Older adults exploring psychedelics is a thing! I just finished writing a book called ELDEREVOLUTION - Psychedelics and the New Counterculture of Aging, which delves into this phenomenon (to be published next spring). Back in the day, boomers experimenting with pot and psychedelics envisioned a radical new youth culture. Fifty years later, we're reimagining older age - as a time of healing, growth, spiritual deepening and joy - as well as making peace with our mortality! Exciting stuff in these challenging times...
Hey Sari! Just heard from the publisher that my book will only be out in July 2026 (sigh...) but in the meantime, I've launched the ELDEREVOLUTION Newsletter on Psychedelics in Older Life (https://abbierosner.substack.com) It's a weekly posting on science, access, personal accounts, and other relevant topics for curious older adults. I'd love to talk about it with you - this movement of older adults expanding their consciousness as a part of healthy aging is actually a fascinating and quite exciting phenomenon!
The two burly security guards outside the pot shop my son took me to in San Francisco were amused by this white-haired woman. One said, "Don't worry little momma, your boy's gonna take care of you." I had to tell them, "You kids didn't invent this shit and this ain't my first rodeo." The guards were likely stoned because they found this very funny.
Inside, the selection process with the sales person could have been a SNL skit. We chose some excellent, very mild products.
But I too remember that clench-jawed paranoia. And I bet many of us remember watching the sunset from a rooftop and knowing we could fly if we just reached out a schooch further. So lthough it's tempting, and I loved this essay, I won't be resuming recreational use of psychelidelics. I'm very happy the research, on hiatus for decades, has been resumed. It's so promising.
A couple years after my husband died after a tragic plane accident, I was processing a lot about my life. Psylicybin (with a MDMA lead-in) with a guide for personal growth purposes was life changing. I've experienced 5 of them in 6 years.
My grandfather who I never met showed up in my first session and precipitated me to learn more about what happened in my parent's families. It led me to reading Mark Wolynn's book, "It Didn't Start With You" and Bessel Von Der Kolk's "The Body Keeps Score." It began a 4 year journey to understand and release what happened in both sides of my family through family constellation therapy.
My second journey was even more profound. I was in the presence of divine love who I had a conversation with - received answers to several questions I had. I also heard from my late husband and also had a conversation with him. The guidance I received led me to write my book, Forever Fly Free which will be launched in October by Regalo Press.
My additional sessions led me to feel very guided in my life. I trust my intuition in a way that I haven't before. My partner and a dear friend of mine of joined me on a couple of these journeys. My friend felt a profound sense of being love and accepted, something she didn't get from her mother. Our experience together brought us closer together. I believe if you pursue psilcybin for personal growth intentions, it will show you what you're ready for and that can happen through a series of journeys. Btw - My partner and I tried MDMA alone and it didn't do much for us - plus it depleted our energy for a good week after. We decided it wasn't worth it. I've decided I'm only interested in experiencing for very intentional purposes, not recreational.
The book is about how I learned that hope and love are the most powerful forces in the universe during my time with my husband at the burn center. And the magical story of how I met my partner 2 years after my husband died. Miracles, synchronicities, signs.
This is amazing to hear, Jenny. I’m so glad to know that you had such a positive and profound experience with Psilocybin. I’ve thought about pursuing it therapeutically. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Mdma could change the world if people gave it a chance. It is a life altering experience. Shulgin believed it to be the ultimate medicine for humanity. When corona time broke out and my honeymoon was scuppered we took a large dose of 5-mapb in the garden, which is simular to mdma (and yet different) - good lord i will never ever forget that day.
Great read, and How to Change Your Mind is so good.
I started smoking weed after I got cancer. It helped me through a lot of it, both body and mind. Unfortunately, I work for the Gov now and can't because of our dumbass laws.
I loved this piece because the writing was beautiful, evocative, gorgeous! Zero interest in recreational drugs though. This piece reminded me of all the euphoric things available to us in life: travel, music, reading, connections between people, romantic love, dogs! Give me writing like this & hold the psychedelic drugs.
