Health and wellness are at the forefront of everyone’s mind right now. With the global pandemic, the hot tensions of world affairs, and everything else in life, it’s no wonder people are stressed and looking for any and all options to help them de-stress. To help straighten out their minds.  

Psilocybin mushrooms — magic mushrooms, for some — might be getting the most attention. And rightfully so. Humans have been using psilocybin since time immemorial. They’re natural and safe. But for some reason, starting around 70 years ago, we silly humans decided to play ostrich and stick our heads in the sand, despite scientific studies linking psilocybin to potentially treating depression, anxiety disorder, cluster headaches, eating disorders, addiction, and many other ailments.

This is why I’ve personally dedicated my time and resources towards challenging and changing the stigma. As the outreach director for the historic Decriminalize Denver psilocybin mushroom campaign, I worked alongside many grassroots volunteers to help Denver become the first city in the nation to pass the historic legislation that legalized psilocybin. 

In the final weeks of the campaign, I remember tirelessly contacting any influential person I knew to share about the upcoming election. One of those people was Duncan Trussell. Duncan was supportive from day one and was kind enough to post about the election about a week before it happened. Joe Rogan was one of the many people to help spread the message. From athletes, artists, and other activators,  reposting our poster and the incredible grassroots volunteers and voters, we narrowly won by 1900 votes.

In the meantime, I also saw that the community of mycophiles (a fancy name for people who are obsessed with all things mushrooms) were carrying the torch long before academia. They had the knowledge of various uses of psilocybin mushrooms that the scientific community lacked. We started a psychedelic research nonprofit called Unlimited Sciences to begin collecting this type of data. We teamed with the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research to launch what has become the world’s largest psilocybin registry. We designed a study to help us better understand how the communities are utilizing psilocybin mushrooms. We’ve had over 7,000 people enroll and help us see the wide range of uses and outcomes. 

We intend to open source this data. It can be used to inform clinical studies, provide data points to city council members when deciding to Decrim in their city, and generally validate the communities safe use of these substances. 

Locally, I’m involved in the Decrim Nature movement in my home town of Boulder county. Doing my best within my own community just makes sense for me. 

Nationally, psilocybin is on its way. It’s going to be the big change we’ve needed — culturally and medically — for quite some time. Whether for specific health benefits or general connectedness, we believe in the power of psilocybin mushrooms. 

And even with all of that said, I personally believe that Lion’s mane, Cordyceps, and Reishi, just to name a few — each of them a functional mushroom and an adaptogen — have as much, if not more, potential than psilocybin to help humanity. And even with all of that said, I personally believe functional mushrooms like Lions Mane, Cordyceps, and Reishi, just to name a few, have as much if not more potential than psilocybin to help humanity. 

All mushrooms are magic! And I’m glad we’re seeing a cultural shift in accepting these helpful fungi.