Healing the Hurt at the Center of Addiction

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The following is excerpted from The Fellowship of the River by Joe Tafur. 

Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experience. A hurt is at the center of all addictive behaviors. It is present in the gambler, the Internet addict, the compulsive shopper and the workaholic. The wound may not be as deep and the ache not as excruciating, and it may even be entirely hidden—but it’s there . . . the effects of early stress or adverse experiences directly shape both the psychology and the neurobiology of addiction in the brain.

It is impossible to understand addiction without asking what relief the addict finds, or hopes to find, in the drug or the addictive behavior.

—Gabor Maté MD, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

Dr. Gabor Maté is a renowned speaker, author, physician, and addiction specialist. In the past few years, he has been speaking up about the positive outcomes he has seen in the treatment of addiction with ayahuasca and TAPM. In 2013, some of his Canadian colleagues published the first North American study evaluating ayahuasca-based treatment for addiction.1 This small pilot study demonstrated promising results and has paved the way for the larger Ayahuasca Treatment Outcome Project (ATOP), which is now being conducted in part at Takiwasi, a traditional healing center focused on addiction treatment in Tarapoto, Peru, under Dr. Jacques Mabit.

Latin-American-based research is now, in many respects, leading investigation into the healing potential of ayahuasca-based treatments.2-6 Brazil, in particular, has become a focal point of this ayahuasca research. Researchers are currently investigating a number of topics, among them the psychedelic therapy potential of ayahuasca in addiction.

In shamanic traditions, addiction is considered to be a spiritual illness, like PTSD, depression, or anxiety. Spiritual illness requires spiritually oriented treatment. Throughout this book, I have tried to demonstrate how what some see as spiritual illness can also be described in secular terms. When we speak about spiritual illness, we are describing dysfunction in the emotional body, measurable dysfunction. Modern research has clarified, for example, that addiction is associated with limbic system dysfunction within the PNEI network. Addiction appears to be a problem of the emotional body.7-9 As we have seen with the treatment of other emotional body disorders, this, too, can benefit from deep emotional healing.

In his book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Dr. Maté posits that addiction is a search for love (in response to a lack of love). He suggests that a lack of love during childhood emotional development often leads to long-term emotional instability, which then drives some individuals to seek “feel good” mood-altering substances as adults. In the case of cocaine addiction, researchers have demonstrated a strong relationship between early life stress and subsequent hypothalamic- pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation. (You’ll recall that the HPA axis is a central component of the emotional body/PNEI stress-response system.10) As with psoriasis, addiction is likely the outcome of a combination of early life stress, genetic predispositions, and environmental factors.

In allopathic medicine, drug addiction is characterized as compulsive, out-of-control drug use, despite negative consequences. Instead of seeing it as a spiritual or emotional problem, modern science considers addiction to be a brain disease. In the United States, despite extensive research and massive expenditure, this “brain” disease continues to be a huge problem. The U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that the abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs costs the nation more than $700 billion annually (in costs related to crime, lost work productivity, and health care).11 It is time to broaden our understanding of addiction and explore new treatment options. As we’ll see in the following story, plant medicine offers promising pathways to healing.

Mike

Sometime after Sharon’s time at the center, in 2013, we were visited by Iron Mike, a big, strong, well-spoken Canadian in his mid-thirties. Mike is not a hippie or a New Ager, he’s just a regular hard-working guy—an oil patch worker from Alberta, Canada who had a problem with cocaine. Unbeknownst to us, he had been doing cocaine all the way to the airport on his way to Peru.

As he told me, “Yeah, it progressed to the point where it was a quarter ounce (somewhere around 30 or 40 lines) a day, every day that I could get it. I don’t know if I got some genetic ability to just consume unlimited drugs and live to be eighty or it was catching up to me, but the amounts I was doing and the frequency . . . I’m sure there would have been implications.”

Mike first did cocaine in March of 2000. He described himself as a social drinker and mentioned that he had tried marijuana, LSD, mushrooms, and Ecstasy but denied having had problems with other substances.

“Yeah, cocaine was the excessive one. The first time I did it, I remember thinking very distinctly that I should never go near this again. It just had this effect on me. It was like the missing link. When it first hit my system, all of my insecurities, all of my inadequacies, everything that I felt was missing from my personality just came firing together at once . . . The very first time I consumed it, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, wow, I’m going to get into trouble with this.’”

