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#129 | MAR. 2021

INDEPENDENT CANNABIS JOURNALISM SINCE 2010

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feature Leaf Nation’s Barron Wolfe interviews Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research PhD David Bryce Yaden, on the lasting power of psychedelics.

24 PRC Edmonds

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38 Cannabis as a Psychedelic 78 Eusheen x Darby

Ketamine Therapy and You

Dr. Radu Kramer shares his wealth of experience and knowledge on the emerging field of Ketamine therapy, and reveals how the psychedelic treatment can help with depression and creating new paths.

////////// story by barron wolfe photo by scott semler

MAR. 2021

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11 14 16 20 24 28 32 36 37 38 39 40 42 44 46 47 50 52 54 56 60 62

The founders of DoubleBlind Mag on their psychedelic publishing venture

EDITOR’S NOTE N AT I O N A L N E W S HEMP INDUSTRY BUDTENDER Q&A EDMONDS SHOP REVIEW WOMEN IN WEED PROFILE STRAIN OF THE MONTH THE PSYCHEDELIA ISSUE PSYCHEDELIA 101 PSYCHEDELIC CANNABIS MICRODOSING JOURNEY E D D I E F U N X TA P R O F I L E JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHER K E TA M I N E T H E R A P E U T I C S READING ENERGY F U T U R E L E G I S L AT I O N EDIBLE OF THE MONTH COFFEE & CANNABIS GREEN REVOLUTION GLASS ART CANNTHROPOLOGY STONEY BALONEY

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#129

women in weed

Tripping out at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

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THE PSYCHEDELIA ISSUE

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E S TA B L I S H E D 2 0 1 0

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 / N O RT H E AS T L E A F

A B O U T T H E C OV E R

ILLUSTRATIONS by MR. MELTY MRMELTY.COM / @MR.MELTY

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.

PUBLISHER

CONTRIBUTORS AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM BOBBY BLACK, FEATURES JOSHUA BOULET, ILLUSTRATION TOM BOWERS, FEATURES EARLY & MAX EARLY, PRODUCTION STEVE ELLIOTT, NATIONAL NEWS SAMUEL FARLEY, PHOTOS ERIC KAYNE, PHOTOS JEFF PORTERFIELD, DESIGN MIKE RICKER, FEATURES MEGHAN RIDLEY, EDITING SCOTT SEMLER, PHOTOS TERPENE TRANSIT, DISTRIBUTION DAN VINKOVETSKY, FEATURES JERRY WHITING, FEATURES NATE WILLIAMS, FEATURES + PHOTOS BRUCE & LAURIE WOLF, RECIPES BARRON WOLFE, FEATURES

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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.

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 FELT CONNECTED TO THE PAST AND PRESENT IN A WHOLE NEW WAY.”

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-yearold 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.

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. 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.

*THE CONTENT IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY*

-Wes Abney MAR. 2021

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WES ABNEY | FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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This month’s intensely euphoric artwork comes to us from the highly tuned mind of New Mexico-based psychedelic artist Kevin Vigil, better known as Mr. Melty, whose illustrations appear throughout the magazine’s special section. The work is as colorful as it is explosive, and as beautiful as it is daring. In our 2nd annual Psychedelia Issue, we wanted to explore how these powerful experiences can help body and soul to reach their full potential. Who better to lead us on our psychedelic journey than Mr. Melty, an artist “inspired by the beauty and powerful grace of our natural surroundings paired with the metaphysical elements of our inner being.”

NATIONAL NEWS

HEALTH & SCIENCE

STUDY OFFERS EVIDENCE LEGAL CANNABIS LEADS TO FEWER OPIOID DEATHS

ounties with more Cannabis dispensaries saw fewer opioidrelated deaths, according to a new study recently published by the University of California, Davis, reports The Sacramento Bee. While study co-author Greta Hsu cautioned that correlation is not causality, she said the results suggest a potential relationship between greater prevalence of dispensaries and fewer recorded opioid fatalities. “Given the alarming rise in the United States’ fentanyl-based market and in deaths involving fentanyl and its analogs in recent years, the question of how legal Cannabis availability relates to opioid-related deaths can be regarded as a particularly pressing one,” researchers said in a statement from UC Davis.

nwlEAF.COM

social progress

HUGE DROP IN FINES PROPOSED FOR WISCONSIN CANNABIS CHARGES

ilwaukee County, Wisconsin is considering lowering the fine for possession of small amounts of Cannabis from up to $500 to just $1, reports ABC 7 Chicago. The proposal came the same week the governor proposed legalizing and taxing marijuana across the state, reports WISN. Advocates said the cut-off point, 25 grams, is less than a month’s supply for a typical medical marijuana user.

MAR. 2021

HOW GOOD?

LEGALIZATION

NEBRASKA, IDAHO: THE HOLDOUTS

nly two states – Nebraska and Idaho – have never passed any kind of medical Cannabis law, reports Politico. Movements are underway in both states, as well as several others with very restrictive programs, to change that as soon as this year. If activists prevail in those remaining holdouts, the U.S. could be in the strange position of having every single state in violation of federal IF ACTIVISTS PREVAIL marijuana law. IN THOSE REMAINING That’s certain, according to Politico, to HOLDOUTS, THE U.S. COULD BE IN THE STRANGE POSITION increase pressure on Congress and the OF HAVING EVERY SINGLE Biden Administration to change the pot STATE IN VIOLATION OF laws and possibly to legalize nationwide. FEDERAL MARIJUANA LAW.

EMERALD CUP ADDS INDOOR AND GOES ONLINE FOR 2021 | For nearly two decades, the Emerald Cup has been the go-to festival and competition for people from all over the world who want to immerse themselves in California sungrown Cannabis culture. Historically focused on flower and products from the Emerald Triangle, the Cup packs out increasingly larger venues year after year, drawing huge crowds, legendary cultivators and killer mainstage entertainment. BY TOM BOWERS

FOR THE 2021 EVENT, founder Tim Blake, his daughter Taylor Blake, and their team were excited to try something new by moving the competition to Los Angeles, and expanding the contest categories to include indoor “I’M REALLY GOING TO cultivators for the first time in the event’s history. MISS THE IN-PERSON But, as with everything in this post-COVID world, the Emerald Cup has had EVENT THIS YEAR,” to reinvent itself in order to fit the new temporary pandemic paradigm. “I’m -FOUNDER TIM BLAKE really going to miss the in-person event this year,” founder Tim Blake said over a Zoom call in February. “Crisis is an opportunity. We have a crisis, and now we have an opportunity.” Blake sees this as a chance to develop new judging procedures and categories, while also welcoming a broader, more geographically widespread audience with an online format. The Emerald Cup has partnered with Social Club TV for a digital broadcast of the awards. The Cup still plans to continue its tradition of complementing the awards ceremony with killer entertainment on the livestream, featuring a to-be-announced lineup of comic and musical entertainers on board to liven up

percent THC would have been the potency limit for Cannabis flowers under a now-abandoned Colorado plan.

debilitating conditions are covered under Mississippi’s medical marijuana law.

percent of North Carolina voters favor medical Cannabis according to a new poll.

percent more Cannabis was bought by Americans in 2020 than in 2019.

the proceedings. Judging, much of which has involved in-person analysis and deliberation in the past, has moved to Zoom for everything but the initial flower assessments and a final assessment, which will happen in-person in a safe, socially-distanced fashion in Petaluma. Nearly 100 judges will weigh in on more than 40 categories, before the Cup selects winners in each contest. This year, flower entries will be grouped by their primary terpenes, with the best in each class heading to the awards. This change, coupled with the fact that this is the first year in history that the Cup will entertain an indoor flower category, means everyone’s favorite consumer-facing California Cannabis competition is only getting more interesting in the wake of 2020. Stay tuned for more updates, as we’ll follow the Emerald Cup as the team works to put together a celebration of harvest for the fall, and preps for the real live and in-person Los Angeles debut in 2022. In the meantime, we’ll catch you online. THEEMERALDCUP.COM

$300m $831m dollars in annual revenue is the estimated amount that would be added to Virginia’s coffers if adultuse Cannabis were legalized.

dollars in revenue was reported by Oklahoma medical Cannabis dispensaries in their first year (2020).

By STEVE ELLIOTT, AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MARIJUANA

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EXPERT OPINION

HEMP INDUSTRY

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HEMP ISN’T POT IT’S 2021 AND FOLKS STILL HAVEN’T REALIZED THAT HEMP DOESN’T GET YOU HIGH. NO, INDUSTRIAL HEMP WON’T GET YOU STONED – CONTRARY TO THE PROHIBITION-ERA PROPAGANDA WHICH PREACHES THAT WHETHER IT’S HEMP OR CANNABIS, IT’S ALL THE DEVIL’S LETTUCE.

MAR. 2021

es, hemp looks like marijuana and often smells better than reefer itself. And yes, when you smoke many of today’s modern hemp cultivars, it even tastes like straight-up, stoner-grade ganga. Mind you, this drives law enforcement crazy because when they stop someone smoking a pre-roll, what’s the appropriate response?

We all know the Cannabis drug cultivars with loads of THC and hemp, newly legalized by the Farm Bill, are all cannabis sativa l. – cousins as it were. But that’s where the resemblance ends. The hemp industry has opened a lot of doors, but not the doors of perception. By law, industrial hemp has less than 0.3% THC, nary enough to alter one’s consciousness. I always tell people if you smoke CBD-positive hemp, you’ll get well, not high. And the only way hemp could possibly be considered psy-

chedelic is if someone figures out how to grow mushrooms on hemp – I’m thinking it would be the hurd, the inner woody part of the stem. Just sayin’. Hollywood set designers will grace TV and movie productions with hemp as a stand-in for our favorite recreational treat. You? Think twice about burning someone in a Starbucks’ parking lot late at night, selling them a baggy of hemp instead of the lid of OG Kush they read about on Craigslist. Today’s wily teenagers now have an answer at the ready when their parents confront them about the kilo they found under the front porch. “Reefer? Heck no, it’s hemp for my science fair project.” Maybe it’s the names of the various kinds of hemp that causes all the confusion. Blink and you’ll swear you’re gazing at the menu in your favorite dispensary. Be honest, which of these would you buy an eighth or a pre-roll of: Acid Rock, Carolina Dream, First Light, Lifter, Rock Steady, Magic Bullet, Abacus or Special Sauce? Personally, I’d reach for a little Lifter live rosin myself. And the list goes on: Alyssa, Angie, Carman, Delores, Denise, Diana, Georgina, Helena, Ivory, Judy, Marie, Martha, Maureen, Victoria, Virginia and Yvonne, not to mention Elektra and Stormy Daniels as well. Real? Yes, real hemp strains. I grow industrial hemp and make things like hemp tincture and topical products. My only complaint about hemp is that it has too little THC! I don’t expect hemp to get me wasted. That’s why I consume pot. But my hemp products would be more effective if they had a little more THC to make the CBD and other compounds work better (ye olde entourage effect). I don’t confuse hemp and Cannabis – the former is a decaf latte with nonfat milk (or as some baristas call it, a ‘why bother’). Ganga, on the other hand, is a ticket to the promised land – not the highway to Hell. No one needs to be afraid of hemp. No pink elephants, no flashbacks, no bad trips – nada. My visions of hemp are those of sustainability, food and shelter for the masses, and a powerful way to heal the planet. Am I hallucinating? No, but I have lofty dreams bathed in blissful light.

