On Dave Asprey and Psychedelic "Addiction"

Last week a friend shared with me this clip from David Asprey’s podcast interview on the Wellness & Wisdom Podcast in which he explains how psychedelics “kick open a door,” but then it’s up to us to do the work through modalities such as breath work (Which I couldn’t agree more). I was totally vibing with Asprey until he called out self-proclaimed psychonaut and wellness leader Aubrey Marcus who has documented his own journey with Ayahuasca and other psychedelics.

“The guy means well but how many hundreds or sessions has he done? Anyone who says they’ve done hundreds of sessions of any plant medicine—it’s not working,” Asprey says in the interview.

Asprey goes on to explain how psychedelics can become addictive for those who use them to escape reality.

Ok, hold my copalera for a moment while I chime in here on why this is not only unhelpful, but also potentially harmful for those who are navigating their relationship plant medicines. I want to offer another point of view here.

Here’s why I believe that Asprey’s logic is flawed:

Not all psychedelics are the same

Asprey paints ALL psychedelics with one wide brushstroke and that type of sweeping generalization isn’t helpful. For the purpose of this post I’m going to focus on Ayahuasca as that is the medicine I have the most experience working with and researching.

What I’ve witnessed with Ayahuasca is that it is a medicine that works with each person differently. The plant becomes your own personalized teacher. Some of us have deep trauma—ancestral and from this lifetime—that has been buried. Some traumas require many sessions and developing a deeper relationship based on trust. One person may need one hundred sessions to heal and others may just need one and will never need to return. Some of us will also be called to heal and then learn how to support these spaces, learn from a lineage of medicine holders and guide others through the medicine—requiring us to come back again and again to be of service.

The plant often makes it clear when to come back and is why people often say they feel “called” by grandmother ayahuasca to return. Personally my own journey has been a slow unraveling and that’s what I needed. Much like chipping away at a huge tree with an ax—it took a lot of time to get to the root and knock that tree over.

Years before my first ceremony, I listened to this interview with Suzy Batiz, founder of Poo~Pourri about her nearly 100 journeys with Ayahuasca and she provides a lot of context and perspective on her process and why she was called to Peru so many times.

But this isn’t to say you can’t get hooked on the experience..

There is no research to suggest that Ayahuasca is addictive. And it is often used successfully to treat those suffering from addictions.

However, the ceremonial experience can create addictive elements for some people. In her book “After the Ceremony Ends,” Dr. Katherine Coder provides a great framework for determining if you’re doing too much medicine and examining your intentions behind attending ceremonies. She talks about the fact ceremonies often fulfill a biological, primal desire for connection, tribe and communing with nature.

Trust me, there are few things more sacred and precious as the experience of gathering around a fire, holding each other through deep inner work, signing songs and sleeping in one big circle under the stars. This type of communal experience has been so sterilized from our society that it in itself can be addictive—even if it’s a good addiction.

One of my teachers says that one day we won’t need the medicine. That humans will come together for ceremonies to share songs and prayers and through that we will feel the same effects of the medicine without drinking a drop.

And while this is happening in so many spaces, we aren’t totally there yet.

My advice if you are getting hooked on the ceremonial experience is to bring those same elements into your daily life.

Does the music open your heart and connect you to the divine? Pick up an instrument and learn medicine songs.

Does turning off your phone and being immersed in nature calm your nervous system and connect you to Pachamama? Start gardening or hiking.

Do the authentic connections you make at ceremony light your heart on fire? Start an integration circle or potluck to support each other and build relationships OUTSIDE the ceremonial space.

There are so many ways to integrate and it’s so important to take the time before rushing to the next ceremony. But ultimately it’s up to each one of us to take responsibility for ourselves and learn how to be in integrity with these medicines—which is what they are trying to teach us. When we police people or judge them, it can recreate they very trauma and conditioning they are coming to the medicine to heal.

Are you picking up what I’m putting down? Stayed tuned for the Plant Medicine Doula Podcast, online integration circles and medicine music meetups. In the meantime, if you’re feeling called to the medicine, here’s a calendar of upcoming ceremonies and retreats with facilitators I’ve worked with and trust.