alex Grey & Allyson Grey.
BEST KNOWN to many through his collaborations with the progressive metal band Tool, Alex’s art is a spectacular synthesis of love, light, birth, death, rebirth and beyond. His imagery penetrates the psycho-spiritual strata of existence – peeling back the superficial surfaces and exposing the auras and energies that surround us, vibrating and pulsating when viewed through one’s third eye. The same is true of his soulmate, Allyson. In contrast to Alex’s anatomical style, Allyson’s art is abstract – tapping into the sacred geometry of the cosmos to utilize fractals, symbols and mathematical patterns to develALEX & ALLYSON AT THE CHAPEL OF SACRED MIRRORS - HUDSON VALLEY, NY. op her own secret, sacred language. Together, they comprise a psychedelic power couple regarded by many as spiritual leaders with an almost cult-like status. I first met the Greys at the Cannabis Cup in 1998, and our paths have continued to cross ever since. I attended one of their earliest Full Moon gatherings at their apartment in Brooklyn, blazed with them in Amsterdam, tripped out in their tent at Burning Man, and visited the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, or CoSM – their temple/art gallery in NYC – countless times. Yet, I’d never had the pleasure of interviewing them … until now. “CANNABIS SUTRA” BY ALEX GREY, 2007
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“CHAOS, ORDER, & SECRET WRITING” BY ALLYSON GREY, 2009
Was your desire to become an artist innate, or did something happen in your life that made you consciously decide to become an artist? Allyson:
Teachers and peers recognized both of us, at an early age, as artists. That foundational encouragement gave us our artistic identities. Growing up, we both won awards for our art, exhibited our work, and were leaders in school. Alex: My father introduced me to drawing as an infant. I would watch faces and creatures emerge from the tip of his pencil, and I’d dance in amazement. He activated something that may have been part of my past lives.
How did you meet and fall in love? Alex: We met in
art school in 1974, in a class on Performance Art, Mixed Media and Conceptual Art. Throughout art school, we continued to create performance installations and paint collaboratively.
Your work has inspired a great many people … but who inspired you? Allyson: As early as high school,
abstract expressionists Jackson Pollack and Helen Frankenthaler influenced me, as well as minimalist Sol Lewitt and mixed media creator Lucas Samaras. Alex: Michelangelo was always my favorite artist. After taking LSD, I discovered visionary artists who drew inspiration from psychedelic experience, like Ernst Fuchs, Mati Klarwein, William Blake and Jean Delville. But Allyson has been the most inspiring and influential artist in my life.
It’s often said that the best art arises from suffering … does that adage hold any truth for you?
Alex: Buddhism teaches that life is suffering. Everyone suffers. We love our life – the highs and the lows. My art has embraced hopefulness as well as depression and difficult challenges, both personal and global. Allyson: My art reflects an inner world – a spectral psychedelic vision and an essentialized worldview that is both bright and dark.
Alex — your work has reached a broader audience thanks to your collaborations with Tool. Tell us a little about that relationship. Alex: Adam Jones came to
my 1999 exhibit in a Santa Monica gallery, and we became friends. Adam invited my work to be part of three amazing albums: Lateralus, 10,000 Days, and the astonishingly prescient Fear Inoculum. Over the past 21 years, I’ve designed stage sets, music video collaborations, posters and merchandise to accompany their tours … I even painted a drum set for Danny Carey. The members of Tool and their fans have been some of the greatest forces in supporting CoSM. Inside Entheon is a Tool shrine with some cool relics, including a bronze sculpture by Adam, samples of Maynard’s wines, a wrap of the drum design and many photos, posters and preliminary drawings for the art that became associated with Tool. They are masterful musicians and it’s been an inspiration to work with them.
Describe your first experience with Cannabis. Allyson: My sister and her friend got me stoned just before I went off to college at age 17. It was unpleasant, and I had to sleep it off. Almost as soon as I left home, I moved out of my dorm room and into an
apartment with hash dealers. We smoked every day, and I remember laughing my ass off listening to Firesign Theater. Alex: At 18, on my way to my first music festival featuring Mountain and Traffic.
How often do you use Cannabis? Is it a part of your creative process? Alex: Until Covid, we used it daily
and often. It has been part of our creative process, but we’ve also created art stone-cold sober for years at a time.
When did you first try psychedelics and what was your experience like? Allyson: My first trip was at
age 17 on the campus of NYU with my high school boyfriend. It was supposedly mescaline in pill form, but I suspect it was actually LSD. We walked about 70 blocks down 5th Avenue talking about our experiences and life. After that, I was privileged to experience LSD regularly and often for about three years – Orange Sunshine, Purple Haze, Owsley acid, and others. Alex: My first trip was in Allyson’s apartment in 1975. Wary of my mental health, I waited until I was 21. That day I had asked God to give me a sign that I should go on living. That evening on the way to Allyson’s party, I was offered LSD mixed into a bottle of Kahlua. I drank half the bottle and when Allyson met us at the door, I handed her the other half of the bottle. I sat for hours, not speaking to anyone, envisioning a pearlescent spinning tunnel. I was in the dark, spiraling toward the light. The light was God, and that became my path. It was my first night with Allyson – that has lasted all these years. INTERVIEW CONTINUES >>
ARTWORK & PHOTOS courtesy ALEX GREY & ALLYSON GREY
the psychedelia issue
ARTISTS ALEX GREY & ALLYSON GREY
INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
THEARTOFTRANSCENDENCE
“THE LIZARD KING” BY ALLYSON GREY, 2011
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How would your art and lives be different if you’d never taken psychedelics? Alex: It cured my
suicidal ideation. Without meeting spirit, I don’t know if I’d be alive today. Allyson: For three years, I took LSD with friends and alone – climbing a mountain, people watching, and on bicycle excursions. Every journey was evolutionary and self-revelatory. In 1971, I read the book “Be Here Now” by Ram Dass and tried taking LSD solo in a dark room. In that journey, I saw Secret Writing – the cryptic language of the divine. It transformed me and my artwork. Until I met Alex three years after, I dared not share the meaning of my secret body of art.