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interview

W H O ’ S Y O U R FAV O R I T E B U D T E N D E R ? T E L L U S W H Y ! E M A I L N O M I N A T I O N S T O R I C K E R @ L E A F M A G A Z I N E S . C O M

Daylan Johnson NORTHWEST LEAF BUDTENDER OF THE MONTH

OUTSIDE OF THE GREEN WALLS, Daylan is an aspiring music producer for artists around Seattle and Los Angeles. His life goal is to improve people through music and Cannabis collectively, which we see as a shining beam of much needed optimism. Follow him on Instagram @dayzoutwest YOUR DAD AND UNCLE ARE IN THE BUSINESS. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM THEM?

My dad has a brokerage company called Fuzion and my uncle Shy owns the shop I work in. I’ve always been intrigued by what they do and what their role is, which has taught me how to deal with brands and how they get shelf space. I get to see how a functioning, well-run retail operation works, which I’m really grateful for. HOW HAS THIS HUGE WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE MADE YOU A BETTER BUDTENDER? Well, I’ve always had good

customer service skills. I’ve worked retail clothing, selling cars – so I’ve always had the people connection. On top of that, I have good knowledge of bud, so the two go hand in hand.

WORKING IN THE UNIVERSITY DISTRICT, THERE ARE OBVIOUSLY PEOPLE IN YOUR AGE DEMOGRAPHIC, BUT HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH ELDERLY PEOPLE IN SEARCH OF MEDICINE? I get someone in front of

me and I can usually get a feel for their needs, or I just ask them blatantly what they are looking for so I can get them the appropriate options. A lot of times the students are less educated than the older demographic, where they will take too many edibles and get really messed up, so you have to direct people of all ages. I try to treat everyone with equal respect. HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANY DATES OUT OF YOUR GIG? No, but on my second day

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"I TRY TO TREAT EVERYONE WITH EQUAL RESPECT."

on the job a girl came in and asked for my number – but I was already talking to someone else I was interested in, so I had to politely decline (giggles). Everyone in the store was giving me shit for it! WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF DOWN THE ROAD? STAYING IN THE WEED BIZ? Yeah,

THE JOINT 4336 ROOSEVELT WAY NE SUITE C, SEATTLE (206) 283-3333 THEJOINTLLC.COM

MAR. 2021

what I want to do is have a really focused indoor craft grow. There’s a brand called Pot Of Gold that I think is just four guys, and they make really attractive bud. I’m talking show nugs. That’s what I’m looking to do. YOU’RE A MUSIC PRODUCER ON THE SIDE. THAT SHOULD BE YOUR STAGE NAME.

Show Nugs? Produced by Show Nugs. I could see it working.

INTERVIEW by MIKE RICKER @RICKERDJ | PHOTO by DANIEL BERMAN @BERMANPHOTOS

Photos and Design:

@treehawk.farms | treehawkfarms.com

This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children. Marijuana products may be purchased or possessed only by persons 21 years of age or older.

shop review

EDMONDS

LEAFMAGAZINES.COM

PRC EDMONDS

MAR. 2021

Edmonds Means Quality MEDICAL ROOTS Founded in Conway in 2013 as a medical dispensary, 221 RX was a small operation that worked with local farmers. In fact, owners Scotty Serles and Joel Martin weren’t going apply for a recreational license, until they realized that medical patients weren’t being prioritized. So, the decision was made to keep the doors open until the very last day of medical in June 2016, and they worked with the county to help nail down some of the laws they saw necessary for moving forward. Now the focus is on growth and service, with authenticity always at the forefront of every interaction.

PRC EDMONDS 23221 EDMONDS WAY A, EDMONDS, WA OPEN 8AM-10PM DAILY (425) 967-5800 PRCWA.COM @PRC_EDMONDS_WA

FRESH START General Manager Thomas Fallihee loves to borrow a quote from Gary Vaynerchuck that states, “There are two ways to succeed in business, either you build the biggest building, or you tear down the ones around you.” Meaning either be the best, or spend energy trying to make the competition look bad. And there is no need to tear down the competition when there is room for everyone – that is what Thomas preaches. The key is to focus on being optimal in the approach to serving the community and everything will fall into place. So, when these guys transitioned this store from Local Roots to the newest PRC location in Washington state, they knew that teaching the staff about mediation and conflict resolution, rather than upselling, was vital. And the results are a group of enthusiasts who are delighted to show up to work every day to prove their pride.

DETAIL ORIENTED With a showroom of 2,500 feet of open space, it’s easy to breathe with confidence and safely keep your social distancing at a responsible level. Not to mention that the expanse of room offers a breadth of Cannabis choices, as you browse the elegantly designed carousel of specifically detailed sections that make your perusal seamless. A great place to begin your experience is the giant SHOP FOR YOURSELF wall, where you can identify your needs and take the plan to an eager-to-please budtender for a simple, hassle-free transaction.

DIZZYING DECISIONS With one of the biggest selections in the state, you will not go home empty handed. FLOWER – A great place to start is Mt Baker Homegrown for a delicious eighth of high quality bud. There’s also Secret Gardens of Washington and DNA Gardens, who are a tier 1 cultivation with exceptional Duct Tape. CARTS – You’ll get your full range of Avitas selections as well as Buddies Live Resin, and of course, the SPP Regulator. Also, find the new full spec line by Leafwerx in the Pax Era pen. EDIBLES – Try the Smokiez Handcrafted 250ml Delta-8 and the Cannabis infused olive oil from Olio! SOLVENTLESS HASH ROSIN – Check out new guys DeSaus’ Strawnana and Strawberry Sherbert. Seattle Marijuana Company makes delicious BHO, and you can also find BHO from The Dab Roast. FURRY FRIENDS Lastly, if you need something to make your pet’s aches and pains a little easier, try the Vancouver, Washington-based Fairwinds CBD’s Companion tincture.

THE EXPANSE OF ROOM OFFERS A BREADTH OF CANNABIS CHOICES AS YOU BROWSE THE ELEGANTLY DESIGNED CAROUSEL OF SPECIFICALLY-DETAILED SECTIONS.

STORY by MIKE RICKER @RICKERDJ | PHOTOS by DANIEL BERMAN @BERMANPHOTOS/NORTHWEST LEAF

rogueravenfarmsi502 Strain: Slurricane / Indica, THC: 21% Sweet flavor profile, with subtle grape and sugary berries. Marijuana products may be purchased or possessed only by persons 21 or older. This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgement. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of reach of children.

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feature

women in weed

DOUBLEBLIND MAGAZINE

MADISON MARGOLIN & SHELBY HARTMAN

DoubleBlind is a magazine, but it’s also a vision. Co-founded by friends and journalists Madison Margolin and Shelby Hartman in 2018, the project was the culmination of a mutual admiration the two shared going back to their days as classmates at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Following stints in which both worked as Cannabis columnists for LA Weekly, Hartman approached Margolin with a wild idea: a biannual print publication slash digital media company inspired by and in service to psychedelic medicine. Now at work on the magazine’s fifth issue (out in June), the pair spoke with California Leaf about their goals for DoubleBlind, the challenges of offering virtual mushroom growing courses, and what it means to have two women at the helm.

MADISON: ‘Set and setting’ should be as essential to the conversation about psychedelics as ‘don’t drink and drive’ is to alcohol. SHELBY: Obviously, the number one thing that everyone wants to know is where they can get the drugs. Unfortunately, we can pretty much tell them just about everything but that. And that’s a very real barrier for people, which is something that I often forget. We’re living in Los Angeles – the center of ayahuasca globalization and true underground shroom chocolates – so we forget that there are people all across America who literally don’t even know where to get shrooms or how much to take if they do get hold of some. At DoubleBlind, we’re very devoted to harm reduction. We’re also very clear in saying that psychedelics are not for everyone and they’re not going to solve all your problems. However, if you do choose to do a psychedelic, here’s some information on how to make sure that you are doing it in a way that is safe and that you feel supported.

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WHAT’S THE ORIGIN OF DOUBLEBLIND? SHELBY: Madison and I were both very passionate about psychedelics and we were both reporting on psychedelics for a bunch of different outlets like Rolling Stone and Vice. I had the idea when I was meditating in my apartment, in November of 2018, that I wanted to start a psychedelic magazine – and then I just called Madison and asked her if she wanted to do it with me. HOW DID YOU SHAPE WHAT THE FOCUS OF DOUBLEBLIND WAS GOING TO BE? MADISON: Psychedelics are the centerpiece of what we write about but I always like to say that psychedelics – and Cannabis, for that matter – are just ways of talking about everything else in the world. Whether it’s social equity, environmental justice policy, science, spirituality, queer culture, feminism, indigenous culture – whatever it is, psychedelics are our launching point to talk about all of these other things. DoubleBlind is not the first psychedelic publication, but the psychedelic publications that were already out there were catering to deep-state psychonauts – the ‘stoners of psychedelics’ or whatever. But there are, of course, people who read psychedelic content on Vice or Rolling Stone, and maybe they want to go deeper. We’re trying to exist at an intersection between Rolling Stone-style psychedelic content and the more esoteric stuff. We range in what we offer, from beginner content like ‘How to Take Mushrooms’ to other stories that expose readers to issues prescient in this time in psychedelic culture. COLLECTIVELY, WHERE WOULD YOU SAY WE’RE AT IN TERMS OF OUR UNDERSTANDING AND EDUCATIONAL LEVEL CONCERNING PSYCHEDELIC MEDICINE? SHELBY: I would say that there are still a lot of people who don’t understand what we might think of as the fundamentals of psychedelic therapy and psychedelic medicine. Madison has this saying...

