Karma Koala Podcast

An honour to speak with Rose one of the generation i read avidly about and, wished I was there, when back in my salad days.

She experienced psychedelics before the US govt decided to schedule them and then has spent her life working with psilocybin, educating and helping people.

She is , the real deal.

We talk solidly for half an hour on all issues psychedelic and the crossroads we now stand at in 2026 as legislatures discuss regulation, the medicalization of compounds as well as the fraught issue of companies wishing to monetize something beyond their comprehension.

For me, this, as they say, is one for the ages.

Rose does not suffer fools and presents concise and concrete arguments born of experience and learning, always with compassion, I hasten to add.

If we could somehow bottle her learning and share freely we might well be in a much better place than we currently are.

Thankyou Rose

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-297-rose-moulin-franco/

Great to talk to Juliana.

She’s just joined NY powerhouse cannabis law firm RLG (Rudick Law Group) and is based in Bogota.

She moved into the world of cannabis and law in Colombia a number of years ago on her Mom’s suggestion!

We discuss the country’s constitutional and regulatory approach to cannabis , how it relates on regulated cannabis to the big neighbor to the North as well as the giants below, Brazil & Argentina.

I hope you enjoy the discussion.

In this episode we were nominally talking about the rise of the influencer shaman, retreats and money money money but as always it’s psychedelics so off we head on various tangents.

But those tangents are leading to the same conclusion time again in my conversations with many of  those have played a part in the USA’s 20th & 21st century  psychedelic history and they are all saying the same thing. Put these compounds in boxes and try to make money out of them is not a wise path for humanity

I cam acroos Jim via this article in Lucid News

An Open Letter to Psychedelic Journalists

BY JIM TATE

JANUARY 7, 2026

Ilike writing about aspects of the psychedelic ecosystem, as well as interviewing people who I find interesting. I don’t consider myself a journalist in the classic sense simply because I am not objective. I have too many opinions and frequently sprinkle them throughout my work.

I’ve become aware of a troubling trend in the rise of a new breed of content creators: psychedelic journalists who are not only reporting on psychedelic issues but are also rapidly becoming high-profile influencers.

Historically, journalism has served as a critical, objective lens through which the public understands complex issues. In the realm of psychedelics, the past decade has seen an explosion of reporting on clinical trials, personal narratives, retreat centers, and policy reform. The digital age has blurred the boundaries between journalism and social media influence. Some journalists are now building personal brands, amassing large followings, and being tempted to monetize their platforms and receive other benefits without transparency. This shift is particularly pronounced in the psychedelic sphere, where the line between reporting, advocacy, and self-promotion is increasingly indistinct.

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-295-jim-tate-psychedelics-writer-thinker-podcaster-the-new-psychedelic-monetization-the-psychedelic-aristocracy-shamans-retreats-everywhere-you-look-all-is-not-well-in-th/

We dive in with Steve again and that wonderful age of innocence combined with India, European travels and back to the US to start high school and the discovery of you know what !

See photos at
https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-294-the-deangelo-chronicles-part-2-india-travels-through-europe-back-to-the-usa/

A very enjoyable conversation with Griffen.

We were going to talk about that EO prior to Christmas but both decided that was somewhat boring so just dived into the state of the cannabis industry in the US today and how state and federal politics play a much larger role in the industry than many commentators and industry “leaders” would like to openly admit.

Very refreshing to speak to someone working with the cannabis industry but not beholden to it.

The koalas thank Griffen for her openess and lack of fence sitting especially when it comes to discussing how much policy and legislation thinking in 2025 and 2026 in the US suggests an increasing bias towards the top end of town rather than the middle and those developing new business in the space from the ground up.

It’s a pattern being seen throughout the the US economy and won’t serve the country well over the longer term. As former Greek finance minister,Yanis Varoufakis,is arguing these days it looks more like a 21st century version of feudalism than capitalism as we understand it from a 20th century prism.


https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-293-griffin-basden-alpha-root/

The koalas are trying to speak to as many lawyers as possible who have been on a law journey in their professional life and a psychedelic journey in their private life and learn how and where to the two interconnect in the personal and professional sense.

Will psychedelics change the law or visa versa>

We think it’s a bit of both and talking to people like Ronald really explores those connections. I hope you enjoy the conversation and much as we do.

Ronald McNutt studied Religion at Tufts University in the mid/late 1970s. After taking an impactful psychology course on Altered States of Consciousness that included well-known guest speakers such as Walter Huston Clark, Ram Dass, and Roland Fisher, among others, McNutt organized the Tufts Altered States of Consciousness Organization, a student group which hosted lectures by prominent speakers in the field of consciousness.

