Monica Villamidiana: You recently won the Amsterdam Film Festival’s Van Gogh award for your documentary “The Reality Of Truth.” Tell us about that.
Mike “Zappy” Zapolin: It was amazing, very surreal. It was a great confirmation that we had accurately communicated to the viewer how important it is to go inside your own mind for answers and healing. Amsterdam was the one festival we really wanted to win because we see them as the hippest, most tolerant audience. Having them spread the word about the film has been amazing! Myself and my co-director Laurent Levy have enjoyed sharing it with audiences, large and small, including a private showing for the Ambassador to Peru.
What has the audience response been?
It’s really been great. Our goal was to try to make it as unscary as possible for people to consider going inside their own minds for answers and healing. The feedback has been that we achieved that goal and helped a lot of people to take that leap into the unknown. People reacted strongly to seeing Michelle Rodriguez transform her consciousness on screen while at the same time remaining true to who she really is.
The most satisfying part about the film is hearing from people who have reached out to us and reported that it actually saved their lives. By that I mean they had no idea about plant medicine prior to seeing the movie, but after seeing it they realized there may be some answers in plant medicine that could really make their life worth living.
Wow. Can you tell us about some of these people?
Sure. We had a screening in Venice, California, and after the film I was approached by a 60-year-old Japanese woman who literally said the words. “This film just saved my life.” She was suffering from childhood PTSD and couldn’t see any way out. She had tried Eastern and Western medicine, from meditation to antidepressants. She said that prior to seeing the film, she had no idea that plants like Ayahuasca and Ibogaine even existed. There was nothing in her culture that had ever shown her about these type of psychedelic plants. Since then, she has had several plant medicine experiences. She is living a life full of joy, excited everyday about her relationship with the plants, and helping others become aware.
Where are you headed from here?
I recently started a social movement called “Your Mind Has Rights.” We are demanding the constitutional right to go inside our own minds for answers and healing using any means necessary, including psychedelics, which of been shown to be safe and effective. Preventing the millions of people suffering from depression and addiction from accessing these natural energies is cruel and the equivalent of modern day slavery. To tell these people that they are not allowed to go inside their own mind using psychedelics, which of been proven over decades to be safe and incredibly effective, will be looked back on as the biggest atrocity done to mankind. The movement is fighting for the constitutional right to use these powerful catalysts for healing. These psychedelics were made illegal decades ago under the guise of being in the interest of public safety that they be studied. Now that it’s been decades and they’ve been shown to be safe, they can no longer be kept from society. We plan to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court and in the court of public opinion, so other people can also demand this right. With so many people dying of opiate overdose is, these natural wonders should be harnessed for all the good that they contain.
We need a critical mass of people going into their own minds right now so we can have the important conversations about politics, race, terror, and the environment, from a different perspective with a lot more empathy. As Einstein famously said, “You can’t fix a problem with the same consciousness that got you into the situation.” Right now we’re having these conversations on the surface level, each of us with our own preconceived ideas and prejudices. Psychedelics are the only way to immediately shift people’s perspective and dramatically increase their level of empathy, so they can put themselves in someone else’s shoes, a neighbor, someone living on the other side of the world, or someone who will live 100 years from now.
It seems like the only argument against it would be concern about people becoming addicted to these things?
When these powerful energies are used in the right setting under the right supervision, they are extremely safe. Recently, stage three trials have been approved for MDMA ecstasy for patients with PTSD, and Johns Hopkins University presented strong evidence that Psilocybin mushrooms were highly effective for patients with terminal cancer who are facing end of life reality.
Ibogaine is a plant medicine that was available over the counter in the United States in the 1950s, until it was recognized that the benefits we’re going to interfere with some of the large pharmaceutical companies new antidepressants. Ibogaine has been shown to break addictions to opiates, alcohol, cigarettes in a matter of hours rather than the traditional timeline of months, years, and never. These energies are very powerful and need to be treated with the proper respect. Like any powerful energy, there has to be education and training. When someone turns 16 years old you don’t just throw them the keys to an automobile; they need to be trained so they understand the level of respect required for the energy that they are interacting with.
Makes sense. As someone who has experienced ibogaine, ayahuasca, and other psychedelics, what would your advice be people other than to do it in a safe environment with the right people around?
The most important thing is to make sure that your intent is properly aligned before you jump in. By that I mean if your intent is to expand your consciousness and learn more about yourself, there’s no way you can have a bad experience. On the other hand if you’re trying to escape from your life or change the nature of a relationship, that may be too much about ego, and you may have a difficult experience.
I noticed that you are not talking only about plant medicine, but rather about all psychedelics. Is there a specific reason for that?