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IN TERMS OF HOSTING VIRTUAL “Set and setting COURSES ON MUSHROOM GROWING, should be as WHAT WAS THE VIBE LIKE? essential to SHELBY: We’ve had over 1,000 people around the world grow mushrooms the conversation with us and they’ve just fallen in love about psychedelics with the process. It’s been so amazing as don’t drink and to see this beautiful community of people go from not knowing how to drive is to alcohol.” grow mushrooms, to now being totally -MADISON MARGOLIN hooked on it and wanting to take their mushroom growing to the next level. We partnered with these three really incredible mycologists – Dr. Kay Mandrake of “The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible,” Darren Springer and Caine Barlow – and the three of them are basically going to be teaching people stuff like how to create their own library of mushroom genetics, which completely cuts the spore syringe uncertainty out of the equation. BUT THE IDEA IS TO OFFER THE INFORMATION, NOT CONVINCE PEOPLE TO GET ON BOARD? Madison: Right. Our goal is never to proselytize, but we’re also not trying to speak to people like we’re on the message boards of Erowid – we’re not going that deep. It’s not about trying to get square people to be into psychedelics, but if you’re the type of person who maybe took MDMA once at Coachella and now you’re hearing that MDMA is also really good for PTSD, and you want to know what that’s about? Then come to DoubleBlind! DOUBLEBLINDMAG.COM @DOUBLEBLINDMAG

STORY by ZACK RUSKIN @ZACKRUSKIN for LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by GEORGIA LOVE @GEORGIALOVVE

STRAIN OF THE MONTH

It’s been said that “Paris is not a city, it’s a world.” To which we would add, “Paris is a vibe” – and one you can experience via Paris Cannabis right here in the rainy PNW this spring. Picking a Cannabis strain or brand from menus full of brightly packaged mids in Washington can be tough, and using a feeling to dictate a purchase makes sense when you can’t smell or feel the buds inside a bag. We were immediately drawn to the “pesticide-free” label on the top of the jar, as well as the strain specific information and genetic lineage listed on the label of the Lemon Agave. The Eiffel Tower sealed the deal, along with the beautiful purple tinged frosty nuggets inside the jar, convincing us to follow our hippie senses and pick up this beautiful flower. Opening a jar releases a warm, sweet cloud of lemon sap that stimulates the stomach as much as the mind with rich, delicious flavor. The lemon notes are the icing on the deeper skunk cake, complementing the funkier aromas of the GMO that balance this strain in a perfect flavor combination that can only be found in top shelf Cannabis. Each tightly hand-trimmed bud is covered in a thick layer of trichomes, with a perfect snap and cure that begs to be loaded and smoked. We packed a bong load full of this syrupy sativa strain, ripping into the lemony-earthy flavor and filling the mind and body with a happy, slow motion speedball energy. First inhales were smooth and sweet, with bright and fizzy lemon taking the lead, followed by a deeper earthy and sour note that unveiled on the exhale. Effects rush quickly into the mind, slowing thoughts and focusing consciousness on the act of breathing in … and exhaling more Cannabis. To call this treat a sativa underscores the heavy effects of stoney happiness that smother the senses within minutes of consumption. It feels like the first minutes of waking up after a refreshing night’s sleep. The body is full of potential energy and the mind is full of thoughts and goals and ideas, but somehow the thick potent sense of rest keeps the body in suspended animation for a few minutes before popping up for the day.

@ PA R I S C A N N A B I S C O | R E A L PA R I S O G . C O M

GROWN BY PARIS

Lemon Agave

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REVIEW by WES ABNEY @BEARDEDLORAX/NORTHWEST LEAF | PHOTO by DANIEL BERMAN @BERMANPHOTOS & MIKE RICKER @RICKERDJ

“It feels like the first minutes of waking up after a refreshing night’s sleep.”

19.47% THC LEMON TREE CROSSED WITH GMO/TK SKUNK

Think of this weed like suspended animation, but with the power to find snacks and get shit done. Which is really all we’ve asked for since entering the perpetual state of stoned lockdown one year ago. So escape the boredom (if not the repetition) of the day and get with the Paris vibe, courtesy of this transcendental Lemon Agave flower.

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HAVE A SEAT AND STEP INTO * THE *

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In 2010, my inspiration for publishing a Cannabis magazine was the esoteric nature of a hidden medicine that had the power to heal and change the world, and it is that same drive that has led the Leaf to publishing this second annual special issue. What more noble a cause is there than freeing the truth? Especially when it brings healing for our minds, consciousness and spirits – which have been completely ignored by Western medicine for the last 50 years. In 2010, I asked a simple question that the Founding Fathers of our great country would have resonated with: If a law governing a plant is unjust, should I be willing to break it? My answer was yes – to bring freedom and knowledge to people suffering, and most of all, to provide hope that a plant could deliver revolutionary medicine that a laboratory-made pill could not. Just as Cannabis’ path to legalization came from decriminalization and activism, so is the march towards the legalization of psychedelics via entheogenic plants and synthesized therapeutics like Ketamine and LSD. The field of psychedelic research is exploding as laws loosen, allowing scientists, therapists and psychonauts alike to explore how these substances can provide huge medicinal benefits – including alleviating depression and PTSD, helping confront death in end-of-life therapy, and even regrowing neural pathways that can help unlock the true potential of human consciousness and the brain’s ability to heal.

Mar. 2021

PSYCHE*DELIA *

ISSUE * *

So, here I am in 2021 asking the same question I asked in 2009 as I was being arrested for Cannabis. Should we criminalize nature? Should we deny substances that heal, both clinically and in personal use? I believe the answer is a resounding, NO! The time is now to explore, learn and heal our species as we grapple with the realities of a digital society on a warming planet, spinning at 1,000 miles per hour in a huge cosmic expanse. As we continue to progress this movement, knowledge and empathy will be our most powerful tools in undoing the Drug War and the misconceptions of anti-drug propaganda. Showing the lives that are helped through education will lead to enlightenment, at which point our society will be unable to ethically condone criminalizing any type of drug use, especially when it is beneficial and brought to us by Mother Earth. I hope that you enjoy this Issue, and learn and share the knowledge you find with those you love – for it’s only by circulating seeds of knowledge that we grow into better people, communities, and together as a species.

Story by WES ABNEY @BEARDEDLORAX | Illustrations by MR. MELTY @MR.MELTY for LEAF NATION

Story by MAX EARLY @LIFTED_STARDUST

COMMON PSYCHEDELICS cannabis Cannabis Sativa is a plant that contains the psychoactive compound of THC, as well as 500 other compounds, including 113 cannabinoids. Effects are traditionally euphoric, mood-enhancing, and known to reduce pain and nausea. It is the combination of these various chemical compositions that produce different reactions in humans consuming Cannabis. When consumed in higher doses, Cannabis is known to have psychoactive effects. Where is it produced? Indoor, outdoor and greenhouses Common amounts consumed: 1g joint 25mg edible serving 10mg of concentrate/maximum .1g Therapeutic usages: Anxiety reduction, mood elevation, depression, chronic pain, neurological conditions

LSD LSD is an indispensably powerful synthesized psychoactive compound. When consuming even the smallest amount, the effect on humans distorts all sensory perceptions. Visual and auditory hallucinations are known to provide sights of fractals, visualized sounds and changing colors. Where is it produced? Synthesized in laboratories. Common amounts consumed: Micro-dose = 1 ug (1/100 tab) Therapeutically = 100 ug (1 tab) Therapeutic usages: PTSD, repressed psychological trauma, anxiety, depression, psychosomatic diseases, addiction

psilocybin Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychoactive compound found in many different species of mushrooms. Many patients have noted that psilocybin has helped to provide a deeper connection with the self and inner peace in therapeutic settings. Reports have shown that many patients of therapeutic psilocybin experience visions of patterns or faces that may appear warped. Where is it produced? Naturally occurring and grown in laboratories. Common amounts consumed: Micro-dose = .1-.25g Therapeutically = 2g Therapeutic usages: Depression, anxiety, addiction, OCD, end of life therapy

Ayahuasca Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant-based brew or tea, containing MAOI and dimethyltryptamine. In recent decades, researchers have been discovering usages of

ayahuasca for treating substance abuse and other disorders. This mind-altering psychedelic helps individuals deal with past traumatic events, providing a sense of clarity. Typical dosages are still unknown, as this substance remains illegal within the U.S. Where is it produced? In South America by tribes. Dimethyltryptamine is extracted from Mimosa tree bark and other plants. Common amounts consumed: Unknown

Therapeutic usages: Aids with overall psychological wellbeing and substance dependence.

TURN ON, TUNE IN, VIBE OUT EXPLORING PSYCHEDELIC MEDIA... Thinking about prying open your third eye by experimenting with some psychedelics? Or perhaps you just want to be better educated about entheogens? Whatever your trip, here are a few mind-expanding media recommendations to help get you in the right headspace for your journey toward enlightenment.

