What’s the weirdest thing you’ve learned about psychedelics?

Some people believe that these states are connecting with different dimensions and worlds outside of ourselves. Like we are connecting with aliens or gods during a trip that we can't normally receive the transmission for.

The way I tend to think about the psychedelic experience is just the opposite, but to me far more interesting possibility and has major implications for our lives in every moment.

I believe what you are actually taping into is a multiverse inside your subconscious mind. All of your ideas, experiences, instincts, emotions, are building these kind of holographic simulations and representations that feed our conscious experience. I think of it like the movie Inside Out only in our minds the characters aren't looking out our eyes and controlling us in that way. Consciousness and the subconscious are speaking two different languages and having two very different experiences that work together to drive us. Both are relatively unaware the other exists or the impact that they have on the other.

My mother was a therapist and that many-minds idea was one of her central ideas in her practice. When clients reported ambivalence, she liked to set up multiple chairs, one for each voice. She'd then ask the client to sit on the correct chair to speak for each voice. She'd moderate the discussion between the various parts and help them find resolutions as if they were individual people. Things like "Your scared self is saying that it's working hard to protect you, not change or punish you. What do you want to say to them about that?"

I'm so sad that she didn't live to see Inside Out because I bet it would be her instant favorite movie.

That is lovely to hear. Thanks for sharing

I've had this exact same thought, and reading it from someone else is trippy in a very, very good way. Thanks for doing this AMA, Shane (and friends)!

Thanks for joining!

I fuck with your thought process on this so heavily! I mean, we’re literally an interconnected web of 30,000 conscious decisions a day, multiplied by let’s say 65-75 years on average, times the estimated 108 billion human beings that have lived and died. Everything we perceive through this flawed meatwad influences and shapes everything else, and we do the same to one another, so we carry intersection points of human experience and belief and ideology and bias within us at all times, literally carrying the mind legacy of every human being that has ever existed and interacted with their fellow beings.

It's truly breathtaking to think about

Did you learn anything insightful or profound from the thought patterns that led to you being admitted into the psych ward?

So many lessons.
Here is one that I try to remind myself of constantly…
Many aspects of the mind (our different personalities, emotions, hats that we wear etc) are fueled by our conscious attention. They are always bidding for it and doing what they can to keep it when they have it.

I am a big believer in the utility of the whole bouquet of emotions and not dismissing the negative ones or holding too tightly to only the positive ones. That being said, paranoia is in my mind one of the most dangerous ones that can lead to the heaviest delusions.

What has struck me strange during my most manic episodes and the worst of paranoid states is that the MAJORITY of my reason is intact and knows that it exceptionally unlikely that a paranoid thought that I am experiencing (say Truman Showish feelings) are actually happening. But the stakes are sooo high IF the paranoid idea is true that paranoia is able to out compete my reason.

I think anyone with any phobia could probably relate, but having had these experiences really made it hit home for me how powerfully wrong yet convincing the mind can be.

Oh man a couple tabs and a couple bowls at the peak and I totally understand the Truman show feeling. Felt like I was just a puppet trapped here and death was the only way to escape. I was just one of many faces of God and while talking with my friends it felt like I was talking to myself. Granted...it didn't help when I was having these thoughts my friend freaked out and just kept repeating "Whats next WHATS NEXT". freaked me the fuck out. I was like "HE KNOWS HE SEES IT TOO THAT CONFIRMS IT THIS SHIT IS REAL!" A couple Xanax and my mantra of "its ok i like this illusion let's just keep playing this game" helped me calm down but man that was rough.

well don't leave me hanging...
what was next?

Well he tried to run out the door and the house was by a road so we had to hold him and calm him down lol. He just kept repeating "fuck you fuck you fuck you" as he clawed at my friend , he looked straight up possessed. That probably didn't help but we were all tripping and all I could think of was him getting hit by a car and id feel so guilty. It ended well eventually and he's good now but it really made me more cautious and to respect these substances. 2 tabs for his first psych experience was a little too much for him haha. Oh and by the way you're awesome and I wish you well.

I knew it!

Even scarier is the feelings you mentioned, but that even death is no escape.

yup. I get that one too from time to time

I’ve never had paranoia or psychosis so please forgive my ignorance if this comes across as incredibly stupid or naive, I’m just trying to relate - from what you’ve described is it like watching a horror movie, knowing it’s a horror movie/not real and still feeling scared? Like the real and intense emotions outweigh your conscious reasoning of ‘this is a movie, I can switch this off at any time, it’s just a screen I’m watching’? So you can tell yourself it’s irrational but your emotional state trumps those thoughts and you still feel in danger/scared? Or is it something totally different and that’s a terrible analogy.

that's a terribly accurate analogy ;)

Yes. It's like that but on steroids.

People are responding to the psychotic aspects of your comment, but I think the most interesting part is the idea that the subconscious parts of our minds are competing for our attention. I believe that our minds create sub minds in ad hoc hierarchies that very much mirrors how we self-organize into social hierarchies to make decisions. reddit's voting system is a perfect example in the way that the best stuff (according to us) rises to the top.

Think about the way you choose to share something with somebody. You might have 5 things on your mind but you share one. As far as the receiver knows, you only had that one thing on your mind and they can't access the contents you aren't sharing. Similar relationship between the conscious mind and the unconscious.

So think about the criteria for expression you are using.
The context, timing, is it funny, interesting, impressive, nice, appropriate, dramatic, etc. Be mindful of that and you'll discover your subconscious using similar criteria for expression.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I agree that Reddit is a perfect system

When you say Truman Show-ish, do you mean a feeling that things in your life (like song lyrics, stories, etc.) have been pointing to a truth about you or the world that you’re largely unaware of? Or more like the feeling that nothing really exists outside of what you’ve witnessed?

The worst of it is that it's all an elaborate joke on me. Nothing is really and whatever has me in this simulation is just having a laugh

Given that you worry it’s a joke at your expense, do you think it could be you that has you in the simulation?

sometimes

sounds like some bullshit I would pull

My take on it has always been that my experiences are the same whether it's real or not, and all I can do is take it at face value. Do you ever think about if it really matters whether or not we/you are in a simulation/dream/coma/etc?

At the end of the day, you just have to keep moving

*he writes from bed*

A common theme from psychedelic experiences is a sense of connection to nature.

Do you ever feel more aware or receptive to different forms of life/intelligences during a trip?

For example, I always get the feeling that trees are highly intelligent in a way we do not understand. Or maybe I'll make eye contact with a squirrel and feel some kind of connection or a non verbal mutual understanding.

You ever get that?

What do you think that is?

I get that quite a bit. And I am big into nature.
I think networks (like brains and even plants) are processing information in different ways than what our conscious experience is like.

You know how "kids say the darnedest things"? Often a child will say something that the adult understands on a different level. A lot of new movies like Pixar films etc use this idea that the same message will relate differently to both adults and kids. Sometimes we even say things that are more insightful than we realize or turn out to be an embarrassing euphuism.

Ok. So your normal conscious experience is usually putting blinders to focus on what is heuristically the most important for most goals and limiting the "noise" in the environment. Attention is never perfect and is very fluid but you have these patterns of perception.

Well during a psychedelic experience your default mode network that is normally directing that is inhibited and you get more of the raw sensory information. What would normally be blocked out for you as peripheral noise is now noticed in this new way. The novelty of this "new" experience/information makes it seem especially important.

Thus a sensation of these new found powers of telepathy or psychic ability.
It's actually things you are subconsciously doing and experiencing all of the time. Just like in a bad 80s movie, you find out the answers were inside you all along

How many people confuse you with Psychonauts the video game?

didn't know there was such a thing

I saw you in Royal Oak, MI several years ago at Mark Ridleys and you were funny as fuck. Any plans for a new comedy tour?

I'm putting dates together for a big tour March of next year. I'm not really into the distanced comedy thing and have a zillion other things I'm working on. So I'm waiting for things to blow over. I'll book some one offs etc if it feels right in the fall. Much depends on the percentage of people who get vaccinated + variants. But I've been really making the most out of my first time off the road in 14 years. Really setting up amazing things for the future. Lots more to come!

Awesome man, I hope Detroit makes it back on your tour schedule!

For sure!

Does mark ridleys get a lot of good comedians coming through? I’ve always wanted to go

It's a really nice club. Not every club is going to book the comics that match a person's sensibilities, but that aside he does a ton of things right

Will you be going onto duncan's podcast for bicycle day? That would be a hoot, I love when you two get together. The conversations you guys have are just the best.

