Options abound for psychedelic adventures. Those looking for the most luxurious mushroom retreat, should check out Journeymen Collective.

Why go to a magic mushroom retreat?

Psychedelic therapy, including use of magic mushrooms, is gaining widespread popularity and acceptance, for its seeming ability to help with psychological issues; and without causing damage. This does not mean it’s a cure-all, or that everyone will have the same response; but it does mean another treatment option in a world of growing depressive problems.

The thing is, its one thing to simply pop some mushrooms and lie back for a great psychedelic show; and another thing to use the mushrooms to try to expand the mind in a way that allows it to heal. Plenty of people do psychedelics all the time, and still have grave mental issues. One of the things found last century during the birth of psychedelic medicine in modern culture; was that a certain amount of therapy, or guidance, might be necessary to get the right response.

This idea of assisted therapy can go with any hallucinogen drug; however, mushrooms are the drug of the moment when it comes to psychedelics. They’re more well known than DMT or mescaline; and natural, whereas LSD is synthetic. Assisted therapy, as a model; involves a therapist, and therapy sessions to understand a patient’s issues, before walking them through a trip. A retreat is similar in that there is a guide who helps clients through the process of their trip experience.

A retreat takes places somewhere, usually away from city centers, and traffic-type noise. They are generally set up in a serene, beautiful setting; and appeal to both those who want a spiritual experience, and those who want a travel experience. But this is not a rule. A retreat can be just a day, or weeks, or months. They exist for all different purposes beyond mushroom experiences; and vary in cost as per what is offered, and the length of stay.

When it comes to mushroom retreats; its best to remember that the goal of the whole thing is to take a disorienting drug, which lasts many hours. Most of the time, such a retreat comes with the cost of someone having to watch you at what could be a vulnerable time. Though some bring prices down as much as possible beyond this, to accommodate a wider clientele; others keep it all high end.

Luxury Journeymen Collective retreat

If you’re looking for a more bare-bones, and affordable mushroom retreat, you’ll want to look elsewhere (I’ll get there soon). If you can spend top dollar on your experiences, then you might be interested in the luxury Journeymen Collective. This is not a for-everyone experience; it requires being the right fit.

Journeymen advertises on its site that its services are for “Visionaries, Community Builders, Artists, Business Moguls, Serial Entrepreneurs, Actors, Musicians, Change Makers, Thought Leaders, Professionals, High Achievers and Executives….AND YOU!”

According to the company, “We specialize in masterfully guiding visionaries through curated luxurious psychedelic medicine shamanic journeys to create conscious impact for the whole of humanity and the planet.

The Journeymen Collective expertly guide you through the metaphysical wilderness of your soul so that you can weave the transcendental threads of knowledge, accessed during the psychedelic journey, through the eye of the needle of your embodied heart into the tapestry of your visionary reality.”

Journeymen considers these to be purpose-driven experiences to better connect with oneself; gain multi-dimensional awareness; and realistically reconfigure how to think of life, love, and business. The experiences are carefully curated by the Journeymen team; and while promoted for anyone interested with the money, they seem geared to a high level professional crowd.

What actually happens?

The whole thing takes place at one of several estates in British Columbia, in Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest. Specific addresses are not given online to preserve privacy. Clients stay in private rooms, which are six-star-plus, and environmentally sustainable. The entire property is predictably beautiful, and nestled within awe-inspiring natural scenery.

The journey isn’t just about what takes place in the physical location, though; but in offering weeks to months of education and support, both in person and on-line. In fact, Journeymen offers a program – the Bespoke Offering, which can go from six weeks to eighteen months. All preparation and integration work is done through Zoom calls, and access to the group’s video educational portal.

Preparation and integration refer to sessions done before and after the mushrooms sessions. Preparation involves getting to know the client’s issues, and getting them ready for the psychedelic experience, so they can get as much out of it as possible. Integration sessions happen after the psychedelic experience, and are meant to help the client better understand what just happened, and to move forward more seamlessly, in life.

Journeymen curated journeys are not short. They last between three and 16 days, all together; including preparation and integration. While on the estate, clients are given integration support for all waking hours. The facility offers vegetarian dishes; which it says are prepared by an ‘intuitive chef’ who, according to the site, can sense the nutritional requirements of the clients.

And, it’s not over when your program ends. Journeymen is indeed a collective. You have to be approved to go on a retreat, and join in the crew. After your experience, you’re still a part of it. Journeymen offers monthly live mastermind calls with everyone from the collective.

In terms of the actual psychedelic part; Journeymen offers experiences for those going at it alone, which involve working directly with two medicine men for four days. It also offers a plan for partners which is just the two of you and two medicine men; as well as a group journey with just three or four other people.

