PT 623 - Dee Dee Goldpaugh - Embracing Pleasure
Psychedelics Today
Joe Moore interviews Dee Dee Goldpaugh, LCSW about their new book Embrace Pleasure: How Psychedelics Can Heal Our Sexuality. The discussion covers the book’s reception, critiques of over-medicalization, personal healing experiences, definitions of erotic energy and pleasure, historical repression of substances, and contemporary ethical concerns. Key topics Conversion therapy: historical use of psychedelics in conversion practices, risks today, and need for professional consensus to ban psychedelic-assisted conversion therapy. Motivation: reaction to dominance of the clinical/medical model in...
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PT 622 - Matt Xavier - The Psychedelic DJ
Psychedelics Today
From the Rave Scene to Psychedelic Therapy In this episode, Kyle Buller speaks with Matt Xavier, DJ, therapist, and author. The conversation took place live at Psychedelic Science. Matt recalls his early years in the rave culture of 1990s New York. He ran record labels, hosted psychedelic trance events, and lived through the intensity of that scene. Why Music Is Medicine Matt believes music should be treated as medicine. He explains how playlists can align with the stages of a psychedelic journey—onset, climb, peak, and descent. He encourages people to listen with intention and to...
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PT 621 - Dr Case Newsom - Zendo Project
Psychedelics Today
In this episode, Joe Moore sits down with Dr. Case Newsom, an emergency room physician in Denver and Medical Director for both Zendo Project and Stadium Medical. They explore how psychedelic harm reduction is merging with event medicine at concerts, festivals, and large-scale gatherings. Dr. Newsom shares his path from osteopathic medical training to bridging emergency medicine with psychedelic peer support. He explains how the Zendo Project has expanded beyond Burning Man, and why collaboration with medical teams matters. The discussion highlights new triage protocols, cultural shifts in...
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PT 620 - Kat Murti – Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Meta Censorship, and the Fight for Science
Psychedelics Today
In this episode, Joe Moore is joined by Kat Murti, Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the largest youth-led network working to end the war on drugs. SSDP organizes at the campus, local, state, federal, and international levels, with more than 100 chapters across the U.S. and sister organizations worldwide. Kat shares her personal journey into drug policy reform, from witnessing DEA raids on AIDS patients in the 1990s to fighting for civil liberties as a student at UC Berkeley. She explains how SSDP empowers young people to challenge outdated laws and promote...
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PT 619 - Sphinx Gate with Mareesa Stertz and Tania Abdul
Psychedelics Today
In this episode, Joe Moore is joined by Mareesa Stertz and Tania Abdul, the visionaries behind Sphinx Gate, one of Burning Man 2025’s most ambitious and mythic art installations. Inspired by The NeverEnding Story, Sphinx Gate features two towering 34-foot sphinxes and a fully immersive, transformative art experience designed to help participants gain a deeper understanding of themselves. The trio explores how art and play can catalyze personal and collective transformation—without the need for psychedelics—by helping people reframe inner challenges as quests for growth. They discuss the...
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PT 618 - Chad Charles - Integrating 5-MeO-DMT: Therapy, Harm Reduction, and Best Practices
Psychedelics Today
In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe Moore sits down with Chad Charles — educator, mentor, and practitioner specializing in 5-MeO-DMT therapy. Chad shares his decade-long journey working with 5-MeO-DMT, emphasizing the importance of: Practitioner training and mentorship Personalized, therapeutic alliances The nuanced understanding of dissociative states Ethics in standardized clinical dosing A trauma-informed approach to psychedelic care He also introduces his upcoming research project, analyzing 500+ one-on-one sessions to illuminate best practices and ethical frameworks...
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PT 617 - Alan Davis - Psychedelic Research and Patient Safety at Ohio State & Exploring Ibogaine's Potential
Psychedelics Today
In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe Moore sits down with Alan Davis, Associate Professor at Ohio State University, to explore the evolving landscape of Ibogaine research and its therapeutic potential. Alan offers a deep dive into the Iboga Patient Survey, a groundbreaking initiative collecting real-world data on the safety and efficacy of Ibogaine—particularly for those struggling with substance use disorders and mental health challenges. The conversation sheds light on the need for rigorous, community-informed research that could pave the way toward FDA approval and increased access...
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PT 616 - Karina Bashir on Psychedelics, Islam, and Human Rights
Psychedelics Today
In this engaging episode of the Psychedelics Today podcast, host Joe Moore sits down with Karina Bashir, an attorney working at the intersection of law, business ethics, and psychedelics. Karina, of counsel with Antithesis Law and an active member of the psychedelic community, shares her unique journey from human rights advocacy into the evolving field of psychedelic law. The conversation explores her presentation at Harvard on psychedelics and monotheistic religions, and her efforts to bridge the gap between Islamic communities and psychedelic-assisted healing. She discusses the legal...