Thank you! But I have to say that I believe MDMA could be a powerful antidote to so many of our ills. An incredible boon to couples therapy, for one. And every time I read about an organization's leadership overwhelmed with distrust and dissent, I can't help thinking that they should take MDMA together--it's almost impossible to feel rage and scorn in that state, and it has some lasting effects in that regard.
This was a fascinating read! I’ve always had an aversion to taking anything mind-altering, especially since a not-so-fun experience in Amsterdam in my early twenties. After that it was just alcohol, and I ditched that almost 5 years ago. I don’t like the idea of a hallucinogenic experience taking a sudden turn and then finding myself stuck in an uncomfortable experience, like in Amsterdam. But it’s super interesting to read about. Especially within the context of aging.
I'm 48 and used to do ecstasy quite a lot in my early 20s through my early 30s. in fact it's how I met my husband when in was 24 (both of us on ecstasy at a dance party). The first time I did it I was nervous but once it kicked in, I loved the experience and thought, I will never drink alcohol again: this is so much better!
The problem was the after effects/the depression hangover that would put me in an introverted state a few days later. That becomes worse the more you do it. But I cherish all the lovely bonding and erotic joy it helped me and many others access.
The other night, several friends (all in their 40s and 50s) all reminisced about how much we loved those experiences doing ecstasy and MDMA but felt "too old" to deal with the after effects. But I'm thinking it could be fun to try again as a way to celebrate an anniversary and reconnect. Just hope the blues don't hit so hard these days when the serotonin is depleted!
Jerry. I have friends (a couple) who do Ecstasy together quite regularly and they take a supplement available at health food stores called 5HTP afterwards to help build up their serotonin reserves and mitigate whatever drop in mood they experience after their “heart opening bliss”. If you are interested, there is so much benefit from the experience of doing ecstasy with a partner, it seems worthwhile to figure out how to anticipate, work with, and manage the after-effects… just as we do with so many other things in life.
First, thanks Kristin for the courage to express what the kids may not understand but we're all too old to care about that aren't we? As for my experience, I was just 16 (i'm 71 now) and I was given a tab of mescaline, a psychedelic drug and naturally occurring alkaloid in the peyote cactus (I had to look that up actually). It was a purple pill and after a bit of time passed I found a wooded alcove in our local golf course (one we religiously broke into as kids) to lay down in. Slowly I began to feel the "everything is everything" vibe that peyote or other natural psychedelics are known for. The high was mild but beautiful and offered me a complete holistic joining with the energy (as I both felt it and saw it) that was all around me. It opened my understanding of my relationship with the natural world. That "We are all interconnected" feeling. I realized or felt that I had taken my human experience as particularly unique and waaaay too seriously. Or, more rightly, that I had imagined it as something separate from the energy and life force that was surrounding me. That moment was life changing for me. I wanted to just meld into the universe but as I lay there thinking I would just let myself dissolve into the earth, the ants started crawling on me and my human mind said..."I don't think so", which actually made me laugh and taught me that getting outside my human body was not really that easy. But the message was deep and abiding and while I have tried other psychedelics or mushrooms over the years (a friend turned them into a cocoa drink for our trip to the beach) I found those experience somewhat redundant because the message - that first full blast message of interconnected with the world around me - did not really need repeating. It was more than an experience, it was, to me, a universal truth that has stayed with me throughout my life. Perhaps if more people gave it a try they would feel the folly of regarding Mother Nature as something outside of us.
