Welcome. You are in the right place. The journey to healing with psychedelics can be a challenging one, and we commend you for creating the foundation through researching and learning. Right now, the kind of psychedelic-assisted therapy offered in clinical trials is not available to the public.
The key lies in the word therapy. Therapy implies a mental health professional who practices with a license. That license is issued by the state government, and so therapists must follow the rules of the government in order to keep their license. Because psychedelic substances are still illegal in every state (with the exception of Oregon in 2022), therapists cannot legally offer psychedelic healing.
However, it is possible to have a therapeutic psychedelic experience. Therapeutic simply means “to have a beneficial effect on the body or mind,” so a practitioner experienced with psychedelics can provide the space for psychedelic healing without facing the same legal repercussions as a therapist.
In this article, we’ll go over what’s possible for you as a resident of the Green Mountain State. We’ll go over the legal landscape of psychedelics as well as specific pathways you can pursue to have a safe, supported psychedelic experience.
Benefits of Having a Therapeutic Psychedelic Experience
There are incredible benefits to having a therapeutic psychedelic experience. On the mental health side, psychedelics are powerful medicines. Psilocybin mushrooms are eliminating treatment-resistant depression, and MDMA is poised to become a legal treatment for PTSD by as early as 2023. Whether with psilocybin, LSD, mescaline, or DMT, taking small amounts of a psychedelic substance several times a week in a practice called microdosing has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety.
The mental health benefits are why psychedelics are in the news. But the value of these substances extends far beyond their medical use. The mystical experiences that people have, the complete restoration of identity to a larger and more interconnected sense of self— psychedelics give you a window to see a much more rich, kind, and beautiful world. Regardless of your religious belief, people who feel a sense of divine oneness to the world are more likely to be happier and whole than those who do not.
But maybe you feel mentally healthy and connected to the world, and you’re just trying to optimize your performance at work. Typically through microdosing, people are using psychedelics to enhance their focus, promote greater creativity, and increase flow.
The Current Legislation on Psychedelics in Vermont
As of right now, psychedelics remain illegal at the state level. However, 2022 may be an exciting year for psychedelic reformation in the Green Mountain State. A bill to decriminalize several plant medicines like psilocybin and ayahuasca has sat in committee since January of 2022, but in October of 2021, 366 people signed a petition to legalize psychedelics in Vermont.
The call for action is there. With more and more news stories coming out about people healing themselves with psychedelics, the citizens of Vermont are likely to see momentum for legal changes building soon. In the mean time, psychedelic education abounds: the University of Vermont is including information on psilocybin mushrooms as part of their Cannabis Certificate Programs.
Your Legal Options for Therapeutic Psychedelic Experiences in Vermont
In Vermont, 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 different than classical psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin in two ways: it acts on different brain receptors, and it’s legal for medicinal purposes. While conventional psychedelics act on the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor, ketamine acts on glutamate receptors.
A ketamine journey doesn’t frequently have the same mystical undertones as plant medicine, but it does alter consciousness in a way that allows people to dissociate from old patterns and beliefs and see them in a new light. You’ve probably heard about ketamine for its fast-acting antidepressant properties.
The other benefit of ketamine is that it can be legally administered in a safe environment. Ketamine clinics usually use an IV, but some will offer oral lozenges. Although a clinic can be safer than at home by yourself, the amount of support a clinic will provide varies widely. Especially if you have a particularly intense session, you want to make sure that you find a clinic that offers some kind of therapy or guidance before and after the session.
If the clinic does not offer the kind of support you need, consider connecting with a psychedelic integration specialist in your area, or find a therapist of your own who is knowledgeable about psychedelics.
2. Guided Psychedelic Journeys with Psychedelic Passage
No matter where you live in Vermont, if we can physically get to you, we will sit for you. At Psychedelic Passage, we believe that a psychedelic journey is much longer than the day of ceremony. Our programs are typically five weeks long, with two preparation sessions before the ceremony and two integration sessions after.
We hold space for you the whole way through, because as you’ll learn, the moment you set your intention for the ceremony and commit to doing it, life begins to shift: buried memories may arise, unexpected people may come into your life, or you may find that your priorities change, all without ever touching the medicine. After your ceremony, the real work of integration begins, and we’ll coach you in best practices for interweaving the lessons of your psychedelic journey into the larger journey of life.
All of our facilitators are extensively trained with a wide variety of medicines, from MDMA to LSD, but most of our clients opt to work with psilocybin mushrooms. Although not as frequent of a choice, if you would like to work with cannabis, then we can sit for that as well.
We Provide Guided Psychedelic Journeys in Every Major Vermont City
- Burlington
- Essex
- South Burlington
- Colchester
- Rutland
- Bennington
- Brattleboro
- Milton
- Essex Junction
- Williston
- Hartford
- Springfield
- Middlebury
- Barre
Ready to Take the Next Step in Your Healing Journey?
Psychedelics offer us many things, but above all, they offer us the opportunity to live a life we love. The process is not easy and oftentimes, it forces us to confront parts of ourselves we’ve spent our entire lives avoiding.
This is why we exist. From our personal experiences with the medicine and the hundreds of clients we’ve worked with, we know how powerful it is to journey in the presence of a loving and compassionate person. Grounded in a place of trust, the psyche is given a freer reign to explore itself, to go to all the places that hold you in darkness and bring them triumphantly to the light.
If you feel like you’re ready to take the next steps, book a consultation call with us. We’d be so honored to hear from you.