McNutt went on to study law at the University of Georgia, where he became the executive research editor of the Georgia Law Review and wrote a research paper on the first amendment protection for psychedelics. He practiced as an attorney based in Nashville for forty years, with a focus on civil rights litigation and workers’ compensation cases. He worked on numerous cases involving police misconduct, employment discrimination, and unsafe confinement.

His appreciation for plant medicine and mysticism remained ardent during the entirety his adult life, with a particular interest in indigenous traditions. He is active in the Nashville Psychedelic Society and as a discussion leader and journalist in other psychedelic-community-spaces

https://archives.lib.purdue.edu/agents/people/3670

Ronald on Acedemia.com

I have been primarily a litigation attorney since I came to Nashville in 1983. I am a steward of the Litigation and Advocacy Committee of the Psychedelic Bar Association and an administrator of the Nashville Psychedelic Society.  For over ten years, I litigated plaintiffs’ civil rights, employment discrimination and constitutional law cases. For over twenty-four years, I worked for the state of Tennessee, primarily doing workers’ compensation litigation for the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. I have a B. A. degree from Tufts University, in religion, from 1978.  I was the executive research editor of the Georgia Law Review during law school. I was the founder and director of the Tufts University Altered States of Consciousness Organization during college. I am a chaplain resident and a lay pastor with the Presbyterian church (USA).

Read his papers

https://independent.academia.edu/McNuttRonald


https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-292-ronald-mcnutt-40-years-of-psychedelics-law-insights-thoughts-the-future-of-law-with-psychedelic-input-thinking/

An honour, or as I’m in the US i should say honor, to speak with Alice who with her husband Robert changed the paradigm back in 1976 as they ignored the word “impossible” and brought into reality the US’s first medical cannabis prescription since 1937!

For the last 50 years Alice has been working to build on that development

Read all about it here https://www.aliceolearyrandall.com/

We chat through the hows’, whys’ and whereforefores and then jump into Alice’s thoughts about cannabis regualtion in the USA in 2026.

We discuss human rights and medical cannabis, creating change at federal and/or state level and lots lots more

Profound thanks to Alice for speaking with the Koalas we are somewhat in awe and had to chew a lot of eucalyptus ag=fter our conversation to calm down from all the excitement of talking with a cannabis legend.

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-291-alice-oleary-randall/

Jason has been running the Harris Sliwoski Denver office for a while now and he's pretty clued into what's happening around the world in cannabis.

Which is lucky, because every time time i try and get my head around cannabis regulation in France I get........ le migraine terrible!

Brazil I find equally confusing.

So, Jason has come to my rescue (and yours) and guides us through the current ins and outs of both these jurisdictions.

Although we do try to avoid the topic of Trump's EO it bubbles up, like the sulphurous smell it is.

So we highlight a few issues.

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-290-jason-adelstone-harris-sliwoski-whats-happening-in-france-the-rest-of-europe-brazil-we-try-to-avoid-the-topic-of-us-rescheduling/

I came across Jarid on Linked In and he’s making inroads with sustainable indoor cannabis grows and developing ideas and systems to do so on larger scaling.

Well worth a chat so we got him on the Karma Koala podcast to see where this stuff is heading.

Read More
https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-289-jarid-turner-sustainable-indoor-cannabis-farming-in-the-usa/

Over the past 16 months or so the Karma Koala Postcast has been catching time with Steve De’Angelo whenever we can to dig much deeper into his life, his family his formative childhood experiences and then into his teens and 20’s,  Yippies and life on the wrong side of the law in the 70’s and 80’s and the long road that led him to being known now as the father of Amercian medical cannabis.

As always with the Karma Koala podcast it is all about  raw unedited conversation to dive into the nooks and crannies of Steve’s experiences and the wider world of cannabis around him.

We’ve recorded over 10 hours of conversation that you’ll see appear over the next few months where you learn more about Steve and his life  than you could imagine and how his world echoed the changes in cannabis and American culture & society from the 1970’s through to today.

In episode 1 we learn about his Italian family immigrant story, growing up as a young child in Washington DC in the  Kennedy years and his boyhood experiences of India in late 60’s.

Here are some family snaps that Steve kindly provided the Karma Koala podcast to accompany the story of his childhood years.

see at https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-288-the-deangelo-chronicles-part-1-family-and-a-60s-childhood-split-between-washington-dc-india/