Mattha Busby
@matthabusby.bsky.social
Reporting on Drugs/Psychedelics/Subculture/Society @vice @wired @rollingstone @guardian @latimes @ukesquire Repped: @aevitas_creative
Vancouver, BC
Vancouver, BC
Psychedelics once belonged to the cultural left: anti-war, anti-capitalist, suspicious of the church and state. Now, the drugs are being championed by evangelical Christians, Republican governors, military veterans and big tech billionaires.
For @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
For @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Conservative and Christian? US right champions psychedelic drugs
Texas governor among those to call for expanded access to ibogaine, said to help with treating veterans with PTSD
www.theguardian.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Psychedelics once belonged to the cultural left: anti-war, anti-capitalist, suspicious of the church and state. Now, the drugs are being championed by evangelical Christians, Republican governors, military veterans and big tech billionaires.
For @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
For @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
I wrote this piece because I only learned about pelvic floors a few years ago, despite having had one all my life. And then it turned out to be where I store all my issues. And then that turned out to be true for a lot of people www.wired.com/story/the-pe...
The Pelvic Floor Is a Problem
Everyone’s suddenly obsessed with the pelvic floor—physical therapists, MAHA influencers, me. Could this deeply misunderstood body part really be the seat of so much modern dysfunction?
www.wired.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 PM
I wrote this piece because I only learned about pelvic floors a few years ago, despite having had one all my life. And then it turned out to be where I store all my issues. And then that turned out to be true for a lot of people www.wired.com/story/the-pe...
Dispatch from Philadelphia on the rise of hellish drug medetomodine — and why people want to ‘Make Dope Heroin Again’
‘I’m all for safe supply. You can have someone do pure heroin, where you know what it does, or you can have this other crazy stuff.’
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘I’m all for safe supply. You can have someone do pure heroin, where you know what it does, or you can have this other crazy stuff.’
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘It’s made things worse for everyone’: Philadelphia grapples with rise of new street drug
Medetomidine has extreme and fast-acting withdrawal symptoms – and the detox centers that help patients are struggling with how best to cope
www.theguardian.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Dispatch from Philadelphia on the rise of hellish drug medetomodine — and why people want to ‘Make Dope Heroin Again’
‘I’m all for safe supply. You can have someone do pure heroin, where you know what it does, or you can have this other crazy stuff.’
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘I’m all for safe supply. You can have someone do pure heroin, where you know what it does, or you can have this other crazy stuff.’
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
I spoke to the people who continue to shape their lives around avoiding Covid and only breathing ‘clean’ air
‘Refusing to mask during an ongoing pandemic is absolutely violent and it’s undeniably participating in social murder.’
For @telegraph.co.uk
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12...
‘Refusing to mask during an ongoing pandemic is absolutely violent and it’s undeniably participating in social murder.’
For @telegraph.co.uk
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12...
Access Restricted
www.telegraph.co.uk
December 19, 2025 at 6:50 AM
I spoke to the people who continue to shape their lives around avoiding Covid and only breathing ‘clean’ air
‘Refusing to mask during an ongoing pandemic is absolutely violent and it’s undeniably participating in social murder.’
For @telegraph.co.uk
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12...
‘Refusing to mask during an ongoing pandemic is absolutely violent and it’s undeniably participating in social murder.’
For @telegraph.co.uk
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT. www.wired.com/story/people...
People Are Paying to Get Their Chatbots High on ‘Drugs’
An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT.
www.wired.com
December 17, 2025 at 12:03 PM
An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT. www.wired.com/story/people...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
People are paying up to $50 to get their chatbots high on "drugs" (code modules) that simulate the effects of cocaine, ayahuasca, cannabis, alcohol, and ketamine. Some tell @matthabusby.bsky.social it's made their chatbots more "human" and "free-thinking."
People Are Paying to Get Their Chatbots High on ‘Drugs’
An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT.
www.wired.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
People are paying up to $50 to get their chatbots high on "drugs" (code modules) that simulate the effects of cocaine, ayahuasca, cannabis, alcohol, and ketamine. Some tell @matthabusby.bsky.social it's made their chatbots more "human" and "free-thinking."
Reposted by Mattha Busby
Great article by @matthabusby.bsky.social on the origin story of psychonaut scientist Bruce Damer & the origin story of life on earth, and Bruce's MINDS project exploring the use of psychedelic for scientific creative problem solving nautil.us/the-psychede... see also doi.org/10.1177/2050...