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Allyson — can your “secret writing” be translated and comprehended, or is it purely an abstract expression of imagination? Allyson: Secret
Language in my art is an ineffable and untranslatable language of creative expression coming directly from my personal vision. They were made visible to me in the psychedelic state. Their meaning comes from the divine, the force some call God.
What does “God” mean to you? Allyson: God is faceless. God is
ineffable, beyond physicality or description – a force in all beings and things. Any guru will tell you that God is within. Alex: God is an experience that, once known, cannot be unknown. God is beyond conceptions. The divine
aug. 2022
is a transcendental force animating all life and the creative intelligence that birthed the cosmos.
Is there one religious tradition you relate to most, and why? Alex: Born
into a family of Methodists, I saw Christ as my first spiritual friend. After meeting Allyson, I began studying Tibetan Buddhism in the late ‘70s – a connection that has strengthened for decades. Having studied the mystic traditions, I find connections between them all. Allyson: Since Alex began studying Buddhism, I’ve learned and appreciated a great deal in the wisdom of that tradition. Decades ago, we had the privilege of studying with the Dalai Lama at Harvard Divinity School. It is our regular practice to read to each other from Tibetan Buddhist texts each morning after yoga and meditation. But I grew up in the Jewish tradition, which most resonates with my psychedelic experience. God’s message is transferred through writing in all the major religions, and in Judaism – where graven imagery of God is prohibited – the Torah and libraries of commentary are the most revered works of influence.
How did you first conceive of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors? Allyson:
The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) was inspired by a 1978 collaborative performance called Life Energy that included Alex’s life-sized ink drawings
“NET OF BEING” BY ALEX GREY, 2007
of the human anatomy. After noticing the popularity of these charts within the performance, I suggested painting an entire series of life-sized paintings that would include the systems of the human body, mind and spirit. Alex: In 1984, a collector who was interested in purchasing the series gifted us two doses of MDMA, then legal. Three days later, we took MDMA for the first time and envisioned the series as an installation that included sculpted pictorial frames in a public psychedelic space. Within months we began sculpting and casting the 21, 10.5-foot frames for the paintings that became the Sacred Mirrors.
When did the “Chapel” part enter the picture? Alex: CoSM became a
nonprofit organization in 1996 with the following mission: ‘To build an enduring sanctuary of visionary art to uplift a global community.’ In 2002, a shaman advised us to begin hosting Full Moon ceremonies and pray with friends for the advancement of that mission. The first CoSM Full Moon ceremony was held in our Brooklyn loft in January 2003. There has since been an unbroken chain of 244 Full Moon ceremonies to date. Allyson: On Easter Sunday, April 20th, 2003, a landlord offered us a raw industrial space on 27th Street in New York to hold ceremonies and events. By August 2004, the CoSM spiritual creative center was open – offering exhibition space for the
“LSD HAS ALWAYS BEEN OUR FAVORITE. IT OFFERS THE LONGEST AND MOST VISUAL JOURNEY. WE’VE ENJOYED MANY PSILOCYBIN EXPERIENCES AND HAVE PARTICIPATED IN NUMEROUS AYAHUASCA CEREMONIES IN THE PAST FEW DECADES.” -ALEX GREY
“FLESH OF THE GODS” BY ALEX GREY, 2021
An artist rendering of the soon-to-be-completed ENTHEON—the Greys’ 12,000-square-foot temple/gallery, which will host the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (below), galleries of both of their artwork, and rotating art from the International Visionary Art movement.
Sacred Mirrors and ary art, Entheon – many of our other which is set to open works, a rotating exsoon – will host the hibit of works by other Chapel of Sacred visionary artists, a Mirrors, galleries of dance studio, an event both our art, and space, offices and an annually rotating a gift shop. But five exhibit of the Interyears into our lease, a national Visionary new landlord threatArt movement. ened to quadruple our rent. We realized In recent years, that our ‘enduring it feels like dark “SECRET WALLS #1” BY ALLYSON GREY, 1976 sanctuary’ needed forces have been a secure home and ascendant in this would be better suited to a tranquil country and around the world. environment in nature. Fortunately, What, if anything, can we do to Alex found the perfect location – a reverse this tide and move things small retreat on 40 wooded acres, back toward the light? Allyson: As 65 miles up the Hudson River from darkness gets darker, light appears Manhattan in Wappinger, New York. brighter. That’s what we can do – be Alex: The property features eight a beacon of light. Creativity and restored buildings, including a compassion can make our tiny corner 10-bedroom house to accommoof the universe a better place by date guests and an old carriage being the best we can be, through house that’s been transformed into a eco-consciousness and our acceptance 12,000-square-foot exhibition space of differences. Be kind, and if only for called Entheon. A sanctuary of visionyour own benefit, love everyone.
“CANNABACCHUS” BY ALEX GREY, 2006
IN 1971, I READ THE BOOK “BE HERE NOW” BY RAM DASS AND TRIED TAKING LSD SOLO IN A DARK ROOM. IN THAT JOURNEY, I SAW SECRET WRITING – THE CRYPTIC LANGUAGE OF THE DIVINE. IT TRANSFORMED ME AND MY ARTWORK.” -ALLYSON GREY
ALEXGREY.COM @ALEXGREYCOSM ALLYSONGREY.COM @ALLYSONGREYCOSM COSM.ORG @CHAPELOFSACREDMIRRORS Read our full, unabridged interview with the Greys and see more of their artwork on our website | leafmagazines.com/greys-interview
INTERVIEW by BOBBY BLACK @BOBBYBLACK420/LEAF NATION | ARTWORK & PHOTOS courtesy ALEX GREY & ALLYSON GREY
the psychedelia issue
Did eating psychedelic mushrooms play a role in early primates’ ascendance to higher consciousness?
