To take a temperature of who went to the event, we tapped more than a dozen, random attendees to get their take on everything from contending with anti-cannabis “Reefer Madness” propaganda (which was born out of Ybor City, mind you), using cannabis and other psychedelics to manage diseases and combat depression, uncertain UFO sightings, regrets over spending too much money on cannabis instead of buying a house, and experts mapping out the DMT realm.
What specifically brought you to ‘entheogens’*?
*Entheogen is a term that refers to substances used for spiritual purposes, which was the subject of Alexandra’s talk*
I found them on my healing journey. I have Crohn’s Disease. So, I’ve had physical challenges. With my family, we were looking at different modalities of healing and it finally came to psychedelics. We went on a deep dive watching a bunch of documentaries. And then my dad said, alright, we have to do ayahuasca. After I tried ayahuasca, a month later, I went and did MDMA at my college and had a great time. And those are like my foundation because you need both of them. We need the recreation, we need the fun, we need the completely letting go of everything that we’re trying to figure out and think about. And we also need to go deep into that oneness, that lovingness, and confront all of the shadows that are inside of us.
Could you talk a bit more about your background? How did you come to be a speaker on psychedelics?
I went to college at New College of Florida. I was doing environmental work there. So, I have a degree in environmental studies. Then I wrote my thesis on psychedelics and nature. I went along that path; met Rick Doblin and he sponsored my thesis. He was one of the interviews in the actual thesis that I wrote. I’d want to be in a facilitator space and hold the hand of the people going through their trauma. I’m probably going to get my master’s and become a psychedelic therapist. I think I have a little bit of a unique view: there are people saying what I’m saying, I just don’t think there’s enough of them saying it.
—Alexandra Rose MarsWhat made you want to come out to Cannadelic today?
Why not? It’s Earth medicine. We’re leading a new phase in our lives and came here for new education purposes. Also, there are vendors galore, and educational speakers discussing many topics that people need to hear. It brings reassurance and comfort and allows us to feel more authentic feelings within ourselves. Things like psychedelics help us get back to our roots and understand our ways. Turning away from the pharmaceutical ways.
—Matt
What do you think people should know about psychedelics?
I’m a late bloomer, I didn’t try mushrooms for the first time ‘til 49 years old. I can’t believe the information has been withheld from me this long. The ignorance that I was brought up with and the narrative in society is really a shame because this could be healing and helping so many people. Why not just smile, be OK and be your own doctor?
—Angelica Photo by Emanuel TorresDo you use psychedelics or cannabis, and if you do, does that use inform your art?
No, I don’t. I do appreciate the culture, though. The psychedelic experience is naturally already in your brain. Cannabinoids and other chemicals are already inside of you—so when you take drugs, it connects with what’s already in you. I’ve found other ways to tap into that, like yogic ways—stretching, breathwork, ice bath, and meditation. I definitely enjoy the same states of mind as those that use psychedelics.
—Ben Gilton (Artist-Vendor)Photo by Emanuel TorresWhy’d you want to come to Cannadelic today?
I honestly like psychedelics and I like seeing it be talked about and expressed and not be illegalized; no one’s getting booked for it here. It’s important for us as a people to learn and grow and go through all these traumas and heal. It was nice to see [the speakers] go back and forth. The exchange of perspectives was great.
—Caio H. Photo by Emanuel TorresTalk a little bit about what you do in the cannabis or psychedelic space.
My name is Cesar Marin, a lifestyle and apparel brand owner called Cultivating Wisdom. The idea behind cultivating wisdom is that we offer apparel that’s non-psychedelia, and non-trippy so that people can normalize the use of psychedelics. That way I can wear a shirt that says ‘microdosing’ and come off as a business owner, a father, a husband, and a son, who, yes, uses psychedelics but uses them as a life performance enhancer. Microdosing completely changed my life. I was about to lose my job at CNN, where I’d been for 25 years, and then somehow the medicine says, you know what, take a deep breath, put your feet on the ground. We’re going to close this 25-year chapter and start this new chapter.
—Ceasar Marin (Expert Speaker)Photo by Emanuel TorresAre there any big misconceptions that the general public has about ketamine?
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic. It’s one of, if not the, safest least toxic anesthetics on the market. They actually use ketamine for children that are one, to one-and-a-half years and older for surgeries. Is ketamine a horse tranquilizer or a cat tranquilizer? Yes, because the safety profile for the medicine is so amazing. Ketamine is actually going in and physiologically remapping and restructuring the neural pathways in the brain, creating new neuroplasticity. It’s also going in and turning on the receptors in the brain that create dopamine, which is our feel-good chemical. It’s what motivates us to get out of bed in the morning. But in conjunction with those two aspects and the therapeutic value of these deep-dive psychedelic experiences, people are achieving 10 to 20 years’ worth of talk therapy from sessions
—Charles Patti Photo by Emanuel TorresWhat do you think people get wrong about psychedelics? What should they know?
