After my third cup of magic truffle tea I lay in bed, put on my blindfold and waited for the psychedelics to take hold. I was a passenger now, at the mercy of a mercurial hallucinogen that was about to send me on a profound journey into my subconscious.

Id flirted with psychedelics before, recreationally, but this was different; this time I was taking them on a guided retreat and the idea wasnt to get out of my head, but to go in, hence the blindfold.

The retreat was organised by the Psychedelic Society of London, a non-profit organisation that believes the conscious use of psychedelics can create a more compassionate and joyful world. The societycampaigns for public access to hallucinogens, which have been taken by humans for millennia, but were made illegal in many countries as part of the controversial war on drugs (its currently a class-A drug, meaning those caught in possession in the UK can be arrested and charged).

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What it's like to take part in a psychedelic retreat - The Independent