Altered States listen to episodes 1 & 2

The psychedelics podcast you've been waiting for.

A podcast about what science can tell us about psychedelics and what psychedelics can tell us about ourselves. 

Psychedelics are now at the center of a global conversation about mental health, mysticism, and even how we experience illness and death. In Altered States, host Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores how people are taking these drugs, who has access to them, how they're regulated, who stands to profit, and what these substances might offer us as individuals and as a society.

Altered States is a production of PRX and the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.

We now have a season trailer and two episodes up. We hope you’ll listen!

First up, the trailer.

Next up, episode 1: The Oregon Experiment
In 2020, voters in Oregon passed a ballot measure that allows people to take magic mushrooms, or psilocybin, with a guide. But what does that actually look like — or sound like? Host Arielle Duhaime-Ross follows along with a licensed psilocybin facilitator in Oregon as she guides a 67-year-old man on his first mushroom trip.

And episode 2: Will Doctors Soon Prescribe Ecstasy?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is poised to decide whether to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder. Host Arielle Duhaime-Ross interviews Michael Pollan, author of the best-selling book "How to Change Your Mind,” about how we got here, and what the decision might mean for the future of psychedelics.

New episodes drop on Wednesdays. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. And if you’re moved to rate and review the podcast we’d be grateful. It helps other people find it.