Oh damn! I have been meaning to reach out to Duncan lately! He is the best. He had his second kid and I have been swamped with my new podcast so we have hardly had time to catch up. That would be an excellent idea though! Maybe next year we do something big if Covid is totally behinds us. I love that he is in Asheville now

I know this is difficult to answer as it's hard to think of yourself counterfactually, but I'm wondering if you think being a comic brought something to your trip?

In particular, I know psychedelic experiences are capable of inducing seemingly profound insights into the mind, and people who support research or legalization also talk about this aspect of their use. I also imagine that you can use these substances just to be silly and have fun. I guess I don't want to draw too distinct a line between "have fun" and "be profound" because I'm sure they could be connected, but I do feel like there's a distinction between approaching a trip with these different ideas in mind.

Anyway, you've been a comedian for 17 years. You must have some well worn brain grooves of "make this thing a bit." I guess I'm curious if you have any stories about how trips played into that part of your brain and were more just goofy and fun rather than necessarily insightful.

I know this is difficult to answer as it's hard to think of yourself counterfactually, but I'm wondering if you think being a comic brought something to your trip?

In particular, I know psychedelic experiences are capable of inducing seemingly profound insights into the mind, and people who support research or legalization also talk about this aspect of their use. I also imagine that you can use these substances just to be silly and have fun. I guess I don't want to draw too distinct a line between "have fun" and "be profound" because I'm sure they could be connected, but I do feel like there's a distinction between approaching a trip with these different ideas in mind.

Anyway, you've been a comedian for 17 years. You must have some well worn brain grooves of "make this thing a bit." I guess I'm curious if you have any stories about how trips played into that part of your brain and were more just goofy and fun rather than necessarily insightful.

I first did psychedelics as a young reckless goofball and fell in love instantly. I wanted to be a comedian before my first trip but didn’t actually try stand up until years later. I had mushroom material my first year of doing stand up.

Early on I used to wrangle as many people as I could to trip with me, but after I started comedy I used to instead trip by myself and write. That’s when I started gaining the most insights. When I’m with others, I always feel like I am trip sitting a bit, but by myself I really go for it.

Psychedelics have been great for my insights into science and creativity for comedy, but I would say that being a comedian distracts the trips themselves sometimes. I often get too caught up on trying to capture the experience and I think that isn’t always helpful for getting further down the path.

But I’m happy that I have an outlet for sharing my experiences, a (small) platform to be heard, and a means of translating pretty complicated insights to others in a digestible way.

I know about MAPS and John Hopkins work with mushrooms, is there any one doing the same today with LSD? Like legal, government approved trials with it.

Absolutely. I also think LSD might be more easily controllable in terms of dosing. But LSD has such stigma attached to it. They should really just chance the names of every psychedelic different science sounding things so people who bought into the DARE program don't have the negative association.

I also think LSD is so damn long that it increases the expenses of research and treatments. So tough to say.

Where did you get the glass on your desk in the video you just recorded? I have the exact same glass, only 1, and I have no idea where it came from.

Proof

That's a weak ass question, but I appreciate your attention to detail so here you go:

I WILL NEVER TELL YOU where I got that glass.

Some secrets you have to take to the grave.

Do you think exploring your mind in this way made you a happier, more fulfilled person?

Mushrooms had been the single greatest treatment for chronic depression that I have ever had. Not to mention they have taught me endless things about myself. And DMT is the greatest adventure I ever had.
Both made me interested in how the brain works more than I already was. My venture into that and science has helped me make better decisions in life.
So 1000% yes.
But it wasn't chemical changes, it was experiential. So it took time and their were a lot of wrong turns.

Hey guys.

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I have a few questions on one topic, for Shane particularly , but interested in any input Matt or Brian may be able to offer.

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There is so much to talk about when it comes to psychedelics, especially DMT. But a common feature, which I feel is brushed over most of the time, the is the undeniable fact that, human beings, can for some reason, fully "see/comprehend/visualize/experience" 4 dimensional shapes, such as a tesseract for example, while on DMT or other tryptamines.

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I can't think of any logical reason, evolutionary or not, as to how or why our brains could possibly be primed for this ability, since all we have ever known, are 3 spatial dimensions.

