hi everyone,

i just arrived back home from a bit of a surreal experience at a festival.
i went there with a friend of mine and we set up camp with someone we met the year before at the exact same spot.
as it is with festivals he knew 3 other guys and they knew more so we end up in the middle of a group that is about 20-25 people big.
right when the tent was set up I did smell dmt. 7 of the guys where smoking changa there...
afterwards i tried to engage them in a conversation about it.

it turns out none of them knew what MAOIs do, are or that they should be careful with it.
they apparently know someone who makes the changa but does not provide any detail. They had no idea about what leafs have been used... just no info at all. also they did not seem to care, in fact they took a lot of E shortly after that.
also it seems the trip was rather short. that is why i suspect it was really enhanced leafs.
(i hardly saw those people as they spent most of the time at the tent and consumed whatever was available, some of them even left the festival to go to a nearby tekk party in an abandoned bunker)

during the festival i meet some old friends and get to talk to them about this. As I explain to them that i am a bit shocked by the lack of knowledge they tell me "yeah, we have changa here aswell, but what are those MAOIs you are talking about?"

during the festival I saw people smoking changa right in the middle of the food stores and blowing mapacho tobacco up each others nostrils.
Also I did smell dmt at least a dozen times when walking through the camping area.


this was my first psy trance festival this year. but i have never seen this in all the years before.
is the same happening at other events?
what did change that made changa so present at those events?


i am curious what you think about this

Yes.



Nexus told us how to make it.



Sounds like a nice festival.

the festival was really nice. but this had me worried.
also those people who were camping with us were nice to talk to but whenever i came back to the site they were talking about drugs, doing hits from the dirtiest bong i have ever seen and mixing every drug they could find.
for me this creates an atmosphere i do not enjoy but i try to get away from. which is why i spent most of the time at the festival at the chillout tent - which probably i would have done anyway since I really like the people who organize that tant

I've been going to psytrance festivals since 2014 and back then was incredibly hard to find changa or dmt, no one even knew what I was talking about when I mentioned dmt...At some point I found some, it was expensive and very strong, I was told it was "smokable Ayahuasca", but this person knew about MAOIs and other stuff. It was actually the first time I heard the word changa, and I don't remember seeing many people use it.
Nowadays I always smell dmt at festivals, everywhere, and everyone has heard about it...I was able to smoke some in one a month ago and it was a very mild changa, without MAOI, was basically just dmt dissolved in some leaves at a small ratio, so I suspect that's what they're doing. Because the high is mild, it's becoming way more recreational than spiritual, and that's my theory to why it's so widespread. I've even heard of college kids smoking changa at open bar parties.

I am confident there was DMT at woodstock. It's not really new to the festival scene.

While I would caution others here, I personally have no issue with smoking changa a few hours before taking MDMA at a festival. I have done so a small handful of times and never had an issue. Oral harmalas before or after MDMA are for myself a much larger concern. The lack of knowledge comes along with the crowd of people who use these things and have not spent most waking hours at some point reading about it and posting on internet forums...It is a concern that is to be expected. Most of the electronic music and arts festivals tend to also be rather psychedelic festivals and are providing both accurate information and help for those going through difficult experiences. This is the best model out there at the moment that I am aware of. I think the festival culture is the main vessel for the deep openings so many people are now having with psychedelics...beyond ayahuasca or peyote ceremonies, or Iboga or toad venom. It is largely LSD and MDMA and the container of these festivals that is responsible for the largest % of people using psychedelics in a quasi religious/mystical/theraputic fashion. The risks that come along with everything else, so far seem low when compared to what I have witnessed in the past in other far more mainstream venues that promote alcohol use.

Use this as a lesson for the future. Find your tribe and plan your camp well. This one thing itself is important IME in the outcome of your experience at a festival.

My real concern with DMT in general is that people are just not aware of where any of it comes from...they don't know where the tree bark is sourced from, who sourced it, how it was done etc...it's all a big question mark. I think that LSD and mushrooms are more things of this culture...they can be and are produced within the culture to some extent. LSD and MDMA are the backbone sacraments of the rave movement. DMT use, as it currently stands in both the festival culture and the larger psychedelic movement happening globally, requires some pause. I have never seen synthetic DMT, and I am the only person I know in real life who has ever even attempted to extract from local plant sources or grown any amount of DMT at home..and even then it is not all that much. I have spent my fair share of time extracting from plants like Mimosa Hostilis, and I don't care much to point fingers at people. I do feel however, that once I have made personal use of what plant materials I have left, that may be it for my time with DMT aside from the few doses a year my garden provides..unless I happen upon synthetic DMT or 5-MeO-DMT. DMT is not just present at festivals for personal use. We don't need to spell out here what that means you can figure it out. It is the commodification of something who's production is morally questionable that I find to be unappealing. Again, most people I encounter just have no idea. It is not about ill will...but more an example of a growing cultures youthful naivete. The discussion IS taking place however, which I think is to be commended. I think people wonder sometimes why I have begun to sort of talk down DMT in comparison to other psychedelics. There is a hype surrounding DMT that I think is not necessarily true, and drives a lot of people to build up unrealisitic expectations of it, and essentially, search it out. Now, unlike a decade ago when I began to search it out, it is much easier to come across without having to do much yourself. LSD is also like this. LSD however is not being mined from exotic lifeforms and shipped to people in far away lands(although it's origins may or may not also be morally questionable). As a culture I think self reliance is a commendable trait to be cultivating. LSD is of the west..mushrooms we can grow at home. I think LSD is the most suited psychedelic sacrament for that container(electronic festivals).

I like the idea of DMT as it is atm being more confined to those willing to research a bit and learn to extract at home for personal use. It is far less taxing on the other species involved. Perhaps the sources are abundant...but I don't really know and neither does anyone else I encounter.

I think to not like spice vibe while being on a crowdy festival nor being drunk on an opera. What a combination LOL

In the UK Ive met the odd group of people smoking changa, but as jiva says, most of them have no idea how it was made, what MAOI's are or whether any have been included in the blend. A lot of people seem to treat it as just another festival drug and are usually on several other substances when they smoke it.

If I brought any to share at a festival, Id make sure it was enhanced leaf rather than real changa, no MAOI's, to avoid any reactions with other substances and also the possibility of someone being on SSRI type medications.

According to 'chocobeastie' the original Aussie changa was often made with straight caapi leaf, no extra harmalas added, and also not as strong dmt:leaf ratio as the 1:1 most people here prefer. This would also be good for festival use.

Walking alone on open playa away from the ruckus of the city smoalking a changa spliff after a job well done. Bliss.

Not that anyone should ever do this, ever, dogs and night vision and all... but, wow.

I make 20% party changa. 20% spice 20% caapi leaf, 20% mullein, 20% pao d'arco, 20% peppermint.

Lovely stuff.

Ive been sceptic about the implementation of DMT in the festival culture myself, until it found its way into my own experience this summer in festivals.

As some one who doesnt smoke cannabis it is great to have something else that can be integrated into a small ritual with friends on the side of the dancefloor. Great mystical and bonding experiences have been made this way for me.

I think I went to the same festival!
The thing is, you don't even have to leave your tent to find some. At least 4 people came to my tent and offered me changa (as well as lsd, mushrooms, mdma, ketamine, coke and even opium).