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T H E E N L I G H T E N E D VO I C E
THE ENLIGHTENED VOICE
#69 | MAR. 2020
ABOUT THE COVER
This month’s cover is a surreal and inspired depiction of a wonderful trip, the kind you hope for, the kind they describe in poetry and in fine films. Our first-ever Psychedelia Issue focuses on all the ways that humans interact with these miracle substances, and the cover reflects that beautiful, moving experience, for all to see. Cover Art by Brandon Palma FREE / OREGONLEAF.COM
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CONTRIBUTORS
PUBLISHER
Tom Bowers Features
WES ABNEY | founder & editor-in-chief wes@nwleaf.com 206-235-6721
Amanda Day Features Steve Elliott National News Will Ferguson Reviews Simone Fischer Profiles Danielle Halle Features
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Daniel bermaN | photography & design daniel@bermanphotos.com
STATE DIRECTOR
Matthew Meyers Opinion
max early | content production max@orleaf.com | 303-746-9067
Meghan Ridley Editing
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Pacer Stacktrain Features Laurie & Bruce Wolf Recipes
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ABNEY
Editor’s Note Thanks for picking up the first-ever Psychedelia Issue of Oregon Leaf! WHEN I FIRST BEGAN working with medical Cannabis in 2009, the idea of pot having value beyond getting stoned was both laughable and criminal to many. It was with great hope that I ventured into the world of medical Cannabis to prove the value of our plant, and today I feel the same way about the healing potential of psychedelics. To say we have a lot to fight for still with Cannabis is an understatement, and while it may seem funny for a decade old pot magazine to be dropping into psychedelics, I promise that we aren’t tripping balls over here. At least not right now! Psychedelics have been treated in the same vein as early Cannabis use, with fear and superstition leading the way instead of science, compassion and PSYCHEDELICS understanding. An entire class of drugs have been criminalized and locked HAVE BEEN TREATED IN out of society and science for the last 75 years! This has allowed modern THE SAME medicine to make major advances in the human body while completely VEIN AS EARLY ignoring the most fundamental part of our earthly experience - consciousness. CANNABIS USE, Modern science does not have an accurate definition of consciousness, WITH FEAR AND cannot tell us definitively where our spirit goes when put under anesthesia or SUPERSTITION during the dying experience, and the toolkit for exploring this realm has been LEADING THE hidden away. Let me make one thing clear: I believe we are spiritual beings WAY INSTEAD living in physical form. Whether Christian or Buddhist or Agnostic, to deny OF SCIENCE... consciousness is to deny life itself. And a life of unexplored consciousness is one not truly lived. Terence McKenna, an early and vocal proponent of Cannabis and psychedelia said, “Life lived in the absence of the psychedelic experience that primordial shamanism is based on is life trivialized, life denied, life enslaved to the ego.” Whether you have had a psychedelic experience or don’t ever intend to, there is research being conducted all over the world - both professionally and on an individual basis - pointing to the benefits of these drugs. Johns Hopkins Research Facility in Maryland recently restarted their psilocybin studies after a 30 year break over legality and funding, which we cover in this issue, alongside Time Magazine and mainstream media. In Switzerland, terminal patients and those seeking end of life therapy are using LSD to find peace with their existence ending on this plane, while ketamine and DMT are being used to help treat traumas and addiction from the jungles of Peru to laboratories in the United States. To say that there is potential for these substances is an understatement, and it all begins with perception. Humans fear what they don’t understand, and perhaps that is why we are all so fearful of death, the dogma of religion and our fundamental existence. My own psychedelic experiences have led me to find peace in all these areas - to open my spirit beyond my earthly flesh and ego to look forward positively to my journey - which will simply be taking a new path when I leave this body. But most of all, psychedelics have helped me to appreciate the moment, to see the natural beauty of the world around me, and to realize that everything can become a mandala if you are high enough. Thank you for picking up this issue, and I hope our stories help to open your mind to psychedelics. Remember that even if they aren’t for you, they are helping others, and nobody should be denied access to a medicine that makes life, or death, easier.
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-Wes Abney mar. 2020
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WES
