Welcome. Wherever you are on your healing journey, we’re glad you’re here. A healing psychedelic experience can be one of the most significant events in someone’s life, and we’re honored to be a part of that journey in any way we can.
If you’ve been inspired by the stories of people in the groundbreaking studies conducted by Maryland’s own Johns Hopkins University, then it’s likely your concept for psychedelic healing is psychedelic-assisted therapy. Unfortunately, unless you participate in one of those studies, this type of service will not be available to you for several more years.
The key lies in the word therapy. Therapy implies a mental health professional who has a license to practice psychological healing work. Because that license is provided by the state government, therapists must abide by the rules of the government in order to keep their jobs.
Psychedelics remain illegal in every state (except Oregon in February), so therapists cannot provide psychedelic healing unless they are in a government-sanctioned study. However, a therapeutic psychedelic experience is still possible for you.
Therapeutic means “to have a beneficial effect on the body or mind.” A practitioner skilled in psychedelics can provide a psychedelic healing ceremony and call it “therapeutic” without facing the same legal risks as a therapist.
So what certifies a psychedelic practitioner if not a license? Many things, but at Psychedelic Passage, we value integrity above all else. Our facilitators are honest, committed to safety, and are rooted in wisdom traditions.
If we happen not to be a good fit, our facilitators will say so and gladly point you in the direction of another practitioner who is in better resonance with your needs. In this article, we’ll be going over how you can have a safe, supportive psychedelic experience right here in the Old Line State.
Benefits of Having a Therapeutic Psychedelic Experience
On the mental health side, psychedelics are revolutionizing psychiatry. Psilocybin, the active chemical in “magic” mushrooms, is eliminating depression without the terrible is side effects common in pharmaceutical antidepressants. And MDMA is poised to become a legal treatment for PTSD by as early as 2023.
Psychedelics are also referred to as “entheogens,” which are substances that are used for spiritual or sacred purposes. Even if you are a die-hard materialist, psychedelics can elicit mystical experiences that bring in a deeper appreciation for the world and your place in it. As Michael Pollan, author of How To Change Your Mind, says, psychedelics help you get to the simple core of spirituality: love. Love for yourself, the universe, and all of its inhabitants.
If your mission is to make a bigger impact on the world, psychedelics are proving to be a powerful tool in optimizing work performance. Typically through a practice called microdosing, which is when you take a small amount of a psychedelic several times a week, people are enhancing their productivity, reaching greater creative states, and navigating stress with more presence.
The Current Legislation on Psychedelics in Maryland
Maryland houses one of the premier research institutions on psychedelics: Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins has led the way in research on psilocybin, most notably on mystical experiences, addiction, and depression. A prominent Johns Hopkins researcher, Roland Griffiths, is practically a household name in the psychedelic community.
However, psychedelics remain illegal in Maryland with no serious decriminalization measures. In fact, Rep. Andy Harris tried to block Washington D.C.’s decriminalization measure from being passed in 2020. He was unsuccessful, and D.C. officially decriminalized all plant and fungi psychedelics in March of 2021.
Although there isn’t much development on the legal front, activists are building momentum all across the northeast. Unlike cannabis, psychedelic reform has been predicted to be much quicker, mostly because of the rapid transformation and healing these medicines hold. As the situation evolves, check out our States page for more updates.
Your Legal Options for Therapeutic Psychedelic Experiences in Maryland
In Maryland, you have two options for a therapeutic psychedelic experience: ketamine clinics and guided psychedelic journeys.
It’s important to note that if you do decide to pursue a guided psychedelic journey, you are responsible for sourcing your own medicine. If you have questions or concerns about this process, check out our Resources page for more information.
1. Ketamine Clinics
Ketamine is not a conventional psychedelic. Where classical psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca work on serotonin receptors, ketamine works on glutamate receptors. It doesn’t have the same mystical undertones as classical psychedelics, but it does allow people to gain complete new perspectives on their issues and traumas. Most notably, it is a fast-acting antidepressant.
Most ketamine clinics will provide the medicine through an IV, but some offer oral lozenges. The most important thing to consider when looking for a clinic is support. Psychedelic healing can be intense, and you want to make sure you have adequate psychological support from an in-house therapist at the clinic or your own therapist.
Clinics vary on the amount of support they offer, so do your research. If you can’t find a clinic that offers the support you need, seek out a psychedelic integration specialist on the MAPS directory.
2. Guided Psychedelic Journeys with Psychedelic Passage
No matter where you live in Maryland, if we can physically get to you, we will sit for you. We want you to feel like you are in the safest container possible to explore your consciousness as deeply as you wish. For this reason, our programs are usually five weeks long. We offer two virtual preparation sessions, the in-person ceremony, and two virtual integration sessions.
If you’re not quite ready for a full dose journey, we can support you through a microdosing protocol. We’ll coach you through how to measure out your medicine and best practices to anchor what you experience into your daily life.
All of our facilitators have extensive training with a myriad of psychedelic substances, including LSD, DMT, and mescaline. Most of our clients elect to work with psilocybin mushrooms. If you would like to work with cannabis, we can sit for that as well.
We Provide Guided Psychedelic Journeys in Every Major Maryland City
- Baltimore
- Columbia
- Germantown
- Waldorf
- Silver Spring
- Fredrick
- Ellicott City
- Glen Burnie
- Gaithersburg
- Bethesda
- Dundalk
- Rockville
- Towson
- Bowie
- Bel Air South
- Severn
Ready to Take the Next Step in Your Healing Journey?
We believe the transformation of consciousness is a human right. In a world that is only becoming more chaotic and difficult to navigate, operating from a consciousness that is more whole, loving, and compassionate is the only way that we can create a world our children’s children will enjoy living in.
Psychedelics hold an incredible potential to transform consciousness in this way. If you’ve made it this far, it’s likely that you agree. We’d love to support you on your psychedelic healing journey, so the next step would be to book a consultation call with us. We’d be stoked to hear from you.
