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Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024 from 12:00-1:30pm PST
Register for this event here.
How did a well-known ayahuasca church, Soul Quest, unravel, and what does it say about the state of the psychedelic movement today? We will discuss the rise and fall of this church, what the DEA review process revealed, the dramatic recent developments, and how the events surrounding it can potentially impact the broader psychedelic movement in the U.S. Where does plant medicine fit in the spiritual landscape moving forward? What lessons can be learned from this story? We will feature personal reflections and expert insights from Ron McNutt, who is steward of the Litigation and Advocacy Committee of the Psychedelic Bar Association; Mattha Busby, who is a journalist specializing in drug policy and the history of drugs based in Vancouver, Canada; and Rob Heffernan, who and independent researcher in the ayahuasca field and part of the Sacred Plant Alliance’s board, and Martha J. Hartney, who is a private practice attorney in Colorado and member of Chacruna’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants. This forum will be a space for open conversation on balancing growth with responsibility in the evolving psychedelic ecosystem. Join us for this timely and critical discussion to inform and inspire action!
Ron McNutt is an attorney retired from litigation practice. He is the steward of the Litigation and Advocacy Committee of the Psychedelic Bar Association, and is an administrator for the Nashville Psychedelic Society. He is a certified lay pastor with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is planning to serve a chaplain residency with the Veterans Administration for a year beginning October 2024. Ron was a civil rights attorney at a minority-owned law firm in Nashville for ten years after serving two federal judicial clerkships. He was a litigation attorney with the State of Tennessee for over 20 years. Ron was a religion major at Tufts University in 1978, where he organized the Tufts Altered States of Consciousness Organization, which hosted lecturers about psychedelics and expansive states of consciousness. In 1981, he wrote a research paper while attending the University of Georgia School of Law, where he served as executive research editor of the Georgia Law Review. He has continued to update his research on the Free Exercise of Religion and ceremonial experience with psychedelics, and helps provide education and research to improve access to entheogenic medicines.
Mattha Busby is a journalist specialising in drug policy and the history of drugs, based in Vancouver, Canada. He is interested in the use of drugs as both a means to connect with oneself and with community, and as an act of rebellion, given the wars on drugs. Mattha’s work has appeared in The Guardian, TIME, Men’s Health, GQ, VICE, The Times, and elsewhere. He has reported from Bosnia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Italy, Mexico, the UK, and the US. His first book, Should All Drugs Be Legalized?, was published by Thames & Hudson in 2022. Mattha was a Ferris – University of California Berkeley fellow in psychedelic journalism in 2024. He is working on another book, on psychedelics, with Hoxton Mini Press, to be published in 2025. He has an MA in journalism from Goldsmiths, University of London. In 2018, he won the London Press Club Hugh Cudlipp award for a series of articles on the gambling industry.
Rob Heffernan has been a participant, activist and independent researcher in the ayahuasca and psychedelic community for the past 24 years. He has been part of the Santo Daime legal committee, the Ayahuasca Defense Fund, the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicine and is a co-founder and board member of the Sacred Plant Alliance. He participates in and helps to organize sacramental churches. He is a certified breathwork facilitator, integrative sound and music practitioner and trained in psychedelic assisted therapy. He has a long term involvement in Buddhist Dharma and its integration with psychedelics and social action.
Martha J. Hartney is a private practice attorney in Colorado. She has a J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law. Her firm, Hartney Law, is a Boulder favorite, receiving the “Best of the West/Law Firm” award six years in a row. She was named a SuperLawyers Rising Star in 2020 and has published and presented on the art and science of death and dying for more than a decade. Martha is a certified death doula and the first attorney to be admitted to and graduate from the CIIS Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research program. Martha is also a mediator and has served as a guardian ad litem. She found plant medicines later in life—becoming a drug policy reform advocate after experiencing profound spiritual healing through our plant teachers. She champions the religious use of ayahuasca; and advocates for excellent standards of care, best practices, integration work, and weaving of modern trauma science with the powerful indigenous practices being stewarded into the western world. Martha lives with her partner and has two grown sons. She is a member of Chacruna’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants and the first steward of the Religious Use Subcommittee of the Psychedelic Bar Association.
This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.
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