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IT ALL STARTED in 1992 when McKenna broke the world’s collective brain with his book “Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution.” In it, he proposed a radical evolutionary theory: that psilocybin mushrooms were responsible for catalyzing our evolution from Homo Erectus into Homo Sapiens. In other words, our bodies and brains function as they do today because our ancestors tripped out on psychedelic mushrooms. The psychoactive effects of these mushrooms, he argued, essentially reorganized the information processing center of the primitive primate brain – sparking the evolution of consciousness, cognition and language – by prompting hominids to engage in experiences like community, spirituality and self-reflection. Psilocybin, McKenna wrote, brought us “out of the animal mind and into the world of articulated speech and imagination.” This theory would eventually come to be known as the Stoned Ape Hypothesis (though McKenna himself never actually used that term). Since its publication, people haven’t stopped talking about the Stoned Ape Hypothesis – despite the fact that traditional scientists have consistently dismissed it as “simplistic” and nothing more than a “high thought” (albeit the most elaborate high thought ever, articulated in over 300 pages). But recent developments in psychedelic science have greatly expanded what we know about the impact of entheogens (particularly psychedelic fungi) on the brain, and some believe these new findings bolster the validity of the theory.
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FROMAPETOGREAT
aug. 2022
he internet is both a blessing and a social curse. However, one of its better contributions to society is that it has kept the spirit of late ethnobotanist and psychedelic pundit Terence McKenna alive. Though he died in April of 2000, McKenna’s ideas and philosophies still soar through the interwebs, thanks to Reddit, podcasts and numerous social media platforms. One theory in particular that has continued to gain steam is the so-called “Stoned Ape Hypothesis.”
“When Terrence wrote [Food of the Gods], While we still don’t fully understand the most people dismissed it, saying he’s a nature of consciousness or how it evolved, crazy druggie trying to come out with this scientists generally agree that it was more idea,” said Terence’s younger brother Dennis complicated than simply eating psychedelic McKenna (who helped him shape the theory) mushrooms. on the “Conversation with Kais” podcast last Consequently, many Stoned Ape haters year. “Some of the more thoughtful critics scoff at the simplicity of the McKenna theory said it was plausible, but now because of the – such as paleontologist Martin Lockley, discoveries about [mushrooms’ impact on] Ph.D., who explained to Inverse in 2017 that neurogenesis, epigenetics and neuroplastithe Stoned Ape Hypothesis hinges on concity, Stoned Ape has gone from plausible to sciousness sprouting from a singular source. probable.” But the McKennas never actually claimed McKenna was undoubtedly a man ahead that mushrooms were the sole cause for the of his time. Unlike today, he didn’t have a rise of consciousness; in fact, Dennis has library of scientific research to cite showing publicly stated that the media has oversimthat psychedelic mushplified the theory and that he RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN rooms stimulate the believes psilocybin mushPSYCHEDELIC SCIENCE HAVE rooms were only a factor in growth of new neurons, GREATLY EXPANDED reorganize synaptic conthe emergence of consciousWHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE nections or impact gene ness and the mind – a sort of IMPACT OF ENTHEOGENS expression – concepts evolutionary catalyst. on which the Stoned Ape “It’s not so simple to say (PARTICULARLY PSYCHEDELIC Hypothesis is essentially that [hominids] ate psilocybin FUNGI) ON THE BRAIN, AND predicated. Anthropomushrooms and suddenly the SOME BELIEVE THESE NEW logical evidence indibrain mutated,” he explains in FINDINGS BOLSTER THE cates that the brain size the film “Fantastic Fungi.” “I VALIDITY OF THE THEORY. of Homo Erectus roughly think it’s more complex than doubled between 2 million and 700,000 that, but I think [mushrooms] were a factor. It years ago. What’s more, it’s estimated that was like software to program neurologically the brain volume of Homo Sapiens grew modern hardware to think, have cognition, three times larger between 500,000 and and to have language.” 100,000 years ago. Though mainWhile most scientists get hung up on this stream scientists remain flummoxed single-source-for-consciousness notion, about how and why this occurred, there are some who agree with the McKenthe Stoned Ape Hypothesis offers nas. While admitting that the Stoned Ape a potential answer. Hypothesis is technically unprovable, iconic “The fossil remains we’ve mycologist Paul Stamets nevertheless advofound show that hominids and cates for it. cattle lived in the same environment,” “I suggest to you that Dennis and TerDennis McKenna explains. “If you have ence were right on,” Stamets proclaimed in these two elements in the ecology – espethe keynote address he gave at the 2017 cially cattle, because where there are cows, Psychedelic Science conference entitled there’s cow shit – mushrooms had to be “Psilocybin Mushrooms and the Mycology there. There is no fossil evidence showing of Consciousness.” “I want you or anyone this because mushrooms don’t hold up well, listening, or seeing this, to suspend your disbut mushrooms grow on cow dung. If you belief,” he advised. “I think this is a very, very go to any similar ecology in modern times – plausible hypothesis for the sudden evolution tropical pastures with cattle – the world over, of Homo Sapiens from our primate relatives.” you will find these mushrooms.” Apparently, the crowd agreed – as evidenced According to science, a state of consciousby the roaring ovation they can be seen giving ness is an effect of receiving and processing him in the YouTube video of the discussion. information through multiple qualitative Regardless of what modern science says, experiences, including sensations and anyone who’s done a deep dive into the feelings, the nuances of sensory qualmushroom realm understands how the ities, and cognitive processes (i.e., Stoned Ape Hypothesis could be true. And if evaluative thinking and memory). there’s one nugget of wisdom we can take Essentially, our hominid ancestors’ away from this discussion, it’s that humans warm, almost tropical environhave always been fascinated with psychements allowed for a symbiotic delics – particularly when it comes to the trifecta between cattle, existential ponderings of how we got here mushrooms and people – and the story of humankind. theoretically creating the “If I could sum it up, I would say the ideal conditions for exmushrooms taught us how to think,” Dennis ponential brain growth McKenna asserts. “They gave us the tools of and the emergence of the imagination, and from that, everything such consciousness. else proceeds.”
STORY by MARY CARREON @MARYYYPRANKSTER for LEAF NATION | ILLUSTRATION by OUTSIDE ARTWORK @OUTSIDEARTWORK
the psychedelia issue
MUSHROOMS FORTHE MASSES As the psilocybin movement spreads like mycelium on the heels of the normalization of Cannabis, mushroom cultivators and product manufacturers quest for the best way to translate their passion for an increasingly mainstream audience.
