North Dakota residents have been turning their sites to the vast amount of research currently emerging on the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy. This comes as no surprise since 2021 stats indicated that 108,000 North Dakotan adults suffer from a mental health condition, with 19.4% unable to receive adequate therapy.
In previous articles we’ve studied the efficacy of psychedelics for treating depression, anxiety, and even OCD. The sheer number of disorders that can be treated by psychedelics are enough to attract even the most hard-pressed skeptics. The real question is, how can state residents get access to these therapies?
Today we’ll be discussing the current legislation of psychedelics in the state of North Dakota. What can be expected for the future of psychedelic mushrooms and therapies in the coming years? We’ll also be exploring the options that state residents have for seeking legal, therapeutic psychedelic experiences.
Current Legislation of Psychedelics in North Dakota
Often, a state’s cannabis laws can represent their level of openness to psychedelic reform. As of the moment, adults over the age of 21 are permitted to possess up to one ounce of cannabis. How does this translate into legislation surrounding psychedelics?
Unfortunately, as of right now, all psychedelics are illegal in the state of North Dakota, according to their Controlled Substances Act. Penalties for possession can include up to $5,000 fines with 5 years of incarceration. Of course, the consequences are weighed by the degree of the crime.
That’s to say if someone is charged with possession with the intent to distribute or with cultivation of a controlled substance like psilocybin mushrooms, penalties could increase in severity.
Though this can be discouraging, we should take President Joe Biden’s recent announcement into account. In July of this year, President Biden said that he anticipated FDA approval for MDMA and psilocybin therapies in the next two years.
If all goes to plan, this would cause states with strict drug laws to reconsider their stance, including North Dakota. We should note that psilocybin mushroom spores are completely legal to purchase and possess in the state because they don’t yet contain any hallucinogenic properties.
However, these spores cannot be lawfully germinated because at this point, the fruiting bodies would contain psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin mushrooms). Psilocybin spores can often be found at local mushroom stores.
North Dakota is also known for being home to a couple psilocybin mushroom species. The most common species found in the wooded areas of the state or in pastures are Gymnopilus validipes and Panaeolus cinctulus.
The Therapeutic Benefits of a Psychedelic Experience
If you’re investigating the current laws of psychedelic-assisted therapy, you’ve probably already conducted a deep internet dive into their many benefits. Today we’d like to portray their cognitive effects by providing some examples on how these medicines recondition our behavioral habits.
From our first waking breath, our environment, including our caretakers, start to ingrain belief systems into our mental schemas, both purposely and indirectly. As we make sense of our surroundings, our naive curiosities begin to collect social cues that mold our patterns of thinking and perceiving.
These cues positively reinforce certain beliefs through rewarding experiences of love and emotional interconnection, while others reinforce beliefs that are founded by not-so-positive relationships. We might store the memory of our caretaker experiencing abuse at the hand of another caretaker.
Though we cannot always identify the broader significance of such events, as children, we do begin to create associations which impact our attachment styles later on in life.
For example, if our abused parent demonstrates unrestricted and persistent efforts to receive validation, approval, or support from their abuser, we might begin to take on an anxious or disorganized attachment style.
As adults, this results in skewed perceptions of how our emotional needs should be satisfied or interpreted. Later, this might lead to the overseeking of validation from sources outside of oneself.
Because these types of adults may measure their value by the attention of others, they begin to lose touch with the conditions that are most positive for their personal growth and development. The observance of unreciprocated love during one’s youth, often creates issues with codependency later on.
So how have psychedelics been proven to reorganize our conditioned narratives? Well our fellow psychonate, consider a psychedelic experience as if we were placing one big mirror up to the story of our entire life.
Psychedelics reflect back to us the necessary good, bad, and ugly, that must be acknowledged in order to transcend our limiting beliefs. They help us view the objective truth of our conditions as a vehicle for realizing the limiting effects that our thinking patterns have on our lives.
These circulating narratives based on our self perception or our “personality”, are most influential in a brain region called the Default Mode Network (DMN). Just as the name implies, it’s the brain region that sets in motion our default behavioral and thinking patterns.
