Jamaica has always had ganja. Now it has the mushrooms too — and a growing number of retreats are finally putting them together.

I’m taking a massive bong rip in the middle of a group sesh when a cop suddenly shows up unannounced right behind me. Alarm bells go off – the last time something like this happened, I ended up in the back of a police cruiser staring down any number of potential unsavory outcomes.

Except that we’re in Jamaica, and the cop is coming to drop in on his friend Wabba, owner of the joint and master traditional steam chalice packer.

This time it’s different. Instead of bringing the weight of the drug war down upon me, the cop is offering a fist bump while making the rounds to converse with the various locals sitting in on our sesh. I exhale a plume of vapor and relax my shoulders before passing the chalice to the left – never, ever pass it to the right in accordance with local custom.

Welcome to Wabba’s Weed Adventure, a generations-old cannabis farm and tourist experience just outside of Negril, Jamaica. In late October 2025, Jamaica was struck by Hurricane Melissa — a Category 5 storm and the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the country’s recorded history — causing extensive damage to island infrastructure and crops. Coconut trees were ripped from their foundations, and whole ganja farms were uprooted and blown into oblivion. But like the resilient character of the Jamaican people, the cannabis operation at Wabba’s has rebounded and is thriving again.

Today, we’re touring a field of ‘Wabba’s Purple’ plants in full bloom. Our group has traveled from different corners of the United States to experience this farm tour as an added feature of a psilocybin mushroom retreat, and for several present, it’s the first time they’ve ever seen a cannabis grow operation. Cannabis tourism is a major draw in Jamaica, as it is increasingly so elsewhere around the world. Globally, the cannabis tourism market was estimated to generate more than $17 billion annually in 2022 and could surpass $23 billion by 2030 as legalization expands.

Jamaica is particularly well-positioned to fuse this growing market niche with a related but typically entirely separate space that’s also on the rise: psychedelic tourism.

Where Ganja Meets the God Molecule

Over the last decade, Jamaica has established itself as a frontrunner in the psilocybin mushroom tourism industry, thanks to a favorable regulatory environment in which mushrooms were never added to the list of controlled substances. While the active compounds of psilocybin and psilocin were added to the island’s list of banned substances on the heels of the United States’ War on Drugs, there was no inclusion of psilocybin-containing mushrooms themselves. As such, this loophole has given rise to a robust psychedelic retreat industry in recent years to accommodate the growing interest among people willing to travel internationally to access them in a favorable jurisdiction.

For a growing number of people, the question becomes why no one has thought to combine cannabis and psychedelic tourism on the island into one offering. Andy Sudbrock of Sacred Path retreats offers an insight into how unique the experience can be.

“The beauty of holding a mushroom retreat in Jamaica is that on the integration days we have the option to experience something as unique as a guided cannabis farm tour. Diving into the local culture and forming unique and fun memories while in the neuroplastic state can help rewire the brain for adventure, fun, and all the beautiful things in life that this country has to offer.”

Ironically, the cultural stigmas afforded to both cannabis and mushrooms in different cultures both play into the limitations surrounding a combined cannabis and psychedelic tourism sector in Jamaica. Though cannabis is largely viewed as a medicine by locals within Jamaica, it has largely been excluded from emergent psychedelic therapy protocols, champions of which are still aiming to overcome the cultural stigmas associated with the hippy era of the 1960s to be embraced by mainstream medicine as a legitimate practice.

As someone who has been part of the psychedelic industry rollout for some years now, there is a growing sense among practitioners and advocates that the psychedelic industry should not repeat the mistakes made in the rollout of the cannabis industry. From this vantage point, cannabis tourism in Jamaica is still largely viewed as a party favor disconnected from the more serious emergence of a regulated psychedelic medicine framework.

Conversely, while psilocybin mushrooms have long been available in the country, there is very little homegrown psychedelic culture or tradition as it relates to their use by locals. Some locals speculate that one of the reasons for this may be the colonization and Christianization of the Jamaican people, such that mushrooms are viewed with suspicion as being demonic or associated with ghosts. An example of this is in the use of the phrase ‘Duppy Umbrella‘ to describe mushrooms, or ‘ghost umbrellas’. Yet despite locals’ aversion to mushrooms, the growth of the psilocybin mushroom tourism industry continues to attract economic opportunity to the island and, in so doing, create a level of social acceptance of the custom among a growing number of Jamaicans.

For years, the landmark institution of Tedd’s in the resort town of Negril stood as the singular public-facing beacon to Jamaican mushroom tourism. Tedd was the local ‘mushroom man’ who served psilocybin mushroom tea out of a wooden shack near the center of town. Today, there are several well-known psilocybin mushroom retreat operations on the island, including Mycomeditations, which has facilitated retreats for over 2,000 guests, and Marley One Wellness Retreats, run by the Marley family.

While the mushroom tourism industry in Jamaica has so far been geared towards psychedelic therapy protocols that largely exclude cannabis, a fresh outlook on possibilities is growing alongside the wellness tourism space at large on the island. The Laughter Is Medicine retreat that launched at Coral Cove Wellness Resort signaled a departure from having to choose between cannabis and psychedelic tourism by combining both into one offering.

A Plant With Deep Roots

Weed hasn’t always been legal in Jamaica. It was first brought over from India in the 1850s by indentured servants during British colonial rule, and the ideal cultivation climate and adoption of ganja use by locals lent to a homegrown Jamaican cannabis trade in the ensuing years. Though widely used across the island, cannabis use was criminalized for much of the country’s history. In 2015, possession of small amounts was decriminalized — up to two ounces is now a ticketable offense rather than a criminal one — and though the regulated industry remains technically limited to a medical framework, tourist offerings like Wabba’s allow for personal use by people coming on tours of the farm. As both the cannabis and psychedelic tourism industries continue to grow in Jamaica, there is ample room for each of these economic pillars to reinforce each other.

Back on Wabba’s farm, spirits are high – pun intended. The damage from the hurricane is still evident in the region, yet the prize ganja crops on site are growing stronger and more abundantly than ever before. Groups of tourists are back, and the smell of sticky-sweet cannabis vapor covers the scene. The other tourists and I are still smiling from our two mushroom experiences during the retreat earlier in the week, and the steam chalice ceremony is helping us end our time together on a truly high note. Wabba packs another oversized load of purple flower into the calabash steam chalice chamber and begins to sing the chorus of Bob Marley’s iconic song “‘Don’t worry about a thing…’cuz every little thing…is gonna be alright!”

Photos courtesy of Dennis Walker.

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Two hikers bit off more than they can chew, so to speak, after getting lost in the mountains during a hike while tripping on shrooms, forcing a rescue team to save the day.

The Lake District is a national park in Cumbria, northwest England in the U.K. and is a popular destination for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. It’s also the largest national park in England with stunning views of the outdoors. But the powerful effects of shrooms and the elements of the outdoors don’t always mix when logic and judgment are compromised.

The Guardian reports that on April 8, a mountain rescue team was summoned to the Stoneycroft, Newlands, and Seathwaite area of the national park following reports that a group of young men who were tripping on shrooms and appeared to be in trouble.

Team members from Mountain Rescue England and Wales say they get calls daily, with only four days in 2022 when they were not called out to rescue hikers. But shroom-related calls are much less frequent and worthy of discussion (and laughs).

Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, the local branch in charge of helping hikers in distress, responded to the calls. “A number of calls were received via passersby, who had come across a group of young adult males who had taken magic mushrooms,” Keswick Mountain Rescue Team’s report reads. “Two in the group were feeling unwell, including the driver in the party. The casualties were walked down and given advice by the team medic regarding the timing of their onward travel.”

Eleven volunteers associated with the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team were dispatched to meet the two psychonauts and walk them down the mountain, as they were clearly unable to do it themselves. Once they walked down, a team medic gave them sound advice “regarding the timing of their onward travel,” alluding to the amount of time it takes for shrooms to wear off. 

In most cases, the only thing you can do while tripping too hard is to ride it out until the effects wear off. However, you can also eat foods and nutrients including curcumin, resveratrol, grape seed extract, milk thistle, hawthorn, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, apples, and kale to metabolize shrooms faster and lessen the trip, Zamnesia explains.

The team were also called to assist four walkers who were descending the Styhead Tarn path towards Seathwaite, one with an ankle injury and another a panic attack, which are typical reasons they receive calls. 

Keswick Mountain Rescue Team posted updates on Facebook, complete with pictures, showing that the rescue lasted until it was dark outside.

NewQuay Voice reports that several hikers who passed by were concerned about what they saw.

A European drug discussion forum, Blue Pill, posted a thread about the shrooming hikers in the Keswick area. “It’s not good when you can smell your own brain,” one user commented. “Maybe they never left their living room, and just were convinced they were in the lakes!” another user wrote.

Meanwhile, wild magic mushrooms can be found in many regions of the world. From the October, 1986 issue of High Times writer Jerome Creek wrote a psychedelic-inspired travelog about looking for magic mushrooms in California. Magic mushrooms grow in the wild and can be eaten or made into tea, but set and setting are very important and they cause powerful distortions in the mind. That’s not always a good thing if you’re miles away from the beginning o the hiking trail.

The events that unfolded only attest to the quality of shrooms the hikers took, one Twitter user wrote. It’s a cautionary tale to those who like to shroom outside in nature.

The entire rescue took about two hours to complete.

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Those who have used psilocybin or LSD may be familiar with the experience: The day following your trip, it’s back to reality, yet there are still glimmers of your previous day’s journey, a fleeting visual cue borrowing from the more intense hallucinogenic effects you just experienced.

These spontaneously recurring, drug-like effects following hallucinogenic exposure are referred to as flashback phenomena; symptoms can include vision changes, mood changes and derealization/depersonalization. Those with persistent recurring flashbacks causing significant distress or impairment may have hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), which is considered extremely rare.

New research published in the journal Psychopharmacology further explores psychedelic flashbacks, with results from six placebo-controlled studies revealing that the phenomena occurred for up to 9.2% of participants after LSD or psilocybin exposure.

The authors note that data and current knowledge on both flashbacks and HPPD is “very limited,” even though they are assumed to be among “the most relevant side effects of hallucinogenic drugs.” For the study, researchers analyzed data pulled from multiple clinical trials in order to better describe flashback phenomena and HPPD.

Researchers used data from six double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies with a total of 142 participants aged 25 to 65. In total, 90 participants received LSD, 24 received psilocybin and 28 received both substances. The doses varied depending on the trial; participants received one to five LSD doses ranging from 0.025 and 0.2mg, and/or between one to two doses of psilocybin ranging from 15 to 30mg.

Subjects were asked at each study session to report any adverse events since their last contact with the study team, and any event, including flashbacks, was recorded. All studies also included an end-of-study visit after the last study session, where all subjects were asked for the occurrence of flashback phenomena throughout the entire course of the study. Those who reported flashbacks were asked to describe the phenomenon, specifically the quality, quantity, impairment level and time of occurrence.

Those who reported flashbacks at the end of the study were then conducted via email for follow-up, specifically to assess the occurrence of continued flashbacks of HPPD. Those who reported further flashbacks were again asked to describe them (with the terms of the end-of-study visit) along with any potential triggers to the flashbacks.

During the final study visit, 13 participants (9.2%) described a flashback experience; seven instances occurred after taking LSD, two after psilocybin and four after taking both substances. Most of the flashbacks were visual alterations (for 11 of the 13 participants), and three participants experienced other phenomena (such as auditory/cognitive effects or a feeling of disintegration). Two participants exclusively reported emotional alterations. 

Researchers also noted that flashbacks were limited to the week after the last drug administration in all but two cases.

For most subjects, the flashbacks lasted for seconds (69.2%) to minutes (23.1%), though one case (7.7%) reported alterations persisting for hours. The subject specified that this involved intensified perception of colors and slowed thinking the day following three study sessions. 

For most of these cases (53.8%), the phenomena only occurred once. In two cases (15.4%), symptoms persisted more than five times. One of these subjects reported around 20 visual flashbacks within a short period roughly 24 hours after drug administration. The other subject experienced approximately 30 visual flashbacks within a seven-month period after drug administration. This was the only patient who clearly reported flashbacks after the end-of-study visit. Though, researchers noted that flashbacks lasted just seconds, were experienced as benign and did not impair daily life in both cases. 

More than 50% of participants said the flashbacks occurred while relaxing or shortly before sleep (meaning 1.4% of all 142 subjects reported distressing flashback experiences). While two participants said the flashbacks were experienced as unpleasant, 10 cases said they were neutral or positive. The remaining case was not sufficiently documented.  In all, none of the subjects reported impairment in their daily life due to these symptoms.

Researchers also determined that none of the participants met the criteria for HPPD at any time point, though they noted the rarity of the disorder and the small sample size as factors.

“Drug-like experiences after the administration of LSD and psilocybin seem to be a relatively common phenomenon in clinical trials with healthy participants,” the authors concluded, clarifying that those flashbacks that occurred were mostly benign and didn’t impair daily life. “Overall, our data suggests that flashbacks are not a clinically relevant problem in controlled studies with healthy participants.”

Could honing in on flashback symptoms hold greater potential in a therapeutic setting? While the study reveals new insights that could help to inform further research on the topic, especially as the West continues to embrace psychedelic medicine, there’s still a lot more to uncover.