Over the next few months, his cocaine use progressed into a serious problem. Between 2000 and his visit to Nihue Rao in 2013, Mike had been in rehab four times, relapsing after every treatment. As he told me, “I would be sober for a period of time and then I would collapse. Everything I gained up to that point would go. Then when I got back to the bottom of the barrel, I would just check into another center or go back to another treatment place or go back to AA or whatever the case. As soon as I would do [cocaine], I would just instantly become fully involved in it again. I could pull it off for a couple weeks, little bit here and a little bit there, but it always ended up very quickly into 100 percent consumption.”

In those years, his longest period of sobriety was just over two and a half years, from January 2008 until April of 2010. Throughout that period, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was a vital support. “That’s where I had my most success in sobriety. [Consistently] . . . Not just stopping the use, but building some sort of a life through a connection to other sober people.”

Mike was never treated with psychiatric medications, but in rehab, Mike recalls, “A psychiatrist told me I had borderline personality disorder and felt that it came from a lack of a father figure as a child. My dad wasn’t around and when he was around he was really short-tempered and he just wasn’t present as a father. From a very young age, I had temper problems, behavior issues, I had violence problems.”

Mike’s father was never physically violent with him, just angry. Although his father stopped drinking twenty-five years ago, he was an alcoholic during Mike’s childhood. Mike’s parents divorced when he was about eight years old, and although he always lived nearby, Mike’s father was not a consistent presence.

“Yeah, I was just a kid without a dad. I didn’t develop as somebody with a centered life. I didn’t learn how to be a man at a young age. I didn’t have that father presence. I just remember at a really young age I developed a temper.”

Mike and his three sisters were raised by their busy, single mother. As he told me, “[My mom] had four kids to raise and . . . she worked a lot. She did the best she could. She was a really great mom.” Mike’s mother did not have alcohol problems.

I interviewed Mike in 2016, three years after his first experience with ayahuasca, about his visits to Nihue Rao in the Amazon. Mike had first heard about us from a friend back in Canada and decided to come down for a three-week visit. Like the other pasajeros, he entered the diet process in the usual fashion and was then started on the master plant ojé. Due to its strong detoxifying properties, ojé is often used in individuals with alcohol and drug problems. Once prepared, Mike entered ceremony. To put it lightly, his first couple of ceremonies were challenging.

“During the first night, like the fool I am, I went up to the well [to drink ayahuasca] twice and ended up in that other [pasajero’s] bed. I completely ruined their night. I didn’t know the bed from the floor. I had no experience with this stuff and definitely had no business helping myself to two [doses].

“I was completely disoriented. Being the addict I was, when I went up there, I remember you asking me, ‘Are you feeling the effects?’ and I was like, ‘Oh, no, not really.’ I was [feeling the effects], right, but if I say I am, they’re not going to give me more, so I just completely BS’d my way into another round and I think that was part of the payback for being greedy.

“Yeah, I was detoxing still. I remember I had a drink on the plane on the way down there and was buying painkillers at the airport in Lima. They don’t care there, they’ll sell you anything. Whatever they got on the rack is up for grabs. Once me and the pharmacist established what I was trying to get he just handed it right over . . . the first night [of ceremony], I was still coming off of a really rough thing. I just got greedy and got leveled for it.

“I couldn’t even get off the floor. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t find my bed. I just remember lying there and thinking, ‘Man, am I ever helpless right now?’ This is bad. I knew I had overdone it. I had this feeling of that’s what you get.

“The next ceremony was much different. That was the night I was lying there and I heard this voice and I thought you [had] just snuck up on me, and I was just sitting there looking around and nobody was there. That’s when I realized something is trying to guide me here. I was trying to be rational. I had this moment where I was like, ‘Okay, there is nobody around you, you need to calm down a minute here and just go with this and not try to figure it out.’

“If I could [have] just put some rational thought to this, I thought it would make sense. That wasn’t the case. There was no putting any rational thought to it. I remember I had this feeling of, ‘Man, you’re in the jungle now.’ This thing is coming alive. I had this moment of clarity where I could hear all the noises in the Amazon and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m in South America, I’m in the middle of the Amazon jungle and this voice just kicked in. I’m going to be here for three weeks, I better get comfortable here and quickly.’

“The first ceremony, I was just a write-off, but when that voice and that sort of guidance came in, right away it gave me an offer. It was like, you have a choice here, if you’re down here to change, you’re going to have to experience some painful things. Or you can go on living the way you’re living. I had this option at that moment to make a decision, and I decided to proceed forward.

