Psychedelics Will Play a Big Role in American Life

NOT IN AA? –

July 18, 2020 – Laughing is only part of Mr. Pollan’s three-and-a-half hours of morning routines: He starts the day by reading the newspapers in bed for 45 minutes before getting dressed, then fixes a cup of green tea, eats breakfast and reads more of the paper. His wife, artist Judith Belzer, joins him for 45 minutes of floor exercises: weights and stretches and abdominals. They then start with CNN before switching to Mr. Colbert.

The couple then meditates for a half-hour, goes on a walk in the Berkeley Hills and grabs coffee. Mr. Pollan, who abstained from caffeine for three months as research for his book This Is Your Mind on Plants, is now back to one cup of coffee per day. After all of that, he gets to work around 9:30 a.m.

The author of bestselling books including The Omnivore’s Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind, Mr. Pollan recently adapted the latter into a four-part Netflix docuseries on using psychedelics to treat mental illness. Each episode focuses on one drug: LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and mescaline. Here, he speaks to WSJ. about the new show and what he thinks the psychedelic landscape in the U.S. will look like in five years.

What time do you get up on Mondays?

I wake up around 6 a.m. My alarm is set for 6:30, but I usually get up at 6 on my own.