Did Oprah Just Mainstream Psychedelics?
Plus, all the tea on Amazonian snuff, destigmatizing coca, and so much more.
Welcome back to The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s newsletter serving up news, culture, and independent journalism about psychedelics straight to your inbox.
Today’s originally reported stories are about the growing number of resources available for mothers interested in learning about taking psilocybin mushrooms — a topic near and dear to our hearts at DoubleBlind. Our other story breaks down Oprah Winfrey’s latest podcast episode, where she sits down with author and journalist Michael Pollan about psychedelic-assisted therapy. You can find those pieces immediately below!
Keep scrolling, and you’ll see deep dives into 5-MeO-DMT snuff, life as a queer migrant from Ukraine, the movement to destigmatize coca, and a guide on how to come back down to earth if you get too high.
Enjoy the brain food, 🧠🍌
Mary Carreón
Senior Editor
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Moms Finally Have Resources on Mushrooms and Mental Health
After years of stigma and silence, mothers exploring psilocybin for mental health finally have research-backed resources to turn to.
If you follow the news, you’ve likely noticed the wave of media coverage on mothers turning to psilocybin mushrooms for support. But that story is rapidly evolving — and so is Western science. New resources are now available that provide insight into the benefits and safety of mushroom use for mothers.
Dr. Jim Fadiman writes about a population of mothers who regularly work with mushrooms in his newest book, Microdosing for Health, Healing, and Enhanced Performance. It features a section specifically looking at data gathered by Mothers of the Mushroom Project, a research initiative organized by Mikaela de la Myco, an advocate, mother, and entheogen educator; and Naomi Tolson, a microdosing coach, psychedelic guide, and community science researcher. The dataset examined over 400 participants and generated both qualitative and quantitative data. They found that mothers are consuming mushrooms at various doses — from infrequent seven-gram journeys to weekly microdoses. The most common reasons mothers used mushrooms included anxiety relief, depression support, overcoming overwhelm, enhancing parenting capacity, and personal growth.
“There are mothers in every corner of our society who feel completely burned out, tired, and frustrated at the conditions they’ve been living in,” Mikaela tells DoubleBlind. “Mothers experience greater levels of pressure because of the unpaid labor from domestic work on top of working regular jobs and parenting.”
Data shows that 1 in 7 new mothers experience postpartum depression in the U.S. every year, equating to roughly 3 million women. “A lot of people, including mothers, are looking for alternative methodologies outside of talk therapy and pharmaceuticals, which do not work for everyone.”
The book also features information about breastfeeding and mushroom use. “For some respondents, ‘breastfeeding while microdosing made it a more comfortable and enjoyable experience,” Fadiman writes. “For others, because of the microdosing, the physical relationship and bond with the child became stronger…”
Reunion Neuroscience is conducting other research called the “Reconnect Study,” a clinical trial looking at the effects of RE104, a drug chemically similar to psilocybin but yielding a shorter psychedelic experience, on postpartum depression. The study, which is taking place at 36 trial sites across the U.S., has 72 participants enrolled and is about halfway through Phase II but looking for more participants.
Those who want to participate in the study are screened for eligibility at one of 36 clinical research sites across the U.S., with travel costs covered and compensation provided. Qualified participants undergo two preparation sessions before their dosing day, where they will receive support from a clinical team. “We’re excited because this could be a new treatment option for moms,” says Greg Mayes, the president and CEO of Reunion Neuroscience, to DoubleBlind. “We aim to complete the study by mid-year so we can share data with the FDA and move to Phase III [of the clinical trial] by early 2026.”
Unlike Mothers of the Mushroom, breastfeeding is one of the clinical trial’s contraindications. “We don’t yet have data on how long a woman would need to pause breastfeeding after dosing,” he says. “Participants must agree to stop breastfeeding to join. We are conducting a lactation study in parallel to generate that data.”
“The postpartum depression study is something [Mom’s on Mushrooms is] helping to spread the word about,” says Tracey Tee, founder of the educational support group Mom’s on Mushrooms, who shared the study on her platform. “Reunion Neuroscience reached out to us because they were having trouble finding postpartum moms willing to participate in a study.”
Tee, who’s based in Colorado where psilocybin is legal, says that while education and community are central to her mission, her ultimate goal is destigmatizing psychedelics, especially for mothers. “Our country has been flooded with decades of fear-based messaging about psychedelics,” Tee tells DoubleBlind. “This has led to a generational disempowerment of mothers that goes back hundreds of years.”
At its core, this movement isn’t about psilocybin. It’s about reimagining mental health solutions for mothers that centers their autonomy.
“Moms don’t need another man in a lab coat telling them how to take psychedelics,” Tee said. “They need a space to trust their own intuition and reclaim their power. That’s what we’re here for.”
Our Latest
Oprah’s Psychedelic Moment Signals a Culture Shift, But Is It the One We Want?
Mainstream America seems to be warming up to psychedelic therapy, and Oprah’s latest podcast with Michael Pollan proves it. But with decades of stigma still in play, there’s still a long road ahead.
Did you see Oprah Winfrey’s latest IG post promoting her podcast episode on psychedelic-assisted therapy? She’s standing on a stretch of lush green grass with a towering tree behind her as the wind elegantly tousels her wavy hair. She talks to us like she always has: steady and reassuring, like a godmother who’s done all the research, gently handing you a solution to your ailments. And in that fleeting moment of Oprah’s warm, digital embrace, it dawned on us how surreal this mainstream moment actually is.
