The first meeting we had we were just nine people sitting in a circle under a tree James Casey told me. Casey the current director of the Psychedelic Club at the University of Colorado was sitting in a noisy Boulder coffeehouse recalling the clubs origins. Next to him sat Nick Morris the clubs founder. Nick suggested we go around and everyone say their name and this other person says and your spirit animal! Morris and Casey traded glances and laughed. I just cringed Casey recalled. Afterthe first meeting Casey approached Nick.This thing has a lot of potential Casey told the clubs founder. We can really make something beautiful. That was two years ago and the tone has changed quite a bit since. Today they see about 40 heads per meeting. We have a wide range of people said Morris. We have people who know psychedelics down to their chemical structure. And we have some who only know what a psychedelic isand thats all they know. We get people who are really deep into psychedelic culture and we get people who are 4.0 neuroscience majors. A few months ago I read about CUs Psychedelic Club in a local student newspaper. The clubs name a kind of throwback to the Timothy Leary era intrigued me. I couldnt shake the question: What would a Psychedelic Club meeting look like? Morris invited me to come out and see for myself. I half expected to meet two guys with enough edge that said Hello we made a drug club. Instead Morris and Casey perfectly blended into Boulders casual college scene. Both wore flannel shirts. The only concession to psychedelia was Caseys Pink Panther baseball cap. Once we found the bottom of our teas Morris Casey and I stepped outside into the watery slush left by the recent storm and made our way to the Environmental Design building where the club meets. University of Colorado Boulder campus. (Ryan Dearth for Leafly) The spirit of the room was relaxed and light. Students twisted in their seats ate pizza and chattedwith their friends. Casey announced that theyd be having a low-key meeting today: writing or sharing poems then electing a new slate of club leaders. Students excitedly grabbed paper and let poetic meter spill onto it. For fifteen minutes the only sounds in the room were pen scratching paper and computer keys clicking. One student volunteered to share his work. He stood wearing a shirt that said Legalize It. He read a poem he had saved from a while back written after a profound psychoactive experience. His poem captured the anxiety felt as the clock counts down our years of life with a steady tick-tock a sound that becomes ever more ominous when burned away at a 9-to-5 job. The end of his poem was met with a single Oh my god from one impressed student and a chorus of applause. Other students shared their work with an unusual openness. No one seemed to be intimidated by the performance that preceded their own. It was simply one person followed by another each sharing their own perspective. In the meetings waning minutes three students shared their visions for the clubs coming year. The student whod read the first poem unveiled plans to meet with faculty and legislators to design safer approaches and drug education for students who are curious uninformed or struggling. And thats where the Psychedelic Clubs real work begins. CU Psychedelic Club founders James Casey and Nick Morris standing at a campus balcony before a club meeting. (Ryan Dearth for Leafly) College cannabis clubs are nothing new; many have been around since the 70s. NORML counts at least 20 student chapters on college campuses around the country. Students for Sensible Drug Policy have over 4000 cannabis activists at work today. But psychedelic clubs are a little different. Though all support legal reform these groups mainly focus on education peer-to-peer information exchange and harm reduction. Since the founding of CUs club two years ago fifteen clubs have sprouted across the country from California to North Dakota to North Carolina. Each club grows organically according to the desires of the members and the environment on campus. Psychedelic Club is spreading across the US with 15 chapters coast-to-coast. That number is constantly growing. At first we wanted it to be mainly awareness-based just educating the public said Morris the CU club founder. That quickly changed. Club members identified a need for harm reduction programs and evidence-based information about the psychedelics circulating around Boulder. We eventually started doing substance testing for students as well as trip sitting Casey added. The clubs testing work revealed some shocking results. Over 80 percent of the MDMA that club members analyzed turned out to be cut with methamphetamine. We cant do that anymore though said Casey. Despite the critically important information revealed by the tests university officials couldnt allow such direct interaction with drugs. If the club wanted to remain a CU-affiliated organization the testing would have to stop. So now we host psychedelic harm reduction workshops Casey said. The Zendo Project for example will come out and do workshops for students and the community. The Zendo Project is a psychedelic harm reduction organization based in Santa Cruz California. The University of Colorado and its hometown of Boulder have a long history with cannabis and alternative culture. But college psychedelic clubs arent limited to expected outposts like Boulder and Berkeley. The University of North Dakota a campus of 15000 students located in the conservative farm town of Grand Forks is the unlikely birthplace of another psychedelic club. I asked Will Beaton a senior at the University of North Dakota and president of the Grand Forks Psychedelic Club how his club got started. There are few young people here [at UND] who dont know someone whose life has been impacted or