“[So] what happened that night was that a line-up of ex-girlfriends showed up. My ex-wife, my ex-girlfriend, I was lying there and, one by one, they appeared in front of me crystal clear as if they were standing there. They explained to me what my actions had done to them, how it had hurt them, how it had affected them, how it affected their lives, and how it had made them feel about themselves. It was four or five of them in a row. It was not easy, man. That was a rough road.”

Mike did not feel that he was guided through these experiences to make him feel guilty, “but in order to understand things I needed to have the severity and the seriousness of it put to me, and the best way to do that, in that moment, was through a visual interpretation of it. That’s what I got. I wouldn’t have known any different if they were standing right there yelling at me. It was that clear. I was looking and they were physically there, standing there and letting me have it. Nobody took it easy on me that night. That was a tough night in the jungle.

“At the end of that, I remember thinking, ‘How am I going to get through three weeks of this? This is ridiculous. Nobody told me about this.’ Then there was a break [a night off, after the first two ceremonies]. Everything that I had to feel from that [second] night just stuck with me. It didn’t leave. There was no reprieve granted that night and I think that was intentional. You need to sit with this. You’re not just going to say, ‘Here’s where you went wrong and now you feel better about yourself.’ That night and the next day and into the following day, right up until [the next ceremony] night, my heart was just heavy. It was just the weight of the world on me. Not in the sense of self-pity or sympathy, it was just I was feeling the pain I had inflicted on others. I was really connected to what my actions had done to other people.

“It was tough. I woke up the next morning and I was like, ‘I hate myself.’ I don’t even know if I slept. I think I just lay there all night feeling sorry for myself. This is wrong, man. I haven’t been through anything like that.

“It was kind of put to me from that point on. In between the bathroom breaks and all the crying and sweating, and the stuff that goes on when you’re cleaning out, I learned a lot about why I was unhappy. Why I was self-destructive, why I was counterproductive to my own future.

“I learned that it was because of my selfish behavior . . . When I hurt somebody that I loved out of selfishness, I would turn that into self-anger . . . to beating myself up and saying I’m a bad person, because I have a conscience. If I didn’t have a conscience, like your average sociopath, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. I would have just moved on to the next one. I truly cared. I was completely unable to stop the cycle that I had created for myself. Lying, cheating, deceiving, and then self-hatred and self-loathing. That would manifest into drugs and alcohol and lot of other behavior and all the other things that would come with it. Once I would see the effect I was having on people and my conscience would get to me, I would just medicate and self-destruct and it would just feed itself. When I was behaving like that, I was hurting the people I cared about even more. It would just constantly be this wheel that was fed with negativity.

“One of the very early fundamentals I learned [from] working with this plant was that ‘if I’m going to hurt other people, I’m going to hate myself. If I’m going to hate myself, then I’m going to self-destruct and I’m never going to be happy.’ It starts with, in my case, the way I’m treating the people that I care about. Even the people that I don’t care about.”

After two days in the jungle with a heavy heart, reflecting deeply on his realizations, Mike entered his third ceremony.

“I dragged my sorry ass in there feeling . . . like, ‘Oh man, what’s coming? Not another one of these . . . ’ The heaviness that I felt in my heart, that voice came back and was like, ‘You’re going to remove this. Now that you understand what you’re doing. Now it’s time to start caring about yourself.’ That next ceremony, after the Wednesday break, was when the guilt, the shame, the remorse, all that stuff started to come out of me. When I was able to really get the weight lifted out of my heart.

“The real crazy one would’ve been the fifth or sixth ceremony. They came and got the guy beside me and brought him up [to the shamans], then Ricardo said something and they brought the guy back.” The helper had brought Mike’s neighbor, but in that particular moment, Ricardo changed his mind and decided that he specifically wanted to sing to Mike. Deep in his ayahuasca effect and a bit confused over the shuffle, Mike allowed the helper to guide him over to Ricardo.

Mike continued:

“[I was brought up in front of Ricardo for the icaro and] there was a crazy moment where [Ricardo] kind of sat up and leaned in on me and started making these really weird noises. I felt like my chest had opened up and something was being pulled right out of it. The weight of this darkness, it was just like he sucked it right out of my chest. I couldn’t feel my legs. This went on for ten minutes. When I went back to my [mat], I could barely walk. I was like, ‘Holy [smokes], is that an exorcism? What just happened there?’ I felt like he had just taken that negativity, [in] that moment [he] just saw the opportunity to take something out of me and clean me. That was the real changing moment.

