Authors – Orlando Ross, Sarah Newman and Jack Gregory
Walking up to the University of Exeter’s Streatham Campus, where the Medical Research
Council’s Centre for Medical Mycology is based, on Saturday 22nd April 2023, it was clear
that this would not be a normal day at university. Between Thursday to Saturday of this
week, Breaking Convention 2023 was being held across the campus. Breaking Convention
is a meeting of researchers, scientists, clinical specialists, enthusiasts, spiritualists, and
many more with one common connection: psychedelics.
The passes to attend the conference were printed on water paper, designed to look like LSD
tabs, the first signal that this would not be a normal conference. We started our day by
visiting the art installations which were tucked around a corner of the Forum. One exhibit
caught our eye; a “hypnagogic light experience”, where bright pulsating lights are flashed
above your head as you lie down and relax. Designed to simulate a psychedelic trip, with
no substance consumption, the experience was incredibly clever, whilst being energising,
and relaxing at the same time. So many colours, shapes and fractal patterns appeared
during this meditative state, and it was great to understand the adventure of a hallucinogenic
state in a safe and therapeutic way – these therapies are used for deep relaxation and allow
the user to return back to normality quickly and safely.
We then attended a slew of talks throughout the day, aimed and increasing awareness of
the benefits of psychedelics in clinical settings, such as MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD
sufferers, or psylocibin (the hallucinogenic compound found in many naturally growing
mushrooms across the globe) use in therapies, alongside discussing the accessibility,
equitability, and legalisation of these substances.
Dr. Ben Sessa, co-founder of the convention and clinical researcher at Bristol, Cardiff,
and Imperial College London Universities, delivered a talk which focused on highlighting the
benefits of MDMA- assisted therapy for PTSD and alcohol dependence, whilst driving
de-stigmatisation in the UK and further afield. Highlighting recent changes to policy
around the globe, he announced that he will be moving to Australia, where psylocibin
and MDMA psychedelic therapy have been legalised.
The setting of these therapies is also incredibly important, with stringent training
programmes needed to ensure that the maximum benefit is experienced by patients:
“[MDMA therapy] doesn’t work if you go to Totnes and sit in a yurt…”.
Paul Stamets, a self-taught mycologist, star of Michael Pollan’s Netflix show ‘How to Change
Your Mind’, and prolific advocate of psylocibin (with over 900,000 followers on Instagram),
gave a rousing talk on the history and potential future of magic mushrooms. With the 3rd
most downloaded paper on Nature’s Scientific Reports in 2021, Stamets demonstrated the
potential benefits of ‘microdosing’ psylocibin alongside non-psychedelic fungi such as lion’s
mane supplements. This paper shows increased productivity and motivation, lower anxiety
and depression when taking the “Stamets stack” of psylocibin, lion’s mane mycelium and
vitamin B3.
We managed to grab Stamets for a conversation after his talk and asked him for any advice
on young mycologists entering the taboo world of psychedelic research. In response,
Stamets highlighted historical medical mycology research focusing on pathogenic mycoses
instead of also researching the benefits of mushrooms to human health; “Penicillium
chrysogenum produces penicillin, and that’s pretty much where it stops”. He went on to say
that the “higher fungi [are seen as] culinary without any use”. In our discussion, Stamets
encouraged younger generations to challenge this idea, to apply knowledge from
pathogenic research into further understanding the applications and uses of non-pathogenic
fungi, with the example of incorporating quorum sensing knowledge into proliferation of
psychedelic mycelium.
The day, and the convention, ended with a closing ceremony, where attendees participated
in a ritualistic meditation where we were guided through feeling the four elements; earth,
wind, fire and water, culminating in everyone singing David Bowie’s ‘Memory of a Free
Festival’. There was an afterparty, billed as a ‘psychedelic lightshow’, but that probably
deserves a blog post of its own…
One of the presentations
The authors with Paul Stamets.
Breaking Convention marketplace
