Russell Brand is beyond annoying. Definitely not the brand I smoke.
Thanks for sharing though. No need to crucify the op, he was just trying
to share what he thinks is relevant.

Thank you. I wasn't posting this because I think it's some awesome video on the topic, chock full of important and accurate information. I'm also not some mad disciple of Pinchbeck and/or Brand. However, I do think a discussion about DMT and Ayahuasca, no matter how trivial, on network TV in the US going out to millions of viewers, is an important and somewhat historic event. If 1% of the watchers go out and get Strassman's book, look into ayahuasca rituals, join Reality Sandwich, etc, then surely this is a good thing. Hopefully the positive results of this outweigh the negatives. Either way, it's an important event in psychedelic culture.

Now can we stop being elitist schmucks, trying to pull ourselves up by pushing others down? Please? I never expected the DMT-Nexus community to be so judgmental

So, I guess that's a yes to Honey Boo Boo.

I'm not exactly hating on the guy. I enjoyed his book and find his ubiquitous presence on the psychedelic scene to be (for the most part) harmless. However, what did he think would be the tone and tenor of an interview on the Russel Brand show? Face it, it's not exactly the McNeil Lehrer Report. Russel Brand is funny on film (sometimes...), but he's 100% a buffoon; that's his entire shtick. He's basically got two things he riffs on - his dick and how loaded he used to get. Pinchbeck isn't furthering any kind of cosmic agenda there. He's getting paid for the appearance and being on TV.

To me, DMT just isn't a trivial thing in any respect. Seeing it trivialized and turned into fodder for bullshit pop culture annoys me.

Fair enough.

I do agree with the views expressed that not all exposure on DMT is a good thing.

I can understand that. I just think it's a good thing to see it get some play in the mainstream. I could certainly be wrong, as it might have negative consequences.



I agree. However, I think that's a risk we're going to inevitably have to take at some point.

I agree 100% the first time I tried dmt I was 17. That was 1996. I smoked probably 10 x over that next year (including an incredible initiation on my 18th birthday. DMT made an incredible impression on me. Without a doubt it help mold me into who I am today.

I never did it again after that amazing year in Marin. For some reason I started researching it again well into my 30's with a wife and children. I could feel it calling me. I was astounded to find that it was so popular. These teks have allowed dmt an audience far larger than anything I could have previously imagined.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand I can see DMT helping humanity wake up and realize its full potential. On the other hand I'm extremely sensitive to how this medicine is portrayed. It use to be so hard to obtain...giving it an aura of mystery, intrigue. It made the experience very special. Thank god dmt has a way of weeding out the people just looking for the next 'it' drug to get their kicks off.

Honestly, I wish the media pundits and pseudo-hippie trustafundians would stop trying to turn dmt into just another commodity . Some of these writers remind me of elite 19th century aristocrats that went to Africa to hang out with natives in the hope of getting material to write a novel just so they can check it off the list and move on. DMT has been used by peasants for the last 2,000 years. Something about intellectuals trying to analyze and write about something like dmt bothers me.

I'm so sorry for ranting. Thank you for allowing me to express myself. I wish I could better articulate how I feel about it. I hope that dmt won't become just another drug people say is far out. It's so much more than that. I guess you could say I'm protective of what I consider magic.

[]Deace

I do not want to hate on Pinchbeck either but i used to be into the guy, but it seems the more i know about him the more i am turned of by him.

I mean anyone could go up there and say that psychedelics expand consciousness.
I mean the level in which he speaks does not seem evolved at all.

The thing with Daniel is i feel this man is a very lonely man, He is doing a good thing for sure, but idk when i hear him speak, it seems like he has no real experience on this subject, sure he has probably tripped and seen some things, but i feel that Daniel is just riding off of everyone else s ideas.

Put it this way:

DMT and ayahuasca have been around for thousands of years. In the past two, I've seen them pop up on the Russel Brand show, Stephen Colbert, a Jennifer Aniston movie, a documentary which is currently among Netflix's most popular downloads and the Cartoon Network, to name a few. In this time I've also seen a clamp down on mimosa hostilis in the U.S., a large increase in the number of irresponsible YouTube videos showing kids making and smoking it, an explosion of ayahuasca tourism that will surely leave a lasting imprint on the indigenous cultures it exploits, and the beginnings of a first wave of DMT "lab" busts, complete with corresponding media demonization.

Do you really think the timing of all these things are unrelated? There's a price to be paid for the titilation you feel at seeing Russel Brand rubber stamp it. It's already a very special thing without Honey Boo Boo's endorsement. How does putting it on TV in such dumbed down fashion help to protect against these things or somehow not promote them? If anything, Russel Brand should really run in the other direction, because one asshammering breakthrough is just about all it takes to make one want to turn their back forever on the tabloid culture that sustains him.

My only issue with Daniel Pinchbeck is that (like others have already mentioned) I feel he's somehow appropriating the experience to further his own agenda. And like other high profile DMT "spokespeople", my sneaking suspicion is that his level of personal experience is more limited than he lets on. He's in the trip business and he's riding a wave of cultural curiosity. That's good for him, but I suspect in the long run, not great for DMT.

So well put. Thank you for summing up my feelings better than I did, lol.

