Although last year’s Natural Medicine Act created a road map to the lawful purchase of medical psilocybin mushrooms with the potential for more natural psychedelics to follow, implementation of that plan will likely take years. In the meantime, here are five crucial steps to help you see the lay of the land in Colorado’s quickly evolving world of decriminalized and unlicensed psychedelics.
Sourcing and Testing Psychedelics in Colorado
Home grows and extraction processes are how a large portion of decriminalized psychedelics find their way to users. This is not particularly concerning to most users, but home practices do lack formal processes for determining potency, dosing and detecting contaminants. If you're not cultivating or creating these psychedelics yourself, it's crucial to know and trust the source. Beyond trusting your source, there are a few ways to test the substances you’re growing, creating or being gifted.
For potency testing, Miraculix’s PsiloQ is an option you can order and use in your own home. Otherwise, Tryptomics, Altitude Consulting and Friday Ventures are all local Colorado labs that offer HPLC testing for potency. Contamination testing is a bit trickier, but labs are working on bringing that online, too.
"For contamination testing, we’re just bringing total yeast and mold contamination testing online right now, so it should be available in the coming weeks. ... I think the question is still what types of contamination matter,” Chris Pauli of Tryptomics says.
Beyond mushrooms, there are local potency testing options available for DMT and mescaline through Tryptomics, with Friday Ventures soon to release an option for DMT potency testing, as well. Both substances can be tested for contamination using at-home test kits found on dancesafe.org.
Trip Journaling
Whether you’re interested in psychedelics for spiritual, emotional or other intentional purposes, journaling can be helpful during and after the trip as you integrate. Thoughts move rapidly during a trip, so it's challenging to make sense of them. Many experts recommend journaling as a helpful way to streamline and document thoughts, emotions or feelings that arise for later review.Travis Tyler Fluck, who heads the organization of legal psychedelic gifting portals across Colorado, notes that “journaling or documenting is great because so much fades into obscurity if not captured.”
Sara Gael, a local psychedelic therapist and educator who has worked with Dance Safe and MAPS, says integration journaling “can be a helpful way to process themes that arose during your psychedelic experience.
"Writing down thoughts and ideas that are in your head and getting them out on paper can help integrate things that emerged for you," Gael adds. "Some potentially helpful journal prompts include statements like: What would you like to most remember or carry forward from this experience? What did you learn about yourself during this experience?”
It’s always an option to write your own journaling prompts or simply journal through a stream of consciousness. But if you’re looking for prompts, Mindbloom and Psychedelic Support are great places to start.
Trip Sitters
According to Daniel McQueen of Medicinal Mindfulness psychedelic therapy center in Boulder, having a trusted individual with you during a psychedelic experience, often termed a "trip sitter," is essential for inexperienced users, and good practice for seasoned users, too.While psychedelics are generally introspective, it's crucial to have someone with you for safety since psychedelics can occasionally lead to impaired judgment. A trustworthy confidant can also be helpful if you need to talk through something or if a difficult thought arises. The Center for Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder offers courses on trip sitting, which includes instruction on first-aid, protocols and how to “sit” for people under the influence of mushrooms, DMT, cannabis and other mind-altering substances.
Seek Out Local Psychedelics Groups
Events and psychedelics meetups are more common than ever across the state, including conferences, mushroom cultivation classes, microdosing seminars and enthusiast groups. For a more comprehensive list, see Westword's Cannabis and Psychedelics Calendar or Eventbrite. Gatherings like these are great opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of psychedelics before consumption.Many of these events are pop-ups, or one-off types of events, but there are a few stable places that act as safe harbors for psychedelic immersion, including Denver’s Plant Magic Cafe, Boulder’s Center for Medicinal Mindfulness and the Mushroom Classroom.
Hotlines and Online Resources
In stride with seeking out your local community, there are more immediate remote resources in case they're needed. If you’re looking for information only, the Colorado-based Psychedelics Info Line, launched in February, is a free hotline staffed by experts who fill gaps in your understanding of psychedelics.If you’re looking for more immediate psychedelic support after consuming, Fireside Project, Good Therapy and Tripsit all offer one-on-one help with people trained in providing emotional support during and after a psychedelic experience. And if things feel dire or extreme, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health hotline, along with 911, are always at your fingertips. Denver's emergency responders are currently being trained to assist in psychedelics-related emergencies as well.
Remember: Safety and well-being are paramount, so approach your psychedelic journey with careful consideration and respect for the substances involved.
Fireside Project: 623.473.7433
Psychedelics Info Line: 1-888-210-3553
Substance Abuse and Mental Health hotline: 800-622-4357
Denver Emergency Responders: 911
Psychedelic.support
Goodtherapy.org
Tripsit.me
This article was updated on Saturday, April 6, to fix inaccuracies regarding Chris Pauli and Tryptomics, neither of which are affiliated with Steep Hill Labs.