People who suffer from OCD, ADHD, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety, experience significant overactivity of the DMN. This overactivity is directly linked to the excessive rumination that characterizes such disorders.
Luckily, psychedelic research has put forth much evidence suggesting their efficacy in reducing DMN overactivity by stimulating neural plasticity. Neural plasticity is the way by which our nervous system restructures its connections to change its response to internal or external stimuli.
The newly-formed associations brought on by the subjective experience of a psychedelic trip are strengthened in the brain as psychedelics increase the size and density of our neuron’s dendritic spines. These spines can be pictured as the limbs of our neurons which receive information from other neurons.
This size increase creates more points of contact between our neurons, which strengthens the neural connections that were formed during the experience and enhances overall neural communication.
After a psychedelic journey, our brains are now reorganized to default into newly-formed beliefs as an alternative to our old conditioned and instinctive ways of thinking and behaving.
Psychedelics reflect that which is most pressing in our lives, back to us, and assist in the establishing cognitive and neurological tools for relating to others and to ourselves in a more healthy way.
Where to Find Legal Psychedelic Experiences in North Dakota 2022
Right now, there are two ways to seek therapeutic psychedelic experiences: Ketamine clinics and guided psychedelic journeys with Psychedelic Passage.
1. Ketamine Clinics
Ketamine therapy is a novel treatment for treatment-resistant depression and PTSD. Ketamine has a long history in our pharmacopeia as a dissociative anesthetic that’s been used in hospital operating rooms since the 60s.
While ketamine isn’t a true psychedelic, its effects are consciousness-altering. Ketamine places journeyers in a second person perspective of themselves. This experience can help journeyers reflect on their current life conditions from a more objective, and consequently empathic, point of view.
For purposes of full transparency, we should note that about 50 percent of the clients we receive at Psychedelic Passage are looking to have a guided psychedelic experience because previous ketamine therapy sessions either failed to treat the symptoms of their condition, or the relief was too short-lived.
Therefore, if you are seeking to find a ketamine clinic near you, ensure that the proper therapeutic support is being provided. This means you’ll be provided with preparation and integration sessions, as well as the undivided attention of a psychedelic facilitator during your ketamine journey.
2. Guided Psychedelic Journeys with Psychedelic Passage
Here, at Psychedelic Passage, we facilitate psychedelic experiences with the entire spectrum of psychedelic substances. Choosing the medicine you want to work with is only the tip of the iceberg. We believe that everyone should have full autonomy over the course of their healing journey.
That’s why every part of our program is fully tailored to your needs, personal goals, and yes, even your finances. Our 5 week program includes preparation, integration, and in-person ceremonial facilitation. Our income-based pricing allows us to determine program costs based on your income.
Equal access to these often life-changing medicines is one of our priorities here. Our BIPOC and low-income fund helps us to subsidize the costs of our program for those that may need financial assistance. An experience that involves such vulnerability should be met with credibility and support.
Not only can you have your therapeutic psychedelic experience from the comfort of your own home, but you’ll also have a wide range of facilitators to connect with.
We understand that navigating this fresh space of psychedelics can be tricky, so we’ve done the work for you by curating a pre-vetted network of experienced psychedelic facilitators that are located throughout the nation.
Find Your Next Psychedelic Journey in Any Major North Dakota City
- Fargo
- Bismarck
- Grand Forks
- Minot
- West Fargo
- Williston
- Dickinson
- Mandan
- Jamestown
- Wahpeton
- Devils Lake
- Valley City
- Minot AFB
- Watford City
- Lincoln
Explore How it Feels to Be Connected
If you’re interested in going on a therapeutic psychedelic journey, we encourage you to book a consultation with us. Psychedelic experiences should be met with intention and respect, and we’re here to help facilitate your communion with these ancient medicines.
Of course, it’s likely that you still have many questions lingering on your mind. In that case, head on over to our resources page for access to more informative articles like this one. That’s all we have for today, friends. As always, safe and mindful journeying!