Fantastic Fungi

(2019)

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Filmed in glorious 4K by the filmmakers behind “Moving Art,” “Fantastic Fungi” seamlessly switches between mind-blowing time lapses, stunning CGI graphics, and in-depth interviews with mycological mavens like Paul Stamets, Michael Pollen and Dr. Andrew Weil. This comprehensive documentary explores every aspect of mushrooms and their unique role in the cycle and evolution of life, including how their underground mycelium networks enable trees to communicate, how their psychedelic properties may have kickstarted human consciousness, and how their enormous medicinal and psychiatric potential is finally being studied after decades of demonization via the Drug War. A must-see for mycophiles. –Bobby Black

Entangled Life / Merlin Sheldrake

(2020)

merlinsheldrake.com/entangled-life

Written by tropical biologist and fungal researcher Merlin Sheldrake, “Entangled Life” is an incredible book dedicated to providing a further understanding of mycology and how fungal networks operate. For those of you yearning to learn more about mushrooms, their unique relationship with the environment around us and how they could potentially help save the world, this book is for you. Pick up a copy today and grow your knowledge on mycelium, microbiology and much more! –Max Early

Lonerism / Tame Impala (2012) official.tameimpala.com

If the Beatles were to make Sgt. Pepper today, this is what it would sound like. With Lennon-esque vocals and fuzzy riffs pounding along with sweeping synth star sails, your musical soulmate awaits through the mind of Perth, Australia’s Kevin Parker. Released in 2012, this is no new news for longtime fans who’ve seen the band headline festivals worldwide, but nothing has rivaled the impact on guitar-driven music since. The psychedelic highlight is Endors Toi, where the anxious mind is reassured that the safety of dreamland is only one long blink away. Yes, this was their commercial breakthrough, but for good reason: The ‘60s splendor matched with third eye imagination leaves something hidden in every note for the intrepid tripper. – Mike Ricker

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ommonly associated as an intoxicant or a depressant, Cannabis has a long history of being wrongly allied with laziness, procrastination and “burning you out.” More importantly, many have disregarded the fact that this sacred herb is much closer to being an entheogen and a psychedelic more than anything else. In our March Psychedelia Issue, we seek to expand your minds to the use of Cannabis as a tool to help with mood balance, increased creativity levels, and show you how to utilize the plant as a perspective-changing medium. Like other plant-based psychedelics, Cannabis is an excellent way to help us view the world through a different lens, giving us an appreciation for all of the little pieces that influence our scope of life. Smoking a bowl can help you smell and view the flowers in an entirely new way than you have ever encountered them before, or maybe make your favorite meal taste that much better. Both Cannabis and psychedelics can help us identify new instrumentals on a track that we’ve heard a million times, or provide a deeper connection to the lyrics in a song. Unlike inhaling Cannabis, when you orally ingest it, your body breaks it down in an entirely different way, creating a longer duration of effects. Once you have eaten an edible, the Delta-9-THC enters the liver and undergoes first-pass metabolism. This process removes some Delta-9-THC and metabolizes a huge percentage into 11-Hydroxy-THC. Once this has happened, the remaining Delta-9-THC and 11-Hydroxy-THC flood our bloodstream and penetrate vascular tissues like the brain and other muscles. Due to the increased 11-Hydroxy-THC, the effects are far more profound than any other way of consuming Cannabis, providing a more psychedelic experience overall. We are all familiar with the look on a baby’s face seeing something or experiencing a new sense for the first time. Plant-based entheogens like Cannabis and psilocybin can inspire that feeling of being a kid again – helping us further take in our surroundings, seeing them in a new way, and appreciating them for everything they have to offer in more depth. It is easy to go throughout life and not take a second to slow down to appreciate all that our short experience here has to offer. Plant-based medicines are a way to realize the beauty within every day, and feel the interconnectedness with Mother Nature and our fellow human beings.

Like other plant-based psychedelics, Cannabis is an excellent way to help us view the world through a different lens. Mar. 2021

CANNABIS IS A REAL PSYCHEDELIC

STORY by MAX EARLY @LIFTED_STARDUST/LEAF NATION | ILLUSTRATION by MR. MELTY @MR.MELTY

A JOURNEY OF MICRODOSING MUSHROOMS

CHASING SUNSHINE

am beyond grateful for having discovered the healing power of earth derived medicines at a young age. It’s entirely possible I wouldn’t be here today if the universe had led me in a different direction.

Growing up in California’s Bay Area in the ‘90s, Cannabis was available in abundance and if you knew where to look or who to ask, other substances weren’t hard to obtain either. I first tried Cannabis around 16 and instantly recognized its ability to make me feel more comfortable in my pubescent and rapidly changing skin. Like many during this challenging period of life, I struggled with a feeling of extreme discomfort living in my own body, which manifested itself as depression. At that age, I wanted to be a professional skateboarder and was pushing myself to my limits on the regular, sustaining frequent injuries as a result. I realized that I would heal much faster when I used Cannabis as part of my recovery regimen, and I became a believer in the plant’s healing ways – knowing deep down that what I had been led to believe about Cannabis was false. I had only ever taken a very small amount of mushrooms a couple of times while partying as a teenager – very much for recreational use – before meeting a now ex-girlfriend at the age of 21 who opened my eyes to the power of the fungus. After splitting three-and-a-half grams made into tea, I felt “better” in a way that is hard to describe – like taking a weight vest off that you had forgotten you had on. I knew somewhere deep within me this was medicine and another substance I had been misled to believe wasn’t good for me. We would brew tea a couple times a year, always using between two and five grams of Cubensis mushrooms. Because we were taking larger doses, these experiences were certainly what I would classify as “trips,”meaning they were intense, emotional, moving and certainly at times psychedelic. The resulting post-trip effects would last for months and felt like a mental breath of fresh air, leaving me feeling rejuvenated and thoroughly happy with a renewed lust for life. I maintained my same source and relative frequency of consumption for several years, until I made a significant discovery. Over the last five years, the culture around and mainstream acceptability of psychedelics and plant medicine had changed fairly drastically. More and more, I began to see articles

It was like that little gray cloud that always put a damper on things dissipated and I could feel the sun begin to shine brightly once again. and hear stories about techies at some of the largest companies in Silicon Valley microdosing psilocybin and LSD to operate at their fullest potential. This intrigued me. Then, one day, I happened upon one of these editorials and something clicked. I realized that much like my evolution in understanding of Cannabis and how to use it, my approach with mushrooms was not wrong per se, but I could consume them differently to take better advantage of their benefits. So, at 29-yearsold, I bought a new coffee grinder, a basic capsule-making machine and empty vegetable glycerin caps, and began teaching myself how to microdose psilocybin.

My goal was to harness the positive effects of the mushrooms without dealing with the somewhat negative side effects of having to go through a mildly hallucinogenic and moderately intense experience to do so. It took some dialing in to find my titrated dose, but what I discovered through the process was miraculous and freeing. In less than a year, that depression that had never really gone away and had been with me for the last 14-plus years simply fell away. It was like that little gray cloud that always put a damper on things dissipated, and I could feel the sun begin to shine brightly once again. Altering my delivery method and frequency ended up being a life-altering decision and has made all the difference for me — with knowledge, comes power.

STORY & PHOTO by NATE WILLIAMS @NATEW415/LEAF NATION | ILLUSTRATION by MR. MELTY @MR.MELTY

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INTERVIEW WITH A MEDICINE MA

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42-year-old Cannabis cultivator and cactus collector, Funxta has tripped out hundreds of times on everything from psilocybin, peyote and ayahuasca, to MDMA, LSD and DMT. He’s authored numerous articles on psychedelics and helped lead the 2016 effort to legalize mushrooms in California. He’s studied under legendary Cannabis activists like Jack Herer, Ed Rosenthal and Rick Simpson, as well as renowned Sonoran toad expert Dr. Gerry Sandoval Isaac. MORE IMPORTANTLY, though, he’s helped thousands of patients with Cannabis oil and mushrooms – making him one of the most experienced alternative healers in Southern California. But whatever you do, don’t call him a shaman. “I don’t consider myself a shaman – I prefer to call myself a neo-medicine man,” Funxta clarifies. “Shamans do some hard, heavy work – they can draw deep demons out of people. I’m not comfortable doing that … I’m still fighting those demons myself.” For Eddie, those personal demons arose from a difficult childhood.

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For millennia, indigenous healers known as medicine men or shamans have utilized psychoactive plants to treat ailments and cultivate a deeper understanding of the universes both inside us and around us. In recent years, a movement has been building to rediscover the therapeutic potential of these ancient plant medicines, led in part by modern-day medicine men like Eddie Funxta.

Growing up in the projects of East LA, he was denied knowledge of his Native American/Mexican heritage by his family over fears they would be ostracized. When he was seven, his parents divorced and he lost touch with his father’s Yavapai side, leaving him to be raised by his mother’s “hardcore Catholic” side of the family. Living in the ghetto, disconnected from his Native heritage, under an intense Christian dogma that he rejected, he was in his words, a “very bad kid.” But Eddie’s angry trajectory started shifting at age 15, thanks to the influence of a history teacher who assigned his class a research project on a controversial topic of their choosing. “Everybody was picking Hitler and other crazy shit,” he recalls. “Since I grew up listening to psychedelic rock like The Doors and Jimi Hendrix, I picked magic mushrooms and shamanism.” Eddie headed to the library, looked up psychedelics and found three books: Aldous Huxley’s “Doors of Perception,” an installment of Carlos Castaneda’s “Don Juan” series, and a cultural book about Mesoamerica that recounted tales of ancient shamanic mushroom ceremonies. “The stuff I was reading was amazing to my young mind,” he says. “I was blown away – I felt like a curtain had been pulled back on my reality.” A week after his class presentation, his friend Johnny showed up at school with a sheet of acid. Eddie and his friends threw a party, tripped out for the first time and had a life-changing night filled with “dancing, laughter, colors, compassion and connection.” In the following months, Funxta immersed himself in the new world that had opened to him – tripping on acid or mushrooms two to three times

a month and even selling them at school. After dropping out in 1996, he began growing weed and selling it to celebrities and dispensaries around Hollywood. It was at one such dispensary that he met a woman named Sister Somalia, who first opened his eyes to marijuana’s medicinal value – instigating Eddie’s transformation from a thuggish drug dealer to a compassionate caregiver.

Funxta began visiting homes, hospitals, hospices and clinics, offering Cannabis to cancer and AIDS patients, as well as addicts trying to kick methadone, meth and heroin. BEFORE LONG, he realized that many patients were unable or unwilling to smoke joints, and recognized a huge gap in the medical market. “We had flowers, dabs, topicals … but Phoenix Tears – or Rick Simpson Oil as most people know it – wasn’t being produced on an adequate scale in SoCal.” So in 2010, he set out to fill that need. Through mutual friends, he connected with Rick Simpson himself, learned how to properly produce the potent full-plant oil, and started to distribute large quantities of the product under the name Native Healing Oil. “I know Rick Simpson was upset with people calling it RSO,” Funxta explains. “I’m not Rick Simpson, so it’s not RSO – it’s NHO.” While his NHO was effective in treating many patients’ physical ailments, Funxta knew that emotional/psychological wounds required a deeper

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eddie funxta “Jack was microdosing a gram or two of kind of medicine. He recalls one particular patient Amanita muscaria a day,” he says. “Within six to that he helped transition from physical to meneight months, he’d regained his speech.” tal healing: A 57-year-old former beauty queen Of all the substances he’s taken, Funxta says who’d used NHO while battling breast cancer, but his most healing trip came from a combination was left with scars inside as well as out. of ayahuasca and yopo – a powder made from “She’d had a double mastectomy, lost her hair the dried seeds of a South American tree that’s and teeth … she didn’t recognize herself in the traditionally blown up into one’s nostrils. Taken mirror anymore.” Suffering from depression and together, these two substances panic attacks, she asked Eddie for produce a prolonged, profound help and he recommended mushshamanic experience. rooms. Though initially resistant, “For 12 hours I was in the deepshe eventually gave it a try. est, heaviest psychedelic space I’d “The very first dose I gave her ever been in,” he recounts. “I was shook her out of her depression carried away by the spirit world, I instantaneously,” he remembers died and was reborn, and gained proudly. “She called me the next a deep understanding and peace day with a completely different with myself and the universe.” outlook, saying she felt great. She Over the past decade, Funxta ended up starting a breast cancer has used Cannabis and other support group and becoming an entheogens to assist over 2,600 advocate for plant medicines.” sick and dying patients to recover Fungi aren’t just capable of or transition. In 2019, his career altering one’s state of consciousThe inspiring 2019 documentary of compassion drew the attenness – they can actually alter the on Eddie by Jeremie Norrie tion of filmmaker Jeremy Norrie, brain’s structure itself by rebuilding is available on Amazon Prime. who featured Eddie and several cognitive connections. of his patients in the film “About Cannabis and The late activist icon Jack Herer (whose family Cancer” – one in a trilogy of medical marijuana Eddie has worked with) medicated with mushdocumentaries produced for Amazon Prime. rooms after suffering a debilitating stroke in 2000.