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4 dimensional shapes should, as far as I can tell, only exist as mathematical concepts. Yet, even at mid level DMT doses, we can fully perceive them.

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Is there some scientific body of knowledge that has demystified this in any serious way?

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Excluding all the legal and cultural reasons why people don't openly talk about their drug use, is there a reason why I don't hear serious people in the fields of science and academia talking about this specific feature of psychedelics?

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I cant help but imagine what insights could be gleaned, if more people at the cutting edge of physics and mathematics, were exploring these experiences themselves.

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Would love to hear your thoughts.

since all we have ever known, are 3 spatial dimensions.

Well we have only perceived 3D but we have also only perceived a limited range of color on a spectrum etc.
Our senses aren't adapted to perceive all that there is but instead what we are able to and more importantly that information in the environment that has lead us to propagate our genes. We aren't simply limited in our ability to perceive but steered in directions through biased interpretations of reality

Are there any plans to make a follow up documentary?

We sometimes consider doing one with some other comics. But I am focused less and less on psychedelics these days. They were always a gateway to understanding the mind for me and I think there are a number of tools to do that. I'd like to make a documentary about how we aren't built for the world that we have built for ourselves and explore the evolutionary mismatches of the modern world.

The mushrooms you picked in the documentary, were those ovoids? If you had to guess the weight of wet mushrooms you ate, how much do you think you ate? Also, did you feel any difference in the trip having picked those from the earth yourself instead of eating man grown mushies? Finally question... how intimidating was it blasting off with a camera in your face

I don't have an answer to the other questions, but tripping on camera is not ideal and I'm pretty sure it caused much of the paranoia launched me into a manic episode.

How's your journey into the depths of beardom been going? What's been the most surprising insight from the beard dimension? Would you recommend beards for depression, even just microbearding?

I'm pro-microbearding for sure. But i am on a journey ATM. The most surprising insight is how it keeps everyone a sold 12 feet away from me

I remember first hearing you and that dmt was a thing on You Made it Weird. I listened to that ep over and over and showed a bunch of people who also were amazed by your stories. Then on another ep you returned to talk about psychedelics with Pete and his girlfriend. After an hour or so pete left and I've never heard of him doing something like that before. Was that a passive aggressive fuck you or something? It was really weird to listen to

Pete's been one of my biggest supporters. He legit had to leave and we went on for longer than was planned. I love Pete and Val!

Do you believe in the idea of the astral realm? How would that relate to DMT for you? Is it something completely different to project your astral body to a metaphysical dimension, rather than introduce a chemical to the brain and be pulled to a space more lively, active? I guess my question is, in your opinion. Are they two different spaces/planes/dimensions of existence? Or one in the same, just a different branch of the fractal

I believe that what certainly feels like a different world outside of yourself and more real than real in the experience, is actually seeing the programming the the brain that you don't normally get to experience. I believe this will begin to be shown through MRI etc. I think it looks so different that it isn't recognizable. For example, we all have representations of one another that we can readily experience during a dream or memory or imagining a conversation with a friend.

My belief is that on a psychedelic experience when you see something that looks like a alien entity or whatever it is actually closer to the ones and zeros that make up your representation of a parent, someone else in your life, or an evolved archetype of the perfect man/woman . These are just examples.

Another example: I think you see so many fractals because that is an efficient way for a level of the mind to store and transmit packets of information and recursive programs needed to navigate life.

This makes a lot more sense to me than people who describe psychedelics as a literal device to interface with other dimensions. Is there somewhere I can read more about this perspective?

I'm told my ideas on psychedelics are Jungian, but I intentionally have avoided Jung so he doesn't accidentally influence me. But maybe start there.

I share a lot of my takes on this in this episode about DMT: https://www.herewearepodcast.com/episodes/cakiq2w65i71wy2gxmu0pzaxy4sc09

What was your strangest trip?

SOOOO many!I'm such a blabber mouth that it would take forever.There are three entertaining ones that Comedy Central recorded on this playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF_vuqm41lQWjty6CfqTXXNu4kFk02a1i

I will say that DMT in a hot tub and mushrooms in a float tank were both really special to me and exceptionally trippy

Do you regret taking psychedelics to the point of losing yourself the way you did or do you feel that it was necessary in some way and that you are better off having gone through it? Are you still tripping now? Do you plan to keep tripping?

