2023 Psychedelic Science Conference

Within 36 hours of my internship ending, I found myself begging a robotic TSA agent at the SEATAC airport to not make me miss my flight to Denver for the 2023 Psychedelic Science Conference (spoiler alert: he did).

After some panic and improvisation, I made it to Denver and kicked off the week with a Ketamine-Assisted Psychodrama workshop pioneered by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk himself and his team.

From this workshop, the week unfolded, pulsating with a synchronistic and palpable aliveness that led me on a galvanizing adventure of mind, body, and spirit. It was incredibly moving to be in the same room as so many people I’d cited in previous research. Putting faces to names I’ve been recognizing for the past decade.

I've never been to a conference that's given such Burning Man vibes and I was 100% here for it.

The scientific community, law and policy makers, and even indigenous community elders all converged in one place to discuss their unique perspective on Psychedelic Science. A subject still rather taboo and poorly understood by the general public became the subject of shameless and passionate analysis and debate for 3 straight business days of material.

I remember right before marijuana was legalized, there was a massive energy around it, touting it to be a panacea of sorts. And although there are plenty of medicinal applications to marijuana and its components, its a psychoactive substance that can still cause unintentional harm to the user… just the same as any pharmaceutical and any substance in the universe—for that matter, including psychedelics. Let there be no false illusions—there is no one-size-fits-all magic bullet treatment with 100% efficacy. Our ailments are all intensely personal and best results are usually rendered from personalized care. What works for one person might not work, or worse—damage, another.

I am inspired by the information I learned from this conference and also deeply humbled by the complex nuance and ripples that bringing psychedelics into the mainstream will inevitably create. Even in the wake of so many mind-dazzling intellectual discoveries, it’s important for the indigenous voices who have worked with their respective medicines for centuries remain revered and consulted. Community healing along with ethical and knowledgeable practitioners can never be substituted nor spared.

I’m not entirely sure exactly what it will take to finally unify natural and conventional medicine but I feel like we’re getting close. It reminds me of the Jungian idea that when holding the tension of two opposites correctly, an alchemical solution is unlocked. I find myself hopeful that whatever we unlock causes more ultimate healing than harm.