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The following article first appeared in Earth Island Journal.

 

How a Campaign of Fear and Intimidation Led to the Gray
Wolf's Removal from the Endangered Species List

"Nabeki" didn't expect everyone to love
her when, in September 2009, she founded the website "Howling for Justice" to
celebrate the return of gray wolves to the Northern Rocky Mountains and to
protest the then-pending wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho. She didn't expect to
fear for her life, either. But after she posted the names of Montana wolf
hunters on her site, the threats began. On a single day in February 2010 the
anti-wolf movement sent to her 3,000 messages. Some of the e-mails expressed
their desire for her to leave the Rockies immediately. Some messages contained
graphic descriptions of wolf killing clearly meant to cause her anguish. "When
I pulled the trigger, I think I saw the wolf cry," one person wrote. "Then it's
[sic] guts where [sic] blown onto the hillside and it moaned." A few of the
messages hinted at attacking her personally.

"Until that day I wasn't thinking about the hatred,"
Nabeki, a professional from California who moved to the Rockies 15 years ago,
told me. Nabeki is an Internet ID, a pseudonym that she asked me to maintain
since she fears for her safety. "The idea that someone can hate you that much
and not even know you is really daunting. It was the first time I got really
scared. To this day I'm still scared." What bothers her the most, though, is
the sense that no one outside the Northern Rockies grasps the peril wolf
advocates face. "I don't know if people realize how serious a culture war this
really is."

For the last few years, a new version of an old war
against the American gray wolf has raged in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. Almost
two decades ago, spurred by environmental activists with a vision of restoring
a historic wolf population that had been extirpated, the US Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) captured 66 wolves in Canada and released them into Yellowstone
National Park and central Idaho, where they flourished. To naturalists, wolf
reintroduction seemed morally right, a chance to remedy a previous generation's
crime of wolf extermination.

But to many in the region, the resurgence of wolves
became a source of rage. Wolves killed livestock, infuriating ranchers. Many
hunters saw the wolves as competitors for deer and elk. Yet the fury against
wolves went deeper than what the animals actually did. For decades, the Rocky
Mountain states have been the center of an extreme right-wing culture that
celebrates the image of man as "warrior," recognizes only local and state
governance as legitimate, and advocates resistance — even armed resistance —
against the federal government.

To members of this culture, wolf reintroduction
became a galvanizing symbol of perceived assaults on their personal freedom.
Resistance was imperative. But whereas attacking the federal government could
lead to prison, killing wolves was a political goal within reach — something
the individual warrior could do. So advocating for the killing of wolves became
a proxy battle, an organizing tool to reach out to all those angry about
environmental regulations, gun laws, and public land policies. Since the early
2000s, and with increasing virulence since 2009, anti-wolf activists have
promoted the image of wolves as demons — disease-ridden, dangerous, and
foreign.

The fear-driven demagoguery has worked. Afraid for
their lives, pro-wolf voices like Nabeki have retreated from speaking out at
public forums. Mainstream hunters, ranchers, loggers, and politicians from both
political parties have signed onto the anti-wolf stance. With the public debate
dominated by wolf paranoia — and fearful of wider losses across the West —
conservation groups were pushed into a legal compromise that ultimately failed.

The result is an impending slaughter. On April 11,
Congress removed gray wolves in Montana and Idaho from the endangered species
list and legislated that in those two states, plus Wyoming, all but 300 to 450
of the region's estimated 1,650 wolves may be killed. The remaining wolves will
not necessarily disappear as a regional species, but their small numbers mean
they will become "ecologically extinct," serving no function within the
mountain ecosystem. How this all happened is yet another example of a
dysfunctional political system in which fear — both irrational fear and fear
harnessed for political gain — determines policy.

Every war has its warriors, and Toby Bridges is in the vanguard of the campaign against wolves — an unmatched
propagandist, agitator, and organizer. When I met him in January at Perkins
Restaurant in Missoula, Montana he was dressed the part in faded green hunting
clothes, his graying hair cut short. A manufacturer's representative for
muzzle-loading rifles, Bridges grew up in the Midwest, but visited Montana for
decades to camp and hunt. In 2007, he moved to Missoula with his wife. By then,
some 500 wolves lived in packs scattered among the mountains. Bridges claims
that their presence had utterly altered the state he loved. "I went to places
where I'd been ten to twelve years ago and the game just wasn't there. Instead I
saw lots of piles of wolf scat."

