The Trip Report

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a Psychedelic Venture Studio.

Today, I am speaking with Brandon Deroche, founder of the PORTAL—the Partnership of Responsible Trippers Advocating Legalization. 

PORTAL is a project from Propeller, the social impact and advocacy organization Brandon started more than 15 years ago to drive awareness and action for social movements. 

I was intrigued when I first learned about Propeller–and their methodology for advocacy and advancing causes.

Propeller collaborates with big-name artists and musicians to leverage their platforms to raise awareness and inspire action.

With PORTAL, Brandon and his team are taking this approach to advancing the psychedelic cause.

I wanted to speak with Brandon because I love a good acronym, and PORTAL may be the best I’ve ever heard—and because I wanted to learn more about how social movements form and grow.

In this episode, we discuss:

* Brandon’s experience working with some of the biggest celebrities in the world, like Justin Bieber, Lizzo, and Brian Cranston

* His experience working with the spiritual teacher Ram Dass

* The cultural adoption and destigmatization of psychedelics through artists with massive audiences—like Dua Lipa, Post Malone, and Zach Bryan

* Leveraging these voices for psychedelic education, harm reduction, and best practices

* The eventual political polarization of social movements

* And much more

And now, I bring you my conversation with Brand Deroche.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a Psychedelic Venture Studio.

Today, I am speaking with Ken Jordan, co-founder and Editorial Director of Lucid News, an AP-style journalistic platform covering all aspects of the psychedelic field.

Ken is a longtime journalist, writer, and media entrepreneur. In 2007, Ken co-founded The Evolver and Reality Sandwich, digital media platforms dedicated to the emerging consciousness movement. And in 2020, he and his co-founder, journalist Ann Harrison, founded Lucid News to cover the psychedelics field.

My goal for this conversation is to get a snapshot of the moment, as difficult as that may be, with the help of someone who has been in the weeds as much as I have for the last four years.

Like other guests on The Trip Report, Ken and I regularly connect to swap ideas, share insights, and discuss the evolution of the psychedelic movement. 

A theme of this conversation is the growing pains the field is undergoing, the challenges of macroeconomic headwinds, and the relatively slow progress of policy reform and clinical trials compared to the amount of hype and optimism of 18-24 months ago.

In this conversation, we talk about:

* The early days of the psychedelic “sector” 

* Ken’s perspective as a longtime media entrepreneur with an interest and focus on psychedelics and consciousness 

* The major inflection point that was the MAPS Psychedelic Science 2023 conference, an overwhelming convergence of the many factions and siloed psychedelic communities  

* “The wild idea,” as Ken says, “that the money right now is in a really active gray market. That's making chocolates you can buy in every cannabis bodega in New York.”

* Ken’s optimism about the authorities’ loosening of concern about psychedelics

* The lack of organized opposition against decriminalization and legalization efforts

* The key differences between the psychedelic renaissance of the 1960s and today

And now, without further ado, I bring you my conversation with Ken Jordan.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a Psychedelic Venture Studio.

Today, we’re speaking with John MacLean, AKA The Juan MacLean, an electronic music artist, DJ, and co-founder and co-owner of Cardea—a psychedelic medicine space that facilitates experiences in New York City and Jamaica.

I wanted to speak with John because he has a unique lens into the emerging psychedelic world given his role as a DJ and psychedelic facilitator in a wide variety of settings. He has also had one of the most fascinating careers of anyone I have ever met.

What started as a fascination with music and psychedelic states as a teenager has led to a career combining the two for more than three decades.

As a Brooklyn-based DJ and producer, John has been a mainstay in the NYC music scene for decades while also touring at legendary international venues across Europe, Asia, and North America. Since the release of his first records on his DFA record label in 2002, he has built a reputation for eclectic, genre-bending sets that have earned him residencies at iconic clubs around the world.

He has been a practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga and Zen and trained as an Ayahuasquero in the Shipibo tradition. He credits the 12-step program with saving his life and ayahuasca with renewing it.