Yes. After I finished having my own direct experiences with plant medicine, I was looking around for a western version, a way that our western society could feel comfortable going inside their own minds without having to travel down to Central America and hope they got the right brew or shaman. As I was searching, someone introduced me to the benefit of ketamine for depression. I’ve spent the last year and a half studying with doctors around the country who are using ketamine in low-dose infusions to break depression, PTSD, anxiety, and addiction. Since that time I have tried ketamine myself and found it to be an incredible tool, probably the biggest breakthrough in mental health ever. The Cleveland clinic just called the application of ketamine for depression a top 10 medical breakthrough, and the FDA recently fast-tracked the metabolite of ketamine for its use in treating depression. The results I saw were so incredible that I got together with a doctor in Boca Raton Florida who is already doing ketamine treatments for his own patients. We created a protocol that we believe creates permanence in the treatment of depression and addiction. Ketamine is a dissociative. When areas of the brain that are normally communicating with each other are dissociated, it allows the brain to act freely, building new neural pathways around trauma. Due to trauma, drug use, and mental illness, some people’s brains are stuck in a negative pattern. But when Ketamine, which is FDA approved, metabolizes in your system, it turns into hydroxynorKetamine, which science says is creating new neural pathways. The reason this is so exciting to me is that not only is it breaking these patterns in hours, rather than months and years, it’s also an opportunity for a western person to have the experience of going deep inside themselves like they would with the master plants. It’s a gateway that we’ve never seen before. At our Kismet Clinic in Boca Raton, we have a holistic approach where we use the ketamine infusions, along with meditation, to create a lifetime of healing.
What is it about the ketamine that break someone’s depression or addiction so quickly?
When the ketamine disassociates the brain and your mind and body are no longer connected, you can live 1000 lifetimes in that 45 minutes, and you’re able to see your life from a different perspective. Seeing your life from a different perspective, and seeing the things that happened to you without the emotion, allows people to see these things as just things that happen, not who they are. It’s very effective with people who are fighting an addiction, because at the root of all addictions is some situation at energetically out of balance. Patient have communicated to us that after the ketamine experience they were no longer chasing the same kind of high that they had chased in the past. They seemed more interested in expanding their consciousness than escaping it. We have noticed that these people are stabilized, feeling great. However, I tell them that if they really want to clear the slate of all cravings, they are probably going to have to do ibogaine at some point, so they can eliminate those cravings and live a long life of joy.
That’s incredible. Is it something you’re going to be covering in your next follow-up documentary?
Absolutely. This is the natural evolution of filmmaking: finding the next incredible breakthrough, having the direct experience and reporting it to others who could benefit. My follow up feature is going to follow the social movement to get these powerful energies recognized for what they are.
How long do you think it will take to get these energies recognized and available?
If we use some collective common sense it can happen immediately. The best thing to do seems to be showing everybody that it makes economic sense to use these tools to break addiction and depression. Similar to the renewable energy industry, people are happy to use solar wind, and other renewables, as long as they are cheap and effective as existing energy materials. We are seeing a shift in energy in the same way we would like to see a shift in plant medicine being integrated into our healthcare methodology. Once society realizes that it’s much cheaper and more effective to treat people with plant medicine rather than petroleum based pharmaceuticals and talk psychedelic therapy, they will demand at these options be available. Like the record companies in the late 90s who fought tooth and nail to keep the CD business going, the pharmaceutical companies will definitely fight to keep things the way they are until they realize that they have to shift to survive. I’m certain that ketamine will literally see the veterans administration, since their antidepressants and therapy are failing at the rate of 22 suicides a day, with millions more suffering each day.
How do you think marijuana fits into this path you’re describing?
Nature knows that people are very stressed and need help fighting diseases, so in its infinite wisdom it’s bringing out natural plants to help us to tap into spirituality and healing. People are beginning to realize that there is value and healing in these herbs, and it’s gotten to a level where it can no longer be denied. By getting people to try marijuana and having them understand for themselves what the facts are, they are no longer able to be propagandized about it being a negative thing. These days, people are taking more control of their healthcare and living longer. For the first time ever, they’re suggesting treatments and cures to their own doctors. Once they have their initial positive experience with marijuana, nature knows they will be much more receptive to master plants like ibogaine and ayahuasca that are here for major healing.
What’s the best way for people learn more about what you’re doing?
A: The best thing for them to do is to check out the movement’s website YourMindHasRights.org. This will keep them up-to-date on what we’re doing and how they can get involved. Since we’re in the education phase of these psychedelics, it’s important that we have public meetings and workshops to present the evidence and show people how to best get involved.