Well I have over 20 years of nothing but positive experiences with psychedelics and much of that is because I was always prepared to cross any line and go over any edge. So I can't just take back the times it went poorly because I would have to take back the whole mindset that showed me things about life I could have never otherwise seen.

That being said, it's not ideal to have to wonder if another manic episode Is around the corner.

I do plan to keep tripping but I have taken a break through Covid because it's trippy enough for me.

What advice do you give someone who is looking to use psychedelics as a self medicating thing, looking for some therapeutic effect?

I would think less of it as a self-medicating thing in the way we would normally think about antidepressants or something that are meant to alter your neural chemistry. I would think of it as a chemically induced temporarily experience and that experience is what you will want to integrate for lasting change.
I rarely trip for the experience anymore. The trip is just the thing that I go through to get to the integration

I have wondered if psilocybin would help my depression and anxiety, but I'm in Texas and they will legalize marriage between siblings before legalizing psilocybin for mental health treatment.

Ya. You may have to take a trip trip

Did the hole in your foot ever freak you out while tripping?

yes. But the little hole in my foot is nothing compared to contemplating the depth of human suffering.
*rim shot
"Am I right, folks?!"

Ohh this is such good timing-- I am doing a research paper on psychedelics for school and their potential to heal depression. Have you ever tried ayahuasca? If so, what are your thoughts on/experiences with it?

Yes. I think it is good for depression. I think it is the one most prone to mania tho

Did you get the sense that psychonauts hold certain beliefs about politics or religion either based on their psychedelic experiences or that led them to experiment with this stuff in the first place? My impression is that there are a lot of Joe Rogan types who are predisposed to pseudoscience and libertarianism. But maybe I’m wrong?

It's a strange community filled with a lot of characters. Pseudoscience isn't new in the community but the Brogan influence is a strange one. Taking psychedelics and then going hunting with navy seals as you drape an American flag behind you isn't something I wouldn't have predicted as an outcome of these experiences. But I guess they just bring out more of who people already are in some cases. I'm mostly concerned about the conspiracy crowd.

Did you have any experiences that defied reason or have any sort of paranormal element?

Endless. And most of them I have been able to integrate in a way that aligns with testable reality and can be explained by neuroscience and evolution. However I have had experiences of perceiving time as nonlinear that nag me.

This might help rationalise your nonlinear time perception.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07987-y

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07987-y

Oooo nice. I will read that. thanks

Hi Shane love your stuff.

Have you have any wierd/unexplainable/paranormal/metaphysical etc. events happen to you while using psychadelics, or even without them? Any cool synchronicites or experiences with wild animals? Thanks!

Yes but I usually walk myself back from thinking about synchronicities. I don't find them to have that much explanatory power in my life and they also just sort of creep me out and sometimes lead to paranoia

When you touring again Shane? I love hearing the Lacrosse stories

next March but I'll do La Crosse before then

Have you gotten into the purple woman's pants yet?

she doesn't have pants or holes as far as I can tell. Haven't done DMT since the documentary so I don't know what she is up to.

Have you ever heard of (or considered hosting as a podcast guest) Donald Hoffman? He’s a professor of cognitive sciences at the university of California Irvine and founder of the Icon Theory of Perception and Conscious Agent Theory

I will look into him

He’s currently trying to engage the next generation of scientists in picking up and continuing his life’s work and I think you’d have some amazing conversations! I know I’d love to hear what questions you have for him.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Although now i have a strange fascination with sloth poop that I have to explain to strangers and it hasn’t helped my social skills at parties

I hear that

What is your take on microdosing?

I'm about experiential change over chemical change. I worry that macrodosing is a very different thing and not always as good for people. Seems mostly harmless and often beneficial but I don't know. Not really my thing. I just don't think you should do something that regularly. At least I shouldn't.
I'm really not the person to talk to about the subject though.

Do you believe that our imagination creates reality? In other words, do you believe in the law of attraction? And if so, how much influence do you believe we have mentally over our physical reality?

I started a new podcast Mind Under Matter with Ramin Nazer that tackles a lot of topics like this.
Basically, our perception creates reality in a lot of ways but I take issue with a lot of manifestation type of thinking. It's too top-down and egocentric for me. It's good in many circumstances for drive and well-being but tends to lead to conspiracy things and victim blaming when reality doesn't bend to our will.