We immediately disconnected from everything to give the episode our undivided attention. She interviewed author and journalist Michael Pollan about his book How to Change Your Mind, what he experienced after taking mushrooms,andthe efficacy of psilocybin-assisted therapy. She also interviewed a few other people with conditions ranging from PTSD to OCD to depression about how mushrooms have, in fact, changed their minds, too.
But, like most mainstream coverage of psychedelics, the episode was presented through a lens of controversy. In the beginning, Oprah admitted that she’s harbored stereotypical drug war prejudices about psychedelics — and still does. She said she once believed psychedelics would make her jump out a window — a fear that tracks, given that in the early 2000s, she pushed the classic anti-drug talking point that MDMA burns holes in the brain. (Rick Doblin discussed this slight on the Joe Rogan podcast.)
She also confessed to Pollan that when he published his New York Times bestseller in 2018, she thought it was a “reeeaaally bold” move for him. Her tone suggested that he might have jeopardized his career by straying from safer topics like food and health.
We’re not going to drag Oprah for her perspective on psychedelics, despite it being clear she’s uncomfortable with them — and even just talking about them. Still, we recognize this is a huge moment for the pro-psychedelia movement. But her language and tone stand as a reminder — a temperature check, if you will — about where the rest of society stands regarding psychedelic use.
For Oprah and her audience — and even people like Michael Pollan — there’s a clear division between the right and wrong ways to use psychedelics. The right way? In a medical setting and guided by a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. The wrong? Anything outside of that, including with friends, at home, in ceremony, or elsewhere in the underground. Why do people with PhDs get to decide that tripping in a therapy office is better than tripping at the beach? Telling us that psychedelic therapy is the “correct” way to trip is elitist. It’s another version of psychedelic exceptionalism.
Is it still a win that Oprah recorded a podcast episode about psychedelics, despite the caveats? Yes, because mainstream audiences care and listen to what Oprah has to say — she has that godmother energy, after all. But it’s not lost on us just how much work remains to be done around destigmatizing psychedelics.
& More Must-Reads
Yopo, an Amazonian 5-MeO-DMT snuff, is on a collision course with a multibillion-dollar mining operation. To save their culture, the Piaroa stewards of this remarkable plant medicine are sharing their traditional medicine with Westerners. Read more about Yopo, the Piaroa people, and their fight to survive here.
Life as a queer immigrant can be isolating. Cat never quite fit in, perpetually existing at the margins of society. Exploring identity and generational trauma with psychedelics led her back to the magic and wisdom hiding her Ukrainian roots. While the specifics of her life may be different than yours, her journey illuminates a path through disconnection and displacement to ancestral reclamation available to all of us. Read about Cat’s story here
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🌿 “Psilohausca” is a powerful combination of plants users claim delivers a “breakthrough” more reliably than mushrooms. There is very little research on this relatively new practice, but here is what we do know: Read DoubleBlind’s Intro to Psilohuasca.
😮💨 You took too much; your set and setting took a twisted turn into the unpleasant, leading to an eruption of difficult emotions. Now you’re too high, overwhelmed, and not sure what to do. It happens to the best of us. Here are 10 ways to calm down if you get too high.
🍄 Want to level up your mushroom cultivation without spending a ton of money on upgrading your setup? Try liquid culture. It’s affordable, relatively easy to do, and gives you incredible yields. Read our Liquid Culture Guide here.
🌱 Why are Dennis McKenna, Wade Davis, and Tim Ferris on a mission to destigmatize coca? Get the full story behind their work to restore Coca’s global reputation.
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Psychedelic Culture is an interdisciplinary conference produced by Chacruna. It focuses on themes often absent in the broader mainstream conversations around psychedelics: psychedelic justice, indigenous reciprocity, and protection of sacred cultural traditions.
The 2-day conference gives a platform to inspired voices not commonly featured in the psychedelic circuit, creating dialogues between scientists and communities deeply involved with these medicines. More than just a heady conference, you can participate in a full spectrum of offerings, from music, dance, art circles, rapé (tobacco) ceremonies, and meet up sessions.
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Get To Know Your Fungi: Shroom Types 101
There are 180 different species of psychedelic mushrooms. And they all come with slightly different personalities, effects, and experiences. If you’ve been of the mindset that “shrooms are shrooms”, then here’s your crash course on the world of psychedelic fungi. You’ll learn the most common types, how they’re different, and why any of this matters.
Around the Web
Gen-X ravers are getting older, and “Early Parties” are now a thing. Dancing starts at 6 pm and everybody goes home by 10. Does it come with an early-bird dinner coupon? Read more about this surprisingly healthy party trend in The Guardian.
Amanita muscaria, the iconic red-and–white-spotted mushroom, didn’t just inspire Santa Claus. It may have inspired entire religions. Get the full (speculative) story on Salon.
In January and February, customs agents in Belgium seized twice as much as they did during the same time period last year. Does this qualify as a ketamine epidemic? Or is it a massive self-medication movement for a growing mental health crisis? Read the full story in VRT news.
What does it say when a generation’s intoxicant of choice is a dissociative? Ketamine use is rising dramatically among young people, and it’s creating some disturbing health challenges. Read the full story on BBC.
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