How much does this cost? And cheaper options

If your go to the Journeymen site, you’ll see a page to apply to have this experience. Costs are not given on the site, and are worked out privately between potential clients, and the group. However, its 2023, and its hard for a company to operate, without such details making it out there. So here’s what you can expect to pay for a Journeymen journey.

According to interviews with founders Gary Logan and Robert Grover, in a Globetrender article from 2022, these experiences might be life-changing, but they sure don’t come cheap. Solo voyagers and partners pay from CA$34,000/person (~$25,000), and group participants pay from CA$15,000/person (~$11,000). This is a 100% luxury experience, down to every detail; so its geared toward high level professionals for a reason. Logan and Grover count themselves as ‘contemporary shamans.’

In comparison, there are less expensive options for people looking to do a mushroom (or other psychedelic) retreat, but maybe not in the fanciest style. For those who would have to get on a plane anyway, there are some interesting programs that offer about the same thing, just at a substantially lower price. One, for example, is Etnikas, in Peru’s Sacred Valley. This is for ayahuasca, not mushrooms; but an experience should only run a person about $675- $1,700, for three or seven days, respectively.

If its definitely psilocybin that you want, then there’s Meehl Psilocybin Retreat in Washington state of the US. Here, the cost for journey-goers starts at $895. Magic mushrooms are also available at Gaia Sagrada in Ecuador, along with other drugs like ayahuasca, and San Pedro. This six-day retreat has pricing that starts around $950 per person. To find out about more retreats on the lower payment end, that still offer a complete spiritual journey and program, look through this guide.

Conclusion

If a super high-end magic mushroom experience in the lap of luxury is what you’re after, Journeymen Collective has a beautiful program; full of mind-expansion, balanced meals, wonderful outdoor scenery, and high level accommodation. If you’re looking for the power of mushrooms, but at a cheaper price; best to check the more affordable options. When it comes to psychedelic healing, its not necessarily in the price you pay, but that the program is a good one. So whether you go high end, or for something more conservatively priced; you can have a great, enlightening, and mind-expanding experience.

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Summary: Dmytro Gurin, a Ukrainian MP, has proposed that Ukraine become a leading research center for psychedelic-assisted therapies to treat the soaring rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among its population affected by Russia’s invasion. With an estimated 3 to 4 million Ukrainians currently living with PTSD, and up to 57 percent of the population at risk, Gurin is seeking EU support to develop nationwide clinical trials for MDMA-assisted therapy.

How could MDMA transform the treatment of PTSD in war-torn regions like Ukraine?

The ongoing war in Ukraine has led to a mental health crisis, with millions suffering from PTSD. In response, Ukrainian MP Dmytro Gurin, a member of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party and the health committee, has called on the EU to assist Ukraine in becoming a hub for research on psychedelic-assisted therapies. Gurin’s proposal focuses on using MDMA, the chemical found in ecstasy, as a potential treatment for PTSD.

Gurin suggests that Ukraine’s large population of trauma sufferers makes it an ideal location for researching MDMA-assisted therapies. He advocates for EU financial support to conduct a nationwide clinical trial, testing MDMA-assisted therapy as a primary treatment for trauma, rather than as a last resort. This approach is driven by the sheer number of patients needing treatment.

Recently, yet more research was released from Phase II trials, that shows psilocybin as a more powerful tool for depression, than placebo.

New research indicates psilocybin better than placebo

The study in question is not complete, and all results that I’m about to go over, are interim results for Phase II trials. Phase II trials are safety and dosing trials that come after initial trials meant to test the basic pharmacology on a population that has whatever issue requires the treatment. Phase II trials have bigger sample sizes than Phase I trials, but smaller than the following Phase III trials, which include hundreds or thousands of patients, and which are used to really test efficacy and safety for the wider population.

On October 31^st, biotech company Cybin released data on its completed Phase II trials into what it calls a ‘next-generation’ psilocybin treatment. Basically, any company that wants to work with psilocybin, must make their own version of it. Psilocybin is naturally occurring, and cannot be patented. Which is why all research on psilocybin medications, involves novel formulations made by different companies. The drug in this case, is called CYB003.

According to an announcement through BusinessWire, Cybin’s research results for its experimental psilocybin medication, CYB003, show “rapid, robust, and clinically significant reduction of depression symptoms three weeks after a single 12mg dose, with an unprecedented mean -14 point Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (“MADRS”) score reduction from baseline between CYB003 (12mg) vs. placebo (p= 0.0005).”

It is further expanded that there was, “Robust response and remission three weeks after single dose, with 53.3% of patients responding and 20% of patients in remission (no longer meeting the clinical definition of depression) vs. 0% for placebo.” In terms of whether there were adverse reactions to this treatment, the release states that CYB003 shows “Favorable safety and tolerability profile with no treatment-related serious adverse events at 12 mg dose.”