The idea that environmental groups and the Endangered
Species Act had "forced [Montana] to have too many wolves" enraged him. "I
didn't move out here to Montana to watch it all die and I don't mind being
pushy," he told me. In 2009, he founded Lobowatch.com, a website on which he posted furious anti-wolf essays.

As it happened, 2009 was a pivotal time for wolves in
the Rocky Mountains. Because the animals had flourished, the USFWS "delisted"
them as endangered and returned their "management" to state governments in
Montana and Idaho. (Wyoming was excluded because it hadn't developed a
USFWS-approved management plan.) Both states responded by holding hunts in
which several hundred wolves were killed. In response, a coalition of 14
national and local environmental groups (including the Sierra Club and
Defenders of Wildlife) sued the USFWS, arguing that the agency had violated the
Endangered Species Act by subdividing the Northern Rocky wolf population into
two groups, when the wolves in all three states represented a distinct
population. In August 2010, federal judge Donald Molloy ruled in the
conservation groups' favor, and Montana and Idaho were forced to cancel
upcoming hunts.

The court ruling infuriated a right wing already
inflamed by the election of Barack Obama. On Lobowatch, Bridges escalated his
rhetoric. "It's time to fight dirty," he wrote, then informed readers that
xylitol, a readily available artificial sweetener, causes canines to lose
coordination, suffer seizures, and die. "If Donald Molloy goes against the
wishes of today's hunters, there's going to be a whole lot of very sweet [elk
and deer] gut piles and wolf carcasses dotting the landscape this fall."

Bridges also set out to strengthen some important
alliances. One was with Gary Marbut, who serves as the executive director of
the Montana Shooting Sports Association, a powerful lobbying group in Montana
that promotes a broad right-wing agenda including bills legalizing noise
suppressors while hunting, formation of state militia groups, and a law prohibiting
federal law enforcement from making arrests without a local sheriff's approval.
Bridges also connected with Montana State Senator Joe Balyeat, a Bozeman
Republican who is an extremely conservative states' and county rights advocate
and an avid bow hunter. While reaching out to people in positions of influence,
Bridges began addressing hunting groups and publishing on hunting websites such
as Black Bear Blog. And he enlisted the support of Jim Beers, a former USFWS
agent whose leadership in the "Wise Use" movement — which employs a certain
interpretation of the Bible to advocate for increased exploitation of public
lands — had made him famous in the region.

Montana's anti-wolf alliance of ranchers, hunters,
and militia sympathizers is built around some shared myths that focus on the
evils of wolves in general and the Rockies' wolves specifically. The anti-wolf
movement asserts that because the reintroduced wolves were captured in Canada,
they are foreign — alien and un-American. When we met at a Missoula pizza
parlor, Gary Marbut described Canadian wolves as "an invasive subspecies" that
spread out from Yellowstone and Central Idaho and "bumped off and wiped out an
indigenous species of wolf that were smaller, had different pack structures,
and hunted differently." To "prove" this, websites like Lobowatch regularly run
pictures of large, fierce-looking wolves looking ready to attack.

These "foreign" wolves also have brought disease,
specifically E. granulosus, a tapeworm, the myth asserts.
"Wolves in the Rockies dispense billions of microscopic eggs in air and water,"
Marbut said. "When they get into people they cause cysts … that can be fatal.
We are at risk in Montana."

Anti-wolf advocates also believe that it's only a
matter of time before these foreign, disease-ridden wolves attack humans. In
2010, numerous Internet postings told of elk hunters surrounded by howling
wolves and saved only by their guns. One Idaho guide told his clients to "never
leave the camp without a gun and a buddy," because 24 wolves surrounded them.
Val Geist, a retired professor of biology at the University of Calgary, told a
Montana blog that when wolves "sit and stare at humans [it's] a prelude to an
eventual attack." State Senator Joe Balyeat believes that if wolf populations
continue to grow, "someone in Idaho or Montana will be killed or mauled by
wolves within a year, and it may very well be a small child."

