Thousands of conference-goers are gathering in downtown Denver this week to learn about the future of psychedelics like magic mushrooms and MDMA. The five-day Psychedelic Science 2023 event covers a wide variety of subjects from the business of psychedelics to therapeutic uses for these substances.
“We are facing very difficult challenges in mental and behavioral health and we're very excited about the opportunities that psychedelics offer to break cycles of addictions for opioids, to deal with severe depression and anxiety,” said Gov. Jared Polis during his opening address on Wednesday.
Hosted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a non-profit with operations in Boulder, over 11,000 people have registered for the event which the organization describes as “the largest psychedelic conference in history.” This conference is the fourth of its kind—the last gathering took place in 2017 in Oakland, California.
Events include sessions for veterans struggling with PTSD and scientists discussing emerging research. High-profile speakers like musician Melissa Etheridge and football player Aaron Rodgers are talking publicly about their experiences with psychedelics.
“It's really exciting to see just how lively the showing is here in Denver for the Psychedelic Science conference,” Ramzy Abueita of Decriminalize Nature Boulder County said. “The fact that…we are freely walking around in the city being ourselves shows just how much the zeitgeist has shifted and how much psychedelic culture has become normalized and de-stigmatized in our society.”
The conference represents increasing cultural awareness and acceptance of plant medicine, following recent efforts to bring psychedelics into the mainstream.
In 2019, Denver residents voted to decriminalize mushrooms that contain psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound. The following year Oregon became the first state in the nation to allow psilocybin-assisted therapy. Last fall, Colorado voters approved Proposition 122, which decriminalizes growing and possessing some natural psychedelics. The measure also creates a framework for these substances to be used in therapeutic settings.
Immediately following the passage of Proposition 122, Zach Dorsett founded Wonderbags, a Colorado Springs-based company that sells mushroom starter kits so that customers can grow them at home.
During the conference, Dorsett answered questions at Wonderbag’s booth, flanked by humid bags of white and blue mushrooms.
“So it's basically ready to grow. The bag itself doesn't contain any psilocybin, which allows us to sell it,” Dorsett said. “You know where your mushrooms are coming from, you know how they're grown. You put that energy into them.”
Dorsett said psychedelics have helped him with depression and motivation.
“When the industry started to evolve and we had Prop 122 passed, we were just looking for ways to, like, add value to the community and help others have some of these life changing experiences,” Dorsett said.
Many of these substances are illegal at the federal level. After widespread use in the 1960s, the federal government classified some psychedelics, including psilocybin, as Schedule 1 drugs, meaning they lack an accepted medical use and have a high potential for abuse.
Eventually, researchers began requesting licenses from the federal government to study some psychedelics. After encouraging results, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed some of this work to move ahead more quickly by granting “breakthrough therapy” status to MDMA and psilocybin-assisted therapies.
Joe Moore, the Breckenridge-based co-founder of Psychedelics Today, an educational organization that produces a twice-weekly podcast, pointed out that this big, visible conference might feel risky for some given the legal issues around these substances.
“A lot of people are really spooked, you know, for all sorts of reasons,” Moore said.
He points to medical professionals who could risk their licenses by attending the conference, as well as to those who are part of the underground movement already providing services like psychedelic-assisted therapy, for example.
“This conference to me is a sort of coming out moment for this movement. Saying, 'We're here, we're not afraid of you anymore. We're going to be doing our thing and we're doing it in a lot of different ways… And we're all brave enough to be here together,'” Moore said.
