Altered States

PRX
  • 4.5 (87)
  • SCIENCE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Altered States

Psychedelics are now at the center of a global conversation about mental health, mysticism, and even how we experience illness and death. In Altered States, host Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores how people are taking these drugs, who has access to them, how they're regulated, who stands to profit, and what these substances might offer us as individuals and as a society.

  1. A Navy SEAL Goes to Mexico to take Ibogaine

    OCT 23

    A Navy SEAL Goes to Mexico to take Ibogaine

    A former Navy SEAL named Craig deployed nine times over nearly three decades in the military. When he left the service, he felt lucky to have all his limbs, toes and fingers. But he found himself struggling with language and memory and rising frustration. One day he forgot his wife’s name and couldn’t remember it for hours. His wife Gretchen started looking for help online and found information about a Stanford University research study on ibogaine and veterans. Craig volunteered.

    44 min
  2. The Peyote Plan

    OCT 16

    The Peyote Plan

    A plan to protect the peyote cactus is taking shape on the Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska during this summer’s Native American Church of North America conference. Indigenous leaders are hustling to take their peyote proposal all the way to the White House before the November election. Producer Adreanna Rodriguez tells the story.

    26 min
  3. What if Ketamine is More Addictive Than We Thought?

    OCT 9

    What if Ketamine is More Addictive Than We Thought?

    When journalist Anna Silman started reporting on ketamine five years ago she did so because people in her friend group had begun taking the drug recreationally. She was intrigued by the ways that interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy meant more people were taking ketamine, both with a prescription and without one too. But as she started to see friends struggle with dependency, something other countries have been ringing the alarm about for years, she began to wonder whether the U.S. has been too naive. We hear from a woman we’re calling Olivia, just a few months out of rehab, who thinks the risks of ketamine have been severely underestimated.

    42 min
  4. Psychedelics on the Ballot

    OCT 2

    Psychedelics on the Ballot

    At first the effort in Oregon to legalize psilocybin seemed doomed. Then the organizers started talking to the architect behind the carefully coordinated, state-by-state campaign to legalize cannabis, an attorney by the name of Graham Boyd. His initial thought was that what worked for cannabis would never work for psychedelics. But what he found in Oregon changed his mind. Producer Damiano Marchetti investigates.

    26 min
  5. A Former War Correspondent Unravels

    SEP 25

    A Former War Correspondent Unravels

    Ernesto Londoño is a national correspondent and former war correspondent at The New York Times. For most of his life, Ernesto was a classic journalist – skeptical, stoic – whose early life in war-torn Colombia and reporting experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan left him traumatized, though he didn’t know it. Then Ernesto signs up for a retreat in the Amazon where he drinks ayahuasca. This retreat is followed by many more throughout Latin America. These experiences began to melt some of his armor, revealing a surprising new side of himself. Along the way, Ernesto reports on the strange world of international psychedelics retreats.

    48 min

  6. SEP 11

    Show Update

    Altered States is taking a short breather and will be back soon. In the meantime, consider joining host Arielle Duhaime-Ross and other journalists for a virtual panel called The New Psychedelic Beat: Unraveling Oregon’s Drug Policy Story hosted by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. September 25, 2024 at 1 pm PT.

    1 min
  7. Fair Trade Ibogaine

    SEP 4

    Fair Trade Ibogaine

    In recent years, an increasing number of international clinics have begun offering treatments using ibogaine, a psychedelic drug that comes from a West African plant, to help treat conditions such as trauma and addiction. Much of the global supply of ibogaine is smuggled illegally out of Gabon. A former NBA basketball player from Gabon named Stéphane Lasme is at the forefront of new efforts to build a sustainable fair trade iboga industry.

    33 min
  8. The Longest Trip

    AUG 28

    The Longest Trip

    Several years ago, Heather was given three doses of psilocybin as part of a clinical study for treatment-resistant depression. Ever since, she’s been experiencing strange visual distortions, including “visual snow” and shimmering walls. What’s it like to develop a chronic condition following a trip? And what do scientists know about why it happens and who’s at risk?

    40 min
See All (13)

Trailer

4.5
out of 5
87 Ratings

About

Psychedelics are now at the center of a global conversation about mental health, mysticism, and even how we experience illness and death. In Altered States, host Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores how people are taking these drugs, who has access to them, how they're regulated, who stands to profit, and what these substances might offer us as individuals and as a society.

Information

  • Creator
    PRX
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics
  • Show Website
    Altered States

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