“I had been feeling good up to that point, because it was five or six ceremonies in, but after that night, was the point that I knew that my path had forevermore altered. I felt like from this point on you have a choice.”

The power to choose, improved personal agency, improves personal mastery and, with it, spiritual well-being and emotional body function.

“Up to that moment in my life, I just didn’t feel I had any choice over how I was behaving. I was completely unable to stop the bad behavior. That night I remember when I got back to the mat and [then] back to my hut, I remember thinking, ‘From this moment on, you can choose if you want to be that person, or you can choose if you want to be a better person.’ It was just so clear, for the first time in my life I now had the option. Does that mean everything is going to be perfect? No. It’s just that I didn’t have a choice before. I could never stop the behavior.”

I mentioned to Mike that I had come across a quote that said, “Once a person discovers a mystical or archetypal experience in his memory banks, he never again can view himself as worthless—which might well prove to be the most potent contribution of entheogens [psychedelics] in the treatment of addictions.”12 I wanted to hear his perspective on this idea, that a major mystical experience can help an addict transcend the feeling of worthlessness, that on the other side of worthlessness is choice.

Mike responded, “What’s going on with everything since my first visit down there is that I have the option if I want to keep suffering. I have the option if I want to get better. I firmly believe that I have the option . . . I really believe that sort of set off that night. I really believe that was the big catalyst.”

Mike finished the three-week experience feeling “amazing.” In his own words, “Things had been so bad for so long that part of my final experience in those final ceremonies was just to learn how to feel good and enjoy feeling good and enjoy taking some positive lessons . . . The punishment stopped.”

Mike had to go through his own forgiveness and acceptance process in order to move forward. “That was one of the keys to this thing. I had to understand it. It wasn’t because I was a bad person. It was the situation. It was a sickness. To come to accept all those things.”

Unfortunately, once home, he learned that he had come down with malaria.

“I was halfway to getting home, on the plane and I was like, ‘What is going on? Something is not right.’ I thought it was jet lag but after about the third day I was like, ‘This is not normal.’ [Mike went to see his doctor and was diagnosed with malaria.] But the thing was, when they treated me for it, the next day everything just returned. Once the malaria was gone, how good I felt, that all returned, it was just a sickness. It came and went. It didn’t affect me spiritually.”

Six months after his first stay, Mike sent me an email saying, “It’s now nearing the end of December, and six months later. So what has become of the man who lost his soul and begged for mercy from the plants of the amazon? My life, and the very existence I’ve ever known, has been completely transformed. I have experienced things in the last six months that I would never have believed possible. I live a caliber of life that people would die for. I am clean, sober, healthy, and most of all Joe. I love myself.”

Not too long after that email, Mike decided to go back to work in the oil patch. A few months later, approximately nine months after his stay at Nihue Rao, he started using again.

During the 2016 interview, Mike recalled, “Yeah. I had forgotten the fundamentals that I learned as far as what was important. Because I had never felt that good in my life, I got complacent. It started out with going to the pub with friends and drinking and thinking, ‘Well I’m cured, I’ve got this thing beat.’ It was a situational thing and I can drink and behave like this again. Sure enough it didn’t take long from when I started drinking again until the cocaine came back. Then again it just fell apart very quickly. It just collapsed again.”

Yes, Mike relapsed, but things never got as bad as they had in the past. He was able to overcome his self-hatred. He still had the power to choose, and he realized he needed more help. Mike’s mother advised him to return to Nihue Rao. He returned in April of 2014 for two more weeks. Ricardo started him on ajo sacha for this two-week diet, another plant used in cleansing the body of addictive substances. This two-week trip quickly got him back on track.

I asked Mike how he felt after his second experience. He replied, “Oh, yeah. I was doing incredible. I think what made that trip magical was the group of people that I met down there. All those guys and we just formed a really tight friendship very quickly. We had a really great time together. . . . It really restored me, being back there that time.

“Again, things were going so well. [When I got back to Canada] I went back to the oil and gas industry, which in the divisions I was working was very high pressure. [You’re] working with people with tempers, there is a lot of backstabbing, there is a lot of fighting. You can’t really be a pacifist . . . You have to just be a bull to get things accomplished and survive . . . I kind of fell back into that role again.”

After another seven or eight months of working in this environment, Mike started using cocaine again.