“The stuff I was reading was amazing to my young mind,” he says. “I was blown away – I felt like a curtain had been pulled back on my reality.”

Another film about psychedelics is already in the works. “The last American witchhunt is plants,” he testifies. “Cannabis, mushrooms, holy cactus … any plant that alters your state of consciousness has been made illegal or portrayed as detrimental to society, when in reality they are what first brought people together to create societies and build civilizations.” Unfortunately, due to a bitter divorce that placed him in potential legal jeopardy, Funxta was forced to abandon his NHO brand indefinitely as of 2017. Nevertheless, after spending some time backpacking through Yosemite (hiking, vision questing and dancing under the stars), he’s rededicated himself to his spiritual mission – only this time, without the drugs. “I’m creating a natural healing space in the California desert … sound bath and singing bowl ceremonies, yoga, meditation – but zero illegal plant medicines,” he explains. “You don’t always need a hit of acid – you can find that healing space without it … it’s already inside you.” @FUNXTAZ_VISIONARY_COLLECTION

STORY & PHOTOS by BOBBY BLACK @BOBBYBLACK420/LEAF NATION | ILLUSTRATION by MR. MELTY @MR.MELTY

the PSYCHEDELIA issue

JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR PSYCHEDELIC AND CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH david bryce yaden, PhD

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The psychedelic experience is one that many people have pondered, but is still beyond full scientific understanding. That lack of understanding by our culture has been a key factor in impeding these fascinating substances from going mainstream for therapeutic use – until now. As the landscape around psychedelic research continues to evolve, Leaf Magazines caught up with Dr. David B. Yaden – a postdoctoral psychedelic researcher at Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, and, full disclosure, this writer’s cousin, for a behind the scenes look at the latest developments in the emerging field – and how he found himself immersed in the world of psychedelic science. Follow him on Twitter, @ExistWell. I know it has been a long journey to attaining the position you hold today – could you give us some background info and a breakdown of your education? Where did the motivation come from to make it this far in your field? My journey to becoming a scientist studying psychedelic drugs started with an experience I had in college, that actually had nothing to do with drugs. It was an experience that seemed to come completely out of nowhere – of total unity and feelings of love for everyone and everything. I learned later that people call this kind of moment a ‘peak experience’ or ‘mystical experience,’ and I was lucky enough for it to happen to me spontaneously while lying on my dorm room bed. It left me wondering, ‘What the hell just happened to me?!’ That experience was so important and so positive in its effects, but it only

Mar. 2021

lasted for a few minutes at most. Afterwards, I became fascinated with how brief experiences can have a long-lasting positive impact. For a while, I studied comparative religions, philosophy, neuroscience and psychology, just to see if I could find something to help me understand my experience. The most important book that I found with all of this reading was one by William James called “The Varieties of Religious Experience.” By the way, if you’ve had one of these kinds of experiences, you can help our research by describing it at www.varietiescorpus.com. I got my PhD in psychology, which trained me in how to measure and conduct studies on these

kinds of experiences. You can ask people to think back to their experiences and describe them, but to do good scientific work, you really need to be able to cause these experiences in a controlled setting. That’s where psychedelics come in – they provide a tool that researchers can use to trigger these positively transformative experiences in the laboratory. Researchers are currently finding all kinds of benefits (as well as a few risks) associated with using psychedelics to treat disorders like depression and addiction.

I know Johns Hopkins is a global leader in the field – can you give some insight into the program itself? What drugs have your team been researching?

“We have an opportunity as a society to treat psychedelics with more respect this time around.”

findings, describing a new theory or summarizing previous research findings. In the afternoon, I analyze data from studies that we’ve already run or work on launching new studies, which involves a huge amount of paperwork and thinking through safety issues. I try to schedule meetings later in the day, after I’m fried from writing and analyzing data. In the evenings, I usually go for a walk by the river to decompress. I work pretty much every day. I should say that this is how life looks for me during the pandemic – once it’s safe for the lab to return to normal, I will be administering psilocybin to study participants and helping to guide psychedelic sessions.

What are some of the greatest challenges to progress you and your colleagues have faced in your field?

Yaden stands outside of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins is currently the world’s largest lab studying psychedelics. Researchers like Roland Griffiths and his colleagues have been studying psychedelics since around 2000, but this new center (funded by Tim Ferris and a group of philanthropists) will allow a lot more psychedelic research to happen. We have studied many psychedelics like DMT, 5-MeODMT, and especially psilocybin. Psilocybin has shown a great deal of potential as a treatment for mental illnesses while also being pretty safe when administered in clinical settings. There are so many open scientific questions about psychedelics. First, how does this substance change the brain to produce such a substantially altered state of consciousness? Second, how do set and setting influence this altered state of consciousness? Third, how does

the experience (and associated brain changes) from psychedelics tend to result in such positive psychological changes for so many people? Last but not least, what are some of the risks of taking psilocybin and when should some people avoid taking it for safety reasons? These are just a few of the kinds of questions that we’re conducting research to address.

Walk us through the average day of a psychedelic scientist? I love being a scientist and I feel incredibly grateful that I can spend my time trying to understand psychedelics and other questions about how the mind works … but it’s not very glamorous! I start my morning by making coffee and practicing meditation for about 20 minutes. I make sure that I write every day, so I usually spend the rest of the morning writing about new

I wrote an article with my advisor (Roland Griffiths, PhD) and my wife (Mary ‘Bit’ Yaden, MD) that describes a bunch of my worries about psychedelic research and use. Basically, I’m worried that there will be a lack of the necessary amount of care with psychedelics. These are really powerful psychological experiences that we’re talking about. The biggest challenge that I see is getting people to slow down and think carefully and realistically by paying attention to what the scientific evidence has to say. In general, we’ve already seen during the 1960s how psychedelic research and recreational use can go wrong and lead us to a dead end. We have an opportunity as a society to treat psychedelics with more respect this time around. My recommendation is to stick to what the science says. The full article is available at by visiting JamaNetwork.com and searching for “Psychedelics in Psychiatry—Keeping the Renaissance From Going Off the Rails”.

What has been your most shocking or unexpected finding in your work at Johns Hopkins? One of the early findings from psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins continues to blow my mind. Roland Griffiths and his colleagues found that in a sample of people who were given psilocybin in a supportive setting, twothirds of them reported that the experience was among the top five most meaningful experiences of their entire lives. In other words, people who took psilocybin and laid down on a couch with eyeshades for a few hours said that the experience was almost as meaningful as events like graduating, getting married, or the birth of a child. That, to me, is an absolutely amazing fact and the findings have been replicated in many studies since.

STORY by BARRON WOLFE @BARRON.WOLFE/LEAF NATION | PHOTO by ERIC KAYNE @PHOTOKAYNE | ILLUSTRATION by MR. MELTY @MR.MELTY

the PSYCHEDELIA issue leafmagazines.com

Mar. 2021

INTEGRATIVE AND HEALING KETAMINE THERAPY dr. radu kramer

onsidered a wonder-drug since its origins as the most common anesthetic used by our soldiers on the battlefields of Vietnam, Ketamine has been utilized to save the lives of people and animals for decades – but has also received criticism for its illicit recreational use. As mentioned in The Harvard Health Blog, when it comes to modern day psychiatric therapy, intravenous Ketamine treatment is the proverbial “new kid on the block” for depression management, and even suicide prevention.

Dr. Radu Kramer is a nephrologist and internist who began incorporating Ketamine into his practice in 2019, and has practiced integrative medicine as a medical doctor for more than 25 years. Integrative medicine, or in Radu’s mind, “just medicine,” is considered to be a broader approach to evaluating and treating a person. As he explains, “Physical, genetic, immunologic and psychological elements must be diligently evaluated in order to identify a correct diagnosis. The treatment will focus on the cause of the disease whenever available, and will expand to involve the whole person. Mental health disorders alter the balance of the immune system. A less competent immune system does not resist or fight infectious diseases as well, generates inflammation, allows autoimmune conditions to develop and increases the risk of malignancies.” Many patients, close family members, and even Dr. Kramer himself suffer from depression and anxiety at times - which makes these exciting developments crucially important in more ways than one. “It’s a pleasure talking with you about Ketamine, as it has gained reputation in the management of treatment-resistant mental health disorders,” Dr. Kramer told The Leaf. “The intense pain associated with these conditions cannot be appropriately understood by those who have not experienced it. Unfortunately, the current conventional psychiatric therapies, while initially effective, tend to have limited and inconsistent long-term benefits and come with side effects, sometimes difficult to tolerate.”

HERE TO HELP HEAL

To better respond to those asking for his help, Dr. Kramer has taken several courses in psychopharmacology, participated in numerous meetings on newer therapeutic modalities in psychiatric disorders, and has attempted to remain current with any significant advances in this field. “When the studies on the effect of Ketamine performed in major universities and hospitals were released, it became clear that its new mechanism of action comes with an advantage in the outcome of those suffering from treatment-resistant depression (TRD), chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), addictions and chronic migraines,” he said. For over 20 years, he and his team have been providing intravenous infusions with antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins and glutathione to decrease inflammation and enhance the function of the immune system. Plugging Ketamine into the equation was a turn-key process, but as Dr. Kramer explained, it needed slight modifications. “We prepared the office for Ketamine infusions by creating an environment where patients have additional privacy, and at the same time, can be monitored.” Potentially there could be serious side effects with anesthesia inducing drugs that’s why it is important to have such infusions performed in the presence of a medical doctor, other trained professionals, and in an appropriate environment.” The therapy also may not cure everyone’s depression and anxiety, as Dr. Kramer discovered through his own personal trials. In his case, his unpleasant feelings actually increased – but he admits he didn’t follow through with the same protocol he gives to his patients. “My personal experience is a constant reminder that everyone needs an objective guide through the therapy,” he said.