ended by drug use Beaton said.When I went to our first [club] meeting I was expecting a bunch of stoners or something. But almost everyone there just knew someone who had overdosed and died. We were all there because we didnt want to get another email saying a friend died. Beaton touched on an extraordinary fact of life for many high school students these days. He made it through high school without losing a friend or loved one to overdose and that isnt the norm. Beaton considered himself unusually lucky to be untouched by loss. His luck did not last. One month after his high school graduation the body of Beatons friend was discovered in the grass outside his parents home. Later that same week another friend just 17 years old died of overdose. The 17-year-old thought he and his brother were taking psilocybin chocolates. The overdose of another Beatons close friend would come soon after. Autopsies would show that many of those deaths were caused by NBOMe a research chemical that can only be differentiated from LSD through testing and powdered fentanyl a potent opioid that can have lethal effects even in small amounts. These substances are cheaper to produce than hallucinogens like LSD but since their effects are somewhat similar dealers often sell these extremely potent drugs as something safer and more marketable than what they really are Beaton said. Often dealers themselves dont know what theyre pushing. The same problem exists in Boulder where NBOMe was detected in 40 percent of LSD samples tested by the CU Psychedelic Club. University of North Dakotas Merrifield Hall (Creative Commons) The problem of overdose fatalities is so troubling that faculty members at some colleges are getting involved. Frank White a sociology professor at the University of North Dakota teaches a class called Drugs and Society that seeks to keep pace with the changing landscape of drug use education and policy in the United States. We grew up in a time where what you didnt know couldnt hurt you White said harking back to his own upbringing. Now what you dont know can kill you. You wont hear the words Just Say No in Whites class. The course is presented in a spirit of helping students and others prevent abuse and overdose.Discussions are leavened with analysis psychology and statistical logic all fueled by the collective emotional undercurrent of students nationwide affected by drug and alcohol abuse. White was more than aware of the Grand Forks Psychedelic Club. Club members have taken Whites class and there seemed a natural bond between the professor and the student club leader. Will should really be commended as a student who is making a difference White said. Hes not advocating use hes advocating education. Still with a name like Psychedelic Club skeptics might wonder how the group would breed a smarter safer generation. White said he wasnt thrilled about the name given the emotional luggage of the 60s. But he warmed up to it over time. If you look at the word psychedelic it means mind-expanding or mind-examining White said And Will is doing that. The Boulder chapter too had initial reservations about using the word psychedelic. The founders ultimately concluded that Drug Safety Club just didnt have the same boldness or attraction. After all the clubs effectiveness is powered by the student community. It doesnt work if students dont show up. Were missing an important segment that involves students and their perspectives and experiences White said criticizing the teacher-to-pupil one-way dynamic in conventional drug education models. Students listen to students. Thats one facet of the Psychedelic Club Im really happy with. To beat this drug problem you need the teachers the parents the coaches the ministry to make an effort too White continued. Its got to be a collective effort and I dont see that happening yet. Will Beaton was invited to Washington DCs Newseum to discuss the Psychedelic Club and its objectives relating to freedom of speech.(Photocourtesy of Will Beaton) Thats part of Will Beatons plan to expand outward not just inward. At the end of 2016 Beaton flew out to Washington DCto visit North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamps office local state legislators and university and law enforcement officials in an effort to reform the states confidential informant program. The infamous Andrew Sadek casestill resonates deeply with the student community in the northern Plains states. Beaton also organizes open mic events to get the Psychedelic Clubs message out between the sets and songs of musicians. Recently comedian Shane Mauss invited Beaton up on stage during one of his performances to talk about the clubs efforts. Beaton was also interviewed by DCs Newseum to discuss the club as it relates tofreedom of speech.Sandbagger News a student-formed media outlet whose video work has won the team travel opportunities and participation in political conferences helps give their cause ever wider attention. As I listened to Beatons enthusiasm about the clubs future it reminded me of the power a single individual has against what can sometimes seem like an impenetrable system. Dont be afraid and think that you arent good enough to stand up for the rights of other people Beaton said. Lots of people think they havent experienced enough tragedy or dont know enough to raise their hand and join those who are standing up. You cant be afraid to do that. You have to believe your voice matters. I reminded him that North Dakota of all places just legalized medical cannabis. He laughed and said Yes! If change can happen in North Dakota it can happen to you. Bailey Rahn Bailey is an editor at Leafly specializing in strains and health. The post How College Psychedelic Clubs are Changing the Conversation on Drugs appeared first on Leafly. by Bailey Rahn at Leafly