To the OP. Thank you for taking time out of your day to share a vid that some people will enjoy and is news about our common passion. Sometimes I can speak too freely and its not the first time I have pissed others off. However ...before we go swinging the elitist/judgmental hammer around Id just like to say a few things.

People have a right to dislike a person that puts themselves in the spotlight as much as they have the right to like them. I really don't think its judgmental to not like an author, speaker, pseudo celebrity and state reasons why as many have done here. Ive seen no personal attacks on the man just opinions backed up with reasons.

The above quote is exactly my point. D.P does speak and write as if he is far more experienced than he is and its obvious to many people that have been there done that.

I think for me and many other people we don't like seeing a person as an un official or self appointed spokes person when it can clearly be seen they don't have that much to offer.

I truly didn't mean to attack or rain on your thread. Its great that you shared this but just keep in mind that anything posted some will like some will disagree with but that doesn't make anyone elitist. So lets save that comment for the ones that usually shout it. people that have been booted out of the nexus and then go to other online communities crying were elitist pricks. Were just people too. Those with our own ideas and opinions but I do want you to know I respect yours and appreciate you contributing.

Sorry I dont mean to derail but felt the elitist comment needed addressing. I will leave the discussion now.

Wow, well said Art. I wish I could articulate my feeling as well as you do

[]Deace

I agree with the general feelings that Dr. Mantus, Olympus and Art express about Daniel Pinchbeck.

Breaking Open the Head was the first recent book about psychedelics I read when I came back to the subject after a blank decade. I really enjoyed it, and it had the virtue of turning on a lot of switches, of pointing to a lot of interesting things for an outdated person. I mean, when I read it I hadn't even heard of Burning Man.

But the more I learn, the lower the book gets in my shelves. Not because of its literary quality, which I think it's remarkable, but because I realize it's a book written for the layperson, and (deliberately or not) also written to dazzle, to impress. And I have not a single bad wish for Pinchbeck, but it's true that the first time I saw him speak I felt a little disappointed. Not because of his speaking, but because of what he let out of himself.

Either he has this somewhat narcissist profile, or he is a little naive. He makes me think of a (contemporary) young Tim Leary, overlooking the fact that our society might be not that ready for what he intends to sell. And it might be both things, because when you boast it's more important your own image than what people will do with your advice.

It was good for me that Pinchbeck is there, and I hope that post-2012 he'll show a more sober, lower profile - but now he's not my favorite profile. As for Russell Brand, I didn't even know who he was but I guess that's partly because I'm not in the US.

Very well said Vodsel, this certainly is not a bashing in anyway.

I couldn't agree more about the disappointment of his speech.

I could say someone half his age could be a better psychedelic advocate
I mean this in the sense that his intellect is not very high, and i feel this makes us psychedelic users look stupid in a way if you know what i mean.

I don't want to carry on, but do completely agree that DP is for the Layperson.

I'd have to agree with the general consensus here, Russel Brand definitely trivialised the issue and instead of bringing a comedic light to it in a positive way (someone like George Carlin or Bill Hicks broached the topic of psychedelics in a positive and funny way without mocking it), he went for cheap laughs that cheapened what Daniel was trying to get across...

Big ups to the OP for linking this though It really shows how not to put psychedelics like DMT and Ayahuasca across into the mainstream. It's a delicate topic to broach and needs utmost respect if it will ever become more accepted by the mainstream and status quo.

I can't see how that brought anything productive to the table. In no way did it bring light to what D is about or capable of, and it definitely didn't give it the respect that it deserves. Between the bufoonery, it was presented like some simplified hippy "mind expanding" BS that 99% of the population would dismiss without a second thought. That is a great example of the kind of media attention D does NOT need. IMO, it's no better than the mindless youtube posts that are single handedly bringing dmt and salvia down. Shame, lame, and more of the same.
Pinch has sold out and should know better for someone with an "expanded" mind....ugh, it was painful to watch.

Brand has been around for a long time in the UK...he specializes in being controversial. That said he is also just an Ex Skag head with a Big Mouth...He should learn to keep it shut now and again and think first before going for cheap laughs.

I completely agree with Art...well said

Only because Daniel Pinchbeck allowed him to. He didn't prepare for dealing with Brand, and sadly looked like a shy geek.

I must state that I am quite happy with the turn this thread has taken. It has quickly gone from a thoughtLESS bashing session to a thoughFUL discussion... the type I have come to expect from my beloved Nexus. Thank you, all, for taking the time to watch and comment. I'm sure many of you would have made for a better guest on the topic than Pinchbeck.

Agreed. It would be interesting to see how someone with the wit of Terence McKenna would've handled Russel's buffoonery

Hahaha Lmao That would of been really interesting to see.

I've actually drunk Ayahuasca with Pinchbeck, and spent 10 days with him at a retreat, and honestly, I found the guy to be kind of an asshole. Rude, full of himself, and a highly inflated ego. But I guess that can come with "fame" in whatever form that takes. Very smart guy and a wealth of information on a variety of subjects, and very interesting to talk to, there is no doubt.

He has done some amazing things with Evolver and Reality Sandwich, and gotten the word out about DMT. The first time I had ever heard of DMT was through is book 2012 Return of Quetzetacol, and my use of it can be attributed to reading that book as it piqued my interest.

Didn't watch the video as I don't particularly like his style of presentation.