Rick Doblin - Healing through psychedelics

Rick Doblin is a a psychedelic-assisted psychotherapist and the visionary behind MAPS—the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), a non-profit dedicated to “delivering global healing through psychedelic research.” His research proves how psychedelics heal trauma. Rick started studying the power of psychedelics as medicine just one year before the US government scheduled an emergency ban on psychedelics—and he has continued to work on the frontlines of advocacy for the return of this medicine ever since. In this episode, you’ll hear us talk about the need for deep healing in a society that’s running on fumes. His words on PTSD and what’s possible for even the most complicated of cases brings a depth of hope that anyone with trauma (big t or little) can drop shoulders after listening. The long term effects measured by his clinical trials are there. The safety is there. The need is there. The only thing missing is the regulatory approval and the adaptation for certain psychedelics to move from Schedule I (the highest of offense) to Schedule II, which allows medical use. We also cover the extremes, like balancing a sober life with the use of this medicine— because that’s all it is, medicine—and combining it with therapy. And we catch beautiful quotes like this one: “A lot of the people who are involved in substance abuse problems feel isolated and alone. Part of the antidote to that is to feel that you are connected to this magnificent adventure of billions of years that’s produced life on earth, and to feel that there’s this web of love that’s underneath everything.”