The Psychedelic Scientist
The Psychedelic Scientist: High on ayahuasca, Bruce Damer saw how life on Earth began. He may very well be right.
nautil.us
December 16, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Great article by @matthabusby.bsky.social on the origin story of psychonaut scientist Bruce Damer & the origin story of life on earth, and Bruce's MINDS project exploring the use of psychedelic for scientific creative problem solving nautil.us/the-psychede... see also doi.org/10.1177/2050...
My profile of Bruce Damer — computer scientist, psychonaut, astrophysicist — and how he became the first protocell during an ayahuasca trip.
Psychedelics, he told me, shape the lens of the mind. ‘Suddenly new things come into view.’
For @nautil.us
nautil.us/the-psychede...
Psychedelics, he told me, shape the lens of the mind. ‘Suddenly new things come into view.’
For @nautil.us
nautil.us/the-psychede...
The Psychedelic Scientist
The Psychedelic Scientist: High on ayahuasca, Bruce Damer saw how life on Earth began. He may very well be right.
nautil.us
December 16, 2025 at 6:47 PM
My profile of Bruce Damer — computer scientist, psychonaut, astrophysicist — and how he became the first protocell during an ayahuasca trip.
Psychedelics, he told me, shape the lens of the mind. ‘Suddenly new things come into view.’
For @nautil.us
nautil.us/the-psychede...
Psychedelics, he told me, shape the lens of the mind. ‘Suddenly new things come into view.’
For @nautil.us
nautil.us/the-psychede...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
A heartbreaking piece www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/m...
Can Anyone Rescue the Trafficked Girls of L.A.’s Figueroa Street?
www.nytimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
A heartbreaking piece www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/m...
Gary Youds, ‘the cannabis martyr’, who has been arrested more than 50 times en route to five jail stints in his determined fight to operate a cannabis cafe in Liverpool. An extraordinary story of perseverance detailed in this fantastic new BBC podcast featuring me!
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Strange But True Crime - The Cannabis Martyr - BBC Sounds
A man from Liverpool battles authorities for the right to keep his cannabis café open.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 10, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Gary Youds, ‘the cannabis martyr’, who has been arrested more than 50 times en route to five jail stints in his determined fight to operate a cannabis cafe in Liverpool. An extraordinary story of perseverance detailed in this fantastic new BBC podcast featuring me!
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
If Mitch McConnell’s hemp ban goes into effect next November as planned, cannabis seeds will be rendered illegal based on the plants they output.
But experts say this is illogical, as the same seeds can produce very different THC concentrations etc.
My latest.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
But experts say this is illogical, as the same seeds can produce very different THC concentrations etc.
My latest.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
New US seed ban risks driving cannabis genetics underground, growers warn
Part of the shutdown deal, the ban could kill the cannabis genetics market, with only big firms able to comply
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:51 PM
If Mitch McConnell’s hemp ban goes into effect next November as planned, cannabis seeds will be rendered illegal based on the plants they output.
But experts say this is illogical, as the same seeds can produce very different THC concentrations etc.
My latest.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
But experts say this is illogical, as the same seeds can produce very different THC concentrations etc.
My latest.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
"The World Health Organization had a historic opportunity to ease a global ban on the coca leaf," reports @matthabusby.bsky.social. "But the agency has chosen not to do so."
The December 2 decision goes against the findings of the WHO's own expert review, which detailed harms of prohibition:
The December 2 decision goes against the findings of the WHO's own expert review, which detailed harms of prohibition:
“Moral Bankruptcy” as WHO Opts to Maintain Global Coca Prohibition - Filter
The World Health Organization had a historic opportunity to ease a strict global ban on the coca leaf—a prohibition, campaigners ...
filtermag.org
December 3, 2025 at 4:55 PM
"The World Health Organization had a historic opportunity to ease a global ban on the coca leaf," reports @matthabusby.bsky.social. "But the agency has chosen not to do so."
The December 2 decision goes against the findings of the WHO's own expert review, which detailed harms of prohibition:
The December 2 decision goes against the findings of the WHO's own expert review, which detailed harms of prohibition:
The longevity entrepreneur’s five-and-a-half-hour livestreamed trip is antithetical to the introspective nature of the drug. But the stunt could reduce stigma around psychedelics. For @wired.com www.wired.com/story/bryan-...