I’m pretty grateful to say that nowadays—being a young person—it’s more open. The conversation is a little more out there. It’s not so taboo. I feel pretty confident in saying that I don’t think there are aspects of cannabis or psychedelics that people don’t know at the moment. I think that every angle of it is being celebrated in the right way. I do, though, think there’s a lot of education that needs to be done especially in the younger community. I’m really passionate about plant medicine, I grow psychedelic mushrooms. I don’t believe that it is a party drug. It needs to be taken in a responsible sense.
—Ely V.Photo by Emanuel TorresHow have psychedelics informed your life?
Garret G.: There’s ketamine for me, it has made me come out of my shell and start being social after last year. I’ve been a lot happier and everything since then.
Geoff S.: I think I saw a UFO on the 4th of July. It’s up for debate if the UFO was real. It was life-changing.
—Geoff Savage and Garret BlackPhoto by Emanuel TorresWhat place do psychedelics and cannabis have in your life?
It helps everybody and it helped me. If it doesn’t help you, then you’re not ready for the help you need.
—Greg K.Photo by Emanuel TorresScotty SirloinWhy did you want to attend Cannadelic?
I came because I knew it would be a really exciting event. First of its kind in the area raising awareness and it’s been amazingly busy. There’s been so many vendors and traffic. Very nice. I bought some calming treats for my dog and the people that I’m with bought T-shirts. I don’t have a license so I can’t buy any pot, unfortunately. And I’m afraid to try the mushrooms, but I was given free samples of kratom. They gave me two! Everybody’s really nice and really happy, as you would expect.
—JeannePhoto by Emanuel TorresHave you had any important experiences with cannabis or psychedelics that you’d want to share?
Yeah, I’ve been a devoted, addicted, member of the cannabis community since the age of 18 years old and I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody because I could have bought a house and maybe three or four cars with all the money that I spent.
—JeromePhoto by Emanuel TorresAre there any kind of misconceptions that you think people that aren’t attending this convention may have about cannabis?
There’s still a ton of misconception, but they’re starting to put more information out about it. And I think more scholars are starting to talk about the importance of it as well. I think it’ll start to get a lot more mainstream, but there are still a lot of misconceptions. But if you come in here, you just see how many different types of people there are using these substances.
—Julien Photo by Emanuel TorresAre you interested in cannabis or psychedelics as an artist?
No, I’m just a local person who is here all the time. The events come to us; I have a studio space right here. I do want to tell you about this record cover. I had this on the wall today because it has to do with cannabis. So, this record cover, drawn by Andy Warhol for the Velvet Underground, this was a secret code in 1969. They would call smoking weed, “smoking banana peels.” That was like the secret code for being a hippie dude. That’s how you would let someone know you wanted to buy some weed—it was called smoking banana peels.
—Leroy More Hole (Artist-Vendor)Photo by Emanuel TorresDo you think there are any kind of misconceptions about psychedelics or cannabis in the general population?
They have a stigma attached to it. Automatically there are those people that have a closed mind. If it’s a drug then it just carries a negative stigma with it. When I started ketamine treatment it was life-changing for me. I’m someone who has struggled with depression and anxiety, and to find ketamine has been amazing.
—Mandi and Tootie (the dog)Photo by Emanuel TorresWhat brought you both to Cannadelic?
Have you ever heard of a marijuana festival before?
I haven’t heard of very many.
Neither have we! So that makes it a must-go.
—Ben and RosePhoto by Emanuel TorresWhat do you think the world gets wrong about psychedelics and cannabis?
I think everybody’s still stuck in the old-world belief that psychedelics and cannabis are bad. Some still believe that cannabis is the devil’s lettuce; the whole reefer madness and the entire stigma behind it. It’s all wrong because now we’re seeing research everywhere that is the opposite of what they were saying. We’re finally seeing change in Florida with marijuana becoming legal for medical use and some places are even being open to mushrooms now. There is finally that balance. Psychedelics is one of those things that opened up my eyes—and my mind—to a lot of different possibilities and if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.
—Travis McGuirePhoto by Emanuel TorresWhat made you want to come out to Cannadelic?
I want to see cannabis and mushrooms take a little bit more of a place in society and be a little bit more accepted. Have you seen Reefer Madness? It’s not like that. I think all you see is smiles and giggles. You don’t see anybody jumping off a building or anything bad.
—Tyler and OkemaPhoto by Emanuel TorresPhoto by Emanuel Torres