“After I left Peru, I never did anything to maintain sobriety. I just rode the wave of [good feelings] without reconnecting to something. For the second time, I just thought, ‘Man, I’m fixed. I just had a little bit of a dustup there, but I’m back on and it’s all good.’ Again, there was no maintenance of spiritual condition. I just kind of came back and went back to living the life, with the oil fields, and the trucks, and the money, and all that stuff.”

After this relapse, Mike returned to the center for one more week and then followed up by taking an opportunity to participate in ayahuasca ceremony in Portugal.

“We worked really well in Portugal. One of the things that I hadn’t dealt with was the loss of my marriage. I had never really forgiven myself. I had never come to terms with it. I hadn’t allowed myself to go through the feelings of it. How much that really meant to me, how much that really affected me for that to have happened.

“That happened six years ago. [Mike was married in July of 2009 and got divorced in May of 2010.] The weight of my decisions that cost me that opportunity, that cost me that partnership, I never really allowed myself to understand how deeply I felt about it. [My wife] wasn’t into drugs or anything like that. She supported me in sobriety and supported me going to AA and being around sober people, but when the relapses happened, when I wasn’t ready to stop it, she gave me more than enough opportunity to put the brakes on it and to get better and reach out for help. When that wasn’t happening, she just couldn’t be around it.”

Mike worked through forgiving himself and is now most focused on applying what he’s learned from his experiences with master plants.

“In spite of the treatment I received with the plants and the different ceremonies I went to, when I got home, I didn’t put any action into continuing the connection. Although I had been able to bounce back from setbacks, what has held me up was that I didn’t put the effort into staying connected to something other than to just go back to my complete old lifestyle and expect everything to change.”

After Portugal, Mike started using again for a period of time over the winter but was able to pull out of it on his own, with the help of his community. When we last spoke, he was back on track again.

“When I was telling you today about what’s going on [over] the last few weeks, me being able to be in the situation I’m in right now and doing as well as I’m doing in the brief period of time, that I swung back, this would not have happened in my history . . . I wouldn’t have been able to stop. It would have had to get to the point where [I needed an intervention,] a treatment center . . . [or] going back to Peru.

“What I’m finding now that I’m in AA and working with people that are spiritual people and people that are clean and sober, when I’m living around people that are living in the solution that I want to be a part of, I’m finding the solution is becoming a part of my everyday life. Instead of being back in the oil fields, instead of being back around people that are drinking, back around people that are around drug dealers, back around all that, just expecting to maintain this great thing . . . That’s the big thing. That’s the big deal. It’s a boost. It’s a day-to-day thing, it’s real life. To stay connected.”

At first glance, it might seem that ayahuasca and the TAPM treatment failed to heal Mike. But that’s not what Mike took from the experience.

After maintaining his sobriety for some time, Mike spoke with a therapist who has seen others go through plant medicine experiences. Mike told me that this therapist said something to him like this:

“You can go down to the Amazon and do a night banger through the jungle and have a great time and be safe, but if you don’t understand the messages that are being given and find a way to apply them in your life, all you are doing is going on a rodeo tour. When you come back, you’re left with all these answers and you’re not connected to anything. There’s a whole other side to this that isn’t just about drinking the medicine and expecting to be fixed.

“We go down there because we are in such bad shape and we come back having never felt so great about things. We forget that there is work needed to maintain this stuff. You’re not going to feel great forever, but there is a way to consistently be dialed in, and it involves some work outside of going to Peru once a year. You can’t just expect it to be fixed.”

Mike is now part of a healthy community, working part-time as a firefighter, and interested in getting back into radio broadcasting. In his new community, he attends AA meetings regularly.

“This is the first time since I’ve visited Peru, since before I went to Peru, that I have the understanding that I need to be connected to something that is going to keep me sober. I’m not going to stay sober based on the fear of my last bad experience. Fear is not going to keep me sober. Fear of relapsing isn’t going to keep me from relapsing. One thing to keep me from relapsing is putting in some work. Without what happened in Peru and the experiences I have had . . . well, [I can say that this plant has] taught me to how to fight instead of just roll over and die and give up. There is always another option, a lot of hope.

“Before I didn’t have the choice. I didn’t have the choice when I relapsed . . . Now I have the option. I know what needs to be done, I know how I can feel about myself if I put the work in and I know where to get help if I want it. I know that I’m worth fighting for. Before, [that] wasn’t a part of my psyche, it wasn’t a part of my thought process.”

Mike and I are now friends, and I hope to be on his radio show one day. He is still going to AA meetings and he is still sober.