Bryan Johnson Has Discovered Shrooms, and He Really Wants You to Know It
The longevity entrepreneur’s five-and-a-half-hour livestreamed trip is antithetical to the introspective nature of the drug. But the stunt could reduce stigma around psychedelics.
www.wired.com
December 3, 2025 at 12:15 AM
The longevity entrepreneur’s five-and-a-half-hour livestreamed trip is antithetical to the introspective nature of the drug. But the stunt could reduce stigma around psychedelics. For @wired.com www.wired.com/story/bryan-...
I spent two days in America’s most notorious open drug scene, hearing how the new tranq, medetomidine, has the most fast-acting and dangerous withdrawal symptoms of all drugs. And why its prevalence is the result of the drug war. For @dispatchmedia.bsky.social
dispatch-media.com/the-real-peo...
dispatch-media.com/the-real-peo...
The real people of America's 'Zombieland'
Medetomidine has arrived in Kensington • The most powerful drug yet • 'You go straight to sleep'
dispatch-media.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I spent two days in America’s most notorious open drug scene, hearing how the new tranq, medetomidine, has the most fast-acting and dangerous withdrawal symptoms of all drugs. And why its prevalence is the result of the drug war. For @dispatchmedia.bsky.social
dispatch-media.com/the-real-peo...
dispatch-media.com/the-real-peo...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
“You do it, you wake up, you’re sick,” says Christine. “You don’t even know you’re passing out.”
@matthabusby.bsky.social reports from Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia, where a new drug called medetomidine is being mixed with fentanyl.
@matthabusby.bsky.social reports from Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia, where a new drug called medetomidine is being mixed with fentanyl.
December 2, 2025 at 9:27 AM
“You do it, you wake up, you’re sick,” says Christine. “You don’t even know you’re passing out.”
@matthabusby.bsky.social reports from Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia, where a new drug called medetomidine is being mixed with fentanyl.
@matthabusby.bsky.social reports from Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia, where a new drug called medetomidine is being mixed with fentanyl.
As President Donald Trump acknowledged in 1990 before becoming a politician, legalizing drugs is the only way to end the war on drugs. After all, people really want to sniff cocaine. ‘You have to legalize drugs to win that war,’ Trump said
For @theintercept.com
theintercept.com/2025/11/30/l...
For @theintercept.com
theintercept.com/2025/11/30/l...
Legalizing Cocaine Is the Only Way to End the Drug War
The war on drugs has failed, and Trump’s deadly boat strikes are only doubling down on decades of failed policy.
theintercept.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:37 PM
As President Donald Trump acknowledged in 1990 before becoming a politician, legalizing drugs is the only way to end the war on drugs. After all, people really want to sniff cocaine. ‘You have to legalize drugs to win that war,’ Trump said
For @theintercept.com
theintercept.com/2025/11/30/l...
For @theintercept.com
theintercept.com/2025/11/30/l...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
The war on drugs has failed, and Trump’s deadly boat strikes are only doubling down on decades of failed policy.
Legalizing Cocaine Is the Only Way to End the Drug War
The war on drugs has failed, and Trump’s deadly boat strikes are only doubling down on decades of failed policy.
interc.pt
November 30, 2025 at 3:35 PM
The war on drugs has failed, and Trump’s deadly boat strikes are only doubling down on decades of failed policy.
Psychedelics may have once promised transcendence, but now they promise engagement. In 2026, the psychedelic renaissance will not just be televised — it will be livestreamed
Latest for DoubleBlind
newsletter.doubleblindmag.com/p/people-are...
Latest for DoubleBlind
newsletter.doubleblindmag.com/p/people-are...
People Are Tripping on 100 Grams of Mushrooms on IG
It's excessive and points to a new era of the so-called "psychedelic renaissance."
newsletter.doubleblindmag.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Psychedelics may have once promised transcendence, but now they promise engagement. In 2026, the psychedelic renaissance will not just be televised — it will be livestreamed
Latest for DoubleBlind
newsletter.doubleblindmag.com/p/people-are...
Latest for DoubleBlind
newsletter.doubleblindmag.com/p/people-are...
Interesting piece which highlights leftwing politicians’ wider - and increasingly inexplicable - reluctance to support drug policy reform. How can the left reclaim the ‘effervescence of irrationality’ from the right? I guess they need to trip…
November 23, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Interesting piece which highlights leftwing politicians’ wider - and increasingly inexplicable - reluctance to support drug policy reform. How can the left reclaim the ‘effervescence of irrationality’ from the right? I guess they need to trip…
Reposted by Mattha Busby
The Relay app allows users to track their porn-free streaks and get group support. Its creators say they’re taking a stand against porn and AI erotica. www.wired.com/story/young-...