MDMA- I took it in my thirties a handful of times recreationally, and I loved it. I took it 2 years ago at 65 with a therapist who acted not so much as a guide but a sitter. She happened to also be a long-time friend. I didn't have an agenda going in. Just decided to let the med do its job to unearth whatever needed to be revealed. Nothing came up during the journey, but I had EPIC dreams for a couple of weeks after involving a white Raven and a Golden Eagle (full-length, incredible stories in themselves). But unfortunately, the medicine triggered a craving for altered states. I'd been sober for just 3 months at this point. I ended up drinking. It was a short slip, just. A few days, but still not a good thing. I was too new to recovery to have done the MDMA. But it's now been a couple of years (with 2 minor slips since I've imbibed. I feel confident and grounded in my recovery now. So I'm revisiting MDMA. This time with a certified plant medicine Guide. He had me fill out an extensive bio/history covering literally every aspect of my life. I've had two of the required sessions of discovery with him that he does prior to actually journeying. This time I'll be going in with an agenda, so he can help guide me in that direction. I'll be asking the medicine to show me if there are any blocked memories that are tripping me up that I need to see. I'm writing a memoir, and I have some gray areas of my life experiences that I'd like to try to access. Feeling confident and safe this time around in utilizing MDMA for clarity and deeper healing. I'll no doubt be writing about the experience! 💖 Thnx for opening up this line of query! 🙏🏻😊
I have enjoyed Kristin Ohlson's work for many years now! Such an excellent writer. For example, I love how she ends with the image of her dog "rolling on her back to invite the love."
I'm 57 and remember when X was legal. Everyone was so bummed the summer the govt made it illegal. I was more into other drugs in HS so only did it a few times. It was fun. I did it a lot in the early 90s rave scene in CA. Again fun to dance all night on it. I'm curious about trying it in a medicinal setting, like therapy. When I did it, it was just about dancing and feeling good
I hadn't realized it had once been legal! I remember being at CBGB in the mid-90s, and a guy coming up to me asking me for a hug, then telling me he was X-ing. When I asked him to tell me more about it, he said, "On it, you can have orgasms in any part of your body. You can have an arm-gasm." I wasn't sure I wanted to have an arm-gasm, least of all in the middle of CBGB. Lol.
Yeah, it became illegal July 1, 1985. You could buy it at a club in Dallas from the bartenders, like charge your credit card for drinks and the added tip would be the cost of the pills.
I was in my 30's the first time I did psychedelics - acid then, and a few times a year for the next 15 years with the same group of women friends. They all aged out of our ritualized trips, got married, had kids, while mine were teenagers by then and often too self involved to pay much attention to me and my friends. I miss those days - I miss having that special closeness, sharing our silly moments and our silent ones, our long history of shared moments and shared memories. I want to trip again, perhaps in a group with some people I know and some I don't; there's a weekend women's retreat at the ocean this summer and if the timing works out I'll go . At my age - in my 80's - it will probably be my last psychedelic experience - one can't be this old and not consider trying to peek around the corner and get a preview of what if anything is next. A return to the stream of disembodied consciousnesses, perhaps?
This is a beautifully grounded piece. I’ve never taken any psychedelics myself. I only occasionally overdose on Stoicism as my mood enhancer, which is less sparkly but great for building emotional calluses and quoting Marcus Aurelius at inappropriate times. Do you think clarity hits harder when it sneaks up softly, like this did?
I would very much like to celebrate my 80th birthday in five months by taking my first drug other than "pot," as we called it in the '60s. But my other drugs are telling me No. Ah well. I appreciate the lovely article, though.
I am in my forties and was completely drug naïve when I signed up for the experimental MDMA protocol for PTSD through MAPS. I am new to this world but I also loved Michael Pollan's book "How to Change Your Mind" as an entrance to getting started understanding it. I completed the MDMA protocol for PTSD last year and just starting writing about it on Substack. Reading these stories helps me to understand my own experience more and I hope I can give that back or pay it forward as the case might be.
Older adults exploring psychedelics is a thing! I just finished writing a book called ELDEREVOLUTION - Psychedelics and the New Counterculture of Aging, which delves into this phenomenon (to be published next spring). Back in the day, boomers experimenting with pot and psychedelics envisioned a radical new youth culture. Fifty years later, we're reimagining older age - as a time of healing, growth, spiritual deepening and joy - as well as making peace with our mortality! Exciting stuff in these challenging times...
Oh, wow! Keep me posted as the book comes out...
Hey Sari! Just heard from the publisher that my book will only be out in July 2026 (sigh...) but in the meantime, I've launched the ELDEREVOLUTION Newsletter on Psychedelics in Older Life (https://abbierosner.substack.com) It's a weekly posting on science, access, personal accounts, and other relevant topics for curious older adults. I'd love to talk about it with you - this movement of older adults expanding their consciousness as a part of healthy aging is actually a fascinating and quite exciting phenomenon!
