Ep17: A child of revolution, reclaiming safety through MDMA therapy, and advancing lived experience in psychedelic care

Trigger Warning: discussions of suicide and suicidality

Pedram Dara is an Iranian-born refugee to Canada and a former MDMA-assisted therapy clinical trial participant who has turned his experiences into founding and directing the Psychedelic Lived Experiences initiative, a patient-led movement advancing lived experience expertise in psychedelic research, treatment, and policy. In our conversation together, we talk about how his current advocacy work is built off of his early experiences as a child growing up in Iran. We explore some of the confusing messaging that surrounded him about drugs as he was growing up, before eventually talking through what led him to having his first therapeutic psychedelic experience to help heal his PTSD in a clinical trial setting.

A reminder that this episode contains mentions of suicidal thoughts. This warning is meant to empower you with the knowledge you need to make healthy decisions about how and if you should consume this podcast content. We invite you to practice self-care and do what feels right for you. And if you need support, please connect with someone who can help: family and friends, professionals, or a crisis line. There are both Canadian and international recommendations in the show notes below. You are not alone-- not in your pain, nor in your healing.

Shownotes

• Psychedelic Lived Experiences initiative that Pedram has built
• The upcoming Psychedelic Lived Experiences Summit, a free online event happening November 2025
• The FDA decision on June 4, 2024 to reject the initial application for MDMA therapy: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/06/04/nx-s1-4991112/mdma-therapy-ptsd-fda-advisors
• MK Ultra experiments that happened at McGill in the 1950s and 60s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_experiments
• FDA Advisory Committee Meeting on MDMA Approval (U.S.) On June 4, 2024, Pedram spoke at the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting during its review of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. As a public hearing speaker, he shared insights from his firsthand experience as a Phase 2 clinical trial participant, highlighting both the benefits and limitations of the treatment.
• Psychedelic Science 2025 Conference (U.S.) On June 19, 2025 Pedram led a self-organized panel at Psychedelic Science 2025, the first ever by MDMA-assisted therapy trial participants. The session brought together diverse voices who found benefit, faced challenges, or experienced harm, offering a rare, unfiltered look into the real-world complexity of psychedelic treatment and patient experience.
• Breaking Convention 2023 Keynote Presentation (Exeter, England) On April 22, 2023, Pedram delivered a keynote at Breaking Convention, Europe’s largest psychedelic conference, held at the University of Exeter. He shared insights from his own MDMA therapy experience, four years after participating in a Phase 2 clinical trial in Canada and discussed how to improve patient outcomes. He also joined a panel with renowned policy advocate Amanda Feilding.

Below are some Canadian and international mental health resources to access if you are in distress or need support:

• • Crisis Services Canada: https://988.ca/
  • Befrienders Worldwide (crisis lines serving 32 countries): https://befrienders.org/
  • International Directory of Mental Health Helplines: https://www.helpguide.org/find-help.htm
  • The Fireside Project (US-only psychedelic-specific support): https://firesideproject.org/
  • Psychology Today (to find a therapist in North America): https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapists

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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