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SACRED FRUITS, a California-born passion project run by psychonauts who have spent years perfecting their processes and developing a branded identity that speaks to the power of psilocybin, seeks to bring a level of quality control and consistency to what many believe will be the next market to break out of the illicit underground and into a legalized therapeutic space. Leaf Magazines connected with Sacred Fruits, who wished to speak anonymously, to discuss their path to mushroom medicine.
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COMMUNITY BORN
Sacred Fruits’ introduction to psilocybin may sound familiar to anyone who’s gone psyche-spelunking prior to this new, branded and marketed era. “The first time it was kind of something that found its way to me,” Sacred Fruits said. “I was probably around 18 or 19, and did it in a great setting. We consumed the mushrooms at their house and listened to records. Listened to Jefferson Airplane and stuff like that, laid in the hammock and on the floor. That opened my mind to psychedelics, but it wasn’t something I actively pursued for another three to five years. The next time that I consumed mushrooms, I wanted to find mushrooms, and it was a mission that I set out to accomplish. It was 4/20 at Golden Gate Park and Hippie Hill. I was with some friends and we smoked weed every day, so we decided if we really wanted to celebrate, we wanted to find mushrooms. … I stumbled upon some chocolates and they were in the shape of dancing bears, which I was super stoked on … Experiencing the mushrooms with friends on a sunny day in the park turned out to be a wonderful setting. We shared a lot of laughs, and memories were made. It was the common experience with friends of mine that opened my eyes to the possibilities of what mushrooms are capable of.”
A TASTE FOR CULTIVATION
Aside from opening Sacred Fruits’ eyes to the power of mushroom medicine, that experience on Hippie Hill sparked inspiration. “I wanted to take a heavier dose, because my first time was a moderate to light dose. I had to eat a lot of chocolate to accomplish that heavier dose, and I’m not really into chocolate – so I wasn’t into eating all that chocolate,” Sacred Fruits said. “That’s what sparked my interest in cultivation.” The project started slow, with batches coming only when Sacred Fruits ran low on personal supply. But with the scalability of PF Tek – the cultivation methodology pioneered by Robert “Psylocybe Fanaticus” McPherson using a blend of grain (brown rice, rye berries) and vermiculite – they started getting some ideas. “It was still pretty much a hobby for a few years,” Sacred Fruits said. “It wasn’t until 20182019, through the encouragement of many friends who started to tell me to take it seriously.”
SPROUTED FROM THE PLANT
One of Sacred Fruits biggest champions was a close friend who is a Cannabis cultivator on the freshly minted legal market. “He was actually encouraging that I learn tissue culture so he could use my knowledge in what he does as well,” Sacred Fruits said. With inspiration from the Cannabis community, they decided to build their reputation on single-strain, single-source products – in order to provide people with consistency and reliable quality they said was hard to find – when many people were making products from simply
“I THINK WE’RE STILL IN THE DARK AGES, AND I’M EXCITED TO SEE MORE TESTING FOR OTHER ALKALOIDS OTHER THAN PSILOCYBIN AND PSILOCIN.” -SACRED FRUITS
whatever psilocybin sources they could get their hands on. “I think one of the most important things with the single source is that it allows for strict quality control,” Sacred Fruits said. “The high level of attention to detail carries over to every step of the process. Whereas working with multiple suppliers to produce a product, obviously there could be different quality standards across different suppliers, different moisture levels in the finished product – things like that. It’s more consistent when it comes from one place with one SOP.” Sacred Fruits branded its product line with a human brain overlaid with an unlocked padlock, and built out a lineup of dried and freeze-dried whole mushrooms, strain-specific capsules, and Magic Carpets – which are fruit leather-style strips. Each package offers weight-based dosage advice culled from years of anecdotal experience and personal research. “I really like the Avery’s Albino. I love the appearance, and the effects,” Sacred Fruits said. “The effects of the Albino varieties I find tend to be a bit more visual.”
BEARING FUTURE FRUIT
The differences in strains and products will move from the anecdotal to the scientifically measurable in the next era of mushroom medicine, Sacred Fruits says, ushered in by testing labs like the pioneers at Oakland Hyphae that hold their own testing-based competition: The Psilocybin Cup. “I think we’re still in the dark ages, and I’m excited to see more testing for other alkaloids other than psilocybin and psilocin,” Sacred Fruits said. It will be especially helpful for the process of making extract-based products, which is where Sacred Fruits’ R&D is focusing its future efforts. “People are pretty familiar with weights (such as eighths), and there’s enough anecdotal data to let you know what to expect from a different dose, but I don’t think the same thing can be said for extracts, until testing allows us to measure what’s in there,” Sacred Fruits said. Testing for different alkaloids and compounds and running comparisons against effect will be where the true progress is made. “But in the meantime,” Sacred @SACRED.FRUITS Fruits said, “consuming the extract by itself has been pretty interesting ON INSTAGRAM and fun.”
the psychedelia issue
THEOUTLAW FILMMAKER After spending nearly half his life in prison, Seth Ferranti aims his lens squarely at the War on Drugs.
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ETH FERRANTI HAD BEEN ON THE RUN FOR TWO YEARS WHEN HE WAS FINALLY BUSTED.
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Barely old enough to legally order a drink, he sat in a holding cell, wondering why the cops were treating him like a celebrity. “They were coming by and seeing me like I was a zoo animal or something,” he said. “So finally, I asked one of the guys, ‘What is the attraction?’ And he said, ‘You didn’t know? You’re in the top 15 of the U.S. Marshals Most Wanted list.’ They were bringing me my ‘Wanted’ poster and they were asking me to sign it. They were on me like I was Billy the Kid or something.” Ferranti ultimately did 21 years out of a 25-year bid as a first-time, non-violent offender for selling LSD and Cannabis across a five-state territory – and emerged as a pioneer of the new era of thought leaders fighting against the stigma created by the War on Drugs.
