The Psychedelic Renaissance: A look into the psychedelic revival movement in Southern Arizona.

Welcome back to the Psychedelic Renaissance. This episode is all about decriminalization and the legalization of psychedelics/entheogens. With an increase in psychedelic research, legalization is the most glaring contradiction in the whole movement. If we are documenting positive effects, does it make sense to keep these substances illegal? We are talking to Holly Elyse Vennum, Mathew Haupt, and Tony Landry on Arizona decriminalization.

This podcast was created, reported, and produced by Alexandra Pere for the University of Arizona journalism school. Edited by Ruxandra Guidi. Music by Devin Coppess and Holly Elise Venom.

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In this episode, we are looking at academic research happening in Tucson. Tucson has actually been at the forefront of modern psychedelic research since the dark ages. Researchers at the University of Arizona are currently investigating the benefits of psychedelics for symptoms of obsessive compulsion disorders. But these modern researchers are attempting to right the wrongs of the First Phase and quantify the magic in mushrooms with technology.

*Warning: This episode includes sensitive topics on mental illness and suicide.*

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The psychedelic renaissance has been gaining steam in the last two decades as new research dives into the potential benefits of psychoactive properties for mental illnesses. Host Alexandra Pere has been watching the movement for the last three years. Her partner, Devin, works in mental health, and from what he tells her, finding the right medication for people with treatment-resistant mental illnesses is a constant struggle. If the side effects aren’t enough, synthetic drugs alone may not even help with their depression.

Inspired by him, she began her journalistic research into psychedelics and the people behind the phenomenon. Alex wondered if this town had any awareness of its role in the movement. Her impression was that Arizona was too conservative for the renaissance. The state historically swung red in local, state, and presidential elections for decades.

But, what she found surprised her.

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What images come to mind when you hear the word, psychedelic?

If you are seeing stereotypical hippies in Volkswagen vans with flare pants, there’s a reason for that. The social movements and media coverage of psychedelics from the 1950s to 1970s were crucial in constructing our stereotype of psychedelics today; Forever linking them to an era of civil disobedience and cultural awakening in America. But in the process, we managed to detach psychedelic properties from their origins.

One could argue that the white scientists in psychedelic research committed another act of colonization by taking traditional Indigenous knowledge and repackaging it for a white American audience.

In this first episode, we are going to discuss the origins of psychoactive plants and how a group of white elites were the cause to the First Phase of psychedelic research’s rise and fall. The First Phase is the period between 1950-1970.

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