According to Cybin’s CEO Doug Drysdale, “The overwhelmingly positive interim results for the 12mg dose of CYB003 are extremely encouraging for patients and providers. The efficacy demonstrated at that dosage showed an unprecedented reduction in depressive symptoms compared to currently available treatments.

With these encouraging results in hand, we look forward to sharing the full complement of topline data later this quarter, and 12-week durability data in the first quarter of 2024”. He continued, “Our planning continues as we prepare for a larger international, multisite Phase 3 trial in early 2024 to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of CYB003 in people suffering from MDD.”

Cybin, which is based out of Canada, is a company in the bio-pharmaceutical space which investigates psychedelic therapies for depression issues. The company is also currently studying another drug of its own creation, CYB004, which is a DMT drug meant for generalized anxiety disorder.

How is this measured?

A lot of research comes out all the time which asses information in different ways. When looking at headlines, it can often be a bit bewildering how conclusions are reached. After all, these results are saying that people were less depressed in a significant way, after a dose of this psilocybin treatment. But, how is that known?

In this study, investigators measured depression via the MADRS (Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale). This scale is given by a clinician, and measures depression by way of 10 different metrics. It’s used to assess how severe a person’s MDD (major depressive disorder), actually is. This scale is standard in many clinical trials that deal with depression, and is accepted all over the globe as a means of assessing depressive symptoms.

The scale looks at how sad a person feels, changes in sleep patterns, changes in appetite, issues with concentration, issues with not feeling happiness (anhedonia), and suicidal (or otherwise negative) thoughts. Each metric gets a score from 8-60. Normal function is associated with scores of 0-6, mild depression with scores of 7-19, moderate depression with scores of 20-34, and severe depression as anything above 34.

The average baseline score in the study – as in the average score of participants before the study began, was 32.6 for the group that got the psilocybin, and 33.3 for the placebo group. This signals that all participants (or a great majority) came in with moderate or major issues with depression.

Let’s break it down a little further

So we know that Cybin conducted trials with participants who scored high on this depression rating scale, and we know that participants were given one dose of psilocybin, and tested three weeks later; and that a large percentage showed improvement. Some to the degree of no longer needing further therapy. Let’s look a little closer at this data.

For one thing, in terms of how fast the treatment worked, investigators found that improvements were seen as soon as the day after the dose was given; although improvements peaked at about 10 days following the treatment, and then stayed consistent through the end.

In terms of how much of a change there was, and its significance; investigators describe it as “Robust and statistically significant reduction in depression symptoms compared to placebo.” CYB003 netted a MADRS reduction of -14.08 from the baseline measurement, compared to placebo. This means, if a person started with a score of 35, it could have dropped – on average – to something like 21, going from severe to moderate. The -14.08 is not specific across the board, but it does indicate a large drop in depressive symptoms across the board.

When investigators call it a ‘robust’ response, it means their results show ≥50% reduction in MADRS scores. When they use the word ‘remission’, this means a MADRS score ≤10. Three weeks after the dose was given, 53.3% of those who received 12mg, had a response of some kind, vs 0% in the placebo category. 20.0% showed remission at this point, vs 0% for placebo.

In terms of negative responses, investigators report that CYB003 is generally well tolerated, and that serious adverse events were not related. They explain that any negative effects were mild or moderate, and that they cleared on their own, and didn’t require any kind of intervention. This is similar to the idea that a bad trip might be uncomfortable; but that it generally subsides, and a person returns to normal.

These trials were randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled. This means the participants were randomly selected for the group they were in (placebo or experimental); that neither they, nor the investigators, knew who was in which group; and that two groups were compared against each other, one receiving the experimental medication, and one receiving the placebo. Participants actually received two doses, which were either placebo/experimental drug, or experimental drug/experimental drug. The sessions were three weeks apart, hence the data which came from three weeks after the initial session.

This current story is related to what looks like the most effective dosing level found as of yet, 12mg. The study is testing different levels in an ascending order, to see how different levels affect the end result. While its meant to assess how rapid the onset of effects are for lowering depression symptoms, its also meant to measure if there’s an incremental benefit from a second dose at the three week mark. Participants have the option of being assessed at the 12 week mark as well.

Conclusion

This research matches other results that have come out in the last few years about the effective nature of psilocybin treatment for depressive disorders; along with other hallucinogens like mescaline, LSD, DMT, MDMA, and ketamine. As the company looks toward Phase III trials, it plans to request a meeting with the FDA, to ensure these upcoming trials are aligned with FDA protocol. Investigators hope to start recruiting for those trials by the end of the 1^st quarter in 2024.

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