Join us for an evening exploring the fascinating connection between psychedelics and the origins of the Twelve Steps, contemporary indigenous ceremony using plant-medicines for addiction treatment, and the use of psychedelics by people in recovery.
People in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction have found benefit from intentional use of psychedelics as an aid to their process of spiritual awakening through the Twelve Steps, originally brought forth by Alcoholics Anonymous.
AA is an abstinence based approach for recovery from alcoholism, where members work towards a spiritual awakening along with meetings, sponsorship, and fellowship. Yet even AA’s co-Founder, Bill Wilson, personally benefited from a mystical-type experience before he later got sober, and also underwent treatment for depression using LSD-assisted psychotherapy.
Many contemporary indigenous traditions that incorporate plant-based psychedelics – such as peyote by the Native American Church, ayahuasca among the Amazonian tribes, and iboga among the Bwiti tribes of Central Africa – have applied their ceremonies to treat people struggling with alcoholism and addiction.
Join us for a lively discussion about the potential of psychedelics to treat addiction, and the use of psychedelics by people who have a history of addiction.
$20 advance
$25 on the door
Dimitri Mugianis is an activist, anarchist, community organizer, artist, Bwiti Initiate and was an IV drug user for 20 years. In 2002 he was treated with Iboga. Subsequently he has facilitated over 500 underground Ibogaine ceremonies/detoxes in the US. Dimitri was initiated into the Bwiti in Gabon and returned several times for spiritual strengthening and study. Dimitri was arrested in 2011 by the DEA in a sting operation using a paid informant. After a protracted legal battle he was convicted of greatly reduced charges. He is currently the N’ganga-in- residence at New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE a syringe exchange in East Harlem), where he is also the co-creator and co-facilitator of “We Are The Medicine,” a holistic approach to drug use and life. He also has a private practice where he works with clients in multiple modalities including: sounds meditation and white mesa. Dimitri has spoken and lectured at numerous conferences around the world. Has a television show in development.
Kevin Franciotti graduated from Northeastern University in 2013. As an undergraduate he completed an internship as a research assistant at Harvard Medical School working on the phase II dose-response study investigating the therapeutic potential of MDMA- assisted psychotherapy for treatment of cancer related anxiety. He was also one of the founders of the Northeastern chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and in 2009 the group co-sponsored the Boston Ibogaine Forum with Cures Not Wars. In the Winter
2015 edition of the MAPS bulletin, he wrote about his experience as a subject in one of the observational outcomes studies on ibogaine treatment for opiate dependency. He now lives in New York City where he is enrolled in a clinical psychology graduate program in pursuit of a doctoral degree. He has worked part-time for the Drug Policy Alliance, and also works as a writer covering topics related to psychedelic therapy, addiction, and ibogaine advocacy. His recent contributions include: New Scientist, Reason.com, Reset.me, Reality Sandwich, and VICE.com.
Robert Hayward was born August 23, 1959, number nine of ten children to parents who were both the original animators for Walt Disney. In 1977, he graduated from Laguna College of Art and Design, earning a StoneCarving scholarship to Carrara, Italy. In 1999, he was commissioned to design and build a monument for a fallen Native Firefighter, The Gregory Pacheco Memorial, in San Diego County, California. Robert graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Palomar College in California in 2011 and is a state licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor; CADC-1. Robert owned and operated Sober
Ranch, a 67 Acre Native American Culturally Correct Drug/Alcohol Recovery Center from 2014 to 2015. Robert is Ho-Chunk Winnebago, an inspirational speaker, expert on
Native American History and Spirituality, has been mentored by Traditional Medicine Men and Roadmen since his youth, and is the author of the Bestseller “The Thirteenth Step”, a groundbreaking book on ancient ceremony, spirituality, and recovery.
Don Lattin is an award-winning author and journalist. His five previously published books include The Harvard Psychedelic Club, a national bestseller that was awarded the California Book Award, Silver Medal, for nonfiction. Lattin's last published work was Distilled Spirits -- Getting High, then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher and a Hopeless Drunk. It's a recovery memoir and a group biography of writer Aldous Huxley, philosopher Gerald Heard and Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. It tells the story of Wilson's experimentation with LSD in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In his forthcoming Changing Our Minds – Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy, Lattin builds on the history in Distilled Spirits and Harvard Psychedelic
Club, which charted social movements and early scientific research fueled by these compounds. His research for this new book took him to Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, and
a variety of research labs and shamanic circles across the United States. In an effort to better understand these states of consciousness, the author had his own mind-altering
encounters with ayahuasca, psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine and 5-MeO- DMT – taking them as a participant/observer in contexts that mirrored the various therapeutic and spiritual settings in which they are used today.
Christine ‘Minanga’ Fitzsimmons is a Registered Nurse and humanitarian aid worker. She holds a Bachelors of Arts from Pace University and an Associates of Science in Nursing from State University of New York Adirondack. Christine has worked as a clinical nurse in Neuro Intensive Care Units, and ICU step down units since 2011.
Christine has facilitated work with Ibogaine for the treatment of addiction and personal healing since 2008 in various settings, from underground, to medical model and the jungles of Gabon. She has worked with Medecines Sans Frontieres in Ethiopia, as well as Togo and Senegal with other NGOs. Christine is credited as a co-author of the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance’s Clinical Guidelines for Ibogaine-Assisted Detoxification. Christine is the co-founder of IbogaSafe, an organization dedicated to on-site training and education to reduce harm with ibogaine treatment.
Brian Murphy is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of New York. He holds a master’s degree in social work from New York University, and a master’s degree in Education from City College of New York. Brian has an abiding interest in plant medicines, shamanism, and in spiritual experiences in general. He has worked for over ten years with people who have taken ibogaine, helping them integrate the experience
into their lives. Brian has been working with drug users since 1996, using the compassionate and flexible model known as harm reduction. He splits his time between his private practice and heading up a holistic health program in an East Harlem syringe exchange program. His private practice office is located in Manhattan.