I'm into bottom-up emergent properties of evolution and appreciating our place in the universe. comedians and scientists use a lot of alien anthropologist kind of thinking to explore life.

What's fun about our new show is Ramin interviews mystics and I interview scientists so we get a range of perspectives. Check it out.

Is it different when you jack off now? Or no...

every time is a new adventure

Do you still struggle with any residual mania/depersonalization from the experience? If so, what have you, personally, done to manage it? Appreciate all your content.

yes. Exercise seems to help. And having honest conversations with close friends who can keep an eye on me helps

I would really like to know more about this purple woman you saw in your DMT trip. The fact that your friend, unprompted, saw her and described the same locations makes this seem like irrefutable proof of an afterlife or alternate dimension. What do you think?

I don't think it's irrefutable evidence of anything necessarily. Super interesting though. I think she is the archetype of a kind of female that many of us have in our minds all of the time and she just looks like she is in a different world when one hasn't been there before. It was a tricky one to wrap my head around at first but more and more clues led me to think that it's in the mind. It's just a lot to explain. It took me about 7 years to figure out what was up with her. But I no longer think it was an alternate dimension. I'm open to it, but there have been way too many experience since that have provided some evidence that don't support that idea.
I'm sorry that I don't have the space to explain further here.

What advice might you have for those with bipolar disorder seeking the psychedelic experience?

Also, what long-term positive and negative effects did/do psychedelics have on your life and mind? Do you feel that the positives outweigh those negatives?

Do mushrooms in your lowest depressions. Maybe even once a week for three weeks if that is what it takes to get out of it. But I wouldn't mess with mushrooms if you are even at the possibility of being in a manic state. They could launch you

Gotcha! Thanks! I tend to deal with more depressive episodes than hypomanic/manic, so that’s very helpful to know. :)

Also... do different psychedelics impact your depressive and hypomanic/manic states differently?

Gotcha! Thanks! I tend to deal with more depressive episodes than hypomanic/manic, so that’s very helpful to know. :)

that is the norm unfortunately.

ketamine in a clinical setting has been used as an effective treatment for depression amongst the bipolar because unlike antidepressants it hasn't been shown to bring on mania. That being said, if you were to regularly use street K it may be a different situation.
I can't imagine MDMA bringing on mania, but I would watch it possibly making depression worse.

PS I'm not a doctor

PSS Doctors also don't know anything about this stuff in general

Do you have any general advice for avoiding/dealing with paranoia and anxiety that comes about from psychedelic trips?

Well, I really just had to confront my paranoia and really sit with it for a long time and let it run it's course. I usually think that trying to learn more about a feeling like that helps me engage with it differently. My take on most things is that a lot of our feelings and ideas aren't "true" they are just best guesses at life and sometimes there are a bunch of environmental and evolutionary factors that can make a given one in a given context wildly inappropriate.

For example, if I get paranoid during a psychedelic experience, I might consider how I just through an intensely mind altering experience in my brain and my brain is trying to orient to what is happening while considering worst cases. There is a part of my brain that thinks I just intentionally poisoned myself, so on some level it's an appropriate guess that you can't trust anything when you yourself just poisoned yourself.
And hopefully that makes me laugh and that helps it pass

How many vegan wives would you say you have to sleep with yearly, and do they all taste like chicken?

old school reference! Nicccce

How far out can you go while retaining sanity with psychedelics? Did any of your experiences show a delineated boundary past which you can't return to consensus reality? I've found psychedelics produce altered mind states, which can be incredibly real and life like (like the Truman Show sensations,) and past a certain threshold dose set and setting sort of evaporate along with memory.

I have little faith in consensus reality. I like testable, replaceable, falsifiable reality the most as well as a fondness for using that as a grounds for speculation.

In terms of losing ones mind, I would be more concerned about frequency than size of dose.

What’s the worst comedy special you have ever seen and why is it You’d Be Surprised by Brandon Schwab?

I haven't and wouldn't watch that.

I don't watch much comedy any more but when I did, I didn't mind watching bad comedy. I find it interesting to see the mistakes people make.