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SPARKING A FIRE
Coming up in the mid-’80s, Ferranti choked down propaganda from the firehose of the Reagan-era anti-drug machine. “Really, by 15, I kind of knew it was bullshit,” he said. “I knew it was a lie. It was a facade that they were pulling over everybody’s eyes in this country. When I smoked weed, I’m real hyper, so it kind of calmed me down, gave me that edge, made me feel whole. Psychedelics, they just really opened my mind – they made me look at things in totally different ways.” These compounds helped him break down the barriers erected by societal and governmental programming and emerge a free-thinking individual on the other side. “I saw the therapeutic, the medicinal and the spiritual value of these substances at a real young age,” he said. “I always tell people, I never consider myself a criminal. I was an outlaw, because I broke laws that I thought were wrong. I didn’t carry a gun, I didn’t beat people up, I didn’t have a criminal organization. I saw these substances, and how they could open people’s eyes and help them through life, and help them see what was going on. I felt the need to supply them and to make them available. I’m not gonna say I didn’t want to make money. I’ve always been an ambitious person. I’ve always had that entrepreneurial mindset.”
GROWING UP BEHIND BARS
It was that very mindset that inspired him to build the distribution operation that landed him in prison. But that only contributed to his momentum. After achieving three degrees, writing nearly two dozen novels, launching a journalistic career and founding a publishing company called Gorilla Convict with his girlfriend Diane – who stuck by him the entire time and married him while he was inside – he breathed free air and embraced his wife for the first time without an armed guard nearby. “When you get those 25 years as a 22-year-old, it does kind of shake the core of your beliefs,” he said. “Everyone tells you you’re wrong. The government tells you you’re wrong. Your parents tell you you’re wrong. All the people in the prison tell you you’re wrong. They say you’re a drug addict, you’re a felon, you’re a criminal, and they try to stigmatize you and put all these labels on you. It does affect you. And for the first couple of years in, I really had to figure out, ‘Who was I? My own country gave me 25 years for something I thought was right. It was really kind of Earth-shattering to me.” It’s safe to say he figured out just who he was. “I feel justified in my beliefs,” said Ferranti. “I stood up for that as a young man, and I paid the price. I ran, I was a fugitive for two years. I didn’t lay down, they had to catch me. I sold weed and psychedelics the whole time when I was a fugitive. I was a Cannabis and psychedelic activist. I was like a psychedelic knight. I was ushering in the new age. And yeah, I had to pay the price. I had to be inside the belly of the beast. I got that 25-year sentence as a first-time non-violent offender. But I wouldn’t change it. The sacrifice that I made, and that my wife and my family made, got me to where I am today.” Now he sells limited edition blotter paper art of his Most Wanted poster, and has become a respected documentarian, focusing his shrewd lens on the harm done by the War on Drugs.
THE CAMERA IS A WEAPON
The funding for his Gorilla Convict projects rolled in after the success of his 2017 documentary “White Boy” – a film about a teenager used as an FBI informant in the 1980s. That film gained enough popularity on Starz and Netflix that it inspired “White Boy Rick,” a feature film co-starring Matthew McConaughey. It threw Ferranti into overdrive. He is currently working on six docuseries, including “Psychedelic Revolution: The Secret History of the LSD Trade” as well as “Tangled Roots,” which explores the history of Cannabis cultivation in Humboldt County. “Cannabis and psychedelics are righteous drugs, man,” he said, making a distinction between those and other substances such as amphetamines, cocaine and opiates. “I’ve always been a weed, mushrooms, peyote, mind-expanding drugs type of guy.” As an old-school acid head with deep connections to the network of advocates tied to the Grateful Dead scene he came up in, Ferranti leaned on his “...FOR THE FIRST COUPLE OF YEARS IN, I REALLY connections to get interviews HAD TO FIGURE OUT, ‘WHO WAS I? MY OWN and material few others could COUNTRY GAVE ME 25 YEARS FOR SOMETHING even come close to getting. I THOUGHT WAS RIGHT. IT WAS REALLY KIND OF “We were just able to get tremendous support from everybody. EARTH-SHATTERING TO ME.”-SETH FERRANTI Everybody I asked said yes to doing the interview. It’s just an incredibly tight-knit community,” remarked Ferranti. “There’s a bunch of people who are way more famous than me, but because of who I am, I can get the access. And by getting the access, I can tell the stories that have only been whispered about before.” William Leonard Pickard, Tim Tyler, Sunshine Kesey, Mark McCloud – everyone came out of the woodwork to contribute to his storytelling. “There are still dudes in there for Cannabis now, and for LSD, and we were the ones that paid the price to usher in this new age,” he said. “We were the ones that were on the front line, fighting this drug war on the good side.” He’s currently in production and continues to raise funds in order to complete the project so he can tell the story to the masses. It’s been an inspiring, humbling experience – especially after spending so long in prison, dreaming of these opportunities to bolster his community and tell his truth. “When I did these shoots, both for the ‘Psychedelic Revolution’ and for ‘Tangled Roots,’ so many people in the community would come up to me and thank me for my service, like I was in the military or something,” he said. “It’s weird, but it’s also kind of satisfying, because people are recognizing it. … When that first happened to me, I was kind of taken aback. I was like, ‘You don’t have to thank me, I did my GORILLACONVICT.COM time, whatever.’ But now it’s nice, especially when you see all these corporations and people who aren’t from @GORILLACONVICT the culture moving in, and pushing the legacy operators and the legacy farmers to the side. That’s why I make the ‘Psychedelic Revolution,’ and why I make the ‘Tangled Roots,’ because I want people to know. Without these legacy operators and traditional markets, this culture would have been lost. And it’s still here and still going strong – and what they termed counterculture is going mainstream in 2022.”
