Psy Diaries
Experts from the world of medicine talk about mental health, mystical experiences, and the mushroom renaissance. The show features news and discussion on how these compounds affect our mind and the world around us.
Psy Diaries
#035 Carlos Plazola: grow, gather, gift
Episode summary:
We talk with Carlos Plazola — Chairman of Decriminalize Nature — about the challenge of inner work, access to the underserved, and entering the infinite.
Highlights:
00:37 — NUGGET AND A NOODLE: Psychedelic biotechs dying off; Hazel Park, Michigan, decriminalizes psychedelics; using these medicines to improve well-being and satisfaction
2:59 — Why is it so hard for people to embrace introspection?
10:59 — Magic mushrooms are relatively easy to grow. How does that influence the efforts for decriminalization?
13:19 — Who is Decriminalize Nature's target audience?
16:52 — How does Carlos imagine a world 5-10 years into fullscale legalization of psychedelics?
19:48 — Ray and Carlos share mystical experiences
26:17 — SOUL SEARCH: You've got to live the life of any historical figure...
Carlos Plazola
Carlos Plazola, a Bay Area native who grew up in a Chicano household, didn't learn about plant remedies until he was 50 years old.
After failing to cope with the death of his mother for several years with exercise, meditation, and yoga, he read Michael Pollan's "How to Change Your Mind," which opened his eyes to the possibility for mushrooms to help him process and come to terms with the anguish he was experiencing.
Plazola tried mushrooms for the first time when he consumed five grams and locked himself in his bedroom. He describes his life in terms of before and after that adventure since it was so profound and changing for him.
Since then, he has committed his life to assisting the plant medicine movement, forming Decriminalize Nature with the objective of crafting and enacting legislation that safeguards these precious chemicals and enables safe access for anyone who choose to utilize them.
Find Carlos here: