PT 612 - Mattha Busby: Power, Pleasure, and the Psychedelic Movement's Reckoning
Psychedelics Today
Psychedelics Today, LLC
4.6 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 3 July 2025
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this wide-ranging conversation, journalist Mattha Busby joins Joe Moore to reflect on the shifting tone of the psychedelic movement in the wake of Psychedelic Science 2025. Based in Vancouver, Mattha has written for The Guardian, VICE, Esquire, TIME, and Wired, bringing a uniquely embedded yet critical lens to the space.
They discuss the post-conference mood and the sense that the industry is sobering up—less hype, more introspection. Mattha reflects on the growing division between underground practitioners, activists, and biotech startups, and the importance of vision, ethics, and scrutiny in the midst of this cultural moment.
Other topics include:
- Ketamine overuse and dependence, especially in social and parenting contexts
- The future of psychedelic nightlife, harm reduction, and mocktail bars
- Gender and sexual fluidity as uncovered through psychedelics
- Questions of IP, underground wisdom, and psychedelic ownership
- Psychedelics as tools for peacebuilding, especially in conflict zones
- The shadow side of spiritual experiences and how to spot bad actors
- The value of pleasure, intimacy, and human connection in the psychedelic journey
Joe and Mattha also reflect on the resurgence of psychedelic use in Texas, the legacy of the Stark Club, and how Christian libertarianism and military trauma might influence unexpected policy changes.
This conversation is bold, honest, funny, and thoughtful—exactly the kind of cultural critique the movement needs right now.
Find Mattha on Instagram at @matthamundo and on LinkedIn at Mattha Busby. His new pocketbook on drug policy is available now.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody. |
| 0:04.0 | Welcome back to Psychedelics today. This is Joe Moore. We are having |
| 0:26.3 | Maita Busby regular psychedelic journalist, pretty much a staple in the scene joining us |
| 0:33.5 | today before we dig in. Just quick few mentions of what we have coming up at psychedelics today. |
| 0:38.3 | We have two different breathwork workshops happening. This is the Dream Shadow, transpersonal |
| 0:43.1 | breathwork, very similar to Holotribic Breathwork. It's Kyle and I both trained at Dream Shadow, |
| 0:49.6 | which when we started was doing Holotriper Breathwork. So very very very much a lot of alignment Kyle certified there |
| 0:55.9 | we're doing that in Breckenridge Colorado July 25 26 2727 weekend and again in September over the |
| 1:03.9 | 26 27 28th and we also have a course coming up with Kyle and Ido Cohen called Illuminating the Hidden |
| 1:11.5 | Self, Navigating the Jungian Shadow with Psychedelics. |
| 1:14.5 | This is with a Jungian psychologist, Dr. Edo Cohen, who's in the Bay, and Kyle will be supporting |
| 1:21.6 | that. |
| 1:21.8 | That's an eight-week online class that starts October 20th. |
| 1:25.3 | And navigating psychedelics, which we've been teaching forever. |
| 1:29.4 | This is a course for clinicians and wellness professionals. That starts September 9. |
| 1:33.9 | That's a nine week program. And vital starts May 26. So stay tuned. We'll have more information. |
| 1:42.3 | If you want to learn more, reach out info at psychedelics today or just come over to our websites and check it out. All right. On with the interview, Mitha. How are you today? Yeah, very well, thanks. Sounds like you've got lots planned. Yeah, not enough, apparently. But yeah, it's a very busy one. And yeah, PS25 didn't make it easier. |
| 2:02.8 | Everybody's like, how can we work together? |
| 2:04.4 | And I'm like, ah, I just, I need a moment. |
| 2:07.8 | And then we can start building out a calendar. |
| 2:09.9 | Yeah, it's in a crazy sort of place. |
| 2:13.4 | I mean, it always seems to be in a kind of state of flux. |
... |
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