STORY by TOM BOWERS @CANNABOMBTOM/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by ERIC GINNARD @ERICGINNARDPHOTO | ILLUSTRATIONS by @OUTSIDEARTWORK
the psychedelia issue
SURRENDERING TOTHEVOID
Psychedelics for the End of Life Experience
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“Turn off your mind Relax and float down stream It is not dying It is not dying Lay down all thoughts Surrender to the void It is shining It is shining” “Tomorrow Never Knows” - The Beatles written by Paul McCartney & John Lennon
aug. 2022
IN
1963, WRITER ALDOUS HUXLEY was on his deathbed suffering from terminal cancer when he asked his wife to inject him with 100 micrograms of LSD. In a letter to friends, Laura Huxley wrote that she consulted Sidney Cohen, a psychiatrist who had pioneered the use of LSD. “I had asked him if he had ever given LSD to a man in this condition. He said he had only done it twice, actually,” wrote Laura, “and in one case it had brought up a sort of reconciliation with death.” After the author of “The Doors of Perception” and “Brave New World” passed away, Laura wrote, “All five people in the room said that this was the most serene, the most beautiful death. Both doctors and the nurse said they had never seen a person in similar physical condition going off so completely without pain and without struggle.” Three years later, LSD was officially banned in California.
MUCH HAS BEEN recently distress many terminally discussed on the use of psycheill Americans face in their delics for the treatment of many last days, sabotaging conditions, including its theratheir quality of life and peutic administration for PTSD, time with family and depression, alcohol or hard friends. FDA has granted drug abuse, couples’ therapy, “breakthrough status” to anxiety and more. The focus is psilocybin therapy for deon healing and recovery from pression, in light of safety traumas and unresolved grief. and promising signs of Less is known about utilizing efficacy in stage 2 FDA these same entheogens for trials, especially for end those with terminal illnesses – of life patents. Congress for palliative care during the passed the national end of life experience. Right to Try Act in 2018 I spoke with Dr. Alison to allow Americans with Draisin PsyD, LMHC, lead life-threatening condipsychotherapist and Director tions to access promising of Ketamine Assisted Psychomedicines that have therapy Provider Training at passed phase I trials, the AIMS Institute, to discover without having to wait for “WE’RE STILL FIGHTING more about her knowledge of completion of the new AND WE NEED Cannabis and psychedelics as drug approval process. a tool in psychotherapy, and in However DEA is blockMORE PEOPLE TO particular, for patients who are ing access to psilocybin BECOME ACTIVISTS AND preparing for their deaths. “End therapy, even as Canada BE PUBLIC ABOUT THEIR of life therapy using these plant is now allowing it north and fungal medicines isn’t of the border.” SUPPORT FOR THESE about healing and recovery, In a recent opinion END-OF-LIFE THERAPIES but instead about acceptance, piece in the New York pain management and feeling Times, health and science … PEOPLE WHO ARE peace within themselves,” writer and former psycholDYING DESERVE THE explains Dr. Draisin. “The spirogy researcher Dr. Dana RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER itual awakenings can be quite G. Smith writes about cathartic for the patients and Nick Fernandez, who was THEY WANT WITH THEIR observing their experiences has administered “a large BODIES AND MINDS.” brought me peace as well. It’s dose of psilocybin as part so lovely and powerful to bear of a clinical trial at New -Dr. Alison Draisin PsyD, LMHC witness to people’s journeys to York University for people discover death with peace.” dealing with anxiety and Dr. Draisin also tells me depression following a that The AIMS Institute, short cancer diagnosis.” Mr. for Advanced Integrative Medical Science, employs Fernandez wrote about his experience in a Medium post, ketamine for patients in palliative care and recently describing what many would consider to be a miracle. sued the DEA in order for them to allow psilocybin “This psilocybin journey was the single most transformatreatments for those in hospice. Lawyer Kathryn Tucker tive experience of my life,” he explained. “It forced me to of the Emerge Law Group filed a motion on behalf of reconcile with the mortality of being human. It alleviated AIMS clients pushing for rescheduling, but the judge my anxiety and gave meaning to my life.” came back and said the DEA has no precedent. How do we get to a future in which dying human “It’s a catch-22 because without the right to use beings are able to choose for themselves the treatmushrooms for patients, there’s no studies to show efments they wish to employ? Does “Death with Dignity” ficacy – and the DEA can just point to that and contininclude the right to use psychedelics to help come ue to stonewall any rescheduling by citing the fact that to terms with the end of our lives in a truly “Brave New there’s no evidence.” After the lawsuit was rejected, World?” As Dr. Draisin sees it, the answers are obvious. the company Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps sponsored a “We’re still fighting and we need more people to protest on behalf of Right to Try at the DEA building in become activists and be public about their support Arlington to raise awareness of the fact that the agenfor these end-of-life therapies,” she says. “It’s hard cy was blocking the implementation of the Right to Try because the people who need this the most aren’t able Act passed and signed into law in 2018. to keep up the fight but their loved ones – and anyone The organization addressed the issue in the followwho believes in this right – need to step up. People ing statement: “Psilocybin therapy has shown incredwho are dying deserve the right to do whatever they ible promise alleviating the debilitating existential want with their bodies and minds.”
PSILOCYBIN THERAPY has shown incredible promise alleviating the debilitating existential distress many terminally ill Americans face in their last days, sabotaging their quality of life and time with family and friends. The FDA has granted “breakthrough status” to psilocybin therapy for depression, in light of safety and promising signs of efficacy in stage 2 FDA trials, especially for end of life patents. — Statement from the Right to Try Act, signed into law in 2018.
