Inner City Trauma, Addiction & Microdosing || Medhani Vaughn
Artem SmirnovMedhani Vaughn is a social justice activist who works with “fringe folks” – this includes addicts, recovering alcoholics, and folks from trauma backgrounds. Medhani grew up in the inner city and became “cross addicted to many substances” before deciding to choose sobriety.
Meet Medhani Vaughn
Medhani Vaughn is a social justice activist who works with “fringe folks” – this includes addicts, recovering alcoholics, and folks from trauma backgrounds. Medhani grew up in the inner city and became “cross addicted to many substances” before deciding to choose sobriety. In our interview Medhani covers healing inner city trauma from the root cause, redefining addiction, and what type of role plant medicine has played in his life.
Watch “Healing Inner City Trauma – Plant medicine can help address core wounds”
Can you talk about how plant medicine helped heal your addiction?
I’ve had such an experience with chemicals, both legal and illegal I was very cross addicted.
There was not a single drug that I considered my drug of choice and my dependency. It started out as recreational and experimental. I mixed all the substances and became a heavier use addict with the harder stuff.
Even after years of being sober there were still some issues that were deeper.
Even after tons of ceremonial journeys and spiritual journeys and real deep therapy, EMDR, hypnotherapy, I still couldn’t pull the veil off of those things and get a clear lens on, on how it was I wanted to choose my life path.
I work in the body modification industry. And so I feel very kind of attuned to a lot of ancient things. it became very clear to me that I needed some ancient medicine and some things that came from non traditional places.
When I first chose to administer plant medicine to myself, it came from a place of, of very high respect for their origin and their real purpose.
It was all from a healing element and it has all been on a micro, not a macro scale.
How does microdosing plant medicine help you with impulse control?
I’ve been a person that always thought spontaneity as a survival mechanism, being unpredictable, is kind of an asset. You can just move a little different.
As I grew as an addict impulse became a thing, just feeding that compulsion and just acting fast. I noticed my whole life, just because of my own disorders and trauma and the way ‘m built that I’ve always kind of been out of step with things.
To sync up for me took some, some slowing down at some times and speeding up at other times.
And so to create a different pace, I think microdosing has definitely given me the ability to know when impulses are irregular.
I think impulse is good in certain situations. But sometimes that can be misfiring where a person is just impulsive all the time. And I kind of equate it to driving, right?
I’ve been in a car with someone that, that drives and they’re always on the gas, always on the gas, and they’re always moving. Proactive on pumping the brake, hitting the gas, pumping the brake.
And, you know, sometimes in driving, you’re not doing any of that. You’re not even really steering. You’re just kind of coasting, letting the car do the work and work under its own momentum. And so I’ve kind of learned to do that same thing with my impulses too.
Watch “Overcoming Addiction – Microdosing helps me with impulse control”
How can plant medicine help us heal our communities?
I think the biggest obstacle that we have is all the stigma with how hallucinogenics can be healing and, and how there’s a lack of advocacy, information, education, and outreach in our society here in the United States.
I feel like because of, of the drug war and because of the economy here in the United States. And you know, even with the turn towards some areas with decrim and legalization you know, capitalism still has a huge role. It has the ability to take hold of it and still turn it into big pharma.
I actually was speaking with a friend from Brazil last night and on a recent trip, she was like, I haven’t been back in five years and everyone there is doing mushrooms and I really actually enjoy going there now. All of my friends used to do cocaine and now it’s a totally different culture.
And she said, it’s very widespread there. Everywhere you go, everyone’s openly exchanging, gifting, ingesting together. And none of it is from a party vibe. It’s from a healing vibe. It’s from a community vibe.
Here in the United States, you know, it’s just hopeful that one day we can unify in in that realm and be able to do more outreach and see that the healing is there.
I feel like there’s just been so much harm done with the way our government has withheld plant medicine as a resource for the people. Plant medicine has always been helpful to indigenous cultures.