The anti-wolf movement thinks wolves threaten
civilization itself. Marbut sent me his 2003 essay, "Wolves Circling the Fire:
Of Beasts and Tyrants." Its first sentence reads: "There was a time in Man's
evolution when he huddled around the nighttime fire gazing outward at the
glowing ring of eyes — the predators who viewed man only as food." A few good
wolves "came in and joined Man at the fire and became dogs." The rest stayed
outside, always ready to attack. According to Marbut, "one might reasonably
view Man's entire development and creation of civilization as a process of
fortifying against wolves."

These claims resonate with many people because they
build on a long tradition in western culture of demonizing the wolf. During the
Middle Ages, the Catholic Church ruled that wolves belonged to the devil:
Demons could take the shape of wolves, as could witches. Puritans then brought
these ideas to America. Minister Cotton Mather called New England before
settlement a "howling wilderness." Asked to investigate Salem's alleged witch
infestation, Mather concluded in his book, On Witchcraft, that
"Evening Wolves" (werewolves and witches) were but another of the Devil's tests
as New England passed from "Wilderness" to the "Promised Land."

These sentiments remain alive in the Rocky Mountains
today. Jim Boedner, director of natural resources for the Montana Livestock
Growers Association, told me that wolves kill cattle, make them sick from
"stress," and scare elk herds down from the mountains onto grazing fields,
where they compete with cows for forage. State Senator Balyeat — who wore a
turquoise shirt with images of rust-colored elk the day I interviewed him in
his capitol office — keeps a computer file full of photos of deer and elk calf
remains. "The key thing that animal lovers don't understand about wolves is
that there's a difference between wolves and other predators," he said.
"Wolves, grizzlies, and mountain lions are all killing machines, but wolves, in
distinction, are also a breeding machine. I am an award-winning CPA, but it
doesn't take a CPA to do the math." By Balyeat's calculations, wolves have a 30
percent annual reproduction rate. If there are 550 wolves in Montana, and each
wolf eats 46 elk a year, in ten years 5,830 wolves will eat 258,180 elk.
"That's more elk than we have in the entire state of Montana!" Balyeat says.

While arguing the specifics of wolf behavior, the
anti-wolf movement unites segments of the political right by emphasizing
wolves' connection to a shared enemy: the federal government. Starting in the
1970s, ranchers in the self-described "Sagebrush Rebellion" claimed that
because the National Forest Service had given them permits to graze livestock
on public lands, that land had in essence become their private property.
Therefore the imposition of environmental laws violated their rights. Some,
like Wayne Hage, founder of the private property rights group American
Stewards, go even farther. They say that the federal government should have
sold its holdings in the West to ranchers in the late nineteenth century, but
instead appropriated them. Like this "taking" of land to create national parks
and forests, reintroducing wolves that then kill livestock — ranchers' private
property — represents another act of government domination.

According to Jim Beers, the wolf reintroduction in
the mid-1990s was the result of federal government crime: The Clinton
administration had illegally taken $60 million that hunters and fishers had
paid in excise taxes on guns and gear and used it to pay for wolf
reintroduction. Beers told this story repeatedly to hunting groups; it still
circulates widely on anti-wolf websites.

To Gary Marbut, wolf depredation represents a "theft"
from hunters. He told me that Montana's game herds were "a savings account we
were building up for our children and grandchildren. The wolf advocates elected
to raid that savings account to feed their pet critters."

Suzy Foss, a rancher in the Bitterroot Valley and a
county commissioner, said that wolves are now in Montana because "monkeys in
some government agency in a Washington high-rise think they're good for us.
They will destroy our society."
"Not one wolf from Canada volunteered to come down
here — they were drugged," she told me. She said that many Bitterroot Valley
residents had told her that elk stayed out of the woods because "they're
terrorized," that their livestock had been killed, and that they themselves had
been "stalked or circled by wolves." This, she said, is the reason why many
people in the area carry guns.

