💧 Meet the ayahuasca gummy chemist

Welcome back to The Drop In! Whether you’re interested in clandestine chemists, shamans behaving badly, or how to be a great trip sitter, this installment of DoubleBlind’s newsletter has all of that and more. 

Our featured story this week dives deeper into a topic — or product, rather — we wrote about a few weeks back: ayahuasca gummies. If you missed it, journalist Michelle Lhooq stumbled upon a Reddit thread talking about ayahuasca, or “pharmahuasca,” gummies being sold on the underground market.

Unlike a cannabis or mushroom gummy, these pharmahuasca gummies have a two-step process. You take a red gummy, which is the MAO Inhibitor, followed by a white gummy, which contains the DMT. Together they emulate the effects of the brew, but with slightly less nausea.

Lhooq got in touch with the chemist—who’s a school teacher by day, btw—to talk them about the ethics of all this, creating access, the anti-nausea effects of bananas, shipping maple syrup (lol), and drug decriminalization. You can find the story below!

You can also read stories about the discovery of two new psilocybin mushrooms in Africa, tips on how to have the best DMT trip, best practices for tripping in nature, and SO much more. 

We’re also offering a trip sitting course led by the inimitable Tony Moss and Skye Weaver designed to teach you everything about holding space for someone on a psychedelic journey. If you sign up before August 1, you also get an exclusive free course! Tap in to find out more ⚡

Enjoy this extremely heady dispatch 🚀

❤️💛💚🖤 

Mary Carreón
Senior Editor

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Our Latest

Roger Bardales, also known as Mukanranko, is a 39-year-old Shipibo shaman who conducts ayahuasca ceremonies in Europe and invites attendees to train in Peru. Nine students now allege he has sexually abused female students under the influence of ayahuasca, claiming initiation or healing through sex.

Two new species of psychedelic mushrooms, Psilocybe maluti and Psilocybe ingeli, have been discovered in South Africa. This significant find expands our understanding of ceremonial mushroom use in Africa, an area previously lacking extensive mycology research.

There are countless ways to enjoy a trip, from frolicking in nature to getting creative with finger paints or enjoying a music festival with friends. Alternatively, you can relax with a movie that suits your psychedelic experience. Not everyone seeks the same mood or setting, so we've curated a list of trip-friendly movies, starting with the most serene and ending with darker, edgier films for those who prefer them.

& More Must-Reads

• Navigating health insurance to find a therapist is hard enough. It's even harder when you're a black woman, seeking a black female therapist.

• Meet Shroom Mom, LA’s most fabulous drug dealer. Trust us… You’ve never met anyone like her before.

• Understanding our present moment means coming awake to our grief. Grief rituals can help us cope with the pain of modern times.

Trip Tales

Have you had a profound experience with psychedelics before? Share your story with us for a chance to be featured in The Drop In. Submit your entry here.

Learn with Us

👅 Acid. Orange Sunshine. Windowpane. Every generation has its own nickname for LSD. But, no matter what you call it, one thing’s certain—it’s long been a symbol of a peaceful counterculture.

🏕️ Nature and shrooms go hand-in-hand, but be smart about it. Here’s a guide to camping safely with psychedelics.

🚀 The high intensity of having a DMT experience means there is room for things to go wrong, but there’s a lot you can do to ensure you get the best DMT experience possible.

🍄 Penis Envy mushrooms were encountered by ethnobotanist Terence McKenna in the Amazon… and the story unfolds from there.

DoubleBlind Supports

DONATE: Celebrate the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund’s 3rd birthday! Donate by August 21st to receive limited edition field gear, supporting Indigenous-led conservation efforts. Gifts include hats for $100 donations, vests for $200, and a hat-vest combo for $300+. Please include your shipping address when making eligible donations. Donate here.

FOLLOW: The Myco Zine exists to uplift The Mushroom Community. In every edition, different mycophiles from throughout the community are highlighted. The goal? To spread the word about people doing important work in the glomushroom community, just like spores. Follow along on Instagram here and visit their website to get the zine here.

At DoubleBlind, we believe in reciprocity—the idea that everything in the world is interconnected and that we have a responsibility to uplift a psychedelic ecosystem that centers equity, inclusivity, and healing for all. Through our work, we hope to help our community participate in this effort with us.

Together With

Fruit gummies… But make them mushroom-powered.

That’s right, we’re taking our wellness, energy, and immunity to go with this grab bag of fruit-flavored mushroom gummies from Mycroboost.

Experience a burst of fruity delight with these vegan, organic gummies featuring five functional mushrooms:

🍊 Orange Cordyceps for stamina, 🍒 Black Cherry Chaga for immunity, 🔵 Blue Raspberry Reishi for relaxation, 🍋 Lemon Lion’s Mane for focus, and 🍓Strawberry Turkey Tail for overall wellness.

Being healthy never tasted so good. Get your bag here.

From the Magazine

An homage to Africa’s queer communities

The stigmas that follow homosexuality around Africa are both sinister and legal: A little less than half of the 73 territories in the world that criminalize same-sex relationships are located on the continent.

Ironically, these stigmas are also a rejection of the identities that make Africa’s diversity so rich. That’s one of the main messages Yannis Guibinga offers viewers in his series of photographs, Boy Wives & Female Husbands, which is also his first on African queerness. 

“A lot of the communities I highlight in the work existed before colonial times. They’ve always been there,” Guibinga tells DoubleBlind. “And a lot of them were an integral part of the society—queer life was not always synonymous with struggle.” 

See the photo essay in DoubleBlind Issue No 3.

Latest Youtube Video

Meet the Magical Jack Frost Mushroom

This frosty fungi is delightful to behold—and advocates say, transformative to eat. This snow-colored mushroom can induce states reminiscent of an ayahuasca or DMT trip, with vivid visuals, sensory distortions, and deep meditative effects, according to Nolo, a mushroom ceremony leader and generational Filipino tribal healer based in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Dive into everything you should know about Jack Frost in our latest on YouTube.