The Claims They Make: How to evaluate the psychedelic industry
Eugenia Bone
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Eugenia Bone is an internationally known food and nature writer whose work has appeared in many anthologies, magazines, and newspapers. She is a member of the faculty at the New York Botanical Garden where she teaches classes on mycophagy and psychedelic mushrooms. She is the author or co-author of nine books on food and biology, including the category staple Mycophilia, and most recently, Have a Good Trip: Exploring the Magic Mushroom Experience (October, 2024). She has been nominated for or won a variety of awards, including a James Beard Award. Eugenia is featured in the documentary directed by Louie Schwartzberg, Fantastic Fungi (2019), and in the Netflix children’s show about food, Waffles + Mochi (the mushroom episode) produced by Michele Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.
Talk
The Claims They Make: How to evaluate the psychedelic industry
When I was researching Have a Good Trip, I encountered a lot of claims: claims about psilocybin’s efficacy in treating various mental disorders, claims about the safety and track record of retreats, claims from guides about healing by means of drugs in combination with new age miscellany, claims about the pleasures of certain chocolate and gummy products.
Individuals and organizations in the industry can make these claims without fear of repercussions because psychedelics are mostly illegal. How do you complain to the police when your own participation is illegal? Who do you complain to when no regulatory body exists? Except in cases that attract the attention of investigative journalists, there are no checks and balances that can weed out bad actors. It’s the wild wild west for psychedelic services and products these days; an unregulated, barely monitored scene where people can say whatever they want without much expectation of pushback.
As a journalist, I have a responsibility to be super careful about what claims I repeat. During the course of writing Have a Good Trip, I developed some operating guidelines and red flags that helped me detect unsubstantiated or poorly substantiated claims. I am going to share some of those here in the hopes they might help folks evaluate the claims of psychedelic services for themselves.
Past Fairs
The Mycological Society of San Francisco has been hosting 1 or 2 Fungus Fairs each year since 1969. Fairs have been held in San Francisco County, Alameda County, San Mateo County, and Marin County. Historical information is available about previous Fungus Fairs:
