The Oregon Psilocybin Society welcomes Paul Stamets and special guests to the Newmark Theatre. Proceeds support the campaign to educate Oregonians regarding the Psilocybin Service Initiative - a 2020 ballot initiative campaign to legalize psilocybin assisted therapy statewide (www.psi-2020.org). 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  PAUL STAMETS

Paul Stamets, speaker, author, mycologist, medical researcher and entrepreneur, is considered an intellectual and industry leader in fungi: habitat, medicinal use, and production. He lectures extensively to deepen the understanding and respect for the organisms that literally exist under every footstep taken on this path of life. His presentations cover a range of mushroom species and research showing how mushrooms can help the health of people and planet.

Stamets is known for his stunning, planet-healing breakthrough discoveries in mycological research — something he credits to his early, consciousness-raising experiences with psilocybin mushrooms.

His central premise is that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushrooms are cellular bridges between the two. Our close evolutionary relationship to fungi can be the basis for novel pairings in the microbiome that lead to greater sustainability and immune enhancement.

He sees the ancient Old Growth forests of the Pacific Northwest as a resource of incalculable value, especially in terms of its fungal genome. A dedicated hiker and explorer, his passion is to preserve and protect as many ancestral strains of mushrooms as possible from these pristine woodlands. His research is considered breakthrough by thought leaders for creating a paradigm shift for helping ecosystems worldwide.

Paul is the author of six books (including Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World, Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, and Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World), he has discovered and named numerous new species of psilocybin mushrooms, and is the founder and owner of Fungi Perfecti, LLC, makers of the Host Defense Mushrooms (www.hostdefense.com) supplement line.

He has received numerous awards, including: Invention Ambassador (2014-2015) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Mycologist Award (2014) from the North American Mycological Association (NAMA), and the Gordon & Tina Wasson Award (2015) from the Mycological Society of America (MSA).

His work has entered into the mainstream of popular culture. In the latest Star Trek: Discovery series on CBS, the Science Officer is portrayed by an Astromycologist.... a Lt. Paul Stamets. Paul's work with mycelium is a central theme of this series.

Paul also plays a starring role in “Fantastic Fungi” - a groundbreaking new film by acclaimed nature cinematographer and director Louie Shwartzberg.

OPENING SPEAKER:  MARK HADEN

Mark Haden is the Executive Director of MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) Canada and a leading advocate for a public health approach to the regulation of currently illegal drugs. Mark works with the Health Officers Council of British Columbia and published "A Public-Health-Based Vision for the Management and Regulation of Psychedelics" in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Mark was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 for drug policy reform work. He has a well-deserved reputation as an exciting speaker who continues to reshape the dialogue around drug policy and especially around psychedelics.

HOSTS: TOM AND SHERI ECKERT

Your hosts for the evening are Tom and Sheri Eckert, founders of the Oregon Psilocybin Society and architects of the PSI 2020 ballot initiative campaign to bring psilocybin assisted therapy to Oregon. They are also psychotherapists who practice in the Portland area. With a growing network of support – including a newly formed Advisory Board that includes both Stamets and Haden – the Eckerts are spreading a truth held increasingly self-evident: that the psilocybin experience, when facilitated under safe and supportive conditions, can be a life-altering gift. Oregonians may be ready to see the Eckert's carefully crafted vision become a game-changing reality in 2020.

Oregon Psilocybin Society: https://www.opsbuzz.com/