Lucky Ranch Learning Labs Bridges The Gap in Psychedelic Health Care - Rooster Magazine
Reilly Steidle carried a sign through Telluride’s Mushroom Festival that read: “Show me your ID for free mushrooms. ” She wore a custom-made jacket with 46 pockets, each holding an individual microdose. She’s taken the jacket to countless events and protests, all with the goal of sprinkling mushrooms on as many places as she can.
Reilly Steidle carried a sign through Telluride’s Mushroom Festival that read: “Show me your ID for free mushrooms. ” She wore a custom-made jacket with 46 pockets, each holding an individual microdose. She’s taken the jacket to countless events and protests, all with the goal of sprinkling mushrooms on as many places as she can. Steidle spent much of her career in science and medicine. Frustrated by gaps in the health care system and inspired by the role mushrooms played in improving her own life, she builtLucky Ranch Learning Lab, a community-based project focused on psilocybin education, safe access and harm reduction. “You know, I grew bacteria and cells for people’s bodies,” she recalled telling someone who asked whether or not she could grow mushrooms. “I’m pretty sure I could figure out mushrooms. ”And she did. Learning Lab teaches everything from mushroom cultivation and safe psychedelic use to foraging and the role fungi play in ecosystems. Colorado lawallows adults to cultivate natural medicine for personal use in a 12-by-12-foot space. That’s enough, Steidle said, to grow “mushrooms for an entire town. ”Her project has evolved over the years. At first, Steidle hosted gifting events, including a Microdose of the Month Club, in breweries and kombucha bars. Attendees first show their ID to prove they’re 21, sign a waiver, and move through education stations where volunteers explain dosing and answer questions. But renting space is expensive. She eventually found an old Pilates studio where she taught over 300 people how to grow mushrooms. After losing that space, she went mobile. Now, she hostsevents in public parks,offers consultations, private grow classes, harm reduction education, and describes herself as being “on tour. ” Her studio apartment also doubles as a mushroom lab. Her gifting events include a mutual aid component: People bring clothing donations in exchange for mushrooms. She tells attendees to “go feed Frank,” referring to an unhoused man from Florida who has spent ten years outside Denver’s Federal Reserve building. “If I can grow enough mushrooms in my bedroom, I can make sure Frank doesn’t have to end up in my ER getting his toes cut off because he doesn’t have enough socks… I really wanted to use the experiences I’ve had to solve problems. ”She also created the “Ounce of Hope Station,” a raffle in which attendees enter by writing their intentions for receiving mushrooms and the winner gets an ounce. The concept eventually turned into an art installation called the Hope Machine, built from a candy dispenser. “It’s kind of sad that 100 people are showing up in a park with a pack of socks trying to get mushrooms. ”Steidle says her work exists to fill the gaps she’s seen in health care. “I’ve just been in a lot of places in life that have shown me that people need help, and they need help today, and right now. ”She believes psychedelic education should be more accessible. “For somebody that’s suicidal, they have to give$3,500for a chance to feel better. I think that there’s other ways that we can help people, too. ”She said her time working at the Mayo Clinic taught her that creating spaces where people can openly discuss things like psychedelics without punishment or stigma lead to safer outcomes. Teaching safe use is just as important as providing access. For Steidle, safe use looks like individualed packaged mushrooms with QR codes linking to certificates of analysis as well as Fireside, a psychedelic peer-support hotline. “I put QR codes for all of the certificates of analysis so people know exactly what they’re eating. I have notifications for how often people scan them. I’m a scientist at heart, and it’s so interesting to go from classic research environments to kind of doing your own community research. ”She also doesn’t give them the “tools to go to the moon,” she said. She avoids encouraging high-dose experiences and focuses on education. She explained that many unregulated mushroom products – especially chocolate bars – can contain anything from salmonella, glass, fentanyl, or worse, no mushrooms in them at all. A positive experience boils down to being properly educated and knowing your limits. “How do I have a positive experience? When is it appropriate to go to Red Rocks on four grams of mushrooms? If you don’t know and somebody gives you access to shrooms at a farmer’s market, you’re more likely to end up in the Zendo tent. ”As psychedelic use grows in Colorado, so have peer-support organizations like Zendo. Steidle’s first ever show at Red Rocks will be watched from a Zendo medical tent as a trained trip sitter. What that looks like: rather than immediately restraining or transporting someone by ambulance, individuals who aren’t in medical distress receive a trained sitter and safe environment. People don’t always need emergency medicine, she said. They need a safe container and guidance. At Decadence, she said Zendo reduced ambulance transports from54 to 17while on site. It’s difficult for people to be compassionate and hold space for things they don’t understand yet, she said. “If we can have enough educated people in society, it raises the consciousness of how we’re able to help each other. We’re all just walking each other home. ”Despite Colorado’s changing psychedelic laws, education remains a challenge. Steidle says social media reports her for terrorism and selling drugs, making it difficult to advertise events. She doesn’t call Learning Lab a business. “How do you make money off of community safety?”Instead, she describes it as a project built around creating safer, more informed communities. “I call it building a co