0:00:00.4 April Pride, host: This podcast discusses cannabis and is intended for audiences 21 and over.

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0:00:10.9 April Pride, host: Hello and welcome to The High Guide. I’m your host, April Pride, host, and for the last six years I’ve been educating mainly women on the benefits of cannabis for our health and happiness. When The High Guide launched in the spring of this year, we continued creating audio intended to help you, our listeners, engage with cannabis with more confidence. But beyond educating you, we also wanted to remind you that, number one, cannabis isn’t the only plant we can turn to for greater connection to ourselves and our external world, and number two, we also need to remind you that feeling the effects of psychedelics, being high, is also good for our health and happiness. We talk a lot about cannabis helping us be more present. Being present is the secret to diminishing depression, which I’ve heard described as focusing on the past with regret and/or without resolution. Being present is also the secret to addressing our anxiety, a symptom of projecting ourselves into a future that is beyond our control. But what if sliding into our past and stepping into our future could also be the secret to ridding ourselves of angst caused by the unresolved and the unknown?

0:01:19.2 April Pride, host: Psychedelics is the time machine we need to not just be present but to also be at peace in the present. And to go back to number two, psychedelics offer a high like no other. Not in that plant medicine is the best high, meditation, exercise, breathwork, sex, music, we can turn to many external stimuli to go there. On this show, for now, we’re gonna focus on good old-fashioned “getting high”. Like I said, psychedelics have been improving the health and happiness of humans forever. Notice I didn’t say it happened overnight and it was only an exercise and fun. Like most intriguing propositions, it’s nuanced. In the trailer introducing this series, I told you that we have no choice but to think more expansively. An expansive thinking is knowing that in order to get to the good, you gotta deal with the bad. Again, being high is fun, so in order to guarantee a good time, most of the time, a couple of intense moments when you stare at angels and demons in the eye within the same trip, is a necessary step to being able to stare back and smile or choose to choose differently without guilt or shame or blindly.

0:02:29.3 April Pride, host: Maybe a couple of intense moments is an understatement, but really, I think if you can navigate a couple of holy fucking shit rides of your life, not only navigating them and navigate them while you’re not of your right mind, your attitude on Monday morning can mirror your TGIF enthusiasm. When you start to feel, “I shouldn’t be high for this,” that’s when fake it till you make it should be kicking in. And it turns out, if everyone that’s been talking to me in the last year is being honest, that that’s the collective realization, that we’re all faking it until we make it. So, I guess, being high helps you practice for life, right? Channeling surrender coupled with self-contained security is the gift psychedelics can offer the everyday version of yourself.

0:03:20.9 April Pride, host: Once you earn it and feel it, it’s easier to be it and to, in the words of my younger son, deal with it. Here at The High Guide, we have a plan to help you deal with it. Through the end of the year, we’re presenting five audio adventures in our new series: Journey With the High Guide. To create these five distinct audio tracks to complement a psychedelic journey, I asked my friend Tom Butcher to help us. As co-founder of Patchwerks, I thought Tom could turn this idea into something so much more than I could have dreamed and certainly created. Patchwerks is where electronic music makers go shopping for instruments and audio equipment. Their tagline is “We’re here to help you make and explore your own adventures in sound.” So they seemed like the right fit to bring Journey to Life, right? We’ll learn more about Tom’s audio background and his path to Patchwerks in a future episode. Spoiler alert, psychedelics were definitely involved.

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0:04:19.0 April Pride, host: What was starting to take shape when I reached out to Tom was the intentional sequence of the series orchestrated with a specific progression to help us go there. For journey number one, which drops October 29th and is titled Trick or Treat Your Mind, Halloween was definitely the inspiration. This 30-minute soundtrack provides a silent disco as you take in the sights of fright, including hoards of humans choosing to wear a mask to be feared rather than in fear. And being that it’s a Sunday and our first journey together, perhaps we’ll keep it chill. I’m planning to take a gram and a half of Psilocybin, or a tenth of a standard dose of LSD. Still undecided. But what is decided is that I’m headed to the street with the full-sized candy bars. So that’s journey number one, again, releasing October 29th. And visit our website to sign up for our newsletter and learn more about the episode schedule and our suggestions for sourcing trusted plant medicine.

