MDMA Therapy Rejection
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Sam shares a story about his attempt to explore psychedelic therapy that went wrong due to ideological differences.
"About 3 years ago, I was getting curious about psychedelics - mushrooms, MDMA therapy, ketamine therapy. I read 'How to Change Your Mind' by Michael Pollan and got really interested. I found someone who was going to lead an MDMA therapy session, so my wife and I went to dinner at their house with three other couples.
The session leader, who had a nice place in San Francisco, started getting really hippie-dippy, saying things like 'this medicine needs to be free for everyone' and 'capitalism is ruining everything.' In my head, I'm thinking 'why am I paying you $4,000 for this then?'
It got worse when I found out she used to work at Lehman Brothers and had a venture capital firm on the side. I started giggling and called out the ridiculousness. When they asked where I was from and I said Missouri, they dismissed it as 'flyover country.'
I got into an argument with her at the dinner table, and she said this wasn't a good fit. I agreed - I couldn't do drugs with someone like this. I basically got asked to leave. I couldn't even do dinner with them, let alone get high and talk about my feelings. I got kicked out of the group and that was my only experience with psychedelic therapy."
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.