They’re psyche-holics.
A reformed UK party animal who runs psychedelic retreats claims that psychotropic drugs are “the new booze” — with health-conscious revelers ditching the bottle in favor of taking mushrooms.
“They change your perspective for the better without making you reliant on them,” Jack Hunt, 36, declared while espousing the virtues of psychotropic fungi to Jam Press.
He runs The Utopia Frequency, an events company that offers ceremonial nature retreats in which participants may choose to chemically enhance their experience with psilocybin mushrooms — fungi with hallucinogenic properties — to facilitate psychological healing.
“It’s all centered around mental healing and it’s an opportunity for people who are suffering in their lives,” the psychedelic pied piper explained.
Hunt’s psychotropic journey began a decade ago following a night of heavy boozing and doing drugs in Spain.
The Kingston native, who was accustomed to blowout nights in the UK where “everyone drinks to oblivion,” explained, “My relationship with alcohol and drugs escalated badly, and probably piqued when I went to Ibiza in party season.”
Ashamed over his behavior, the Brit decided enough was enough.
“Once I came home I started reading up about psychedelics and my spiritual journey started,” said Hunt, who started micro-dosing — taking very small, “sub-hallucinogenic doses” of a psychedelic substance for a prolonged effect — on magic mushrooms.
According to a recent study, just a single dose of psilocybin — the psychoactive active ingredient in “magic” mushrooms — can help treat depression.
The psychotropic traveler eventually graduated to ceremonial doses — a “large dose of about three and a half grams or higher,” per Hunt — of the good stuff in a group setting. That’s when “everything changed.”
“I went from an angry person suffering to a very compassionate empathetic person,” explained Hunt. “It was almost like a narrow tunnel vision that I had suddenly went and my outlook on reality suddenly changed and I realized we’re all one, we’re all connected.”
The fungi fan, who takes ceremonial doses every few months, says he hasn’t taken a drink since embarking on his hallucinogenic voyage.
“Since discovering magic mushrooms — it has given me back control,” Hunt gushed. “I can enjoy a single drink whereas before I’d be on a mission to get totally out of it.
He added, “That isn’t a part of me anymore. I’ve freed myself from it.”
Hunt described mushrooms as “the new booze” as they shift people’s perspective sans addiction and the other nasty side effects of other narcotics.
He even credits it with unearthing long-buried childhood trauma during a hypnotherapy session in May. “I found out I was sexually abused as a child after getting hypnotherapy,” he said.
“I had a flashback and could suddenly see what happened to me when I was a child,” the nature-lover added, while describing taking a “trip” down memory lane.
And Hunt’s not the only one benefiting from this alternative medicine. The Brit says many of his friends have followed suit and ditched the booze in favor of taking a dose of the hallucinogenic out in nature.
Hoping to further spread the gospel, Hunt runs retreats six times a year where up to 250 people gather in rural areas to engage in these therapy sessions where they can choose to take mushrooms if they wish to do so.
“90% of attendees are people coming by themselves — that takes huge courage,” the mushroom messiah claimed “A lot of these people have been through a lot of trauma.”
He added, “But they come to one of our events and their mindset is completely changed. It’s a beautiful thing to see.”
Hunt hopes in the future that the drug will be “legalized” in the UK and all over the world so people can experience its healing effects.
“I genuinely believe all governments of the world should have a ceremonial dose of mushrooms, if they did we’d be living in a very different and better world,” the psychedelic devotee declared.
While currently illegal in the UK, magic mushroom use is legal in certain parts of the US, including Oregon and Colorado.
Nonetheless, experts advise against these freelance fungi sessions as tripping on shrooms sans medical supervision can cause a variety of adverse effects.
These include nausea, irregular heartbeat, vomiting and in rare instances, psychosis and seizures, per The Alcohol and Drug Foundation.
The microdosing movement is catching on across the US — and not just among your typical modern chemistry trustees.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has dropped magic mushrooms while SpaceX and X boss Elon Musk reportedly uses small doses of ketamine to treat depression.
“Depression is overdiagnosed in the US, but for some people, it really is a brain chemistry issue,” the magnate Tweeted in July. “But zombifying people with SSRIs for sure happens way too much. From what I’ve seen with friends, ketamine taken occasionally is a better option.”