Mystical Healing

Although Mike’s path to sobriety was long and complicated (involving multiple plant diets and ongoing social support), he is quite clear that the ayahuasca ceremonies opened the door to his transformation. His mystical ceremonial experiences were crucial to uncovering and healing the deep emotional wounds that were preventing his success. We are now discovering more and more about how such mystical experiences shift perspective and help someone overcome the feelings of worthlessness that underlie self-destructive behavior.

Dr. Roland Griffith’s research group at Johns Hopkins Medical School (Dept. of Psychiatry) is currently investigating the role of mystical experiences in healing.13-15 They are using psilocybin- induced states of consciousness as a model for the mystical experience, exploring the way mystical states affect healthcare outcomes.

In their research, they use a secular scale, The Mystical Experience Questionnaire, to try and determine how “mystical” a particular psilocybin experience was. This scale is a subjective questionnaire that explores the degree to which a study participant, for example, had the experience of feeling eternity or infinity, or the experience of fusion with a larger whole, or the feeling that they had gained insightful knowledge at an intuitive level, etc. Using their Mystical Scale and other research instruments, researchers have found that those psilocybin experiences rated as more mystical were also found to be more personally meaningful and spiritually significant, and that personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences promote more lasting change.

This aligned with prior observations that I had read: “Naturally occurring instances of dramatic, positive behavioral change are sometimes associated with spontaneously occurring transformative psychological experiences, frequently of a mystical-type variety and with prior psychedelic research demonstrating that mystical-type experiences, transcendent or peak experiences, played a key role in positive therapeutic outcomes (including early research investigating the treatment of drug and alcohol dependence and, more recently, the treatment of anxiety associated with advanced cancer).”14

The Johns Hopkins group applied these concepts to a further study investigating a psilocybin-based treatment for tobacco addiction.15 In an attempt to get them to quit smoking, fifteen people were put through a treatment program that included up to three clinically observed psilocybin experiences. After the treatment program, twelve of the fifteen study participants quit smoking. Six months later, those twelve were still not smoking. The participants who quit smoking reported stronger mystical experiences with psilocybin and rated these experiences as more personally meaningful and spiritually significant as compared to those who did not quit. The investigators summarized, “These results suggest a mediating role of a mystical experience in psychedelic-facilitated addiction treatment.”

Why the science “talk” again? Well, apparently, tobacco addiction, a “brain” disease, regarded commonly as a physical addiction, can be “mediated” by a mystical experience. Mike’s cocaine addiction was similarly affected by his mystical experiences with ayahuasca. Perhaps it is time to expand our understanding of addiction. “Brain disease” doesn’t seem to quite cover it.16

Profound, mystical experiences of self-love can apparently reprogram the mind-body in a meaningful and lasting manner. Mike’s experiences in ayahuasca ceremony helped him to overcome much of his deep emotional suffering, so that his story could be retold and his brain could be “rewired.” This transition was further facilitated by shamanic healing, master plant diets, subsequent integration, and social support.

Feeling is what affects the emotional body. Sometimes the master plants and the energy of an ayahuasca ceremony can make you feel something so strongly that it can change your life. Such experiences can even impact something as physically intense as cocaine addiction. Ayahuasca helped Mike cross into the mystery to find and fully feel self-love, forgiveness, compassion, and gratitude. These faculties of the soul then promoted healing in his emotional body, which then translated into changes in his mind-body.

Afterwards, clearly, there was more work to do. Traditional medicine all over the world acknowledges this. After traditional healing, if you don’t change your life, nothing will change, not for long. You have to do your part to maintain a shift in the emotional body. If you don’t, your mystical Amazonian experiences will fade into that memorable “rodeo tour,” that one time, in the jungle.

References:

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  10. Rovaris, DL, et al. Corticosteroid receptor genes and childhood neglect influence susceptibility to crack/cocaine addiction and response to detoxification treatment. J Psychiatr Res. 2015 Sep; 68:83-90.
  11. https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nationwide-trends.
  12. Richards, WA (2002). Entheogens in the study of mystical and archetypal experiences. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 13: pp. 143-155.
  13. Griffiths, RR, et al. Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Aug;187(3):268-83; discussion 284-92.
  14. Griffiths, RR, et al. Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later. J Psychopharmacol. 2008 Aug;22(6):621-32.
  15. Garcia-Romeu, A, et al. Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences in the treatment of tobacco addiction. Curr Drug Abuse Rev. 2014;7(3):157-64.
  16. Hall, W, et al. The brain disease model of addiction: is it supported by the evidence and has it delivered on its promises? Lancet Psychiatry. 2015 Jan;2(1):105-10.

