🫠 Psychonaut POV

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re like the paparazzi who follow you wherever you go. Only instead of harassing you for pics, we shower you with psychedelic insight and memes. 🌈

Anne Philippi went from Hollywood reporter to psychedelic media mogul. Rubbing shoulders with A-listers prepared her for the transition more than you might expect.

We chatted with Anne about her personal journey, different attitudes toward psychedelics in Europe vs the US, and predictions for the future of psychedelic pharmaceuticals.

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Most people who work in psychedelics have had a profound personal experience working with the medicine themselves. What was yours?

My very first high dose experience with a psychiatrist was with LSD. However, it didn't result in a fairy-tale transformation. It worked on me slowly. I did have a glimpse into a different perspective, though, which was unlike anything I experienced in my 15 years of talk therapy.

Then, six months later, I did a high dose of psilocybin at Synthesis, shortly before COVID. This was a transformational experience for me. Three months after the trip, I realized that I had a severe childhood trauma when I was seven years old. I realized that I had to go back and reconsider questions that I had been constantly asking myself but wasn't getting anywhere with.

One of these questions was related to why I didn't have children. As I grew older, it was something that bothered me more and more. I couldn't rationalize it with arguments like it's uncool or fake. I knew that it wasn't an authentic answer. Once I started to get in touch with my early trauma, things started to change. My personal journey picked up, and I engaged more in podcasting and building my company. This was when I felt that things were falling into place.

You began your career in journalism covering entertainment news. How did you end up creating a psychedelics media brand?

I used to be a Hollywood reporter living in California, working for GQ, and doing several celebrity interviews a week. But around 2017, I left that world behind because it had become repetitive and lacked depth. However, I still think about those conversations sometimes, particularly the ones I had with people like Jeff Bridges, Seth Rogen, or Judd Apatow. They were surprisingly profound.

When I started my podcast and media brand, I aimed to have similar conversations with people in the psychedelics space. Dr. Bronner’s, who had become sponsors of the podcast, helped me get big names early on like Rick Doblin, Gabor Mate, and Paul Stamets. Christian Angermayer was the first guest and really supportive.

What I realized recently is that I don't really have different questions for people in the psychedelic space than I did for Hollywood celebrities. Of course, in the beginning, the focus was more on substances, but as the podcast evolved, it became more personal. For example, with Rick Doblin, we talked about his struggles when he started MAPS and how he went to a therapist to ask if he was crazy to pursue it. It always comes back to the personal story, and that's what interests me the most.

What is the biggest frame shift you’ve experienced since launching the New Health Club?

As a celebrity journalist, I used to question my career path on a daily basis. I would wonder if I was really cut out to be a journalist or if there was something else I should be doing. But now, I have absolute conviction that this is where I'm meant to be.

It's been a major transition for me to go from simply writing stories to running a company and having responsibility for others. But it's also been incredibly rewarding to create something that didn't exist before and to be part of such an exciting moment in time.

Even with the growing pains and challenges we face, I feel so grateful to be able to do this work and to contribute to the psychedelic space. It's my driving force, and I'm excited to continue creating something unique.

As someone who straddles California and Germany, how would you characterize the differences between the US and Europe’s attitude toward psychedelics?

In America, psychedelics have gained more mainstream attention through media outlets and entertainment shows. In Europe, however, the focus is still on the scientific and clinical aspects of psychedelics, particularly in treating mental health conditions like treatment-resistant depression.

One thing that stands out to to me is the culture surrounding psychedelics in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands. The Netherlands has had a long-standing culture around mushrooms and cannabis. There are even Dutch psychiatrists like Jan Bastiaans, who used LSD therapy to help Holocaust survivors in the 60s. My sense is this culture will provide a stable foundation for businesses and endeavors related to psychedelics.

While some parts of America, especially California, have a creative scene around psychedelics, it's not as stable as Europe. I have heard concerns about the lack of open-mindedness in some parts of America, which could lead to setbacks in the psychedelic movement. Europe, on the other hand, is slower to progress, but once the movement gains momentum, it is unlikely to go back.

Regarding government regulations, some countries like Norway are considering psychedelics as a potential solution to rising suicide rates. The Ukraine is also looking into implementing psychedelics into their healthcare system once the war is over. These developments could lead to exciting changes in European psychedelic regulation.

You speak to a lot of business leaders at the forefront of psychedelic medicine. What are the most important watch-outs as we, as a society, move toward regulated psychedelic pharmaceuticals?

Before the pharmaceutical model really takes hold, I think the most important priority is to have open and public conversations about drugs and psychedelics.

We host monthly events at Soho House in Berlin where we invite scientists and others to talk about drugs, their perceptions and experiences, and misconceptions they’ve unlearned. Seeing these events play out has reminded me that normalizing conversation is the first step to understanding what regulated psychedelic pharmaceuticals could really mean for our future lives.

Of course pharma will come in. That’s inevitable, but it's hard to predict what it will look like and how long it will take until drugs are developed and accessible to everyone. Until then, the next five years should be very interesting with the rise of psychedelic retreats and microdosing. Ultimately, I do think it will be a good thing to have psychedelic pharmaceuticals available at scale. It’s one model that could make access less privileged.

Want more from Anne? Subscribe to the New Health Club podcast and newsletter, or check out her upcoming retreat.

That’s all for today. Before you head off, don’t forget to share, rate, and review Tricycle Day below. Catch ya next time, Cyclists! ✌️

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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.