Taj Nahar and his fianceé, Hayley Wester, found mental health help in an untraditional setting: the earthy, buoyant group of fungi known as magic mushrooms. Nahar was on ADHD medication, namely Adderall, for several years and says he developed bad habits with the drug, which is known to be addictive. “[ADHD medication] feels very manmade,” he says. “Very chemically driven. But I didn’t really like the way it made me feel and I was looking for something that would really help me manage my anger.”
Wester, a victim of sex trafficking, also struggles with her mental health. But then the couple started microdosing with psilocybin, and it “quite literally changed our lives. Not only helping with anxiety and suicidal ideation but ADHD and anger. It’s been truly transformative for us,” Nahar says.
In January of this year (after Proposition 122 passed, decriminalizing magic mushrooms in Colorado) Nahar and Wester started Haj Botanics, a queer, black, and woman-owned sanctuary focused on microdosing for mental health. The couple’s goal is to safely distribute the psilocybin mushroom strain Shakti as a therapeutic agent, helping clients heal deep-rooted traumas and addictions.
Shakti, the only strain of mushrooms Haj Botanics sells, is an albino mutation of the Malabar psilocybin strain that hails from the Indian Malabar coast. Nahar explains that consistency is of utmost importance to Haj Botanics and is the motivation behind using only one strain in their products, which take the form of portable capsules and jars of locally-sourced honey. “What we really pride ourselves on is helping people on their [mental health] journey,” he says. “And the only way to do that is to provide a product that is consistent time and time again.”
They chose Shakti because of its flexible use in both micro and macrodosing environments, citing its gradual healing power for anxiety, depression, and ADHD as well as its ability to provide transformative experiences. Although there is limited concrete evidence for the mental health effects of psilocybin (some say mushrooms can even exacerbate mental illness) there are anecdotal accounts, like Nahar’s and Wester’s, that demonstrate positive experiences with the drug.
“People describe it as like coffee or Adderall without the jitters or the crash,” Nahar says. “So you get a lot of this really good, intentional focus, a little bit of an energy boost. It’s kind of weird because you do get a little bit of a rush, but it’s a calming rush, it’s not overwhelming.”
The couple emphasizes that the impact of psilocybin is different for each person. For Nahar, the mushrooms help him push past feelings of anger he would previously be stuck in for hours, while microdosing helps Wester with her anxiety, preventing panic attacks and creating an overall sense of peace.
According to Medical News Today, mushrooms containing psilocybin are classified as psychotropic drugs and activate serotonin receptors in the prefrontal cortex. Despite popular belief psilocybin mushrooms don’t cause active hallucinations, instead, they distort objects in the user’s environment. Changes in sensory perceptions and thought patterns can last several days after the use of mushrooms.
For his part, Nahar reiterates the importance of educated dosing. “We are also in this world where there’s a pretty big learning curve,” he says. “There’s still a lot of stigma around psychedelics, specifically the science of it for mental health services … We are barely in the infancy of this evolution.” Before the end of the year, the couple plans to include educational virtual masterclasses on their site and an expanded FAQ section to help customers ease into the microdosing process.
“Oftentimes people just think that ‘I didn’t go to war, therefore I don’t have trauma.’ That’s not real. There are a variety of different degrees of trauma. Everyone deals with a variety of different things in their own way, and our vision is to really break down some of those misnomers that people have about their own mental health,” Nahar says. “It’s okay to seek help and it’s okay to look at alternatives to help you on your journey.”
Photo courtesy of Haj Botanics