Young Mormons Built an App to Help Men Quit Gooning
The Relay app allows users to track their porn-free streaks and get group support. Its creators say they’re taking a stand against porn and AI erotica.
www.wired.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:06 PM
The Relay app allows users to track their porn-free streaks and get group support. Its creators say they’re taking a stand against porn and AI erotica. www.wired.com/story/young-...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
Young Mormons Built an App to Help Men Quit Gooning
"At a certain point, you enter what I can really only describe as a trance state. I plan a session for when I have no responsibilities and devote that time to my own enjoyment" — Josh, a gooner from Arizona
www.wired.com/story/young-...
"At a certain point, you enter what I can really only describe as a trance state. I plan a session for when I have no responsibilities and devote that time to my own enjoyment" — Josh, a gooner from Arizona
www.wired.com/story/young-...
Young Mormons Built an App to Help Men Quit Gooning
The Relay app allows users to track their porn-free streaks and get group support. Its creators say they’re taking a stand against porn and AI erotica.
www.wired.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Young Mormons Built an App to Help Men Quit Gooning
"At a certain point, you enter what I can really only describe as a trance state. I plan a session for when I have no responsibilities and devote that time to my own enjoyment" — Josh, a gooner from Arizona
www.wired.com/story/young-...
"At a certain point, you enter what I can really only describe as a trance state. I plan a session for when I have no responsibilities and devote that time to my own enjoyment" — Josh, a gooner from Arizona
www.wired.com/story/young-...
An app founded by Mormon students is helping ‘gooners’ who use porn compulsively to turn off their screens. But porn advocates maintain that government controls on porn are part of an age-old war on self-pleasure
New for WIRED (h/t @manishakrishnan.bsky.social)
www.wired.com/story/young-...
New for WIRED (h/t @manishakrishnan.bsky.social)
www.wired.com/story/young-...
Young Mormons Built an App to Help Men Quit Gooning
The Relay app allows users to track their porn-free streaks and get group support. Its creators say they’re taking a stand against porn and AI erotica.
www.wired.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
An app founded by Mormon students is helping ‘gooners’ who use porn compulsively to turn off their screens. But porn advocates maintain that government controls on porn are part of an age-old war on self-pleasure
New for WIRED (h/t @manishakrishnan.bsky.social)
www.wired.com/story/young-...
New for WIRED (h/t @manishakrishnan.bsky.social)
www.wired.com/story/young-...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
Mormon college students built an app to help men quit watching porn, which they describe as “a modern epidemic." But one "gooner" tells @matthabusby.bsky.social it's a form of therapy for him: www.wired.com/story/young-...
Young Mormons Built an App to Help Men Quit Gooning
The Relay app allows users to track their porn-free streaks and get group support. Its creators say they’re taking a stand against porn and AI erotica.
www.wired.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Mormon college students built an app to help men quit watching porn, which they describe as “a modern epidemic." But one "gooner" tells @matthabusby.bsky.social it's a form of therapy for him: www.wired.com/story/young-...
The first time I took ketamine aged 16 I walked into a sliding glass door and broke my nose. Since then, I’ve seen how it can be a moreish, destructive drug for some — but I’ve also learned that taken responsibly K is therapeutic. For @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...
I used to take ketamine every weekend - this is what parents should know
On dance floors these days, watching someone dip into a bag of ketamine is as normal as seeing someone vape
inews.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
The first time I took ketamine aged 16 I walked into a sliding glass door and broke my nose. Since then, I’ve seen how it can be a moreish, destructive drug for some — but I’ve also learned that taken responsibly K is therapeutic. For @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...
Reposted by Mattha Busby
I was nervous when I agreed to be interviewed for CBC’s Fifth Estate about safe supply, but they got the angle exactly right. Safe supply was never implemented properly because govts were scared to prescribe what people are actually addicted to. It was set up to fail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJ-...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJ-...
The political war on safe drugs | Full episode | the fifth estate
YouTube video by the fifth estate
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I was nervous when I agreed to be interviewed for CBC’s Fifth Estate about safe supply, but they got the angle exactly right. Safe supply was never implemented properly because govts were scared to prescribe what people are actually addicted to. It was set up to fail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJ-...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJ-...