Resources for Activists and Patients AIMS Institute aimsinstitute.net
End Well Project endwellproject.org
Right to Try Psilocybin righttotrypsilocybin.com
Dr. Bronner’s
drbronner.com/blogs/ our-community/heal-soul
WAMM (Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana) wammphytotherapies.org
End of Life Washington endoflifewa.org
The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research hopkinspsychedelic.org
Nushama (Ketamine Assisted Therapy Clinics) nushama.com
The Heffter Research Institute heffter.org
TheraPsil (Canada) therapsil.ca
Center to Advance Palliative Care capc.org
STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/LEAF NATION | ILLUSTRATION by OUTSIDE ARTWORK @OUTSIDEARTWORK | PHOTO by @DAVID_GOODMAN_PHOTOS
CONCENTRATE OF THE MONTH
LEMON POUNDCAKE SHATTER
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aug. 2022
A friend was in town for the weekend to pick up a nice, heady rig from a local glass artist. After acquiring the piece, he was too excited to wait for other friends to stop by with concentrates to try the rig out, so he got a recommendation for a local delivery service from the glass shop: Green Buddha Delivery. The quick, free delivery service offered solventless, pesticide-free, lab-tested Cannabis products. My buddy ordered three strains of shatter – Lemon Pound Cake, White Fire OG and Wedding Cake – and sampled all three. WHEN WE ARRIVED, he opened the door with a goofy, astonished, happy look on his face. He couldn’t contain his excitement over having high-quality concentrates delivered right to his door “like pizza or subs!” He had saved two-thirds of each for us to try, and had already begun the process of ordering food for delivery to satisfy his munchies. Of the three varieties, I was partial to the Lemon Pound Cake shatter. The flavor reminded me of my grandmother’s homemade Lemon Pound Cake – not only did it taste great, it also offered a strong medicinal effect. I found a couple of cold starts very uplifting, like a cup of coffee – but I could also feel the muscles in my lower back relax. I was enjoying the flavor and after a few more rips, I was completely pain free. Now I could definitely understand the goofy smile on my friend’s face when we had arrived, and after several more rips off that brand-new heady glass rig, we were all giggling eagerly awaiting our pizza delivery. We had achieved that full-fledged high school high we all remembered from our school days together a few decades ago.
REVIEW & PHOTO by CHARLES TAGGART @KINDBUD.PHOTOS for NORTHEAST LEAF
topical of the month
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THE BULL STICK
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REVIEW & PHOTO by BAILEY JONSON @BAILEYNUGGZ for NORTHEAST LEAF
cannthropology
PRESENTS
High Priest of LSD The
After experimenting with psychedelics in the early 1960s, Harvard psychology professor Timothy Leary experienced a spiritual awakening and became an unlikely icon of the counterculture. Preaching to the nation’s youth to “tune in, turn on, and drop out,” he became America’s poster boy for LSD — and “the most dangerous man in America,” according to President Richard Nixon. But it wasn’t acid that led to the controversial guru’s eventual imprisonment—it was Cannabis.
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INTRO TO PSYCH The year was 1960, and a 40-year-old clinical psychologist from Massachusetts named Timothy Leary had recently begun lecturing at the prestigious Harvard University. There, he learned from a colleague about a sacred ceremony involving hallucinogenic mushrooms he’d recently experienced in Mexico. Intrigued, he traveled down to Cuernavaca that August, where he had his first psychedelic experience on psilocybin mushrooms, which forever changed his life trajectory. After returning to Harvard that fall, he partnered with assistant professor Richard Alpert to found the Harvard Psilocybin Project: A research program to study psilocybin’s effects on human consciousness using a synthetic version of the compound created by Swiss chemist Albert Hofman Leary with Richard Alpert at of Sandoz Labs – the same Harvard, circa 1961. chemist who discovered LSD. Leary’s introduction to acid came in October 1961 through a mysterious British “rascal” named Michael Hollingshead, who reportedly showed up in Cambridge with a mayonnaise jar of sugar paste laced with it. Two months later, Leary finally agreed to try it – allegedly swallowing a heaping tablespoon of the stuff, then proceeding to experience an epic death-and-rebirth level trip that literally blew his mind.
aug. 2022
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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Timothy Leary with partner Richard Alpert (in the background) at an event at Harvard University in the early 1960s.
MILLBROOK Over the next few years, the Harvard Psilocybin Project conducted several studies, including the Concord Prison Experiment (evaluating the effects of psilocybin on the rehabilitation of paroled prisoners) and the Marsh Chapel Experiment (testing its ability to trigger religious experiences). But the Project’s unorthodox methods, lack of objectivity and cavalier attitude soon lead to their dismissal from Harvard. Luckily for them, their work had attracted the attention of millionaire siblings Peggy, Billy and Tommy Hitchcock, who in late 1963 offered the duo their 64-room mansion in Millbrook, New York to continue their research. At Millbrook, Leary and Alpert founded the Castalia Foundation and continued their entheogenic experiments – attracting visits from beatnik icons Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, jazz musician Charles Mingus and others. But within a few years, Millbrook had devolved from a research project into a hippie commune/party house. That party ended in 1966 when the estate was raided multiple times – first by the Dutchess County
Sheriff’s Department (led by future Watergate mastermind G. Gordon Liddy) in April, then several more times by the FBI. After Millbrook’s implosion, Alpert took off for India (later reinventing himself as Ram Dass), while Leary headed to California to connect with the burgeoning new hippie movement. LEGEND OF A MIND By this time, Leary was quickly became an icon of the new counterculture – embarking on college speaking tours, being interviewed by Playboy, and even having a song written about him by The Moody Blues. In January 1967, Leary and Alpert were invited to speak at the Human Be-In – a seminal hippie gathering in Golden Gate Park featuring performances by Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead, among others. It was here that he first coined his infamous mantra: “Tune in, Turn on, Drop out.”
“The Human Be-In” poster.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Recording “Give Peace a Chance” at John & Yoko’s Montreal “Bed-In For Peace” (1969).