The two burly security guards outside the pot shop my son took me to in San Francisco were amused by this white-haired woman. One said, "Don't worry little momma, your boy's gonna take care of you." I had to tell them, "You kids didn't invent this shit and this ain't my first rodeo." The guards were likely stoned because they found this very funny.
Inside, the selection process with the sales person could have been a SNL skit. We chose some excellent, very mild products.
But I too remember that clench-jawed paranoia. And I bet many of us remember watching the sunset from a rooftop and knowing we could fly if we just reached out a schooch further. So lthough it's tempting, and I loved this essay, I won't be resuming recreational use of psychelidelics. I'm very happy the research, on hiatus for decades, has been resumed. It's so promising.
OMG, I love this, Eileen: "You kids didn't invent this shit and this ain't my first rodeo." Thanks for chiming in!
They invented sex too, don't you know?
A couple years after my husband died after a tragic plane accident, I was processing a lot about my life. Psylicybin (with a MDMA lead-in) with a guide for personal growth purposes was life changing. I've experienced 5 of them in 6 years.
My grandfather who I never met showed up in my first session and precipitated me to learn more about what happened in my parent's families. It led me to reading Mark Wolynn's book, "It Didn't Start With You" and Bessel Von Der Kolk's "The Body Keeps Score." It began a 4 year journey to understand and release what happened in both sides of my family through family constellation therapy.
My second journey was even more profound. I was in the presence of divine love who I had a conversation with - received answers to several questions I had. I also heard from my late husband and also had a conversation with him. The guidance I received led me to write my book, Forever Fly Free which will be launched in October by Regalo Press.
My additional sessions led me to feel very guided in my life. I trust my intuition in a way that I haven't before. My partner and a dear friend of mine of joined me on a couple of these journeys. My friend felt a profound sense of being love and accepted, something she didn't get from her mother. Our experience together brought us closer together. I believe if you pursue psilcybin for personal growth intentions, it will show you what you're ready for and that can happen through a series of journeys. Btw - My partner and I tried MDMA alone and it didn't do much for us - plus it depleted our energy for a good week after. We decided it wasn't worth it. I've decided I'm only interested in experiencing for very intentional purposes, not recreational.
PS Keep me posted about the book!
Thank you! Here's more info about my book for pre-order:
https://a.co/d/5DoAyAz
The book is about how I learned that hope and love are the most powerful forces in the universe during my time with my husband at the burn center. And the magical story of how I met my partner 2 years after my husband died. Miracles, synchronicities, signs.
You may also be interested in my Substack - I write about personal resilience. https://jennybrandemuehl.substack.com/p/thriving-again-after-my-husbands
This is amazing to hear, Jenny. I’m so glad to know that you had such a positive and profound experience with Psilocybin. I’ve thought about pursuing it therapeutically. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Intention, set and setting are so important. Having a guide you trust, being in an energetically peaceful physical space make a big difference.
Yes.
Mdma could change the world if people gave it a chance. It is a life altering experience. Shulgin believed it to be the ultimate medicine for humanity. When corona time broke out and my honeymoon was scuppered we took a large dose of 5-mapb in the garden, which is simular to mdma (and yet different) - good lord i will never ever forget that day.
Great read, and How to Change Your Mind is so good.
I started smoking weed after I got cancer. It helped me through a lot of it, both body and mind. Unfortunately, I work for the Gov now and can't because of our dumbass laws.
Oh, wow. So sorry to hear about that last development!
I loved this piece because the writing was beautiful, evocative, gorgeous! Zero interest in recreational drugs though. This piece reminded me of all the euphoric things available to us in life: travel, music, reading, connections between people, romantic love, dogs! Give me writing like this & hold the psychedelic drugs.