0:05:15.6 April Pride, host: The week following every journey, we’ll release an integration episode. Integration is a word synonymous with a post-trip therapy session between you and the facilitator to revisit the trip and discuss anything immediate that came up as well as how to integrate the effects of the journey into your everyday life. Every integration episode will feature a conversation with the audio creative and a tripper. Following journey number one on November 5th, we’ll talk to Tom who created the audio about how his vision for how the sounds complemented the sights. We’ll also talk to a psychonaut who completed the journey. They’ll walk us through their experience and they’ll share their specific set and setting, that’s mindset, and the people, place, props, choice of plant that contributed to their overall trip.

0:06:03.4 April Pride, host: To prepare you for journey number one and beyond, over the two episodes airing today and next week, we’re gonna count down 10 ways to prepare for a psychedelic journey, The High Guide’s Tips to Trip. Starting with number 10, which is how these compounds interact with our bodies, and finishing up with consideration for set and setting. Please DM us or email us at the email and the show notes, with questions or tips you wanna share. So let’s get started with the first five tips for a psychedelic journey from our High Guides, to prepare you to go there with plant medicine, including cannabis. So whether you’re ready to go go there or just visit, this list will have you covered.

0:06:46.8 April Pride, host: Number 10: How do psychedelics work? When it comes to cannabis and psychedelics, one of the most crucial facets to understand is the specific parts of the mind and body they’re affecting. While psychedelics do not interact with the endocannabinoid system, both cannabis and classic psychedelics such as LSD and Psilocybin affect the 5-HT2A receptor in the brain. Here, a psychedelic can bind to this receptor and help produce a trip that can last several hours. Cannabis is capable of doing the same thing but it’ll take a large dose of some very potent weed and the duration will be significantly shorter, with effects likely fading within an hour. And while both can produce a change in perception of the world around you, a hallmark of the psychedelic experience, the ones produced by cannabis are considerably more subtle than those of a classic psychedelic.

0:07:44.4 April Pride, host: For example, taking a huge bong rip and watching the tree branches sway might produce some vivid colors. You might notice nuances in the movement you’ve missed previously. If you’re tripping on LSD and looking at that same tree, it could very well be full on dancing to whatever psychedelic soundtrack you’ve got pulsing through your body. These changes in perception, whether wildly visual and hallucinogenic in nature, or more subtle like a breath of fresh air that resets the mind and body, are related to what’s referred to as the default mode network or more specifically, the suppression of it. According to a recent Leafly article titled “Is cannabis a psychedelic?” psychedelics suppress the default mode network, the DMN, in the brain which allows an individual to look at a situation from a new perspective. Everything old becomes new again and cannabis produces an effect similar to this.

0:08:39.3 April Pride, host: The default mode network, again the DMN, is a system responsible for processing self-referential thoughts like introspection, self-criticism, self-reflection and autobiographical memory. Basically, if you’re thinking about yourself, the DMN is likely involved. The suppression of the DMN can promote communication and integration across different regions of the brain, changing perception and how you see yourself in relation to the world around you. Number nine: How does the length of time tripping differ between psilocybin, LSD and cannabis? The longevity of perceptual changes can differ between cannabis and psychedelics. Positive alterations in mood and outlook are short-lived in cannabis compared to LSD or psilocybin. What’s more, a psychedelic trip tends to last longer than cannabis. Psilocybin, involved there, can last an average of six to eight hours while weed high wears off after one to three hours.

0:09:41.2 April Pride, host: Number eight: How does smoking versus eating cannabis affect my high? So why do you think it is that we experience body high more often when we eat edibles than when we smoke, or is it… I mean, the strain doesn’t matter when it’s an edible, it does when you smoke and you can certainly have a body high when you smoke, but I am curious why we associate edibles with body high?

0:10:07.6 Speaker 2: I think it’s the process, the 11-hydroxy, the way that that is metabolised in our body and also just it’s going through our whole body. It’s not just in our lungs and then going to our brain. It’s like, we’re eating it where it’s becoming us, you know? [chuckle] You are what you eat, and so it’s really a part of our body. Whereas when you smoke it, it fills your lungs, it goes to your brain and then it’s over very quickly.