***
Joe-Tafur-Front-Book-Cover

Psychedelic Resources

A Foraging Trip: Where Do Magic Mushrooms Grow?
Eager to learn more about the origin of psilocybin species? Read this article to find out where magic mushrooms grow and more!

How to Make Shroom Tea: Best Recipe and Dosage
A step by step guide on how to brew shroom tea, and why entheogenic psilocybin tea is a preferred method for psychedelic connoisseurs.

R. Gordon Wasson: Author and Mushroom Expert
Learn about R. Gordon Wasson, the “legendary mushroom expert” and popular figure within the psychonaut community.

Shrooms vs Acid: Differences and Similarities Explained
Ever wondered what the differences are between shrooms vs acid, or if you can take both together? This guide explains what you need to know.

Quantum Mechanics, Reality, and Magic Mushrooms
Scientist and author Dr. Chris Becker takes an in-depth approach in understanding how we perceive reality through magic mushrooms and quantum mechanics.

Psilocybin Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Psilocybin has everything you want to know about this psychedelic fungi from its uses to its legal status.

The Psilocybin Experience: What’s the Deal With Magic Mushrooms?
From microdoses to macrodoses, the psilocybin experience has been sought after both medicinally and recreationally for millennia.

Psilocybin and Magic Mushroom Resources
Curious to learn more about psilocybin? This guide is a comprehensive psilocybin resource containing books, therapeutic studies, and more.

Paul Stamets Profile: Mushroom Guru, Filmmaker, Nutritionist, Scientist
Learn about Paul Stamets, read his thoughts on psilocybin mircodosing, the future of psilocybin, and his recent film “Fantastic Fungi”.

Microdosing Psilocybin & Common Dosage Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivably, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing psilocybin.

Psilocybin Nasal Spray: Relief for Anxiety, PTSD, and Depression
Microdosing nasal spray with psilocybin, is that possible?! Oregan a start-up Silo Wellness believes so and has created this new option for PTSD treatment.

Mazatec Mushroom Usage: Notes on Approach, Setting and Species for Curious Psilonauts
A look at traditional Mazatec psilocybin mushroom usage, and a comparison to the cliniical therapeutic approach, with an examination of the Mazatec setting and species used in veladas.

María Sabina: The Mazatec Magic Mushroom Woman
Magic mushrooms are incredibly popular today. How they became introduced to into American culture isn’t usually a topic discussed while tripping on psilocybin fungi. We all may have María Sabina to thank for exposing the Western world to the healing properties of the psilocybin mushroom.

Guide to Magic Mushroom Strains
Are there different types of psilocybin? Read our guide to learn about the different magic mushroom strains and their individual effects.

Kilindi Iyi: Mycologist, Traveler, Teacher
Learn about traveler and mycologist Kilindi Iyi known in the psychedelic community for his research and exploration of psilocybin.

How to Store Shrooms: Best Practices
How do you store shrooms for optimal shelf life? Learn how and why the proper storage method is so important.

Shroom Chocolate Recipes: How to Make Magic Mushroom Chocolates
This recipe provides step by step directions on how you can make mushroom chocolates with the necessary ingredients. Read to learn more!

Why Do People Use Psilocybin? New Johns Hopkins Study
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines has just published a new study on psychoactive effects of psilocybin. Read here to learn more.

How-To Lemon Tek: Ultimate Guide and Recipe
This master guide will teach you how to lemon tek, preventing the onset of negative effects after consuming psilocybin. Read to learn more!

How to Intensify a Mushroom Trip
Learn about techniques like Lemon tekking, or discover the right time to consume cannabis if you are looking to intensify a mushroom trip.

How to Grow Magic Mushrooms: Step-by-Step
This step-by-step guide will show you how to grow magic mushrooms at home. Read this guide before trying it on your own.

How to Dry Magic Mushrooms: Best Practices
Read to learn more about specifics for the best practices on how to dry magic mushrooms after harvesting season.

How to Buy Psilocybin Spores
Interested in psilocybin mushrooms? We’ll walk you through all you need to know to obtain mushroom spores. Nosh on this delish How To guide.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

Having Sex on Shrooms: Good or Bad Idea?
Is having sex on shrooms a good idea or an accident waiting to happen? Find out in our guide to sex on magic mushrooms.