In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss:

* How the changing cultural landscape allows John to feel comfortable talking publicly about the psychedelic side of his work;

* A period of his life in which he experienced intense depression and occasionally contemplated suicide;

* His hope that his first ayahuasca experience would relieve his symptoms, only to be hurled onto a spiritual path, having had his worldview and belief structure completely recast;

* His training in the Shipibo tradition;

* The authenticity, legitimacy, and originality of traditional lineage-based knowledge in a rapidly changing world; 

* And much, much more.

And now I bring you my conversation with John Maclean.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a Psychedelic Venture Studio.

Today, we’re joined by Dr. Gita Vaid, an NYU-trained psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and founder of The Center for Natural Intelligence in New York City.

Dr. Vaid has been working with the likes of Richard Schwartz, Phillip Wolfson, and Deepak Chopra over the last several years to train healthcare providers on psychedelic-assisted therapies and to develop novel psychotherapeutic protocols.

Dr. Vaid’s Innovation Project at the Center for Natural Intelligence is a think tank and incubator that aims to develop novel Psychotherapy modalities suited for working with psychedelics and altered states. 

One such approach she is developing with Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, the canonical book that really kickstarted the movement for trauma-informed, somatically based approaches that are gaining traction in the treatment of trauma and other mental health conditions.

This conversation came at the perfect time, as my work at The Trip Report and Beckley Waves is focused on the development of suitable and tailored “wrap-around” support for psychedelic-assisted therapies.

As psychedelic-assisted healing continues to gain traction across the culture and as we inch closer to FDA-approved psychedelic substances, the need for innovative, effective, and tailored approaches to support and therapy is a top priority for the field, and Gita’s work is a great example of innovation in this area.

In this episode, we discuss

* Freud’s interest in non-ordinary states of consciousness

* The similarities and differences between hypnosis and psychedelic experiences

* The importance of the body and feelings in the body for emotional regulation

* The therapeutic utility of ego dissolution

* And, of course, what the future of psychotherapy looks like

I hope you enjoy it, and without further ado, I bring you my conversation with Gita Vaid.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a Psychedelic Venture Studio.

Today, we’re speaking with Matt Zorn.

Matt is a partner at the law firm Yetter Coleman. His law practice is uniquely focused on regulatory law, and importantly for this conversation, he has been working on several psychedelic-related cases.

I should warn you we get into the weeds straight out of the gates on this one as I ask Matt about his experience deposing the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)—and what that actually means.

This is probably the most technical conversation we’ve had on the podcast, and so you’ll hear me ask Matt to clarify or explain things several times.

I would ask listeners to keep in mind while listening to this that the matter of illegality of psychedelics and the punishment mandated by the law was not established through science, public health, or respect for individual liberties– but rather, this state of affairs was established to consolidate political power.

The Controlled Substances Act, established in 1970—more than 50 years ago—created the DEA and established formidable barriers to revising the government’s position on psychedelics and other scheduled substances.

Matt, along with a handful of other attorneys working in the field, are holding the DEA’s feet to the flame, so to speak, and forcing the agency to clarify its position on several fronts and through this process—and this is my personal opinion— exposing that the emperor, in fact, is wearing no clothes.

We discuss one specific area in which Matt and his colleagues are pushing the DEA for clarity; this is a trial AIMS vs the DEA where defendants are seeking clarity on the matter of whether psilocybin is eligible for terminally ill patients through The Right to Try Act.

We also dive into:

* Cannabis rescheduling

* The Freedom of Information Act

* How the FDA came to be the other federal agency involved in the drug classification schema and the concept of “Medically Accepted Use”

* The legal concept of the Chevron Deference and

* The differences between state-level legalization and decriminalization 

And, without further ado, I bring you my conversation with Matt Zorn.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a Psychedelic Venture Studio.

Today, The Trip Report is speaking with Hadas Alterman, and let me warn you, you are in for a doozy.

Hadas is the Director of Communications and Policy at the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association (APPA), and in this conversation, we leave no stone unturned.

We discuss APPA, the organization, the mission, and the specific work they’re doing to support psychedelic therapists, guides, and facilitators.

