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[Music]

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The medicine was offered to me in

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what looked like a goblet,

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which took me by surprise,

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you know, in a clinical study.

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I began to make sounds that

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weren't words, that seemed to mean

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something, and I remember

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thinking in the moment, is that

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what's talked about in Scripture,

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speaking in tongues?

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You get to pop a pill and then meet
God. Our saints didn't

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just pop a pill.

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There's a lot of disagreement over

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psychedelics and how these

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substances should be used.

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Are they party drugs,

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medicines, religious sacraments,

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or maybe even a dress rehearsal

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for death?

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Very visual, very emotional

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memories come back.

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You know, DMT has those kinds

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of effects as well.

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These are sharp, clear,

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crisp, absolute, reliving

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the events more powerfully

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than when we lived through them in

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the earthly realm.

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I'm Arielle Duhaime-Ross, and on

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this season of Altered States, we're

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exploring two distinct worlds

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within psychedelics.

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On one side, there's the realm of

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spiritualists, mystical experiences,

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and psychedelic churches.

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And on the other side are

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scientists, clinical trials, animal

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studies, and psychopharmacologists.

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These two factions are

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often far apart, and even

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at odds.

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The mixing of science and religion

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is just kind of explosive and

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makes people very uncomfortable.

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Scientists think religion is kind of

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woo-woo and not serious.

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And religious people think

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psychedelics are a synthetic version

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of what is really

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profound and sacred and shouldn't be

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messed with.

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Team science is formidable.

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There are hundreds of clinical

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studies underway testing new

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treatments for physical and mental

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illnesses.

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If you have a severe and enduring

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mental illness, your mind kind of

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gets stuck in ruts.

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You can imagine like a sled going

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through the snow over and over and

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in the same circle.

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Psilocybin is like if you had that

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in a snow globe and you shake the

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snow globe.

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And then there's team religion.

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The first gulp in the glass of

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natural sciences will lead you

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towards atheism, but at the bottom

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of the glass, God is waiting for

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you.

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We take this medicine, travel

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to the spiritual world, and we

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see what is hurting this person, and

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we're able to help heal the body.

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In the U.S., religion has an

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imposing player on its roster,

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the First Amendment.

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Psychedelic churches around the

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country are claiming constitutional

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protections.

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Some people could say, oh, so you

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started a church to get around drug

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laws.

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I mean, maybe.

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Maybe that's a way that you want to

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say it, but I think that's very

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incomplete answer.

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Think of this as the science

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versus religion season,

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two potential paths towards

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expanded, legally protected

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access to psychedelics.

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That this can come as a result of

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a chemical produced by a mushroom.

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I mean, how extraordinary is that?

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From the UC Berkeley Center for the

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Science of Psychedelics and PRX,

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this is season two of Altered

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States, launching September

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24th.