Tep - Drug Education and Festival Safety

In this episode, Joe interviews Tep, a chemical engineer and educated, psychedelic enthusiast. They dive into rich conversation regarding drug use education and creating a cohesive meaning among recreational, medical and therapeutic substance use.

3 Key Points:

1. There is a disconnect between drug education and drug use. There are a lot of people who use drugs, but not a lot of people who are educated on how to use them.
2. There is a huge advantage of isolating the property of the drug when using them for therapy. For example, using isolated psilocybin vs mushrooms.
3. Learning on site at festivals and music events may not be super successful, drug education and harm reduction may look more like preparation.

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Show Notes About Tep

• Tep listens to all sorts of music, whether that's rave style with lights, or jam bands, or a music festival with camping, or even rap and jazz
  • There is a whole spectrum of drug use in the music environment
• She points out that some people are very mindful of what and how much they are taking, and other people are just taking anything they can find, and sometimes a lot or too much
  • She started to talk to people at festivals and realized that people really didn't know about the benefits and power of psychedelics
  • There definitely is a place for harm reduction education at festivals

Drug Use Assistance Groups

• Joe brings up the Zendo project and other initiatives that help people who are having a difficult drug experience to walk them out of it
• Some festival 'families' go around and have missions to hydrate people or make sure people are having a good time
  • They aren't staff or paid to do it or anything but they do it for the good of the whole

Vision

• Learning on site may not be super successful, most festival goers have an agenda for adventure and music and not for learning at a booth or speaker
  • Drug education and harm reduction may look more like preparation
• Tep mentions Diplo doesn't allow any drug use at his shows, alcohol is the only allowed substance
  • Tep thinks that he probably doesn't know that alcohol is far worse than psychedelics and other drugs

Theraputic Use

• When someone goes and has a vacation, they have certain chemicals released in their mind, it is still therapeutic, even if it's not a psychedelic experience
• "Not only can psychedelics be fun, they can also be therapeutic." - Tep
• Tep started going to camping style festivals and started hanging out with a crowd of people 10 years older than her, where their drug use was mature and mindful and safe
  • Then when she would hang around her younger friend group again, she realized how unsafe and unmindful their drug use was
  • It led her to be more active in wanting to educate everyone on how to use drugs properly

Exotic Compounds

• Shulgin's magical half dozen includes 2CB, 2CT2, and others
• Tep mentions preference of truffles over mushrooms
• Her and Joe bring up the decrease in potency of most drugs with exposure to moisture and time and other variables

Compound Isolation

• There is a huge advantage of isolating the property of the drug when using them for therapy
  • For example, using isolated psilocybin vs mushrooms
• The therapy is just as important as the substance
• There is a way to find information in this community without getting a degree in it

About Tep

Tep is a chemical engineer who had an interest in modern psychedelic research. She is passionate about the EDM and music culture and finding new ways to educate drug users on harm reduction and drug use education.