In this episode Cody talks about how his documentary called Plants Vs. Pills transformed to become The Awakened Underground. Cody Also interviews Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu from Johns Hopkins. 

Albert Garcia-Romeu, Ph.D. is a member of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Guest Researcher at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Neuroimaging Research Branch. His research examines the effects of psychedelics in humans, with a focus on psilocybin as an aid in the treatment of addiction. He received his doctorate in Psychology in 2012 from Sofia University in Palo Alto, CA, where he studied self-transcendence and meditation, and their relationship to mental health. His current research interests include clinical applications of psychedelics, mindfulness, and altered states of consciousness and their underlying neurobiological mechanisms, real-world drug use patterns and impacts on public health, the role of spirituality in mental health and addiction, and use of qualitative and mixed methodologies towards investigating these areas.

Time stamps: 

0:06 - Disclaimer

1:50 - Cody tells the story of how Plants Vs. Pills became The Awakened Underground

15:39 - Intro: Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu

16:29 - Interview with Dr. Garcia-Romeu

20:38 - The evolution of anti-depressants

25:45 - The inherent narrative that comes with the term "neuro-chemical imbalance" 

35:30 - Yale research involving mice and psilocybin 

37:25 - psychedelic therapies for pain tolerance and relief

42:05 - Psychedelics pointing us towards a sense of wholeness, healing as a whole and what that means for the "cosmic community"

51:50 - passing on trauma through genetic mechanisms and generational trauma

1:00:16 - Conceptions surrounding religion and spirituality 

1:06:32 - Connecting to ourselves and to one another, and some risks and cautions regarding psychedelic medicines

1:09:37 - the medical model and other ways of working with psychedelic medicines

1:10:47 - the importance of having fun, and coming together to have a communal human experience 

1:13:18 - The modern fire ceremony and different types of ecstatic ritual

1:17:58 - Respect for indigenous cultures and the importance of an equitable movement

1:22:57 - Capitalism and a health care system predicated on the for-profit model 

1:42:00 - Psilocybin in incarceration settings for rehabilitation purposes

1:43:37 - Thinking in different ways about society, illness and psychedelics 

1:44:29 - What big medicines have healing applications in society? 

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