REDEFINING KETAMINE

For the past two years, Dr. Kramer and his team have conducted hundreds of Ketamine infusions for all the conditions previously mentioned. As he explained, “Ketamine is an anesthetic, but when used in subanesthetic doses, works more like a psychedelic substance

and has been proven beneficial in several mental health disorders, where conventional treatments were not nearly as effective. The fact that this represents over 50% of patients treated for depression, in the 21st century, is scary.” While there can be confusion over what to call Ketamine, it is officially classified as a dissociative – still, the inner workings of the substance remain elusive. “The precise mechanisms of action for “I believe that the reintroduction of Ketamine remain the other psychedelics, under the unknown,” Dr. Kramer explained. “We undersupervision of well-trained therapists stand that it stimulates and physicians, will forever transform glutamate, which is a the rudimentary modalities still in use neurotransmitter, meaning that it contributes today to manage mental illness.” to the transmission of a nerve impulse – like serotonin, dopamine, GABA and acetylcholine. The most common side effects are drowsiness, nausea, muscle spasms, blurred vision, hallucinations and confusion. Generally these effects resolve spontaneously over a few hours following an infusion.” At a time when we are being faced with increasing suicide rates, Dr. Kramer specifically noted the Harvard study that showed Ketamine’s ability to treat suicidal levels of depression, highlighting the instantaneous effect of the substance on the patient. “The impact on depression is practically instant, unlike any other treatment, and that is the reason it can change the desire to leave this world due to the enormous pain and hopelessness that often is associated with depression,” he said. “The fact that one can experience painlessness within minutes, gives those desiring an end of their sufferance by ending their lives a sense of hope, and their perception actually changes. The initial effect may last from a few hours to a few days. That is why we recommend building up a more predictable response, which requires six infusions over a period of two to three weeks. If the response is positive, we transfer the patients to Esketamine, which is a nasal spray and has essentially the same effect as intravenously-infused Ketamine.”

A MATTER OF ACCESS

Due to the fact that so few doctors are offering this treatment to their patients, medical Ketamine therapy can be difficult to gain access to – yet its availability on the black market makes it common at festivals and in clubs around the globe. When asked about recreational Ketamine use, Dr. Kramer said, “As a physician who pays a lot of attention to the Ketamine dosing, tolerability and benefits to patients with mental health disorders, it is difficult to endorse unsupervised use of Ketamine – as the risk of more profound anesthesia exists and the availability of life support mechanisms does not.” In other words, if you took too much, it could lead to needing medical attention that might not be available. “It is unfortunate that not enough physicians are open-minded enough … I believe that the reintroduction of the other psychedelics under the supervision of well-trained therapists and physicians will forever transform the rudimentary modalities still in use today to manage mental illness,” he concluded. “I have to point out how important it is to put an end to the primitive stigma associated with mental health that is quite alive in society and in families. The shame of being judged or ridiculed has prevented too many from getting help, and pushed them to suicide as the only solution to end the unbearable pain associated with major depression.” ComprehensiveHealingMD.com

STORY by BARRON WOLFE @BARRON.WOLFE/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by SCOTT SEMLER @SWEATER.BOY | ILLUSTRATION by MR. MELTY @MR.MELTY

the PSYCHEDELIA issue leafmagazines.com

READING ENERGY

he world has spent the last year on house arrest. But instead of wearing a tracking collar, your ball and chain is a face mask. And if we’ve learned anything from watching horror movies for the past several generations, concealing one’s identity is a practice utilized by bank robbers, guerrilla taggers and Marvel villains. Some heroes wear masks, but at least you can see their mouths. And you can learn a lot from a person’s mouth. BUT WE ARE currently at a social disadvantage, unable to access the cues that facial gestures afford us in public interaction. Having become accustomed our entire lives to relying on our eyes as code sensors, determining true meaning through language is a vital nuance for accurate interpretation. So, hearing only a person’s voice offers limited perspective, and therefore, without the telltale crease in the corner of a mouth, the slight flare of the nostrils or the brightness of teeth, it is difficult to harmonize the limited data for an authentic read. What we are missing is subtle punctuation that relays intent. Because we lean heavily on the subconscious to guide our judgement, whether we are aware of it or not, these are the clues that lend comprehension to the charge of people’s words, be it negative or positive – which is paramount to our success as a species. And although there is a range of tactics we employ (albeit many dysfunctional), the one common goal we share is to procure love. Love directs everything we do – the way we dress, the way we work, the way we communicate. Love is as vital to our existence as food and water. It is what drives people to thrive. Without it, life is pointless. From the moment we enter the world, conditioning is imparted, marginalizing the spirit with borders and barriers, rules and institutions. Boys wear blue, girls wear pink. Go to school to learn the system, worship a higher power, work, provide, pay, repeat – until you get your Social Security and an RV to see the country roads of president carved

BY MIKE RICKER

These are the Soaring ‘20s, where open minds will save the planet.”

Mar. 2021

mountainsides and other national monuments that reinforce your indoctrination. Die and pass along your savings in hopes that your legacy will one day jump socioeconomic classes. We are born on the farm and the fences are high. There are some, however, who insist upon knowing their personal truth. That with which they were born – to rediscover the genuine soul inside the skin suit that needs a deeper meaning to reality prior to being manipulated into a societal role. And the more perceptive we become to the natural world, the more the answers to living a happy, fulfilling life will be revealed. And what connects everything we know is magnetism. Reading energy is the attempt to understand magnetism, or to harness the flow.

Flow is being in the zone, fully conscious and optimal, and this is where your potential shines. Psychedelics (Cannabis arguably being a light one) can heighten our ability to observe this magnetism from a place of humility, allowing the mind to break free of the perpetual static and oblige the instinct to interpret the language of the universe from the conscious level. This can relinquish the tension of the subconscious, which is what we all want – for this to get easier, lighter, less stressful. This is the reason we call Cannabis medicine. In the Amazon, ayahuasca is referred to with the same respect. And we know that much of the world’s sail is catching the wind of this plant-based decriminalization movement, as the galvanizing of fresh thoughts returns us to the origin from which we were originally derived – that being the soil. So, don’t worry too much about the mask. Because this is the beginning of a change. These are the Soaring ‘20s, where open minds will save the planet. And the more adept you get at letting go of your preconceptions – the dogma you’ve been saddled with since birth – the more the intuition will supersede the bad habits of applying useless labels and definitions to your world. Everything you need is here. You are provided for, just as a mollusk attached to a rock in the surf is brought the sustenance it needs. Your perception is what is holding you back and natural medicine can be a valuable tool to assist in breaking down walls that are blocking the view to the double rainbow. And when you see it, you will cry with joy.

ILLUSTRATION by MR. MELTY @MR.MELTY

PSYCHEDELIC LEGISLATION

ike mycelium branching out beneath the damp forest floor, the movement to legalize entheogens and psychedelic compounds continues to propagate across the country. Sparked, no doubt, by the fact that Cannabis ended up being a zero-downside game for the public health and for the states’ tax revenue streams in legalized markets, the concept of plant and mushroom based recreation and therapy continues to lose its stigma. The movement has thrived beneath the surface for decades. Spiritual seekers and merry pranksters have fought this fight ever since the U.S. Government sought to criminalize and weaponize psychedelics in the 20th century.

IN RECENT YEARS, those underground tendrils started popping up above the surface, bearing fruit and spreading spores on the winds. In 2019, Oakland, Calif. and Denver, Colo. became the first cities in the country to decriminalize psilocybin-producing mushrooms, scoring a huge victory for myco-nauts and practitioners of entheogenic therapy. Then, in 2020, Washington, D.C. – the heartbeat of the country – voted to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, meaning a person could arguably trip out while wandering around the Washington Monument without worrying about being arrested. On the other side of the country, Oregon decriminalized all drugs, and – even more importantly for entheogenic therapy – voted to legalize psilocybin for use in a therapeutic setting. That’s the big word here: LEGALIZE. In decriminalized areas, psychedelics remain illegal but law enforcement is directed to not pursue arrests or convictions. Legalization means that not only will you not be arrested for psychedelics, but you can’t even get a “no tripping” ticket. That wedge in the door means the legalization movements for psilocybin and other psychedelic compounds are ripe for huge gains in the coming years. In the wake of those pioneering states and municipalities, other regions are starting to look at decriminalization as a first step toward building acceptance of entheogenic compounds. California State Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, told the SF Chronicle that he plans to introduce legislation in 2021 that will effectively decriminalize psychedelics throughout the state. On the East Coast, lawmakers in New York are fighting to decriminalize psychedelics, as Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal introduced legislation in 2020 to remove psilocybin from Schedule I of New York’s list of controlled substances. On a hyper-local level, the City Council of Somerville, Mass. voted to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi in January of this year.

While the fight for legalized Cannabis continues to rage on, it’s becoming clear that psychedelics are the next thing. Larger and larger companies within and without the Cannabis industry are starting to move beyond the exploratory phase, and into the non-psychedelic mycological therapy space – no doubt in a move to set up standards, build out supply chains and begin to gauge consumer interest in mycological products. A Bloomberg report in December 2020 showed that the psychedelic market has been gaining traction with the venture capital sector, attracting many of the same investment firms that seeded the Cannabis industry. And powerhouse Cannabis companies are starting to enter the mycology space, such as Cookies in California, which recently released its Caps by Cookies line – which blends terpenes and cannabinoids with non-psychedelic, organic mushrooms. When looked at on the whole, all of these pieces add up to give us a view of where the entheogenic movement is going, and where it’s taking us. And that looks to be a bright, shimmery, trippily beautiful future.

While the fight for legalized Cannabis continues to rage on, it’s becoming clear that psychedelics are the next thing. STORY by TOM BOWERS @PROPAGATECONSULTANTS/LEAF NATION | ILLUSTRATION by MR. MELTY @MR.MELTY

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edible of the month

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Evergreen Herbal has been pioneering Cannabis drinks for years, but this might be the crown jewel of drinkable deliciousness.