The anti-wolf activists speak
passionately, sometimes even persuasively, about their cause. But none of their
claims are true.

Ed Bangs, director of wolf recovery in the Northern
Rockies for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, rejects the idea that Canadian
and Rocky Mountain wolves are two different subspecies. "Once there were
contiguous wolf packs from what is now Mexico City to the Arctic Ocean," Bangs
told me. They interbred and formed one species. Yes, the wolves in southern
Canada ran a bit larger. But that's because of what biologists call 'Allen's
Rule' — "as you move north, body size gets larger to preserve heat." Hunters
did not kill any "giant" wolves in the 2009 wolf hunts; of 188 killed in Idaho,
the largest weighed 127 pounds, the average less than 95. What about those huge
wolves shown on Lobowatch? They're actually Arctic wolves, which don't live in
the Rockies. And while many wolves do carry tapeworms, scientists from the US
Geological Survey Wildlife Health Center report that, "We know of no known
transmission of E. granulosus from a wolf to a human."

Neither is it true that wolf packs are lying in wait
for the region's school children. In the entire twentieth century, wolves
attacked about 15 people in North America, killing none. (In 2010, wolves did
kill a woman jogging on the outskirts of her Alaskan town.) In contrast,
domestic dogs bite about one million people a year and cause about 18 deaths,
mostly of children.

I asked wolf biologist Jay Mallone of Kalispell,
Montana about the hunters' stories of circling wolves ready for attack. He
sounded jealous, and said: "For periods of time, all of us wolf biologists have
lived among the wolves we studied and never been approached. I wish they would.
It would make studying wild wolves a lot easier!"

Also: Wolves aren't killing all of the West's big
game. Even the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, a critic of wolf reintroduction,
reports that from 1984 to 2009, the number of elk in Idaho went up 5 percent,
in Wyoming 35 percent, and in Montana 66 percent. True, some local declines
have occurred, and sometimes wolf depredation is a factor. In 1995, when wolves
were first introduced in Yellowstone, there were 16,702 elk in the park. By
December 2010, only 4,635 remained. But the cause of this decline is under
debate.

Some studies point to bear predation, others to
hunters (who are allowed to kill elk that have moved beyond the park), and
still others to climate change — increased summer temperatures reduce
nutrition, making elk more vulnerable.

It's equally false to say that wolves are "breeding
machines." Predator populations change when numbers of prey decrease; climate
and habitat conditions also influence reproductive rates. And while wolves do
sometimes kill cattle and sheep, the numbers are surprisingly small. Federal
statistics report that of Montana's roughly 2.5 million head of cattle, wolves
killed 97 in 2009 and 87 in 2010. Wolves killed 202 of Montana's 250,000 sheep
in 2009 and 64 in 2010. Suzy Foss's county lost one cow to wolves in 2009 and
two in 2010.

Carter Niemeyer, who worked for Wildlife Services in
Montana from 1973 to 2000 and investigated more than 100 cases of reported wolf
depredation, says he believes that only about 5 percent were verified kills.
Pressure on investigators from ranchers and state officials corrupted the
system, he writes in his book, Wolfer: A Memoir:
"Everyone's kids go to the same schools; everyone shops in the same grocery
store. If a rancher thinks a wolf killed his cow, the investigator isn't going
to argue with him." Niemeyer told me he thinks the system perpetuates wolf
killing. "We have a tremendous amount of livestock loss reported, but very
little documentation to prove it. These claims become statistics and statistics
drive the urge for predator control."

Ranchers' most ambitious claims — that because they
hold grazing permits on federal lands that these lands are their private
property — are also specious, dismissed by the United States Supreme Court in
2000. "In Public Land Council v. Babbitt the justices voted nine-to-zero that
grazing permits are a license, not a property right," said John Marvel,
executive director of the Western Watersheds Project. In fact, the cattle
industry is a major recipient of the very type of government largesse that the
right often decries as welfare. The federal government charges ranchers $1.35 a
month for a cow and calf to graze, when it costs the US Forest Service at least
$12.25 per head to maintain mountain rangeland. "The low fee," Marvel said,
allows "ranchers to be compensated for risks of grazing on public lands, which
includes risk of depredation." Similarly, there is no legal basis to the idea
that individual hunters "own" deer and elk as their "savings account" because
they pay taxes on guns. As Marvel put it: "Groups like American Stewards and
people like Suzy Foss are living in a fantasy world."