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PT 615 - Kristen Nash and Erica Siegel on Risk Reduction and Psychedelic Safety
Psychedelics Today
In this deeply important episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe Moore is joined by Kristen Nash, MPH, and returning guest Erica Siegel, LCSW, for a nuanced conversation about risk reduction, harm prevention, and ethical education in the psychedelic space. Kristen shares the powerful and heartbreaking story of losing her 21-year-old son after a tragic psychedelic-related incident. Motivated by this loss and her background in public health, she founded the Coalition for Psychedelic Safety and Education and launched the Before You Trip campaign—an educational initiative piloting in Colorado aimed...
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PT 614 - Erica Rex: Scientific Integrity, Psychedelic Research, and the Religious Leader Study
Psychedelics Today
In this episode, Joe Moore speaks with award-winning science journalist Erica Rex about her personal experience participating in psychedelic research, her upcoming book Seeing What Is There: My Search for Sanity in the Psychedelic Era, and the complex story behind the recently published Religious Leader Psilocybin Study from Johns Hopkins and NYU. They examine: Erica's firsthand experience as a participant in the original 2012 study that helped launch Roland Griffiths’ prominence in psychedelic science. The goals and outcomes of the Religious Leader Study, which sought to explore how...
info_outlineIn today’s Solidarity Friday’s Episode with Kyle and Joe, they talk mostly about Corpora-delic, companies and wealthy individuals investing in the psychedelic industry.
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Navigating Psychedelics
Show Notes
Psychedelics Company Orthogonal Thinker Closes $6M Seed Round
- The company is valued at 111 million
- The CEO, Jason Hobson says, “The current health pandemic has resulted in a societal shift in the way we think about our health and the importance of access to treatment, both physical health and mental health. Ei.Ventures believes this is the right time to lean into mental health issues such as mood disorders and addiction, and eventual access to therapeutic treatments from innovations in botanical compounds that have been around for thousands of years.”
- Joe and Kyle say that there is so much money coming in, and it worries the psychedelic community because they aren't used to seeing capitalism
- Joe says that he hopes that some patents don't equate to ruining access
Thiel Backs Psychedelic-Drug Startup in Latest Funding Round
- “Are these companies going to bully the smaller organizations out of existence so that diversity doesn't really exist in the way we think it should?” - Joe
- Medical is a great model, but it should be reduced to that only
- Kyle says the sacred-ness feels like it may be taken away, and big companies just look at it as a commodity
Medical Researchers Worry Silicon Valley Could Screw Up Psychedelics
- "Not everyone sees this opportunity for entrepreneurship as a good thing. For researchers looking into the efficacy of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, these substances are far more than a market opportunity—they’re potentially life-saving medications. And after decades of prohibition, psychedelics are just barely gaining mainstream acceptance.’ - from the article
- People are bold enough to stand up to companies they don't agree with
It's no joke how much money was spent on making Tim Leary look bad
DARPA Wants Benefits of Psychedelics but Without Hallucinations
- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is launching a new drug program for treating soldiers with PTSD, depression, anxiety, and drug addiction, and it is drawing inspiration from psychedelic research.
- Kyle mentions that this is tricky, its both a biochemical and experiential thing
- Will eliminating the hallucinations ruin the experience?
- Joe says that there are some people that are so unstable that a psychedelic experience can be really a lot
- Joe also says that there arent alot of drugs that their use needs to be supervised (medically) and psychedelics are some of them
How Climate Justice Could End the Drug War
- Joe recorded with Erica Darragh from Sunrise Movement
- Their talk was about how climate justice could end the drug war
- They talked about more equitable ways of including people of less power, influence or privilege into the world of psychedelics
- The more ahead we are of the government, the more likely we are to influence policy, Joe says it's best to just stay informed
A North Star for the Emerging Psychedelics Industry
- If we aren't coming from psychedelic values when bringing these substances into the mainstream, then what are we doing?
- What are psychedelic values?
- Valuing the planet, valuing your place in the planet, a sense of connection, cooperation vs. competition, how do we honor a lineage or where these medicines come from? these could be some psychedelic values
- Following the permaculture principles and applying them to life is a great tool for systems thinking
About Kyle
Kyle’s interest in exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness began when he was 16-years-old when he suffered a traumatic snowboarding accident. Waking up after having a near-death experience changed Kyle’s life. Since then, Kyle has earned his B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology, where he studied the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness by exploring shamanism, plant medicine, Holotropic Breathwork, and the roots/benefits of psychedelic psychotherapy. Kyle has co-taught two college-level courses. One of the courses Kyle created as a capstone project, “Stanislav Grof’s Psychology of Extraordinary Experiences,” and the other one which he co-created, “The History of Psychedelics.”
Kyle completed his M.S. in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis in somatic psychology. Kyle’s clinical background in mental health consists of working with at-risk teenagers in crisis and with individuals experiencing an early-episode of psychosis. Kyle also facilitates Transpersonal Breathwork workshops.
About Joe
Joe studied philosophy in New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A.. After stumbling upon the work of Stanislav Grof during his undergraduate years, Joe began participating in Holotropic Breathwork workshops in Vermont in 2003. Joe helped facilitate Holotropic and Transpersonal Breathwork workshops while he spent his time in New England. He is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts. Joe now coordinates Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork workshops, in Breckenridge, Colorado.
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