Marijuana Moment highlights the prevailing tradewinds….
Organizers at SXSW this week unveiled a slate of more than 450 sessions chosen for the conference set to kick off in March. Among them are a handful of panels focused on legal marijuana and a whopping 13 sessions on psychedelics. It’s a sign of the shifting interest of the cutting edge conference as cannabis becomes more embedded into the mainstream and psychedelics emerge as the next big thing in drug policy.
The sessions on MDMA, psilocybin and other substances are part of a new psychedelics-specific track at SXSW 2024, one of two dozen different themed focus areas to be featured at the festival. “As therapeutic applications of psychedelics gain more traction in the mainstream consciousness,” a description says, “explore how breakthrough research and a growing business environment will impact the future applications of novel and traditional drugs.”
For the first time since 2018, however, the event won’t feature a dedicated cannabis track. A handful of individual panels will nevertheless focus on opportunities for marijuana businesses, how advocacy has impacted cannabis policy and how to find a healthy relationship with psychoactive plants.
The psychedelics track, meanwhile, includes sessions on MDMA, transformative psychedelics “beyond MDMA,” psychedelic training, entheogens and people of color, the commercialization of psilocybin therapy, an open-ended psychedelics meetup and more.
Learn about the sessions here
SXSW Announces 2024 Lineup, Leaning Into Psychedelics While Nixing Cannabis Track