🫠 Psychonaut POV

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the Smokey Bear of psychedelics newsletters. “Only you can convince local lawmakers to decriminalize psychedelics.” 🐻

Kevin Matthews had zero policy experience before he led the first successful decrim campaign in the US. So if he could do it, he figures anyone can. Now he’s building an army of passionate advocates to decriminalize psychedelics around the country.

We spoke to Kevin about how he’s winning over naysayers with data, the signs a city is ready for decrim, and how anyone can participate in psychedelic policy reform.

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Can you share how you got involved in psychedelic advocacy? Did personal experiences with psychedelics play a role in that journey?

I got involved in psychedelic policy reform in Denver back in early 2018 after being inspired by the Paul Stamets episode on Joe Rogan. At the time, I had been personally exploring psychedelics for healing and consciousness exploration for a few years. When a message came across my newsfeed about organizing to decriminalize psychedelics in Denver, it felt like a sign from the universe.

The interesting thing is, I had zero experience in political advocacy. But as someone trained in leadership at West Point, I had management skills and could speak well with the public. I ended up becoming the de facto campaign manager in 2018 after a couple failed attempts to submit language to the Denver Elections Division. I had to learn everything on the go—building a network, figuring out the policy landscape, working with attorneys to get the language right.

My personal journey with these medicines really drove my passion for this work. After being diagnosed with major depressive disorder at West Point in 2007 and ultimately receiving a medical retirement, I lost my whole sense of identity. But in 2011, I had a powerful four-gram mushroom experience where I was lying in the grass, looking up at the clouds, and this small voice inside said, “Kev, you no longer have to be a victim to your diagnosis.” That moment changed everything for me. When I later learned about MAPS' work with MDMA therapy for PTSD in 2014, I started taking the idea of psychedelic cultural reintroduction really seriously.

You're putting together a report on health and safety outcomes in cities that have decriminalized psychedelics. What's standing out in your research so far, and what do you hope this report will achieve?

What's standing out in the research right now is that it takes a very long time for records requests to come through from cities. But the goal is to demonstrate, as we did in our 2021 Comprehensive Report, that decriminalization doesn't have a significant negative impact on public health and public safety. A lot of the opposition feared the sky would fall. They were arguing that we'd have people tripping on mushrooms downtown causing mayhem. It just simply wasn't the case.

I'm looking at arrest data, conviction rates, demographics, hospitalization data, and poison control center reports. While there has been a broad increase in hospital reporting for anxiety related to psilocybin use, when it comes to decriminalized cities specifically, the trend seems to be that we don't see major increases in cartel activity or crime related to distribution. Sure, you'll get the occasional clickbait story when something goes wrong, but that happens with any substance, including alcohol.

The purpose of this report is to fill a critical gap in the data around public health and safety. We already have the scientific research and lots of powerful anecdotal evidence, but opponents keep using the same playbook: comparing psilocybin to cannabis and fentanyl, raising concerns about crime, and worrying about youth access. This data can help address those fears with facts and serve as a supporting document for policy reform at every level.

What's the vision behind your new Roadmap to Reform course? What key lessons from Denver and Colorado are you passing on to others working on reform?

In the past 18 months, we've seen a lot of challenges—state bills getting tabled, governor vetoes in places like California and Arizona, and campaign losses like in Massachusetts. The vision behind Roadmap to Reform is about building a stronger community across the country. There are thousands, if not millions, of potential advocates out there, but we're still dealing with stigma from the 60s and 70s.

We need more legitimacy for this movement nationwide. My ambitious vision is to help create a wave of decriminalization across 100 more cities by the end of 2026. What makes this course unique is that it provides not just fundamentals, but a deep dive into mindset, leadership training, and the core basics of running a campaign from start to finish. There's nothing like the feeling I had five years ago when we won in Denver. I still get goosebumps thinking about it, and I want as many people as possible to experience that.

One thing that's missing in the decrim movement is ongoing support and community accountability. We need people with deep policy experience guiding folks on this journey, helping with proven messaging strategies, and creating a collaborative environment where people can share challenges and solutions. Politics are downstream from culture, and culture emerges in our communities. If we want to influence politics, we need to start by connecting and empowering individuals who care about effecting change.

What makes you look at a jurisdiction and think it’s ready for reform? What conditions need to be in place?

First and foremost, there needs to be some kind of existing community, whether it's a psychedelic club or society, or even a church offering psilocybin as a sacrament. Having lawmakers who've already proposed language is also a good sign. But what really interests me are places you might not expect, like the Bible Belt. Take Kentucky, for example. They had a huge turnout supporting Bryan Hubbard's efforts last year.

A big part of why there was so much interest in Kentucky is that the population really needed it with the opioid crisis. So we look at both the existing community infrastructure and the challenges these communities are facing.

Policy reform is simple but not easy. You don't need prior experience—just the will to make change. Sometimes it's actually better to come in fresh, without preconceptions about how politics usually works, because psychedelic policy reform isn't politics as usual.

When you look at the state of psychedelic policies today, what would you most like to see happen next?

What the psychedelic community could benefit from most is learning how to work together even when we disagree. We're not going to move forward if there's infighting, which we saw in Colorado, Oregon, and Massachusetts. At the end of the day, I think we all have the same goal, which is to provide new tools for healing and personal growth.

The psychedelic community, at least in this wave, is still in its adolescent phase; we haven't gone through our rite of passage yet. We're still learning how to reemerge in a culturally responsible way that inspires more people. My hope is that as we work towards normalizing the responsible use of these medicines, the momentum will attract more people to the conversation, including those who might have the philanthropic capacity to support local and state efforts.

We're seeing some really promising developments, like Natural Medicine Alaska, an Alaska Native campaign that's showing 83% support for a combined decriminalization and regulated access model. Whatever approach we take, we need to remember it's not about us. It's about the people who can benefit from these medicines.

Want more from Kevin?

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.