Mike Sinyard Advocates for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies Following Decriminalisation in Santa Cruz
Mike Sinyard's Project New Day has increased its efforts advocating for alternative mental health therapies following a Santa Cruz council vote to decrimilaize psychoactive plants and fungi. The vote, that was passed on January 28, includes plants such as magic mushrooms, ayahuasca and peyote.
Project New Day is a non-profit that was set up last year by Sinyard and research scientist, Alli Feduccia, PhD, with the mission of helping people "overcome addiction and actualize mental health through the legal and responsible use of psychedelics". This isn't Sinyard's first attempt at solving mental health issues outside the confines of big pharma either as he also founded The Outride Foundation (formerly The Specialized Foundation) to provide cycling/exercise interventions to improve social, emotional, and cognitive health. It's worth noting that while The Outride Foundation is linked to Specialized, Project New Day is not.
Project New Day will create and run programmes to help people overcome addiction, provide capital to scientists and healers, educate the public and policy makers, and create a community around its ideas and programs.
 | Santa Cruz’s decriminalization is a clear indicator that we are at a tipping point regarding the acceptance of psychedelics as a means to reverse the tide of addiction and other health epidemics sweeping our society. One day soon there will be clinicians in every city in the country implementing proven practices involving psychedelic medicines to help liberate people from the grip of addiction. Project New Day is here to accelerate this effort to heal suffering at the individual and societal level. Drug addiction, including the opioid crisis, is the biggest threat to our society today. It’s estimated that 133 people are dying from opioids in America every day! Current approaches to helping people who are hooked aren’t working well enough; however, scientific studies are showing that treatments combining psychedelic medicines and human interaction do make a difference. |
| Clinical research is showing that psychedelic medicines can bring healing and long-term remission from problematic substance use when experienced within a therapeutic context. Findings like these were instrumental in the US Food and Drug Administration awarding psilocybin ‘breakthrough therapy’ status in 2018. |
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Too big a debate to call it victimless
(P.S I'm pro legalisation/decriminalisation)
A big step forward but there’s lots to be done. I hope more states as well as European countries will build on this!
Do people go miles away to a legal outlet to pay alot more for watered down stuff. Or phone there dealer who will deliver/ lives round corner better stuff for less.
See Canada. Still more illegal than legal going round. All its done is increase the amount of people taking it up. Soon as there hooked they will be off to the dealers to save money.
Making the shady people even more
"more people will be taking it" - that is the point, ndaaaaa! So that people (after medical examination stating they can use them safely in respect to their potential mental disease status!) actually use psychedelics, kind of like vitamins. And I do lean towards mushrooms more than chemicals, even though each to their own. Opioids are legal, alcohol is legal, in fact I would gladly see alcohol intake more regulated. You have never been taking mushrooms in different doses in different situations and it shows right away. Mushrooms make you want more stable mental state, more insightful, more compassionate, more confident. they slow down time, you get more done. Yes you do. You are more productive without burning out. I sometimes take a 10-15% dose (given 70% is trip to visit a field of pulsing flowers on one of the moons of Saturn and 100% is visiting another dimension and never coming back to where you left off) before going to a party. I am much MUCH more likely to control my alcohol intake, in fact after the first beer "I am vibing enough" - much more careful about how much weed I smoke, and I still have all the giggles! Shrooms got me off snus (swedish tobacco) instantly. The list goes on and on.
As to weed - As Woody Harrelson wrote: if weed was never made illegal, millions of people would have their childhood memories of their dads, filled with them being occasionally stoned and hungry, rather than drunk and angry - let it weigh on you.
So yeah, the "war against drugs" serves only to protect those in the rich countries. At the expense of pretty much everything else.
Legalizing drops the value to what it is actually worth which in turn makes it much less interesting for the shady peeps to bother with.
I do agree that people do need guidance when using it as drugs work very different on different individuals. But even then, a bad trip of someone who has consciously assumed this risk is a much lower and much more local issue than the worldwide shit we're seeing now.
It still strikes me how against this "war against drugs", alcohol consumption is cultivated, accepted and even appreciated and protected. Post ride beers, French wine, have them if you want but don't act like they deserve to be tolerated more than other types of drugs.
www.newsweek.com/drug-testing-music-festivals-prevention-635026
I don’t know the answers to our drug policies in the US, but it is clear our past and current policies have been dismal failures.
There is but one reason that beer and fags are legal...you could never make it illegal and the tax income is waaaaaay higher than the burden it generates.
As simple as that.
My point is you “solving” a problem with a program like this but do you know you’re not creating more problems?
