Robert Forte has traveled the psychedelic path over the past 45 years, an adventure in consciousness that has taken him to very far and deeply personal realms. He has been a student, a researcher, a producer and a distributor of forbidden drugs, taught at university and graduate level. Robert has done field work in South America and had close personal relationships with many of the most significant instigators of the various psychedelic movements of our time. He considers that it is time we cultivate discernment of these several movements and to move the beneficent properties and effects of these drugs to the fore, while we separate ourselves from those who exploit them for deceptive or nefarious agendas. 

Episode Highlights

• Exploring the modern psychedelic movement's origins
• Robert Forte's journey into the psychedelic realm
• The Psychedelic Renaissance and its implications
• Robert's early experiences with psychedelics
• The role of psychedelics in ancient civilizations
• The dark side of psychedelics
• The true story of Timothy Leary
• Controversies surrounding MDMA
• The future of psychedelics
• Psychedelics and consciousness expansion
• Legalization and sovereign rights
• The industrial complex and psychedelics
• The possible influence of psychedelics on political figures such as JFK
• The impact of psychedelics on political activism
• The weaponization of the term 'Conspiracy Theory'
• The future of psychedelics and the Anti-War Movement

Robert Forte’s Links 

• Website: www.alteredstatesofamerica.net
• Facebook: Robert Forte

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Book: Timothy Leary: Outside Looking In: Appreciations, Castigations, and Reminiscences by Ram Dass, Andrew Weil, Allen Ginsberg, Winona Ryder, William ... Huston Smith, Hunter S. Thompson, and Others by Robert Forte
• Book: The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness by Alan Watts
• Book: How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
• Book: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Book: The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley
• Book: The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia by Alfred W. McCoy
• Book: Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion by Gary Webb
• Book: The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name by Brian C. Muraresku
• Book: The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries by R. Gordon Wasson
• Book: Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace by Peter Janney
• Book: Flashacks: An Autobiography by Timothy Leary
• Photo Essay: Seeking the Magic Mushroom by R. Gordon Wasson
• Speech: President John F. Kennedy’s Commencement Address at American University
• Video documentary: Giving LSD to Soldiers