The study, “Flashback phenomena after administration of LSD and psilocybin in controlled studies with healthy participants,” was authored by Felix Müller, Elias Kraus, Friederike Holze, Anna Becker, Laura Ley, Yasmin Schmid, Patrick Vizeli, Matthias E. Liechti and Stefan Borgwardt.

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Leaders of a historic South American empire used a beer mixed with a psychedelic drug to maintain political control over their society and surrounding communities, according to research published on Wednesday. 

In a study published by the journal Antiquity, archaeologists revealed that leaders of the Wari people served a beer-like beverage made from the fruits of the molle tree combined with the seeds of the vilca tree and served the mixture to guests at communal feasts.

“The resulting psychotropic experience reinforced the power of the Wari state, and represents an intermediate step between exclusionary and corporate political strategies,” the researchers wrote in an abstract of the study published online by Cambridge University Press. “This Andean example adds to the global catalog documenting the close relationship between hallucinogens and social power.”

The Wari built their empire in the highlands of the Andes mountains in current-day Peru, ruling the area from about 600-1000 A.D. and predating the Inca empire by four centuries. Archeologists excavating at Quilcapampa in Southern Peru from 2013 through 2017 discovered the first evidence of psychedelic vilca seeds found at a Wari site. 

Matthew Biwer, a visiting assistant professor of archaeology at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and the lead author of the study, said that the discovery sheds light on how South American indigenous civilizations made use of psychoactive substances.

“This was a turning point in the Andes in terms of politics and use of hallucinogens,” Biwer said, as reported by CNN. “We see this kind of use of hallucinogens as different use context than in prior civilizations, who seem to have closely guarded the use of hallucinogens to a select few, or the latter Inca Empire who emphasized the mass-consumption of beer but did not use psychotropic substances such as vilca at feasts.”

Pre-Columbian civilizations used vilca, often inhaled as snuff, as long as 4,000 years years ago. The seeds contain the psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine, as well as bufotenine, a substance similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin. 

“What I’ve read from ethnographic sources is that you get a very strong sensation of flying,” Biwer told Inverse.

Party Hosts Rule the Empire

Previous research has revealed that the Wari used feasting and beer as a way to exercise political control over guests from surrounding communities. Researchers at the Quilcapampa site discovered evidence that the Wari were making molle beer, called chicha, in substantial quantities. Botanical remnants of molle and vilca were found and ceramics were discovered at the center of the site, an indication of where feasts were held, according to the study’s authors.

“The Wari added the vilca to the chicha beer in order to impress guests to their feasts who could not return the experience,” Biwer said. “This created an indebted relationship between Wari hosts and guests, likely from the surrounding region.”

“We argue that the feasting, beer, and vilca thus served to create and cement social connections between Wari affiliated peoples and locals as the Empire expanded,” Biwer continued. “It also was a way for Wari leaders to demonstrate and maintain social, economic, and political power.”

Biwer explained that the guests would experience social pressure to recognize the power of their Wari hosts and feel an obligation to reciprocate the favor in the future. 

“There’s political power in being able to acquire and use these hallucinogenic substances and providing these experiences,” Biwer said. “I think it provides a really good example of the connection between politics, drug use, intoxication and the social bonds.”

Researchers have not yet discovered why the Wari civilization eventually failed. But as they continue to study sites inhabited by the pre-Columbian civilization, they are learning more about how the early inhabitants of Peru lived.

“​The Wari Empire stretched from northern Peru to the far south near the Chilean border, and from the coast to the mountainous areas of the Andes,” Biwer explained. “It is the first example of an empire in South America, having collapsed around 400 years prior to the rise of the Inca Empire.”

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Ads pertaining to cannabis or psychedelic mushrooms are now prohibited on New York transit vehicle services.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) of New York updated its advertising policies on November 17, noting that public transit services may not advertise cannabis or psychedelic mushrooms. “The revised policy includes certain provisions that were part of past policies (with some amendments), and adds new restrictions based on changed circumstances. For example, the revised Advertising Policy explicitly bars advertising for cannabis products, following the decriminalization of recreational use of such products in New York State,” the MTA wrote on its website.

The revised advertising policy notes that the ban applies to anything that: “Promotes tobacco, nicotine, or any tobacco-related or nicotine-related product; any alcohol product; cannabis or any cannabis-related product; or hallucinogenic mushrooms or hallucinogenic mushroom-related product.”

