Denver became the first city to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms back in 2019 with Ordinance 301, or the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Initiative, and now, a spiritual group called The Sacred Tribe is seizing that opportunity to use psychedelic mushrooms in their own weekend-long Denver retreats, according to the Associated Press.
Rabbi Ben Gorelick founded The Sacred Tribe in 2018, and it’s since grown to more than 270 members. About once monthly, Gorelick hosts a weekend-long retreat to create space for people to explore “the relationship to self, community and God,” according to the report, with the help of psilocybin mushrooms his team grows in Denver.
The report recounts an evening back in November, as a group of 25 people sat in a circle together on the floor, each with a ramen spoon full of a brownish paste, including Gorelick. He instructed those in the room to consume the spoon’s contents, a customized mixture of psychedelic mushroom extract, then to find a spot to lay back on the floor as they prepared to “drop in” during a guided breathing exercise.
The retreat starts with a substance-free dinner and interactive workshop on Friday those taking mushrooms returning Saturday for introductions and intention-setting. After ingesting the mushrooms and starting guided breathing exercises, Gorelick put on a playlist curated by participants earlier in the evening.
A few minutes later, people began writhing between deep breaths, with things escalating along with the music’s intensity, though the mood settled as the tempo of the music slowed down. Following breathwork, which the sessions are called, the rest of the night is free for members’ exploration, where they can spend time quietly downstairs, in a room with music and visuals projected on the ceiling, or outside by the fire pit.
Everyone who consumed mushrooms was required to stay the night and given the option for a second dose a few hours later. On Sunday morning, everyone was back seated on the floor to discuss their experiences and the takeaways they could apply to their lives.
Gorelick said that his approach is “not what a normal conservative or reform synagogue looks like,” referencing The Sacred Tribe’s methodology as more in line with Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.
“The goal is not to blast people to the moon. It’s to give people just enough of a threshold dose that they have that openness to connecting,” Gorelick said.
As shrooms, psilocybin and other psychedelics experience increased exposure, legislation reform and research for their potential benefits, cities and regions outside of Denver, including Oakland, California and Washington D.C., have passed similar initiatives. Denver leaders are also considering further liberalization, and voters in the state could be asked this fall if they would consider legalizing psychedelic mushrooms statewide.
One group of Colorado activists filed revised versions of the 2022 ballot initiatives to legalize psilocybin and create “healing centers” in the state in January, followed by a second campaign who submitted their own competing proposal to legalize psychedelic about a week later.
Gorelick’s Sacred Tribe is indirectly part of this push, as the practice pushes boundaries of what is legal, exploring the intersection of Judaism and psychedelics, ultimately spotlighting the gap between city, state and federal laws on psychedelics.
It also illustrates a missing piece of the 2019 vote to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, with Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds highlighting, “We’re not trying to get the dealership pipeline going here, but if it is decriminalized to possess it, well, how do you get it?”
The Sacred Tribe has not been immune to scrutiny under the law, either. Police raided their cultivation facility in North Denver, where the group grew more than 35 strains of mushrooms to use for its events. Police also arrested one employee, along with seizing mushrooms and documents. Denver Police also recently arrested Gorelick on suspicion of possession with intent to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance, according to his arrest warrant affidavit.
Gorelick said he isn’t worried about the legal consequences, as he has never sold or distributed mushrooms beyond The Sacred Tribe retreats. He also said he believes the group is protected by a religious exemption.
The Denver decriminalization ordinance indicates that it is still a crime to buy or sell psilocybin, along with growing it beyond a “personal amount,” but a recent city report shows that mushroom-related arrests are rare today, with just five psilocybin-only arrests since decriminalization.
In addition to the other potential ballot initiatives, activists have filed ballot initiatives to legalize entheogenic plants like psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use statewide, which Colorado voters might also weigh in on as soon as November.
Gorelick is also preparing to administer a study in partnership with Canadian company Divergence Neuro that aims to collect biometric data about how psychedelic mushrooms affect the human body and brain, which will leverage The Sacred Tribe’s mushrooms.
“The Sacred Tribe stands by our religious exemption and we believe in our religious exemption,” Gorelick said. “I am absolutely fully confident that at the conclusion of vetting of our processes that life will go back to normal.”