MAR. 2021

F O RE VE RG RE E N H E RB AL.COM @E VE RG RE E N_H ER BAL

EVERGREEN HERBAL Quarantine and chill is so 2020, and so is the ability to drink away our pandemic blues with alcohol, coffee and milkshakes – which has left the Leaf on a hunt for a spring drink that gets us baked in healthful fashion. Please don’t judge me if your liquid coping diet has been different, because there are really no bad decisions as long as they deliver the sweet release of dopamine and a moment of bliss with each sip. Alas, the sugar and booze hangovers are all too real and after a year of struggle, it’s time to embrace a drink with more positive benefits. Here enters HiLite infused beverages, just in time to save our bikini bodies for the summer wave of freedom that is coming closer with each vaccinated human. The first sip of the mango HiLite delivered the freshest nectar in a full fruit experience, no cutting required. There’s also nothing artificial tasting in these totally sweet (and sugar-free) drinks, with a light carbonation that sizzles without overwhelming the palate. Evergreen Herbal has been pioneering Cannabis drinks for years, but this might be the crown jewel of drinkable deliciousness. And with 100mg of THC and CBD, this drink will light you up – from a single serving to the whole bottle, or wherever your selfprescribed COVID coping prescription dials in your buzz for the day. In all seriousness, the Cannabis market has been all too lacking in sugar-free options. Nobody wants to consume sugar just to get high, and many people don’t want or can’t have sugar at all – making most edibles out of reach for those with specific dietary needs. We are really excited that these options exist, and with delicious flavors that don’t taste fake or like weed, these are perfect for any occasion that sipping on Cannabis calls for. Featuring delicious flavors like berry or strawberry lemonade backing up the fruity mango, there is an easily mixable option to brighten up a mock/cocktail, or to splash into some morning orange juice for an extra sweet start to the day. Thanks to the full benefit of CBD and THC, plus added antioxidants, Evergreen Herbal has created a healthy Cannabis beverage that tastes naughty – with a worthy buzz to back it all up.

REVIEW by WES ABNEY @BEARDEDLORAX | PHOTO by DANIEL BERMAN @BERMANPHOTOS & MIKE RICKER @RICKERDJ

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coffee & cannabis LEAFMAGAZINES.COM

COFFEE & MILK +

FRENCH TOAST CRUNCH When it comes to craft consumables like Cannabis and coffee, you’re bound to encounter a certain level of pretension. For whatever reason, an abundance of choice tends to breed some egotism or self-importance from brands, as well as the discerning recommendation of your local budtender/barista. But we shouldn’t let potential judgment from some coffee snob or daily dabber stop us from enjoying things the way we prefer them.

ometimes there is nothing wrong with time-tested procedure. As the old adage goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So rather than suffer through another five dollar pourover of black coffee just because it’s the ‘respectful’ thing to do, pour some milk in there and roll up one of those great strains named after a youthful sweet – ideally French Toast Crunch from Fire Bros. I’ll be honest, I’ve been guilty of it myself: I was once the pompous presence behind the espresso counter. Fresh out of high school, I thought I was hot stuff drinking free-trade black coffee by the French press-full, in an apron two sizes too small. I’d roll my eyes and scoff like any self-respecting hipster, as I’d make people ask for cream even after they had made it a point to ask for ‘room’ at the register. “Why are you such a jerk about milk?” my manager asked me one day. I didn’t really know. “Well cut it out!” she demanded. “Just because you can’t taste the deeper notes of coffee without it being black, doesn’t mean others can’t.” She was absolutely right. Brewed coffee should be experienced and appreciated to a person’s preferences – whether that be unadulterated or with a splash of milk and a spoonful of sugar. There’s a simple reason people started adding these things to their morning cup: They just enjoy it better that way. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Apart from cooling down coffee to a manageable temperature immediately, milk makes your brewed beverage smoother and creamier. In fact, it can bring out entirely different aspects of the coffee that might be otherwise unachievable without it. With a similarly misguided stiltedness, I’ve had a tendency to avoid Girl Scout Cookies-based strains. For me, the effects were generally lacking and I smoke for the high, not for the lingering dessert aftertaste. But if you get too caught up in your own turgid opinions, you’ll never have the opportunity to be proven wrong – such is the case with French Toast Crunch. The maple and roasted flavors that you would expect are obvious

MAR. 2021

Coffee with milk and French Toast Crunch make for excellent companions on a calm but rambling morning walk. when you stop staring and finally light these high quality, frosted buds. But this is not your average after-dinner treat. An anytime indica, French Toast Crunch is more mentally stimulating than you would anticipate, with the perfect level of warm and embracing euphoria. Coffee with milk and French Toast Crunch make for excellent companions on a calm but rambling morning walk, occasionally idling in the warming spring sun. Other activities that are complemented by this Cannabis and

coffee pair would be ‘Marie-Kondoing’ your wardrobe, or as the final course of your weekly at-home dinner date with your partner. It can be hard not to be swayed by the judgmental eye behind the bar, but after this last year, there is no more time to waste putting on airs. Enjoy your Cannabis and coffee how you want, not how you think other people expect you to. FIREBROS206.COM @FIREBROS

STORY & PHOTO by TJ GAGNIER @TJGAGNIER for NORTHWEST LEAF

company profile

GREEN REVOLUTION How the edible maker went from dominating Washington state’s tincture market to making moves into the Golden State.

leafmagazines.com

AT GREEN REVOLUTION, thinking outside of the box is an ethos that extends far beyond what packaging materials to purchase. Formed in 2015 by Leo Shlovsky and Edward Lafferty, the company quickly gained major market share with innovative products like watersoluble tinctures and an environment-first approach to doing business. After making their mark up north in Washington state, sustainably-minded manufacturing powerhouse Green Revolution is starting to clean up in California as well. STO RY b y ZAC K RUS KI N @ ZAC K RUS KI N for N O RT H W E ST LEA F

mar. 2021

IN 2020,

the company took another big step by opening up operations in California. Speaking by phone with California Leaf, Green Revolution Sales and Marketing Director Joe Derr (right ) said the mission for the company today is the same one that has guided it from the very beginning. “For us, it all started with wellness,” Derr explained. “The reason we’re in the industry is to really change people’s lives. I think it always starts with the customer and paying attention to what they need and delivering on that. If you can really focus just purely on that, the rest will come.” SOMETHING IN THE WATER

Green Revolution’s first splash in the Washington state market was a water-soluble tincture that dissolves in any liquid upon contact. “Essentially, it took the tincture and the beverage categories and merged them into one,” he said. “Whatever you want to call it, it’s a product that’s uniquely positioned for both categories and it was a foundational product for us.” The company then released a CBD-dominant version, called Relief. But this was back in 2016, long before CBD’s ascent into the mainstream. “It was an absolute game-changer,” Derr noted, “because it was real, full-spectrum Cannabis oil. That took off for us too.” Today, Green Revolution has the top-selling tincture in the Washington market. In fact, they’ve actually been responsible for seven of the state’s 10 top selling tinctures over the past three years. In total, Washingtonians can now choose from over 120 different Green Revolution products across 11 categories. And in 2020, they decided it was time to let California join the party. GREEN IN THE GOLDEN STATE

It was just over a year ago that Green Revolution became a California resident. But finding a handful of small, family-run Cannabis farms using organic, regenerative practices to partner with in California did not prove to be an easy task. It’s one Derr had already encountered during his efforts to foster similar relationships with farmers in Washington. That’s because both there and in California, Green Revolution op-

ing up out of nowhere. It takes a bit of relationship building. It took about a year to develop one solid relationship.” But prudent patience has not deterred Green Revolution from making some noise in its first year in California. Even with the challenges of COVID-19 to contend with, the company has managed to stay busy. Thus far, they’ve released nearly 40 products into the market – with plans to up that number to over 100 by August. In the interim, their first items to land are already earning rave reviews. IF YOU KNOW BETTER, THEN DO BETTER

2020 was mostly awful, but it did feature a few bright spots for Green Revolution. In the fall, they took home “Best Tincture” at California’s WEEDCon Cup for Deep Rest (a tincture made with an all-organic, non-GMO avocado oil base and a formulated ratio of CBD, THC and CBN). Meanwhile, the brand’s all-organic real fruit juice Doozie gummies nabbed “Best Edible” honors at both the Seattle Sun Cup and Washington’s Craft Cannabis Cup. At the same time, Green Revolution continues work on its California operations, which includes finishing the build on its two-facility Palm Springs headquarters. According to Derr, one of the operation’s marquee attractions is a two-story building which will soon 55 house “one of the fastest beverage lines in Cannabis.” The company has also become a trendsetter in transparency by being among the first brands in California to embrace packaging with QR codes linked to proderates not as a vertical company, but instead as uct testing reports. a one-stop extraction-manufacturing-distribution “When we came in a year ago and started doing hub in partnership with a select number of small that,” Derr recalled, “there were only two or three othfamily farmers. er companies doing it. Now there are probably over “We’re creating, essentially, an ecosystem of 100. There are a lot of companies small farmers,” Derr said. Ev e n w i t h t h e watching us.” “And we will only work with c ha l l e n g e s o f COVI D-19 Acknowledging the bright and buy from them, which t o c o nt e n d w i t h , t h e spotlight that has shone on Green ensures there’s systematic, c o m p a n y ha s ma n a g e d Revolution since it first came to sustainable, consistent purt o s t a y b u s y. Th u s prominence, Derr noted that part chases being made to really f ar, the y ’ ve r ele ase d of the responsibility of being a support these farmers who n e a r l y 4 0 p r o d u c t s i nt o leader on environmental issues is are aligning with us.” t h e ma r k e t – w i t h p l a n s always looking to see where you Building such trust can t o u p t ha t n u m b e r t o can improve too. also require substantial o v e r 10 0 b y Au g u s t . “If you know better, then do patience, which Derr enbetter. That goes on every level, countered as he began to including Green Revolution. We have so many imseek out farming partners for Green Revolution’s provements to make.” California products. One area Green Revolution is looking to address “California was quite a bit trickier,” he said, right away: more environmentally-friendly packaging. “because it’s a multi-generational thing, but “We’ve sold millions and millions of units, and we there’s also that old-school mentality of not really want to do our part to continuously improve.” wanting to expand your network past a certain But in the true spirit of Green Revolution, words are point.” but the conduit to concrete action. Such difficulties were only amplified when Derr “One improvement that you’ll see this year, in Caliwent to visit the remote, tight-lipped environment fornia,” Derr continued, “is that we’re shifting to more of Humboldt and the Emerald Triangle. sustainable sources for packaging. We’ve still got a “Up there, it can feel like you’re on an island,” few product lines to work on, but we are currently he explained. “And that separation made it hard making a huge shift. We know that this to reach them. Also, a lot of these farmers have is incredibly important, especially in been pretty screwed over in the past. They’ve had terms of the impact this industry is going GREENREVOLUTION.COM experiences up there where they’ve had people @EXPGREENREV to have. What California companies do try to rob them and whatnot, so it requires a bit of @EXPGREENREVOLUTION is going to set the tone for the world.” trust, especially if you’re a bald guy like me show-

PHOTOS by GREEN REVOLUTION

GLASS ART

EDM(ENERGY DISC MIB When and how did you two first meet?