Gold Cap Shrooms Guide: Spores, Effects, Identification
Read this guide to learn more about the different characteristics of gold cap mushrooms, and how they differ from other psilocybin species.

Guide to Cooking with Magic Mushrooms
From cookies to smoothies and sandwiches, we cover various methods of cooking with magic mushrooms for the ultimate snack.

2020 Election: The Decriminalize Psilocybin Movement
Are you curious if mushrooms will follow in marijuana’s footsteps? Read to learn about how the U.S. is moving to decriminalize psilocybin.

Oregon’s Initiative to Legalize Mushrooms | Initiative Petition 34
Oregon continues to push ahead with their initiative to legalize Psilocybin in 2020. The measure received its official title and now needs signatures.

Canada Approves Psilocybin Treatment for Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu approved the use of psilocybin to help ease anxiety and depression of four terminal cancer patients.

Mapping the DMT Experience
With only firsthand experiences to share, how can we fully map the DMT experience? Let’s explore what we know about this powerful psychedelic.

Guide to Machine Elves and Other DMT Entities
This guide discusses machine elves, clockwork elves, and other common DMT entities that people experience during a DMT trip.

Is the DMT Experience a Hallucination? 
What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play?

How to Store DMT
Not sure how to store DMT? Read this piece to learn the best practices and elements of advice to keep your stuff fresh.

What Does 5-MeO-DMT Show Us About Consciousness?
How does our brain differentiate between what’s real and what’s not? Read to learn what can 5-MeO-DMT show us about consciousness.

How to Smoke DMT: Processes Explained
There are many ways to smoke DMT and we’ve outlined some of the best processes to consider before embarking on your journey.

How to Ground After DMT
Knowing what to expect from a DMT comedown can help you integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible from your journey.

How To Get DMT
What kind of plants contain DMT? Are there other ways to access this psychedelic? Read on to learn more about how to get DMT.

How DMT is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make DMT? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how DMT is made.

Having Sex on DMT: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered about sex on DMT? Learn how the God Molecule can influence your intimate experiences.

Does the Human Brain Make DMT? 
With scientific evidence showing us DMT in the brain, what can we conclude it is there for? Read on to learn more.

How to Use DMT Vape Pens
Read to learn all about DMT vape pens including: what to know when vaping, what to expect when purchasing a DMT cartridge, and vaping safely.

DMT Resources
This article is a comprehensive DMT resource providing extensive information from studies, books, documentaries, and more. Check it out!

Differentiating DMT and Near-Death Experiences
Some say there are similarities between a DMT trip and death. Read our guide on differentiating DMT and near-death experiences to find out.

DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time
From a representative sample of a suitably psychedelic crowd, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t tell you all about Albert Hofmann’s enchanted bicycle ride after swallowing what turned out to be a massive dose of LSD. Far fewer, however, could tell you much about the world’s first DMT trip.

The Ultimate Guide to DMT Pricing
Check out our ultimate guide on DMT pricing to learn what to expect when purchasing DMT for your first time.

DMT Milking | Reality Sandwich
Indigenous cultures have used 5-MeO-DMT for centuries. With the surge in demand for psychedelic toad milk, is DMT Milking harming the frogs?

Why Does DMT Pervade Nature?
With the presence of DMT in nature everywhere – including human brains – why does it continue to baffle science?

DMT Substance Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to DMT has everything you want to know about this powerful psychedelic referred to as “the spirit molecule”.

DMT for Depression: Paving the Way for New Medicine
We’ve been waiting for an effective depression treatment. Studies show DMT for depression works even for treatment resistant patients.

Beating Addiction with DMT
Psychedelics have been studied for their help overcoming addiction. Read how DMT is helping addicts beat their substance abuse issues.

DMT Extraction: Behind the Scientific Process
Take a look at DMT extraction and the scientific process involved. Learn all you need to know including procedures and safety.

Microdosing DMT & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing DMT.

DMT Art: A Look Behind Visionary Creations
An entire genre of artwork is inspired by psychedelic trips with DMT. Read to learn about the entities and visions behind DMT art.

Changa vs. DMT: What You Need to Know
While similar (changa contains DMT), each drug has its own unique effect and feeling. Let’s compare and contrast changa vs DMT.

5-MeO-DMT Guide: Effects, Benefits, Safety, and Legality
5-Meo-DMT comes from the Sonora Desert toad. Here is everything you want to know about 5-Meo-DMT and how it compares to 4-AcO-DMT.

4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

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