The fantastic claims made by the right
wing did not go unchecked. Between 2009 and 2010, the major national
environmental groups focused on their lawsuit against the USFWS's partial delisting.
Mike Leahy, regional director for Defenders of Wildlife, told me that his group
decided that the most important fight was "at the national level." Meanwhile, a
loose confederation of local wilderness activists tried to counter the
anti-wolf propaganda by showing up at public hearings in Idaho and Montana and
offering a defense of the wolf's place in the Rocky Mountains.

Most the wolf supporters were relative newcomers to
the area. They were middle-aged boomers who had moved to Montana and Idaho to
live near wild and beautiful lands. Many of them identified as
conservationists: They had read the classic environmental books on the
interconnected web of life, they knew about the Native American spiritualism
that understands animals as symbolic kin. They included Nabeki, a California
transplant who became involved in protecting roadless areas and limiting
off-road vehicles. Jerry Black was another one, a retired pilot and long-time
wetlands activist from Washington who thought he would just fish and hike when
he moved to Missoula to be near his children. But the anti-wolf movement
repulsed him. "It's as if wolf advocates are two-legged wolves," Black
explained, "and wolves represent four-legged environmentalists." Marc Cooke
moved from the East Coast to pursue wildlife photography, only to find the
wildlife under siege. In Idaho, Ann Sydow and Nancy Taylor, co-chairs of the
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance, shared a common interest in showing real (albeit
captive) wolves to people — "wolf ambassadors" is what they call them — and
could not stomach the attacks on the animals. Lynne Stone, an Idaho settler
from Washington, had helped form the Boulder White Clouds Council, which tried
to stop mines from dumping cyanide and mercury into Idaho's rivers. That work
led her to becoming a wolf advocate.

Between 2008 and 2010 this collection of part-time
activists did whatever they thought would work to resist the wolf hunts. Jerry
Black wrote federal agencies to try to find out why wolves killed by Wildlife
Services were photographed with school children. Lynne Stone tried to scare
wolves away from livestock with blank shotgun shells. Marc Cooke showed up at
state hearings to argue for minimizing the number of wolves allowed to be
killed. Nabeki started her Howling for Justice website and a Facebook
affiliate, Wolf Warriors.

These ad-hoc efforts were not what you would call a
powerful movement. But the fact that anyone would stand up for wolves enraged
the wolf hunters. The fury the anti-wolf movement had directed toward animals
was extended to humans.

As Gary Marbut told me: Just as wolves prey on
animals, wolf advocates prey on society. "They are feasting on our savings
account, our culture, our way of life, in order to impose their own culture of
wolves." They, too, were foreigners, people who "grew up in cities." Anti-wolf
bloggers have called the wolf defenders "pieces of communist crap" who "DO NOT
belong in my country, who should be deported … and that's my second choice of
things to do with you."

Between 2009 and 2011 the viciousness escalated.
Lynne Stone received an e-mail photo of a dead wolf pup lying in the back of a
pickup on December 24; the accompanying text read, "merry christmas." Soon the threats
extended to the activists themselves. Ann Sydow opened her local paper to find
a letter to the editor recommending that she "go for a walk in the woods and
not come back." Just showing up to a public meeting became dangerous, Marc
Cooke explained. "When I go, they stare at me," he said. "Half of them have pistols
at their sides. They say 'Marc, we know who you are. We know where you
live.'"   

The intimidation
worked. Afraid for their lives and their families, regional wolf advocates
stopped participating in public hearings held by fish and game agencies and legislative
committees and retreated to the relative safety of the Internet to spread their
message. In theory, government officials are supposed to run public meetings in
an inclusive manner that, in the words of Montana administrative rules, promote
"social tolerance." But in the experience of Travis McAdam, executive director
of the Montana Human Rights Network, "Public officials never get up and remove
the people who scream at meetings. The same ones who are doing cat calls are
carrying guns, and they're making democracy fail." Soon, the voices of the wolf
haters became the only ones heard in the policy making process.

