“I found my peace through mushrooms about two and a half years ago,” Dez told Filter, after “I woke up saying, I think I’m about ready to kill myself.”
Benji Dezaval, who also goes by Teopixqui Dez or simply Dez, didn’t want to keep this experience to himself. He’s now offering “spiritual healing” at “Colorado’s first psychedelic church,” out of the basement of his home in Colorado Springs, as the Colorado Sun reported.
There, he hosts vistors who receive and consume psychedelic drugs. A group tyically gathers for a discussion led by Dez, and after checking that each recipient is over 21, he hands around a “communal gift” including psilocybin mushrooms and dimethyltryptamine (DMT).
Dez’s professional background is in the mental health field, he said, and he began paying attention to research around psilocybin as a treatment for mental health conditions, in light of what he was personally going through.
“I said this will either fix me up or give me the answer I needed, and I’m still here because of shrooms,” he said. “I had a big trip in January where I found myself transported to Mexico. I connected with an ancestor. I’m not spiritual, [but] the world spoke to me through psychology as a scientist. I came face to face with this ancestor and they told me they used this to heal their people, and I need to do the same thing.”
Dez described starting his church with small events initially, where only a handful of people showed up. After promoting it on Reddit, things grew to the point where he now hosts about 15 events each month. The largest so far included about 40 participants. Some of the events are purely social, like movie nights or picnics. The others have the group discussion format.
The communal gift that he hands out consists of self-produced substances.
“We have psychological and philosophical debates and talks,” Dez explained. “Tomorrow we have ‘Healing from Religious Trauma.’ We sit all together in a circle in a space downstairs. I lead the discussion, talking about how we can build this foundation for healing. It looks a lot like group therapy; it’s hard for me not to pull from those tools from my time in mental health.”
The communal gift that he later hands out consists of self-produced substances. He and some colleagues grow the mushrooms, and produce the DMT through an extraction process from a root bark.
“We encourage people to do it on site [if they want],” he said. His “reliable, safe third space for people” is open two afternoons a week. “They can come and work on homework or watch TV. I provide concessions; I’m always cooking and baking so people have food.”
During psychedelic use, Dez and his team have designated sober people or guides—either in the room, or somewhere else within earshot, as participants prefer.
A safety document provided to visitors reads, in part:
“Shrooms are safe, fun, and a mind-opening experience but should still be done right! Remember to prepare your ‘set and setting’ for a trip – A calm mindset and a safe place to trip in. Check the Fireside Project site or app for digital trip sitters if you don’t have anyone close by.”
Alongside various safety advice and a recipe to combat nausea, the document includes a dosing guide—from a microdose for “Mood Enhancement, Crisp Concentration, and Increased Mental Stamina,” to a “heroic” dose for “Complete Altering of Senses, Ego Death, and Complete Disconnect from Reality.”
The venture operates at an interesting intersection of religious freedom and state and federal drug policies. So how does it stand legally?
“Colorado law allows us to share shrooms with other adults but actual mushrooms can’t be legally sold,” the document reads. “The materials that go into growing mushrooms, such as mycelium, can be sold legally!”
In November 2022, Colorado voters approved Proposition 122, making it the second state—after Oregon—to pass a major psychedelic reform. It decriminalized the possession, growing and sharing of most naturally occurring psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline.
The measure also authorizes some form of regulated psychedelic use. The state is set to license and regulate centers where adults use psilocybin under the guidance of a trained professional. By December 31, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies and Department of Revenue is due to begin accepting licensing applications for psilocybin facilitators and businesses. These will include healing centers and cultivation, manufacturing and testing businesses.
Psilocybin services should open some time in 2025. At a future date, the state will hear evidence in deciding if it will expand these legal services to include additional psychedelics such as DMT. Regulation offers quality control and consumer protections, but Oregon’s experiences indicate that layers of controls, red tape and trainings can push up prices to the point where many people don’t have access.
“I knew this would be a fight, but this is how we get that ball rolling, for the next person or church or organization that wants to use psychedelics.”
Dez and his church are not licensed under Prop 122; he said he wouldn’t consider it, as seeking licensure would force him to compromise his principles. He also said he isn’t interested in his church being a profit-making operation, and that his priority is just providing a fully inclusive space, to attract “an eclectic group of people brought together by this idea that community makes us better.”
As long as Dez and his church aren’t selling the psychedelics they provide, they should be legally ok.
Asked about his relationships with state and local authorities, Dez reported having contacted the local sheriff’s department, the mayor of Colorado Springs and the office of Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D). So far, only the El Paso County sheriff has returned the call; Dez described his response as “fantastic,” and said he has been invited to participate in a church event.
Dez’s organization is also not officially sanctioned as a church, though he said it is seeking 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.
“The hold-up currently is the legality of our mission statement being about psychedelics,” he said. “Even though this is legalized here in the state, it is still federally illegal. I knew this would be a fight and an issue the second I submitted it. [But] this is how we get that ball rolling, for the next person or church or organization that wants to use psychedelics.”
Photograph by Kristie Gianopulos via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0