There are in fact many books out there on this subject but Pollan does a thorough job of going over the current research regarding using psychedelics for the treatment of addiction, PTSD, depression, anxiety, etc. He also spent time going through the psychedelic experiences he wrote about himself before writing the book and so is able to give firsthand accounts of his experience with the various psychedelics out there that are being used. To talk about mushrooms as a "problem" just indicates an ignorance regarding this issue. Mushrooms are NOT (can I bold this somehow) NOT addictive. Not. Not even. So just stop. Okay? They're not. In fact, a lot of people use them once, and that's it. And that's part of the effectiveness cited in the research, that is, the lasting effects the experience has on people whereby 6 months to a year later people report how that one experience changed their lives forever in a positive way. We currently have ZERO pharmaceuticals that allow a patient to take ONE dose and have lasting effects for the disorders psychedelics are showing promise to treat. Not a one. This is why this area of research has gone mainstream and why the FDA upgraded psilocybin to "breakthrough therapy" status. Now, Pollan points out that in some cases patients may want to come back on a yearly or as needed basis for a micro-dose experience but that that would be a case-by-case basis. Lastly, as the experts in this field know and stress, anyone can have a "bad trip." But this is normally due to what is called "set and setting." And treating people for certain disorders using psychedelics requires the proper "set and setting" in order to avoid the "bad trip" and ensure a therapeutic and positive experience. I would recommend doing some more research into this area to disabuse yourself of antiquated beliefs held over from the War On Drugs era and familiarize yourself with the current research regarding this issue.
Big Pharma at its best.
If you want a mind altering substance that everone is on, including you, it is called “internet” And the most potent version of it is social media.
I do believe that psychoactive part can be truly therapeutical if administered correctly. But CBD part, I’ll wait until people come with actual research confirming it, because most of what I read it is smoking/ edibles that are helping selected individuals.
Good: Re-engineering foreign societies and economies, through trade or military sanctions, to serve the lobbies that fund the parties.
Bad: a nice doobie on a mountain top.
I also love accusing users of alcohol or weed or shrooms or coke, heroine, or meth or whatever they out into same bag as “escapists”. Yeah you can drink or smoke weed to feel better when you feel like shit. Try a larger dose of mushrooms in a bad mood, they’ll fk you up and make you regret you fk with them. The sole fact that By default you have to get out of whatever hole you are in before you take them. They motivate me to put myself in order because I want to take them. That is why they are mot popular among a certain part of people who took them,
particularly among control freaks.
Now, what is the probability that folks who are not into substances and like prohibition are control freaks with irrational fear of losing control?
For some people, even before the yawns start kicking in, as soon as something unfamiliar is felt, they want the trip to be over and worry they’re permanently high af. I’ve talked a few down from that space when experimenting in college in larger groups, very interesting. And these were happy people, not yet fully adulting or really stressed. Some people seem to almost immediately forget they willingly ate shrooms in order to get high and want to undo it. But if nothing happened they’d be pissed that they were ripped off. Comically unrealistic mindset. We came away not worrying as much about anxiety, fear, and being automatically defensive. Very inexpensive exposure therapy. But I agree, it’s not something for immediate avoidance or escaping stress, it will help you let go of harmful preconceived and otherwise subconscious bs (in time) for many
So... at some point after sudying different schools of thought, as well what actual science tells us... one may realize that some people are in one sort of things and some are into other... maybe it depends on chemical composition of their brain? Which side of the brain is more dominant? I am into stoicism now
Add excessive alcohol consumption to that list, a 100% legal drug with 241 deaths per day. That’s the equivalent of a 737 airliner crashing everyday and killing all on board everyday of the year.
Very cool to see Mike Sinyard setting up his second non profit to help mental illness.
I went to a doc with mild depression and first thing he does he hands me out Xannax. In Sweden! Where problem is much lower. Second doc - and same shit, just a different version, different dosage. oh I will check all youtube channels related to depression and drugs and try to self medicate - let's see what happens! Doc I can't focus, I am tired all the time - how about a little Adderal... you'll talk like a higher officer in a pyramid scheme!
This sort of mentality "don't trust the doc" is exactly what causes certain people to turn into antivaccers, vegans, paleo, straight edge, 180 fork on a hardtail and they don't get any less crazy. But the twist is, doc cannot actually be trusted! These people just get one or more steps further in mistrust to actual authority (that's supposed to be trustful and following fkd up influencers.
do a pinkbike poll see how many of us have been prescribed opioids for injuries. Bet you there’s a lot of us.
I know lots of folks who were prescribed opioids for injuries (myself included). The drugs did their job when we were hurt, but shockingly none of us have become addicts. All unused drug was tossed when it expired. Does no one take personal responsibility for their actions any more?
I’m sorry your vision is so one sided and you think that addiction is a choice. It’s not for many.
For many, addiction isn't a choice. If you've been on pain killers for a condition and are now hooked, no, it wasn't your choice. But what if you started by taking a prescription drug recreationally (like many, many have)? What, its not your fault then?