The list of banned advertising also applies to a variety of other types of content, including the promotion or opposition of a political party, anything relative to religious policies, anything “false, misleading or deceptive,” anything that “encourages or depicts unsafe behavior,” which includes promotions of escort services, strip clubs or other sexual services, anything with the use of profanity, among many other prohibited advertisement types.

The policy change is the result of a legal settlement with sexual wellness brand Dame. A complaint was filed by Dame in 2019 when the MTA rejected the company’s advertising efforts, even though the MTA had previously approved dating apps with suggestive imagery, the Museum of Sex and men’s sexual health products. Dame argued that banning the company’s sexual health ads was unconstitutional. “Sexual pleasure is a critical part of wellbeing. Denying Dame advertising space stifles our ability to articulate the value we bring; to innovate and develop products for female sexual pleasure; and enforces sexual shame as a societal norm,” said Dame CEO Alexandra Fine.

She continued, “The MTA was disproportionately applying their anti sexually-oriented business clause to women’s pleasure advertisements, which is unconstitutional. They allowed erectile dysfunction advertisements to run while denying us, making them a social and economic gate-keeper on who is entitled to pleasure. We’ve had to fight for our right to advertise and we believe this is a step forward in closing the pleasure gap.”

Now that cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms are banned from advertising in New York transit services, it leads to a few questions about the future. It is uncertain if the MTA will evolve or change its policies when New York’s recreational cannabis legalization officially launches (it’s currently projected to begin in 2022, but is subject to change).

The state’s recreational cannabis bill, also referred to as the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, gives the Cannabis Control Board the power to dictate rules on cannabis advertisement, especially for ads that are promote consumption, appeals to children, and more specifically “…is in public transit vehicles and stations.”

Furthermore, support for legalizing psychedelic mushrooms is growing across the country, but it is legal or decriminalized in only a few cities, such as Denver, Colorado and Oakland, California, and states such as Oregon, which decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms in 2020. Psychedelic mushrooms are not currently legal in New York, so there isn’t a legal market to promote the sales of mushrooms.

Other recreationally legal states have enacted laws to prevent cannabis advertisements such as billboards. In February, the California Bureau of Cannabis Control announced the prohibition of cannabis billboard ads that are located near a highway or state border. More recently, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 1302, which would have allowed cannabis billboard advertisements to return to highways and interstate freeways, citing the effects of youth exposure. States such as Michigan have also introduced legislation to ban billboard advertisements.

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Effective today—Bright Minds Biosciences shares will commence trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “DRUG.” Bright Minds is already listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE:DRUG) under the same symbol. Nasdaq Stock Market LLC approved the listing of the company’s common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market.

Bright Minds’ team of drug designers developed psychedelics to make them safer and accessible for a larger patient population, often people who are out of options when dealing with treatment-resistant conditions. The company has several patented drugs in its pipeline—primarily 5-HT2C and 5-HT2C+5HT2A agonists—that are currently at the late-preclinical stage.

The particularly intractable epileptic condition common in children, Dravet syndrome, is difficult to manage using conventional drugs. That’s why a number of patients resort to using cannabis, itself a mild psychedelic, to fight it. Charlotte’s Web, for instance, shares the name of the late Charlotte Figi whom the strain was named after. Now, scientists are exploring psychedelics to battle the condition as well, which so far are demonstrating remarkable capabilities.

The company’s lead novel compound—BMB-101—showed efficacy in in-vitro and in-vivo preclinical studies for pediatric epilepsy and decreased seizure duration by 74 percent. The company has plans to progress into clinical trials with the compound early in 2022. 

Bright Mind Biosciences’ leadership is thrilled about the “psychedelic drug revolution” that’s re-inventing therapy as we know it. A renewed interest in medical benefits from drugs such as psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA and so forth is everywhere.

“We’re making the drugs [of] the ‘60s great again! And to be honest, even better than they were in those days thanks to modern day scientific knowledge and helping a lot of patients out on the way,” Bright Mind Biosciences CEO Ian McDonald told High Times.

Bright Minds has a portfolio of serotonin agonists designed to target “neurocircuit abnormalities” responsible for difficult-to-treat disorders such intractable epilepsy, treatment-resistant depression, PTSD and pain. The company creates compounds with a goal to minimize side effects of first-generation psychedelics such as psilocybin.

