Shroom Service! Westword to Host Psychedelics Members-Only Event at Mercury Cafe

Denver is home to not one, but two trailblazing drug-reform movements, and Westword has been on the ground floor for both of them.

Just over a decade after Colorado took the first step into recreational cannabis sales, we're going through a similar trip with legal psychedelics. And, as with cannabis legalization, questions are burning through Colorado about what is allowed and what isn't. Are magic mushroom dispensaries and retail products coming? Just how "legal" will mushrooms and other psychedelics be? How much psilocybin is too much? Are $3,000 psychedelic retreats worth the money, or just a load of cow manure?

On Thursday, April 11, Westword News, Cannabis & Psychedelics Editor Thomas Mitchell and a panel of four experts will walk you through these questions and more as part of a members-only discussion and Q&A at the Mercury Cafe.

Mitchell will be joined by psychedelic s Jonathan Cherkoss, Ant Life owner Jacob Lemanski, curandera Ana Medina and psychedelics attorney Barine Majewska to talk about the culture and upcoming laws surrounding psilocybin, DMT and other psychedelics that are now legal or decriminalized in Colorado.

Just a few months ago, Cherkoss helped organize Colorado's first public magic mushroom growing competition, during which over 500 submissions for lab analysis and research were gathered. He's currently co-organizing the Denver Shroom Fest, billed as "Denver’s first psychedelic mushrooms festival," which is set to take place this June.

Known for his event venue and vivid ant farms of the same name, Lemanski has hosted dozens of cannabis and psychedelic-centric events since opening in 2022. This all came after he spent nearly 1,000 days traveling the world on a bicycle — and trying a few naturally growing mushrooms along the way.

Medina is a curandera from Mexico City who's studied practices such as sound healing, reiki, shadow work and life coaching, among other modalities, as well as natural plant medicines. An elder to her community, Medina helps participants connect with their roots and heal ancestral trauma.

Majewska is an attorney with Vicente LLP, one of the country's leading cannabis and psychedelics law firms. She works out of Vicente's Denver office, where she is a member of its Psychedelics and Emerging Therapies Practice Group. Before joining Vicente in 2016, Majewska interned at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, getting firsthand experience as a research assistant and psilocybin session guide.

How to attend

Become a Westword member by supporting our journalism and giving any amount. After you become a member, you'll get an email with the free invite. Already a member? Watch your inbox for the invite; spots are limited.

The event runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at the Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street; drinks and refreshments will be available for purchase from the Mercury.