But we also dive into the concept of power and influence and how these forces are shaping the emerging psychedelic ecosystem.

We get into the weeds on the most important legal and policy topics in the psychedelic space right now, like the influence of Big Pharma on the DEA and how that is affecting the field now and could in the future.

We talk about “The Establishment” and the institutions that have outsized influence on the path of the psychedelic emergence, including the FDA’s meddling with the practice of medicine, most famously during COVID and now with public comments on the use of off-label ketamine.

We also discuss:

* Bridging the wisdom of the underground and traditional lineages with the modern medical system;

* The process of bringing together stakeholders from different parts of the psychedelic ecosystem for constructive dialogue and consensus-building;

* The varieties of psychedelic access routes and the tradeoffs inherent in them; and

* The current geopolitical situation unfolding in the Middle East.

And now, without further ado, I bring you my conversation with Hadas Alterman.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a psychedelic venture studio.

Today, we are speaking with Yuriy Blokhin, founder and CEO of Homecoming, an all-in-one platform for transformational coaches, therapists, healers, and their clients.

Yuriy is another entrepreneur in the psychedelic space that I occasionally have long and meandering conversations with about the developing field, where it is headed, and what he is seeing and learning firsthand.

These are always insightful and enjoyable conversations, and so we decided to do a podcast.

The idea for Homecoming was born out of the need to support people before and after psychedelic ceremonies that catalyzed profound and transformative changes but were potentially short-lived if not suitably prepared for and integrated.

In the early days, Yuriy volunteered with Heroic Hearts, a non-profit that supports military veterans seeking psychedelic therapies for PTSD, and he came to recognize that the results were significantly more profound when paired with pre- and post-experience coaching—but facilitating this level of connection, especially when people return to their homes in different parts of the world, was a technological challenge.

With the rise in psychedelic retreats, clinics, and all-around general hype and enthusiasm over the last few years, the opportunity to build such a product became a reality.

We touch on his early hypothesis that Homecoming would be the technological infrastructure layer for psychedelic clinics and retreats, only to find that the real customer base was the broad category of practitioners that he calls “transformative and integrative providers.” 

This includes coaches, therapists, and integration specialists, but also somatic therapists, functional medicine providers, bodyworkers, and a whole network of alternative therapy providers that are increasingly using psychedelics, breathwork, and other transformative modalities in their practices and have been underserved by technology providers to date.

Beckley Waves, with its focus on the operational and infrastructure layer of the psychedelic ecosystem, jumped at the opportunity to invest in Homecoming’s seed round back in 2021. 

In this episode, we discuss:

* The variety of structured approaches to psychedelic experiences;

* Epistemic and ontological shock in the healing process;

* The uses and limitations of the scientific method;

* The origin story of Homecoming;

* Early-stage entrepreneurship and the balance between conviction and radical open-mindedness; and

* Co-creating technology with your early customers.

And without further ado, I bring you my conversation with Yuriy Blokhin.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a psychedelic venture studio.

Today, we are speaking with Oshan Jarow.

Oshan is a writer, podcaster, and a fellow at Vox Media’s Future Perfect, a division focused on covering the crucially important issues that are often under-reported.

In this role, Oshan writes about the intersection of economics and the contemplative sciences–this includes things like psychedelics, meditation, and as we get into some depth, the emerging science of the mind. 

I’ve been following Oshan’s work for a few years, but a recent essay in Vox titled “The psychedelic renaissance is at risk of missing the bigger picture” prompted me to invite him on The Trip Report Podcast.

At the time of its publication, I noted that it is one of the best summaries of the dynamics at play in the psychedelic space that I have ever seen.

But it is Oshan’s essay, titled “A General Theory of Spirituality” that got me excited to speak with him. As we discuss, there is a bit of a scientific revolution afoot at the intersection of modern neuroscience and the spiritual and contemplative traditions of the past.

This is the first in what I believe will be a series of episodes with writers, scientists, and meditators that will explore this rich field at the intersection of spiritual insight, psychedelic states and the emerging model of the brain and mind: the predictive processing framework.