Thank you! But I have to say that I believe MDMA could be a powerful antidote to so many of our ills. An incredible boon to couples therapy, for one. And every time I read about an organization's leadership overwhelmed with distrust and dissent, I can't help thinking that they should take MDMA together--it's almost impossible to feel rage and scorn in that state, and it has some lasting effects in that regard.
I love Kristin’s piece, too.
I’ve heard this! & I will keep an open mind…
This was a fascinating read! I’ve always had an aversion to taking anything mind-altering, especially since a not-so-fun experience in Amsterdam in my early twenties. After that it was just alcohol, and I ditched that almost 5 years ago. I don’t like the idea of a hallucinogenic experience taking a sudden turn and then finding myself stuck in an uncomfortable experience, like in Amsterdam. But it’s super interesting to read about. Especially within the context of aging.
Thanks, Skylar. Glad you enjoyed this. Nothing like a bad trip to put you off trips!
I'm 48 and used to do ecstasy quite a lot in my early 20s through my early 30s. in fact it's how I met my husband when in was 24 (both of us on ecstasy at a dance party). The first time I did it I was nervous but once it kicked in, I loved the experience and thought, I will never drink alcohol again: this is so much better!
The problem was the after effects/the depression hangover that would put me in an introverted state a few days later. That becomes worse the more you do it. But I cherish all the lovely bonding and erotic joy it helped me and many others access.
The other night, several friends (all in their 40s and 50s) all reminisced about how much we loved those experiences doing ecstasy and MDMA but felt "too old" to deal with the after effects. But I'm thinking it could be fun to try again as a way to celebrate an anniversary and reconnect. Just hope the blues don't hit so hard these days when the serotonin is depleted!
Jerry. I have friends (a couple) who do Ecstasy together quite regularly and they take a supplement available at health food stores called 5HTP afterwards to help build up their serotonin reserves and mitigate whatever drop in mood they experience after their “heart opening bliss”. If you are interested, there is so much benefit from the experience of doing ecstasy with a partner, it seems worthwhile to figure out how to anticipate, work with, and manage the after-effects… just as we do with so many other things in life.
Interesting, re: 5HTP. Thanks, Kristi.
Thanks for sharing that, Jerry. I hear you. I always worry about side-effects and after-effects.
First, thanks Kristin for the courage to express what the kids may not understand but we're all too old to care about that aren't we? As for my experience, I was just 16 (i'm 71 now) and I was given a tab of mescaline, a psychedelic drug and naturally occurring alkaloid in the peyote cactus (I had to look that up actually). It was a purple pill and after a bit of time passed I found a wooded alcove in our local golf course (one we religiously broke into as kids) to lay down in. Slowly I began to feel the "everything is everything" vibe that peyote or other natural psychedelics are known for. The high was mild but beautiful and offered me a complete holistic joining with the energy (as I both felt it and saw it) that was all around me. It opened my understanding of my relationship with the natural world. That "We are all interconnected" feeling. I realized or felt that I had taken my human experience as particularly unique and waaaay too seriously. Or, more rightly, that I had imagined it as something separate from the energy and life force that was surrounding me. That moment was life changing for me. I wanted to just meld into the universe but as I lay there thinking I would just let myself dissolve into the earth, the ants started crawling on me and my human mind said..."I don't think so", which actually made me laugh and taught me that getting outside my human body was not really that easy. But the message was deep and abiding and while I have tried other psychedelics or mushrooms over the years (a friend turned them into a cocoa drink for our trip to the beach) I found those experience somewhat redundant because the message - that first full blast message of interconnected with the world around me - did not really need repeating. It was more than an experience, it was, to me, a universal truth that has stayed with me throughout my life. Perhaps if more people gave it a try they would feel the folly of regarding Mother Nature as something outside of us.
I love that, Harriet.