Psychedelics help folks step out of their ego;
I feel the anti-depressant quality of exercise every time I go pedal a bike.
Going for a ride does more for me mentally than any drug in the world can.
TBH- I would have homeschooled my kids rather than moving to the most expensive area and putting my kids in what is the BEST rated schools in the US, had I known going in how demented the education system had become.
Bernie 2020.
Nothing but a right wing parrot.
After ten days of daily opioid use, dependence has begun, so the current rule of thumb is no more than ten days for the initial prescription. But damn if folks don’t ask for more even when you tell them it’s a bad idea.
Tell em no and it’s tears, threats, manipulation, etc.... to be quite honest, it sucks to prescribe controlled substances.
Problem is, there are millions of people who have been taking opiates daily for years, they have pain, nothing else works, many are older.
It’s not so easy as you think.
and I’m a provider.
Whatisa problem with recreational use of anything? Heh, lets ponder the word “recreation” for a bit...
Try to avoid painting society with a broad brush.
I’m a Suboxone prescriber, I’m salaried, nearly all my clients are on Medicaid.
Here is an article from one of the worlds best addiction experts. Makes for very interesting reading.
drgabormate.com/opioids-universal-experience-addiction
What you say is right at one level, but often someone's best just isn't enough.
It's our society that has failed these people and to blame them personally is just a way to absolve us of our shortcomings as a society at large. I feel yours is a very short sighted view that fails to recognise the bigger picture.
What makes you think so? This phrase sounds nice, but I have no reason to believe it.
Sometimes bad things in life can make you stronger, but sometimes they break you.
And some people are simply weaker by default and easier to break. Does it mean they should go to hell and perish? In my view one of the goals of the society is to help them and support them, until they can support themselves.
You clearly have no experience of the type of suffering I'm speaking of. Go volunteer in a shelter or rehab clinic and learn a bit about the reality of life that so many others are living with, then let's speak some more.
I am a mushroom!
The jury is still out, and of course it’s not legal, but for folks who have tried everything else, it’s better than taking the final solution.
The clients are using information try get off the internet, bright folks, so I think they’re compiling info and then they follow a plan.
LSD in a tincture, x# of drops to x# milliliter of alcohol. It’s on a taper, spaced over days.
I’ve got a buddy who’s a pain specialist, he’s working on getting into a government approved psilocybin program examining efficacy and possible applications.
I practice psychiatry, some addiction stuff, but mostly I’m interested in how it will help treatment resistant depression.
img1.stcrm.it/images/21445229/HOR_STD/1000x/santa-cruz.jpg
I personally have been using marijuana products since I was 6, I am 37. I don't have anxiety. In any way, shape, or form.
I have several issues with your statements. The first one and your subsequent follow up.
My first bone to pick. Nobody is advocating for teenagers to smoke marijuana for anxiety. Not. A. Single. Person.On. Earth. The affects of activated THC/marijuana on a growing brain are well documented.
In fact, in most cases, no one is suggesting, advocating, or prescribing smoking marijuana for any medical benefits.
Your first research project should be actually educating yourself about what cannabis is, and the various ways of consuming it. When THC is heated up to a certain temperature, it activates the psychoacvtive properties. These are not the same psychoacvtive properties as in a psychedelic plant. You don't trip on thc, you have the symptoms related to smoking activated THC. Some people get paranoid and anxious as you have said. That's a by product of a chemical imbalance.
Saying medical marijuana is a shit show is misleading and flat out false. There are mountains of research outside north America on cannabis and its medical properties. Furthermore, until the 1930s it was a commonly used medical aid. Medical marijuana was already legal once, based on the scientific data. Just like MDMA was created for healing purposes!
You can not continue to make misleading statements, it discredits the research you are claiming to do. Nobody is prescribing smoke weed to teenagers with anxiety. That's a ridiculous statement. Now if you said they were telling them to take a cananbis based product like a tincture or something, you would have credibility.
Then as it relates to psychedelic plants and stuff, there is also thousands of years of research on that also. Anyone who has a negative reaction to a psychedelic has underlying tension. They have untreated issues lingering. They may have PTSD and finally the psychedelic lets them face the monster head on. Nobody said fighting demons was like having tea and biscuits.
If you want to study weed, psychedelics and such, to get an actual informed perspective, take some! There will never be a one size fits all solution to these issues. I encourage you to research as much as you can. Just know that no matter what the books or microscopes say there is no substitute to actual experience.
Countries like Israel have been studying this since the 1950s, the science is all there.
First off, meth heads and junkies aren't going to decide they want to start using mushrooms instead and it is going to be the summer of love all over again.
Second, mental illness is a big factor in drug use and homelessness and psychedelics have been shown to exacerbate or even trigger psychotic episodes in some people.
