In June, I traveled to Denver with Zach Weismueller to cover the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference, hosted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a group that has been working to gain Food and Drug Administration approval for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. since the late eighties. We produced a 30-minute documentary about today’s ‘psychedelic renaissance’.
The most surprising speaker at the conference was Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas and energy secretary of the Trump administration. What on earth was a conservative Republican doing on stage, extolling the virtues of drugs long associated with hippies and the 1960s counterculture?
I spoke with Perry to find out why he believes psychedelics should be a legal drug for veterans and others suffering from PTSD, how he can get more immigrants to come to America legally, and why if he ever uses a psychedelic drug, it would be ibogaine. a notoriously powerful substance made from the bark of an African tree.