Also, in this episode, we discuss:

* The connection between a society’s economic incentives and the effect on individuals’ subjective experience and well-being;

* The potential of psychedelics for spiritual practice and the betterment of the well;

* The concept of entropy and functional integration of neural pathways and the effect of psychedelics on these parameters; and

* The free energy principle, predictive processing, and a General Theory of Spirituality.

And without further ado, I bring you my conversation with Oshan Jarow.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a Psychedelic Venture Studio.

Today, we’re speaking with Jonathan Sabbagh, founder of Journey Clinical, a digital health tech company pioneering a collaborative care model for psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Journey Clinical was founded in 2021 with the mission of creating a decentralized clinic model that would enable licensed therapists to incorporate ketamine-assisted therapy (KAT) into their practice.

Jonathan and his co-founder (and wife) Miriam Barthes interviewed 600 therapists before starting Journey Clinical to understand their biggest pain points and challenges.

When it came to KAT, a promising treatment for several mental health conditions, the overwhelming response from the therapists they interviewed was that it’s difficult to find medical professionals with whom they can collaborate on care. After all, therapists do not prescribe medications, and most physicians do not do therapy.

Thus, connecting therapists with partner prescribers was the core need, and with this insight, the Journey Clinical model was born.

As many who are well-steeped in the psychedelic field are aware, KAT is a promising modality for stubborn mental health conditions, especially when paired with psychotherapeutic support. However, the majority of ketamine usage for mental health is as a standalone treatment at specialized clinics. What is missing from this brick-and-mortar care delivery environment is supportive wrap-around care.

And in my opinion, this is the promise of technology-enabled support for psychedelic therapies.

I have been a fan of the Journey Clinical model since I first met Jonathan and Miriam back in 2021. From the outset, it was clear they had a unique insight and mission.

In this episode, we discuss:

* Leaving a career in finance to study clinical psychology;

* The role of psychotherapy in supporting transformational perspectives;

* The importance of therapeutic alliance;

* The origin story of Journey Clinical and the pivot from a service provider to a health tech company; and

* The Ryan Haight Act Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008.

I should also note that Beckley Waves is an investor in Journey Clinical.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast!

Today, I am speaking with Dr. Jeeshan Chowdhury, M.D., Ph.D., founder & CEO of Journey Colab, a psychedelic startup developing a synthetic form of mescaline and an innovative care model for addiction treatment. 

I met up with Jeeshan at the recent MAPS Psychedelic Science conference in Denver for a conversation about the emerging field, his company, and how he sees the future unfolding.

Journey Colab is taking a contrarian approach to the psychedelic drug development process. While many companies are seeking to engineer shorter trips or non-hallucinogenic compounds, Journey Colab is developing a synthetic form of mescaline, one of the longer-acting psychedelic compounds with trips lasting 12-14 hours. 

While the common approach is to identify how to limit or reduce the amount of psychotherapy or psychological support to increase efficiencies, Journey Colab is working with rehab centers to incorporate psychological and community support. 

And like my conversations with Talia Eisenberg and Manish Agrawal, a central theme is the infrastructure for psychedelic care delivery.

On the one hand, they are taking mescaline through the standard drug approval process; on the other, they have formed a unique partnership with All Points North, a treatment and rehab center in Colorado.

The Journey Colab–All Points North Center of Excellence will conduct research on the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapies for alcohol use disorder in a community healthcare setting.

As we discuss, this contrarian approach has had its fair share of challenges. However, Journey Colab has the unique distinction of having Sam Altman, the former president of Y Combinator and CEO of Open AI, as an early-stage investor and advisor.

In this conversation, we discuss:

* How Sam Altman told Jeeshan that he should start a psychedelic company back in 2018;

* What happens when we take very powerful psychoactive compounds and apply traditional capitalist structures;

* The challenge of delivering psychedelic care safely, effectively and at scale; and

* The stigma of using medication in alcohol rehabilitation.

And now, I bring you my conversation with Jeeshan Chowdhury.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary