Investment in psychedelic medical treatments has been rising as liberalization of drug laws has expanded. Detroit became the latest city to decriminalize psychedelics, as voters approved the decriminalization of magic mushrooms and other entheogenic plants. As psychedelics become more accepted and the stigma recedes, research opportunities have increased and even though psychedelic therapy is still in its infancy, investors are putting money into companies focusing on psychedelic mental health treatments. Psychedelics are also being used to help people with end-of-life care. Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) was featured in GQ, and MAPS announced an upcoming event, Psychedelic Science 2023. Also, the Wonderland conference, the largest psychedelic medicine event of its kind, is currently taking place in Miami.

Despite all the optimism about psychedelic therapy, cautionary messages about psychedelics are also starting to appear in the popular media. An article in RealClearScience suggests, “Staunch Advocates of Therapeutic Psychedelics Need a History Lesson,” pointing out that excitement about psychedelics has reached this level before only to fade away. This was in part due to the “war on drugs” initiated by the Nixon administration, but also because the FDA imposed more rigid regulation on the pharmaceutical industry and tighter restrictions on research, as well. There have also been allegations of misconduct among psychedelic therapists, as detailed in the Forbes article “Psychedelic Therapy Is Hyped, But It’s Not Risk-Free: How Therapy Abuse Can Retraumatize Clients.” Also, an article in Vice, “The False Promise of Psychedelic Utopia,” cautions that the enthusiasm about psychedelics should be kept in perspective.

Recent TV shows and movies have demonstrated a psychedelic influence, such as Dune and Stranger Things. Far Out Magazine lists The 10 greatest psychedelic films of all time. The VW microbus, a symbol of counterculture. is making a comeback as an electric vehicle, and Volkswagen is previewing the new version with a “psychedelic wrap“. An ever-growing list of celebrities has taken ayahuasca. In the past few days, Will Smith and Lil Nas X have both made public statements about their experimentation with ayahuasca.

This episode of Turn Me On, Dead Man features a number of artists from Latin America. The opening set features The Slow Voyage from Los Angeles, Chile, Firefriend from São Paulo, Brazil, and El Universo from Mexico City, and this episode closes with Telephone Exchange, another artist from Mexico City. Other than Annunaki from Nanaimo, BC, Self-Immolation music from Leeds, UK and Shamaniacs from Berlin, the rest of the artists are from the US: The Sonic Splits and The Webbers from Oregon, The Mary Veils from Philadelphia, and the Poppy Seeds from Los Angeles. The breaks are from an episode of X Minus 1 called “No Contact”.

00:00 Turn Me On Dead Man – Intro
00:32 The Slow Voyage – Expansion
05:11 Firefriend – Poison Tree
10:29 El Universo – Monkeys & Apes
16:15 The Sonic Splits – Doors of Perception
20:00 The Sonic Splits – Like the Steady Flowing of a Stream
24:35 Self-Immolation Music – Remain Eternally Hateful
28:22 The Webbers – The Skinwalker
30:31 Shamaniacs – Dopamine – دوبامين
32:40 The Mary Veils – Home Video
35:41 The Poppy Seeds – Coming To Get You
38:40 Annunaki – The Cries of Hypatia
51:53 Telephone Exchange – Qué irresponsable

The world, or at least the US is opening up to psychedelics more and more. Psychedelic assisted therapy continues to gain acceptance and the legal market for psychedelics is growing quickly. MarketWatch called on Citigoup to cite innovative ideas that could transform society, and where to invest your money to take advantage of these changes. One of the “game changers” this group of anaylists listed was psychedelic drugs. The combination of psychedelics and psychotherapy is opening up new treatments, such as for patients with PTSD. One thing standing in the way at present is these drugs are still illegal in most places. An article in Nature, however, provides a “roadmap for wider acceptance and utilization,” and Scientific American offers a strategy to reschedule psilocybin. Right now the United States is far ahead in the psychedelic market as these drugs gain broader acceptance.

Not only are a growing number turning to psychedelic assisted therapy, particularly as the pandemic has exacerbated a mental health crisis, but studies are showing that psychedelics may have other benefits, as well. A study published in Nature finds that psychedelic use is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes. A study also found that magic mushrooms enhance our emotional reaction to music.

Seattle, as well as three cities in California, have recently decriminalized psychedelic drugs. The city council of Santa Cruz, however, voted to recriminalize peyote. They did this on behalf of Native Americans who use peyote in religious rituals. With use of peyote spreading, the move to recriminalize peyote is to protect “individuals who cultivate entheogens for use in religious, spiritual, healing, or personal growth practices.” Still, the psychedelic reform movement is expanding and Denver, a city that has already decriminalized magic mushrooms, is exploring further easing their restrictions in a couple of years.

And then there’s the music. Psychedelic music has never really gone away but the recent past has seen a steady stream of great psych, as this episode demonstrates.

00:00 Turn Me On Dead Man – Intro
00:45 The Oscillation – Forever Knowing
08:43 Swan Faucet – Wandering
14:56 Turn Me On Dead Man – Break
16:26 DDT – Set Alight
19:53 Dislocated Flowers – Temple
24:47 The Buzzards of Fuzz – Lonely In Space (Slight Return)
30:36 Andrew Thomas Jacobs – Parum Luceat
34:26 Mystery Egg – Gate Shrouded In Time
39:40 Wine Lips – Eyes
40:58 Apex Ten – Orbiting Jupiter (Extended Version)
52:30 Zodiac Rippers – Morningstar

Back with another collection of recent psychedelia, ranging from stoner to psychedelic pop. There have been a couple of interesting items about psychedelic music in the past few days: In Dublin, the inaugural Stratospheres Psych night took place at The Grand Social on Sept. 25th, featuring some of Ireland’s best psych rock acts: Sun Mahshene, Tuath and Thee UFO. Stolen Body Records announced the dates for Astral Festival VII, April 30/May 1, 2022 at Strange Brew in Bristol. Australia has a thriving psychedelic scene, and Adelaide’s CityMag ran an article “Introducing Mystique Records: Founded by musician Harry Taylor, Mystique Records aims to bring Adelaide’s thriving psychedelic music scene out from the underground.”

Magic mushrooms now have their own holiday”: September 20th is Magic Mushroom Day, created by the 920 Coalition, and Entheofest, the first-ever psychedelic mushroom festival, was held in Ann Arbor on Sept. 19th. The popular press is starting to take notice of the use of psychedelics in treating mental illness. In the past week Newsweek ran an article on “The legality of magic mushrooms and potential use as treatment for depression”. Also, Forbes announced ‘The End In Mind’ Conference, in End-Of-Life Care Is The New Frontier In Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. Decriminalization efforts have made progress recently: “Class A drug possession ‘effectively decriminalised’ in Scotland.”

00:27 Vulcanodon Phazer – Lemurian Thunder
07:10 Ogua – Iyan
12:39 Jeffrey Alexander & The Heavy Lidders – Beowulf’s Trip
18:49 Mort Rose – On part au soleil
23:06 Scatter Light – Leave Some Room Inside Your Mind
26:40 Psyconauts – Breathe The Love
31:24 Saucer Eyes – Out Of Vision
35:11 Acid Magus – Rituals
41:47 Black Magick Marching Band – Big Dead Everything
44:39 Su Evets – Arc Awakening
52:12 Maragda – Hermit

Time keeps marching on and it’s the end of the summer. The music of the summer will continue to reverberate, though. This episode features some pre-releases by The Venus Overload, the Kundalini Genie, Tibetan Miracle Seeds, and 10 000 Russos, and a host of tracks released throughout the summer.

00:21 The Kundalini Genie – Half In, Half Out
03:28 Tibetan Miracle Seeds – Boa Constrictor
08:14 Comet Control – Secret Life
11:44 Drowning Effect – Bright Lights
14:45 10 000 Russos – A House Full of Garbage
19:32 Bad Psychic – Man In Bed
22:40 Menk – Eyes (Глаза)
30:00 Wheels – Badlands
34:41 The Dolphins – Die in California
39:21 The Venus Overload – TSW (Canto XIII)
43:28 Temporal Marauder – State of the Station
48:40 Maha Sohona – Leaves

A look at current psychedelia and a look back at life during wartime. A few more releases from prominent labels this time around. This episode opens with The Mountain Movers on the Trouble In Mind label, with tracks from Axis: Sova and Birds of Maya on Drag City as well as The Holy Family on Rocket Recordings. The artists in this episode come from the UK (The Holy Family and Longheads), Canada (Dark Bird and Dr. Joy), Australia (The Dharma Chain) and the rest from the US.

01:19 The Mountain Movers – I Wanna See The Sun
04:22 The Dharma Chain – So You Wanna Be A Spaceman?
10:49 The Holy Family – Inward Turning Suns
17:09 Axis: Sova – Fractal USA
22:53 Dopesoul – Karma Kaze
27:19 Dark Bird – Out Of Line
32:14 Dr. Joy – Signed, The Body Electric
37:47 Playing With Circles – Page 63
41:03 Birds of Maya – Please Come In
48:00 Longheads – One and a Half Each