McDonald also acknowledged the dire situation people with Dravet syndrome face in a press release. “Our listing on Nasdaq marks an important corporate milestone for Bright Minds, as we continue to advance our innovative drug candidates in pursuit of an improved generation of targeted serotonin-based therapies,” stated McDonald. “With encouraging preclinical data across several indications, we are progressing toward first-in-human trials with our lead drug candidate, BMB-101, for the treatment of Dravet syndrome, a devastating congenital and genetic disease affecting the nervous system. We expect to commence the trials in the first half of 2022.”

Last August, the company announced that BMB-101 showed efficacy in rodent models of Dravet syndrome. Furthermore, the effect of BMB compounds was consistent and comparable to other pharmaceutical anti-epileptics such as fenfluramine. 

BMB-101 is a 5-HT2C selective and biased agonist, demonstrating compelling promise in medical treatments for Dravet syndrome and/or other illnesses.

BMB-101 works differently than cannabis, as THC, nor any other cannabinoids and terpenoids present in cannabis plant material have known direct effects on receptors associated with psychedelics in similar classes.

Listing on the Nasdaq puts Bright Minds in a much more competitive position in an already competitive psychedelic landscape.

“Bright Minds is also committed to delivering significant returns to our shareholders,” McDonald continued. “Trading on the world’s most liquid market in which all investors can participate helps us continue to actualize that objective. We look forward to continuing to work closely with all our key constituents—scientific, medical, and the capital markets—to bolster our excellent competitive positioning.”

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According to an in-depth cover interview with GQ, Will Smith remembered a series of psychedelic experiences in Peru, and his new memoir Will, set to hit shelves on November 9, will describe the encounters in further detail. 

According to GQ, his tell-all Will, will provide the most unpolished version of Smith’s personal story yet—including the details he probably would’ve never shared as his kids were growing up. 

Smith’s team recruited Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, while the actor was filming Gemini Man. In his book, he wanted to finally share with the world the good, bad and ugly parts of himself. New Orleans-based artist Brandan “BMike” Odums designed the cover of WILL.

While Smith was rising to stardom rapping and starring on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he maintained a squeaky clean image. He mostly set aside partying to fully focus on his career in show business—not even smoking weed, and limited drinking to very little. But Smith slowly realized his hyperfocus on his career took a toll on friendships and relationships. As he got older, he constantly re-evaluated where he stood.

Few people could understand his unique position as a leading star. “Throughout the years, I would always call Denzel [Washington]. He’s a real sage,” Smith told GQ. “I was probably 48 or something like that and I called Denzel. He said, ‘Listen. You’ve got to think of it as the funky 40. Everybody’s 40s are funky.’ He said, ‘But just wait till you hit the fuck-it 50s.’”

“He said, ‘Just bear with your 40s.’ I stopped and I was like, ‘The funky 40s and the fuck-it 50s,’” Smith said. “And that’s exactly what happened. It just became the fuck-it 50s, and I gave myself the freedom to do whatever I wanted to do.”

So Smith took that newfound freedom and experimented, traveling to foreign countries without security guards, and he made his way to Peru to embark on “more than a dozen ayahuasca rituals.”

Apparently Smith was highly impacted by the ayahuasca experiences. “This was my first tiny taste of freedom,” Smith wrote, describing his first experience. “In my 50 plus years on this planet, this is the unparalleled greatest feeling I’ve ever had.”

According to results from the Global Ayahuasca Project survey, about 85 percent of people who take ayahuasca go on to make a profound life change. Ayahuasca literally means “the vine of death”—an Amazonian brew that is a bit more than a recreational psychedelic trip. Many people travel to areas near the Amazonian metropolis of Iquitos, Peru, to find these experiences and be led by a shaman who can guide them properly.

Ayahuasca is a drink that must contain at least two ingredients: One that utilizes the monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) properties of an Amazon rainforest vine Banisteriopsis caapi, and another to allow the potent hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), found in a variety of rainforest plants like Psychotria viridis (chacruna), to become active in your brain. In other words, the first ingredient is actuated by the second.

Smith’s son Jaden also opened up to the media about his “journeys on psychedelics,” which apparently also heavily inspired his latest music releases.

As half of the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, things really took off in 1990 when he was cast as the star role of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, taking Jazzy Jeff along for the ride. But most people don’t know that the show contained minor bits of truth, reflecting Smith’s own brushes with the law in West Philadelphia, just after receiving a Grammy Award for “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”

Smith’s astronomical career has become a source of inspiration for many. One particular video, for instance, went viral as it was considered to be a powerful speech about overcoming fear, doubt and people not believing in you.

Listen to Smith live, as he kicks off a book tour of his new memoir WILL—in a limited number of major cities throughout the world.

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