MDMA- I took it in my thirties a handful of times recreationally, and I loved it. I took it 2 years ago at 65 with a therapist who acted not so much as a guide but a sitter. She happened to also be a long-time friend. I didn't have an agenda going in. Just decided to let the med do its job to unearth whatever needed to be revealed. Nothing came up during the journey, but I had EPIC dreams for a couple of weeks after involving a white Raven and a Golden Eagle (full-length, incredible stories in themselves). But unfortunately, the medicine triggered a craving for altered states. I'd been sober for just 3 months at this point. I ended up drinking. It was a short slip, just. A few days, but still not a good thing. I was too new to recovery to have done the MDMA. But it's now been a couple of years (with 2 minor slips since I've imbibed. I feel confident and grounded in my recovery now. So I'm revisiting MDMA. This time with a certified plant medicine Guide. He had me fill out an extensive bio/history covering literally every aspect of my life. I've had two of the required sessions of discovery with him that he does prior to actually journeying. This time I'll be going in with an agenda, so he can help guide me in that direction. I'll be asking the medicine to show me if there are any blocked memories that are tripping me up that I need to see. I'm writing a memoir, and I have some gray areas of my life experiences that I'd like to try to access. Feeling confident and safe this time around in utilizing MDMA for clarity and deeper healing. I'll no doubt be writing about the experience! 💖 Thnx for opening up this line of query! 🙏🏻😊
Thanks for sharing this, Jody. Sorry to hear about the downsides to your first outing. Good luck with your new experiment with it!
I have enjoyed Kristin Ohlson's work for many years now! Such an excellent writer. For example, I love how she ends with the image of her dog "rolling on her back to invite the love."
Her writing really is great! I love this piece.
I'm 57 and remember when X was legal. Everyone was so bummed the summer the govt made it illegal. I was more into other drugs in HS so only did it a few times. It was fun. I did it a lot in the early 90s rave scene in CA. Again fun to dance all night on it. I'm curious about trying it in a medicinal setting, like therapy. When I did it, it was just about dancing and feeling good
I hadn't realized it had once been legal! I remember being at CBGB in the mid-90s, and a guy coming up to me asking me for a hug, then telling me he was X-ing. When I asked him to tell me more about it, he said, "On it, you can have orgasms in any part of your body. You can have an arm-gasm." I wasn't sure I wanted to have an arm-gasm, least of all in the middle of CBGB. Lol.
Yeah, it became illegal July 1, 1985. You could buy it at a club in Dallas from the bartenders, like charge your credit card for drinks and the added tip would be the cost of the pills.
Wow!
I was in my 30's the first time I did psychedelics - acid then, and a few times a year for the next 15 years with the same group of women friends. They all aged out of our ritualized trips, got married, had kids, while mine were teenagers by then and often too self involved to pay much attention to me and my friends. I miss those days - I miss having that special closeness, sharing our silly moments and our silent ones, our long history of shared moments and shared memories. I want to trip again, perhaps in a group with some people I know and some I don't; there's a weekend women's retreat at the ocean this summer and if the timing works out I'll go . At my age - in my 80's - it will probably be my last psychedelic experience - one can't be this old and not consider trying to peek around the corner and get a preview of what if anything is next. A return to the stream of disembodied consciousnesses, perhaps?
This is a beautifully grounded piece. I’ve never taken any psychedelics myself. I only occasionally overdose on Stoicism as my mood enhancer, which is less sparkly but great for building emotional calluses and quoting Marcus Aurelius at inappropriate times. Do you think clarity hits harder when it sneaks up softly, like this did?
I just googled to see if there was a drug that went by the street name “Stoicism.” Lol.
I would very much like to celebrate my 80th birthday in five months by taking my first drug other than "pot," as we called it in the '60s. But my other drugs are telling me No. Ah well. I appreciate the lovely article, though.
Ah, right—important to consider interactions with prescribed drugs. Happy almost big birthday!
I am in my forties and was completely drug naïve when I signed up for the experimental MDMA protocol for PTSD through MAPS. I am new to this world but I also loved Michael Pollan's book "How to Change Your Mind" as an entrance to getting started understanding it. I completed the MDMA protocol for PTSD last year and just starting writing about it on Substack. Reading these stories helps me to understand my own experience more and I hope I can give that back or pay it forward as the case might be.
Oh, how perfect. Great that you're writing about it!
Thank you so much for featuring this story! I love hearing resonances across experience as well as differences.