Thirdly, this whole thing is terribly ironic as bike theft is the number one way addicts support their habit in this town.
Mushrooms and LSD don't even really belong in the same category as meth or heroin or crack.
For one, they are anti-addictive. The more you use the less their effect is.
I use mushrooms I pick up myself. I go to beautiful places that I never have time or will to stop by when riding. It forces me to calm down and focus. Finding them is a science and challenge on its-own. I am not too much into Chemical psychedelics. I like mushrooms.
And BTW, almost everything you put into your mouth changes chemical composition of your brain.
Without really doing them yourself, there is no way to really understand what they do, but I can assure you that its not just about getting high or having a good time or escaping your problems. If you are using them for healing, you are forced to experience and confront your personal problems at 10 times the intensity of when you are sober, which is not even remotely pleasant mentally.
I highly suggest you try them, if only to be able to actually talk about them with some degree of knowledge.
Sobriety is also a choice. Often it’s a choice that s person has to make over and over until choosing sobriety becomes the habit.
Now we don't have to travel to Peru for the shamanic ceremonies. Although that would be an experience. Bring your own barf bags.
Thankfully I've never gone to Peru and have still been able to benefit from violently healing sessions.
The experience is incredibly powerful, but I dont think that mescaline, psilocybin, LSD, etc really prepared me for the experience. Having taken large doses of mushrooms and experienced what I thought was ego death, I figured that it was just going to be more of the same. However, the overall experience was something that I don't know if you can actually prepare for. I made a multi source DMT and other DMT alkaloid preparation and consumed it with an MAOI. Five trips over two weeks, and each one began with an Earth shattering ego death that was followed by great introspection or otherworldly meditative experiences. I'm glad that I did it on my own without input from others. I also think that mushrooms and meditation can yield similarly positive outcomes without the brutality.
As for abuse, I have zero desire to consume DMT ever again. I learned what I needed to learn, and see no reason to revisit that place again. I can't imagine how anyone could willfully abuse orally consumed DMT
These days, I won't even use LSD, as it seems rather sterile. Dr. Hoffman was a brilliant man, but and he was the origin of the phrase 'bicycle day", but IMO nothing compares to the mushroom for therapeutic effectiveness. Also, I'm an avid fan of Terrence McKenna. He was a brilliant speaker. You can still access some of his longer talks on youtube. He had the "gift", alright.
For me the main problem is not legal consumption by adults to threat them self’s , however driving / walking on public roads after this;
Mushrooms can last more than 8 hour sleep
And they must have embedded some psychedelics into this article, 'cause I am seeing HUGE guitars.
If there is anyone who would like to know more about psychedelics please check out the links below. (In an unwaki way, for broadly understood harm reduction only. I really mean that with all the humane and compassionate parts that are left of my otherwise empty troll soul):
Prof. Paul Stamets
youtu.be/XI5frPV58tY
Prof. James Fadiman
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6AfFM8pfy4s
And if want some responsible banter of an actual psychonaut
Check out Psyched Substance on youtube
Please if you are to use “shrooms” do it responsibly. Read on the subject of dosing. LSD and particularly DMT - even more responsibly. Same goes for the common mushrooms like fly agaric. Do not abuse them, chose your trip mates and sitters wisely. Be educated, be prepared, make the best of it.
Cheers!
Mike Sinyard: hold my description!
DOSEDTHEMOVIE.com
Very informative.
facebook.com/events/s/dosed-documentary-back-in-nels/164603734794136/?ti=as
*yes, I understand.
Small wonder the government’s revenue estimates were way off.
Until the legal price drops, we’ll all continue to call ‘the guy’, instead.
#firstWorldProblems
“Giant guitars!”
In the mid 90’s to 2005ish you could work and pay for college, buy a house out of college, and generally live well.
We have decent advancements in medical fields, safe cars to drive, information at our finger tips,
Looking back through history I’d say we all live at a great time
Look at the work of Robin Carhart-Harris or Rosalind Watts from Imperial College London.
Time much more open and libertarian in certain ways. In Sweden it is ok to be an idiot, people still find value in your existence. It is ok to work in a local shop for all your life. It is ok to settle for whatever you find fulfilling. Which gets a bit numbing and uninspiring for some time. But being a part of two rather opposite cultures I was able to experience social norms as a very tangible concept which depends almost solely on culture, particularly the higher values that people try to make appear as universal. Basically the way each one of us judges the world is completely subjective and requires constant reaffirming from your peer group. Your ideas are not really your ideas. They are an average of your experiences. So you think 90s was great in wherever you find yourself, I have never ever had it better. I was in gymnasium and high school in 90s - that was puberty - that was one awful time of my life.
The reason you can't imagine is because you think that stuff like lsd and shrooms are drugs. They are not. They are medicine for the mind, just like there is medicine for the body.