Vox Media Podcast Network and New York Magazine today began releasing the second (and final) part of its investigative series podcast Cover Story: Power Trip. The podcast hit no. 1 in December as Spotify’s #1 true crime podcast, taking aim at some key practitioners in the underground psychedelic therapy scene. In the season’s second (and final) part, it will go above ground and look at some of the official institutions and structures that were supposed to shepherd psychedelic therapy into the mainstream. Hosted by Lily Kay Ross, who appeared in part one as a subject, the new episodes will see the Cover Story: Power Trip team track down people who have been hurt, protected legal and medical documents, and a clinical trial video not meant to be seen by the public.
“Not in the last decade has any so-called scientific breakthrough received as uncritical a reception as psychedelics,” says New York Magazine’s editorial director for audio Hanna Rosin. “Mainstream writers, researchers, universities, and companies have all accepted the safety and promise of psychedelics. But that rush to acceptance has overlooked so many harmful things: faulty and irresponsible data collection, harmful manipulation by leaders, sexual abuse and many many victims who started out vulnerable and ended up worse.”
“The behavior we’ve seen from numerous trauma researchers raises significant questions about how they’re conducting psychedelic clinical trials,” says Ross. “It’s crucial to provide the public with a fuller picture of what’s happening in the world of psychedelics, including the risks of harm, malpractice, and institutional betrayal.”
Ross is a feminist scholar and educator who works to advance best practices and evidence-based policies and responses to sexual harm. She is Arts & Gender editor at Psymposia, has been featured as an expert in Quartz, CBC, Stuff, TVNZ, and interviewed in two documentaries: She’ll Be Right (2020) and Psychedemia: The Psychedelic Conference Documentary (2013).
This season was co-produced with Psymposia, a not for profit watchdog group reporting on the psychedelic community. Catch up on the show’s first part, and listen to episode six, out today, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes will be out every Tuesday.
About New York Magazine:
New York Magazine obsessively chronicles the ideas, people, and cultural events that are forever reshaping our world. Part of Vox Media since November 2019, the beloved and influential New York brands include the groundbreaking magazine New York, which is published biweekly in print, and six thriving verticals: Intelligencer, delivering national news and sharp commentary on politics, business, technology, and media; the Cut, covering style, self, culture, and power; Vulture, the premier site for culture news, criticism, and service; the Strategist, dedicated to shopping the internet smartly; Curbed, covering cities and city life; and Grub Street, home to food news and authoritative restaurant criticism.
About Vox Media Podcast Network:
Named by Adweek as 2021’s “Hottest in Podcasts,” Vox Media Podcast Network has over 150 active shows featuring industry-leading editorial voices and storytellers from Vox Media’s networks and beyond. From daily news and tech to culture and sports, and talk and interview shows to news and rich narrative storytelling, the Vox Media Podcast Network is one of the largest, fastest-growing, and most topically diverse collections of premium podcasts. Learn more about the Vox Media Podcast Network here.