It was also during this time that he became friends with John Lennon. Having been inspired to write the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” after reading Leary’s book “The Psychedelic Experience,” John and Yoko invited Leary and his new wife Rosemary to their “Bed-In For Peace” at Montreal’s Queen ElizaLeary for Governor beth Hotel, where they famously recorded poster (1970). “Give Peace a Chance.” Lennon also offered to help Leary in his newly-announced gubernatorial race against Ronald Reagan in California by penning him a song based on his campaign slogan: “Come together, join the party.” Unfortunately, a pot arrest that December killed Leary’s political aspirations; “Come Together,” however, lives on. BROTHERHOOD BUST At the end of 1967, Leary moved to Laguna Beach, where he became one of the spiritual leaders of notorious hash smugglers/ LSD evangelists Brotherhood of Eternal Love. On December 26, Tim and wife Rosemary with 1968, a rookie cop named Brotherhood of Eternal Love Neil Purcell – who had been leader Johnny Griggs (1967). casing the Brotherhood’s neighborhood (nicknamed “Dodge City”) – noticed Leary’s car parked suspiciously and decided to investigate. After recognizing the driver and claiming to smell burnt marijuana, Purcell searched the vehicle and discovered two roaches in the ashtray. Further exploration allegedly uncovered four pounds of marijuana and hashish, as well as a few tabs of LSD (all of which Leary claimed were planted). Leary, his wife and son Jack were all arrested and charged with suspicion of possession with intent to sell. Leary was later tried and convicted and on January 21, 1970, was sentenced to 10 years. LEARY V. THE UNITED STATES But that wasn’t the first time Leary had been busted for weed – a year earlier, he was arrested in Laredo, Tex. while he and his family were returning from vacation in Mexico. At the border, a Customs agent reportedly noticed small bits of marijuana and seeds on the vehicle’s floor. Upon searching the car, they
to bust him out. On the discovered a quantity of night of September 14, weed (initially reported Leary climbed a teleas three ounces but later phone pole, shimmied revealed at trial to be along the wire across the around half an ounce), yard, then dropped down including 11 grams over the fence, where hidden in his daughter the Weathermen were Susan’s underwear. waiting nearby to spirit Though Leary took him away. After that, The full responsibility for the Leary’s mugshot Black Panthers providweed, he and his daugh(1970). ed him and Rosemary ter were both arrested. with fake passports and Leary was charged on three counts: the smuggled them to their smuggling and unlawful transportation of safe haven in Algeria. marijuana into the U.S., and not paying Soon after, they moved federal tax on said marijuana (as required Top: Leary’s Calif. Dept. of to Switzerland and by the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937). Corrections escape bulletin. remained on the Leary’s initial defense Above: Tim & Rosemary’s lam until 1973 – was a religious one, fake passport photos. when they were claiming that the marijuarecaptured by the na was for sacramental Bureau of Narcotics at Kabul airport use and invoking his right and extradited back to the U.S. to use it under the Free Leary spent the next three years Exercise Clause of the First in Folsom Prison, during which he Amendment. Unfortunately, apparently cooperated with the FBI that defense failed and the and informed on all of his associates jury took just 45 minutes to in exchange for a reduced sentence. find him guilty on both counts. Though he claimed he only gave the On March 11, 1966, the Feds info that was outdated or that judge fined him $30,000 and Poster for fund to they already knew, most of his friends sentenced him to a staggering raise money for Leary’s legal defense. disowned him as a rat. 30 years in prison. Facing what amounted to DESIGN FOR DYING life behind bars, Leary hired a crack team of Leary was released from lawyers to defend him. His attorneys appealed prison by Gov. Jerry the ruling on the basis that the Marihuana Tax Brown in April 1976, Act was unconstitutional, arguing that to obey “Nice Dreams” after which he spent the federal law, he would’ve been forced to cameo. a short time in witincriminate himself under state law – a clear ness protection before violation of the Fifth Amendment. returning to public life. He spent the next two His case, Leary v. United States, eventually decades lecturing as a “stand-up philosopher” reached the Supreme Court. On May 19, – appearing in movies and TV shows (including 1969, the Court ruled unanimously in his favor the famous cameo in Cheech & Chong’s “Nice – declaring the Marihuana Tax Act unconstituDreams”) and writing books on “far out” topics tional, thus overturning his conviction and nelike space colonization, near-death and out-ofgating America’s federal Cannabis prohibition. (Unfortunately, Congress passed the Controlled body experiences, and the afterlife. Upon learning that he had inoperable prosSubstances Act months later, re-criminalizing it along with most other drugs). Despite this victo- tate cancer in January 1995, the ever-eccentric iconoclast said he was “thrilled” – celebrating ry, he was still found guilty of the other charges his imminent demise by hosting a “death day” and on March 2, 1970, was sentenced to 10 party, consuming multiple drugs, and recording years. Combined with the Texas conviction, he the whole thing to broadcast online. He died in nevertheless faced 20 years in prison. his sleep just after midnight on May 31, 1996, at the age of 75. A year later, a portion of his THE FUGITIVE PHILOSOPHER ashes were sent up in the Pegasus rocket – fulOn May 13, 1970, Leary was remanded to filling his dream of becoming an “ashtronaut” the California Men’s Colony – a minimum-seand proving to the world one last time how curity prison in San Luis Obispo. After his final “spaced out” he truly was. appeal was rejected in June, Leary arranged (allegedly through his lawyer Michael Kennedy) to have the Brotherhood pay the radical leftist For our podcast & more Cannabis history content group the Weather Underground $20,000 visit worldofcannabis.museum/cannthropology.
STO RY b y B O B BY B LAC K @ CAN N T H RO PO LO G Y fo r LEA F NAT IO N | M AI N P HOTO b y S C I E N C E H I STO RY I M AG E S / ALA M Y STOC K P HOTO
stoney baloney LEAFMAGAZINES.COM
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IF IT WEREN’T FOR THE BUBONIC PLAGUE, rats could easily be man’s best friend. And the rat-infested movie “Willard” didn’t help their reputation, either. You snicker … but what we’re talking about is pretty much just an oversized mouse, right? I mean, if you really put tangible reasoning to our fearful rationale, the rat has never done anything wrong. Like people, they’re hungry, crafty varmints who are scouring the planet in search of leftovers. The biggest difference between us and them is that we have thumbs and bigger melons – making it a helluva lot easier to find food. Without this enormous advantage, you’d see people crawling wherever necessary to scour up however many bites as it takes to fill that nagging tummy, too! Hunger will drive you to do the unthinkable. And OK, they multiply quickly – but so do we. Now, I’m not advocating for new leash laws for these sniffy scavengers, but if you think about it, they’re docile and furry with cute little mouths who pretty much just want to nuzzle up for a good cuddle (if you’re down to have a pink potbelly warming the nape of your neck). Sure, that tail is thick, but a dog’s is bigger and whippier. And so are their farts. You know, every story needs a villain, so it could be said that the negative light shed on these feral friends has painted them as something to fear – when in reality, they could make pleasant companions for us all after a good snipping of the reproductive organs. Rats seem like happy creatures – red eyes and all! And by the way, there is nothing wrong with red eyes. I see them in the mirror every day after a fat bong rip. And then I nibble on some cheese.
AUG. 2022
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