Darby and I met in 2000 at Studio G, which is the shop that I started glass at. About six months in, in June 2000, I got invited to watch Darby work at his home studio. He was making a rad bong and a slide. We may have met before that also, because our parents were friends.

What sparked the idea to create this EDM collaboration? Darby and I have made at

least one of almost all of the designs I currently make, and we hadn’t made an EDM until this one. EDM stands for Energy Disc Mib – it’s three of my designs in one.

How have psychedelics helped you achieve a higher level of consciousness? How have they inspired your bodies of work? I have a special connection with mushrooms because of a life-changing trip I had when I was 17. I would most definitely not be the man I am today without them.

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@eusheen | @darbyholmglass

“I have a special connection with mushrooms because of a life-changing trip I had when I was 17.“ -Eusheen

ART BY EUSHEEN X DARBY MAR. 2021

INTERVIEW by MAX EARLY @LIFTED_STARDUST/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by SAMUEL FARLEY @THC_SAMUEL

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The Hippie Mafia It’s impossible to overstate the influence and impact of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love when discussing the history of Cannabis or psychedelics in America. Between 1965 and 1972, the Brotherhood emerged as the largest soft drug syndicate on earth – earning them the notorious nickname “The Hippie Mafia.” They smuggled tons of weed and hashish, then used the profits to produce and distribute tens of millions of doses of LSD – including the infamous Orange Sunshine, for which they’re best known. And it all began with a handful of teenage stoners in Laguna Beach… THE BROTHERHOOD BEGINS Travis Ashbrook was an enterprising young surfer from Orange County who loved weed so much that by the age of 17, he was smuggling kilos in from Tijuana. In 1964, he met a fellow pot dealer named Johnny Griggs. Griggs was a well-known boozer, brawler, and heroin user … but after robbing a stash of LSD from the home of a Hollywood producer and taking

MAR. 2021

The Brotherhood of Eternal Love was a group of sacred psychedelic warriors on a mission to turn on the world.

his first trip, he had a spiritual epiphany. He returned the stolen acid, gave up his gangbanger ways, and became a psychedelic evangelist. Believing that LSD was the ultimate tool for human enlightenment, Griggs – along with his wife Carol, friends Michael Randall, Ricky and Ron Bevans, Chuck Mundell, Travis and a few others – formed a new religion dedicated to peace, love and turning on the world – which Mundell christened “The Brotherhood of Eternal Love.” In October 1966, the Brotherhood incorporated as a nonprofit, rented an old stone house in Modjeska Canyon, and began holding psychedelic ceremonies. The following year they opened a huge psychedelic emporium on South Coast Highway called Mystic Arts World, soon dubbed by locals as “Haight Ashbury South.” With the hordes of hippies moving into the area, they took over a small neighborhood off Laguna Canyon Road, which Griggs nicknamed Dodge City. The area became such an LSD hotspot that by winter 1967, even acid guru Timothy Leary came to live there with them. To achieve their sacred mission of turning on the world, the Brotherhood would need to make a ton of acid – and to do that, they’d need money. The fastest way to fund their psychic revolution, they decided, was by smuggling marijuana and hashish. That’s where Travis came in. “I was the hash guy,” Ashbrook attests with a smile. “That was my thing.”

ORANGE SUNSHINE In spring 1968, Griggs moved their inner circle (including Leary) to a big ranch he bought near Idyllwild. That August, the Brotherhood handed out dosed juice at the Newport Pop Festival and was visited by counterculture celebrities like Ken Kesey and The Moody Blues. But the most consequential connection they made that summer was with chemists Nick Sand and Tim Scully, who enlisted the Brotherhood to become the exclusive distributors of their ultra-potent new LSD, which Griggs named Orange Sunshine. Within a month, they cranked out over 4 million hits, and demand showed no sign of slowing. Practically overnight, Orange Sunshine became a household name … and the Brotherhood’s new trademark.

DION WRIGHT

THE HASH GUY In winter 1967, Travis and Ricky left on an epic two-month hash quest: flying through New York to Luxembourg, hopping a train to Munich, then driving through Austria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Iran, before finally arriving in Afghanistan. There – at a fruit stand in Kandahar – they met the Tokhi brothers, who offered them the deal of a lifetime: four dollars per kilo for the best hash in the world. “We’d come there planning to get 10 kilos, but ended up trading them the car for 50 kilos,” Ashbrook says. “We bought a bunch of antique musical instruments and stuffed them with the hash, then packed it all up with some furs in a big crate and shipped it back to California as unaccompanied baggage.” Once back home, a single pound of the hash sold for four times what they’d paid for the entire 88-pound haul! The deal was so lucrative that Travis started shipping loads back from Kandahar every six months. That went on for years, with loads eventually reaching up to 500 pounds per run.

On August 5, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs executed “Operation BEL” – the largest drug raid in American history – resulting in 57 arrests and the seizure of around $8 million in drugs. The Hippie Mafia was no more.

Timothy & Rosemary Leary with Brotherhood founder John Griggs, 1968.

Brotherhood and friends at Mystic Arts World reunion, 2015.

The Brotherhood’s wanted poster.

JERRY KRECICKI

1,300 pounds of hash in Portland, OrAshbrook was egon – the largest quantity ever seized inducted into in the U.S. A month later, another 729 To achieve their sacred High Times’ pounds were seized in Vancouver. DECLINE AND FALL Counterculture mission of turning on Then on August 5, the Bureau of NarIn 1969, however, their utopian hippie Hall of Fame cotics and Dangerous Drugs executed dream began to disintegrate. First, the world, the Brotherhood at the 2011 “Operation BEL” – the largest drug raid Travis got busted when Customs agents would need to make a ton of in American history – resulting in 57 Cannabis Cup. discovered 20 pounds of hash inside two acid – and to do that, they’d arrests and the seizure of around $8 hollowed-out surfboards he’d shipped need money. The fastest way to million in drugs. The Hippie Mafia was back from Afghanistan. Then, that no more. summer, Mystic Arts World was mysterifund their psychic revolution, After 11 years on the lam, the law ously burned to the ground. After that, they decided, was by smuggling finally caught up with Travis on October Ricky’s underage girlfriend accidentally marijuana and hashish. 16, 1980, when he was arrested at drowned while tripping – causing Leary to Houston International Airport on a flight be arrested for child endangerment and to the Cayman Islands carrying $270,000 in cash. He was charged the ranch to be raided. Worst of all, though, on August 3, under the RICO “Kingpin” law for 36 counts from Operation BEL Griggs suddenly died of an accidental overdose of synthetic – carrying a penalty of life without parole and confiscation of all psilocybin, calling the future of the Brotherhood into quesproperties. After cutting a deal, he received just 18 years, of which tion. Five months later, Leary was sentenced to 20 years on he served 11 before being released in 1991. pot possession charges. (The following year, the Brotherhood enlisted the help of leftist radicals the Weathermen to bust EPILOGUE him out of prison). Travis and the surviving Brothers are all free and fine now. In November 2011, they With their two spiritual leaders gone, and a prison term flew to Amsterdam where they were inducted into High Times’ Counterculture Hall of pending, Ashbrook and a few other Brothers skipped town Fame at the Cannabis Cup. A book about their exploits entitled “Orange Sunshine” was and migrated to Maui, where he continued smuggling – sailpublished in 2010, followed by a documentary of the same name in 2018. A dramatic ing 5,000 pounds of weed in from Guadalajara on a schooseries about the Brotherhood by the same director (William Kirkley) is also currently in ner called the Aafje (pronounced “Affie,” like Afghanistan). It the works. Despite all of the trials and tribulations, Ashbrook remains proud of his past. was from this load of primo Mexi weed, crossed with seeds “We wanted to turn the world on, we were dedicated to our cause, and we knew time from an Afghani load, that the legendary Maui Wowie strain would prove us right,” he affirms. “We were true outlaws, and we made our mark.” was later bred. Travis had a second load planned, but was again forced to flee when he learned he’d lost the appeal on his surfboard conviction. For more on the Brotherhood, listen to Episode #7 of our podcast at worldofCannabis.museum/podcast. In 1972, the last of the Brotherhood’s entheogenic empire Story and photos originally published on worldofcannabis.museum and reprinted with permission. came crashing down. In January, the Feds busted a load of

STORY & PHOTO ILLUSTRATION by BOBBY BLACK @CANNTHROPOLOGY for LEAF NATION

stoney baloney

by Mike Ricker

THE BODIES EXHIBIT

ON SHROOMS Y

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ou want to know if I did it. Of course not, are you out of your fucking mind? I understand that the title may have revved your imagination, but no person of sound mind would, or should ever, attempt such a psychotic journey into the darkest recesses of one’s essential nature for any reason. The mental stability of a thrill-seeking individual bent on this ultimate experiment would have to be seriously questioned, save for maybe that deranged whack job from “The Human Centipede.” I mean, if you have some morbid desire to screw yourself up with self-inflicted behavior modifications that are way beyond normal rationale – so that for the rest of your life when you look at a sandwich what you really see is a bummed-out prisoner’s dissected cerebellum between two slices of bread – be my guest. But this is something not even recommended for sickos like Marylin Manson. Throughout history, people have purposefully endeavored ridiculous feats – like Evel Knievel attempting to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket cycle, Hunter S. Thompson infiltrating a District Attorney’s convention on a full dropper of liquid LSD, and the insurgent QAnon guy in the horned fur cap charging the Capitol to steal the vote back for the Donald. But thankfully, instinct has provided a built-in dipshit button that prevents most of us from doing irreparable damage to mind, body and soul. So, understand that in the attempt at heightening your misadventures by way of dual integration, realize that there are some things that will never mix: whiskey and ice cream, Jeffrey Lebowski in Malibu, and The Bodies Exhibit on mushrooms. A sneaky, succulent vape toke of Green Crack before a rip through Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride? You already know.

mar. 2021

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