With few, if any, local constituents speaking up on
behalf of the wolves, the political calculus for Montana and Idaho politicians
was easy. Office holders across the political spectrum raced to denounce
wolves. Montana's sole congressman, Republican Danny Rehberg, repeatedly spoke
against wolf reintroduction and federal protection. After Judge Molloy's August
2010 decision relisting wolves under the Endangered Species Act, Rehberg
introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to remove this protection —
in essence, a Congressional nullification of the ESA. Montana's Democratic
Senators Jon Tester (who faces opposition from Rehberg in the 2012 election)
and Max Baucus then introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

In October 2010, Idaho's Republican governor, Butch
Otter, ordered state wildlife managers to "relinquish their duty to arrest
poachers." Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, announced that
Montanans could open fire on wolves in the northern part of the state if they
felt their livestock were endangered. And in February 2011, Idaho Congressman
Mike Simpson and Senator Tester placed into the federal budget bill a rider delisting
wolves.

Having successfully captured both Republicans and
Democrats in the region, the far-right-wing offensive then shattered the
environmental movement's will. Worried that Congress would pass one of the
bills and set a dangerous precedent allowing political intervention against any
species listed as endangered, all of the national groups that had filed suit to
protect the Rockies' wolves (with the exception of the Humane Society of the
United States) announced they had reached a settlement with the Department of
the Interior (which oversees the USFWS). The agreement basically reversed the
environmentalists' 2010 legal victory putting wolves back on the list of
endangered species.

Besides the Humane Society, three regional groups
declined to settle. John Marvel, executive director of the Western Watersheds
Project, explained why his group refused to go along with the deal: "Our board
of directors came to the conclusion that the outlook for wolves from this
settlement or from Congressional delisting was the same and it was
inappropriate for us to assist in this outcome." That analysis quickly proved
prescient. Neither John Tester nor Danny Rehberg nor Mike Simpson withdrew
their bills. Then, on April 9, Judge Donald Molloy rejected the proposed agreement,
and kept Montana and Idaho wolves on the endangered species list. Almost
immediately, Congress rendered his ruling irrelevant by passing the budget with
the anti-wolf rider included. The rider will also remove from the endangered
species list some wolf populations in Washington, Oregon, and Utah.

The far right's campaign to scapegoat wolves thus
succeeded. Although the courts were prepared to uphold the Endangered Species
Act, the anti-wolf voices dominated the political contest. The national organizations
had lost track of the basic reality of politics — namely, that all politics are
local — and instead concentrated solely on legal maneuvering and online
petitions. Local wolf defenders were essentially abandoned; outnumbered, it was
no surprise that they should lose. Fear of wolves — and hatred of what they
symbolized — spread from the far right, to the Republican Party, to the
Democrats. And then that fear, or some form of it, was internalized by the
mainstream environmental movement. Afraid of witnessing an even broader
weakening of the ESA, environmental groups decided to sacrifice wolves,
calculating that doing so might save other species covered by the act.

Wolf blood will flow across the Rocky Mountains this
fall and winter. For the right, that blood will represent an impressive
victory. For wolf advocates, it means grief. Their only hope lies in the belief
that the killing might backfire, creating a national sense of shame. Nabeki,
for one, thinks the war is not over. "The delisting has galvanized the
grassroots movement," she said. "People are so outraged about this. They're
becoming more bold."

And there is hope in the wolves themselves. When I
visited Montana, activists from both sides whispered to me, as if sharing a
secret, "You know, wolves are really smart." Perhaps
their intelligence will enable them to survive. They will climb higher into the
mountains, move about only at night, and hide, somewhere, until times change.n

Marc Cooke helped arrange interviews with wolf
hunters and advocates for this story.

Image by Gary Kramer/USFWS, courtesy of Creative Commons license. 

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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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