Forgive me if already asked, but what are your thoughts on the different types of psychedelics? As in synthetic dmt versus natural compounds? Are some methods better trips based on your experience? What suggestions do you have for someone looking to have more psychedelic experiences who doesn’t have access to substances?

I'm a mushroom guy. It's really the only thing I feel comfortable recommending.

DMT is an adventure
MDMA for working through things with a significant other.
But both of those have more potential downsides IMO

Ever done nitrous?

Actually only twice. Both times were fun. Once was in a float tank. Interesting enough. I didn't really take much away from it.

What are your thoughts on 2cb, and are you as sad as me at how obscure/hard to find it is?

I have only done it twice and it is lovely. I should do some tonight

What do you think of Rick Doblin's idea of having some kind of licensing for psychedelic use in the future? (pretty sure it was RD I heard talking about that)

If I remember correctly, he was relating it to how driver's licenses work, including possible suspension if it's been shown the person isn't a responsible user.

Excluding all the legal and cultural reasons why people don't openly talk about their drug use, is there a reason why I don't hear serious people in the fields of science and academia talking about this specific feature of psychedelics?

I claim to make any prediction about how practical it is or how it would play out. But if I could wave a magic want, I would have it be something like that. I wish people could have some psychedelic therapy first and then do some group trip retreat situation and then have a license to do whatever on their own and explore whatever suits their sensibilities.

How’s your feet?

pretty good. thanks

If you dont mind me asking, what landed you in the psych ward?

If you watch the movie you will kind of see. But what wasn't shown was that I was doing mushrooms about three times a week through most of the shooting and was fairly manic already at the time that I had ayahuasca. And that sort of set me over the edge. It was my first really major manic episode. I'd experienced hypomania much of my life

Do you also have bipolar II??? I’ve been super eager to talk to someone with bipolar who’s tried psychedelics!!

I’d like to try them myself, but I don’t want to mess up my brain really badly... So, I’ve wanted to ask someone with bipolar about their experience with psychedelics, and what they do to keep themselves safe during a trip.

yup. Bipolar 2

What advice would you give to me? I am an experienced solo tripper who enjoyed quite a few pleasant trips between the ages of 18 to 23 from 1999 to 2004 ish or so. As far as psychedelics I only knowingly experienced ketamine once. That was enough. A bad dude hanging around was luckily thwarted by a good friend from raping my gf that night. Acid a handful of times. Max dose 4 tabs whatever that means. Some moments of panic cause I fucked up my set/setting miserably bad that particular day. MDMA or something posing as it a handful of times and mushrooms uh quite a bit. Went out on a high note seventeen years ago but knew I would be curious again one day. Neeeded to take care of a wholllle lot of growing up and then a whole lot of therapy it always having my ear to the old psychedelic experience I found mostly helpful in untangling my mind that was warped by a couple of modern day trump fanatics’ abusive dynamic in the 80s and 90s. Shane help me. I am a soon to be forty year old trans woman who only just got her shit together and started HRT a month ago and now I’m recovering from covid, getting the vaccine and planning on making a coast to coast move within the next two years but sometime in there want to get hooked into some doctors that will provide clinical setting for finally putting the trauma of my past forest for good through a very deep substance like 5meoDMT or ayahuasca or something. Just want a safe place to do it once when I am ready. I plan on going to the beaches of Maine on mushrooms a lot this summer and instead of slaving away making tourists drinks while I starve next winter I will be starting a new career and would like to also close the chapter on my decade as a freshly earned bachelors degree in engineering being used to tend bar. I am so running on. I’m done. Rambling.

If you had such positive experiences with mushrooms in the past, why not start there?

Outside of that I always recommend people try to find some local psychedelic meet up groups. Of course that was before Covid. But summer should allow for doing things like that safely if you find the right group and they are vaccinated

Any bicycle day plans?

Waiting until next year. This year the timing isn't right.

Comedy question....do you plan on touring again?

Big tour being planned for next march. Focused on building my new show Mind Under Matter all of this year and touring with a live version of that with Ramin Nazer

why are you associating psychedelics with going to the psych ward?

He pretty much answers it here.

so his mental state,poor choices, and abuse of a drug led to the psych ward.

+don't forget genetic predispositions + environment + culture + endless other variables.
But yes, psychedelics were associated, not blamed