0:10:42.5 April Pride, host: And remember, consuming an edible with fatty lipids, which is a high fat meal or high fat carrier oil, will maximize the effects and duration of THC. While there are increasingly more edibles on the market that boast strain specific live rosin like California brand, Pure Beauty’s concentrated THC beverage, LSD, which stands for little small drink, and Kiva’s Lost Farm’s live resin chews, you’re gonna find the greatest variety of strains by choosing to consume flower or pre-rolls. If we’re aiming for a THC induced psychedelic experience, number seven: Which cannabis strain should I choose? So this is what I can tell you, if you Google most psychedelic cannabis strain, every list whether it’s a top five or top 10, includes these four strains, amnesia haze, LSD of course, power lemon haze and Durban poison. The ancestor of this strain once grew freely in the wind-swept plains of present day South Africa where the city of Durban sits on the north east coast.

0:11:46.1 April Pride, host: The original genetics of all landrace strains have been modified through cross-breeding and Durban poison is no different. Its genetics have been radically altered over the years making it very hard to find a true heirloom variety. This strain’s head high comes quickly, producing an uplifted, euphoric feeling that is strong. You will most definitely feel like an extrovert’s version of very high, social, talkative and ready for fun. Known for energetic uplifting effects, the effects of Durban poison are pretty immediate and include buzzing energy and a flurry of mental activity. Durban poison is a good choice if you’re prone to anxiety and if you want something less potent, we recommend its strain cousin, XJ-13. Cannabis isn’t the only potent plant that is strain specific. Different mushrooms but all containing psilocybin just like different cannabis cultivars but all containing THC, produce different effects.

0:12:43.9 April Pride, host: Number six: What are the differences in strains of “magic” mushrooms?

0:12:49.8 Speaker 3: It’s just like cannabis, right? A Kosher Kush will affect you completely different than a WiFi OG, or a Northern Lights will affect you completely different than a Sherbet, ’cause the differences in mushrooms, the varietals, they’re all different. This is same if you look at a Portobello. It doesn’t taste like a button mushroom or a Shiitake tastes different than an oyster. So the same thing goes with psilocybin, each mushroom has his own genetics and also its own strength, and so psilocybin is different levels. So you can say give someone a 3.5 grams, which is the beginning of a heroic dose. Usually it’s between three and a half grams to five grams. If I give a certain kinda mushrooms, it will be that’s lower in effectiveness, it’ll be more of a mellow thing but if I give, say, leucistic Burma, which is one of the highest in psilocybin and psilocin, that it would be a totally visual experience.

0:13:55.1 April Pride, host: If you’re used to buying shrooms from your guy, you may be able to discern how they’re grown, indoors or outdoors, greenhouse, and sometimes they’ll be assigned a grade based on its potency. And you’re definitely only getting one choice, just like in the way, way back days of weed. My guy recently created his current product to be and advised me to eat more to increase the intensity. Compare this product and advice to the color menu featuring only A and A plus strains, a total of five varietals from which to choose that I recently received. Having a choice of strains for mushrooms increases the likelihood you’ll get the outcome you’re after. At micro-doses, the feedback is wildly mixed and strain-specific, and same for more potent doses, although spiritual experience is reported in several. The fungi on the menu that I mentioned, are no doubt from the same kingdom but they most certainly look like different species.

0:14:56.9 April Pride, host: Most have a dermis that is blue and chalky white reminiscent of blue cheese. One is shaped like dehydrated gourds. Others are wiry and look like Kermit the Frog donning a hat. Other strains have hats too, one is flat and others look as though they’ve been crocheted in honey-colored leather. Some strains are more potent, more of a body high, some have a faster onset. And if you’d like us to email you a menu, message us at the email address listed in the show notes. Also on our show notes is more information on how to find our production partner for this series, Patchwerks, both in real life here in Seattle and online.

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0:15:34.9 April Pride, host: Thanks for listening to this episode of The High guide, and tune in every Friday for a new episode covering all things plant-based pleasures. Subscribe and follow wherever you listen to podcasts, and we don’t just give good ear here at The High Guide. See us at our most funny on IG, where you can find us at @thehigh.guide and online on our website thehigh.guide, is where you’ll find the best advice from all your high guides and where you can sign up for our newsletter.