You are welcome to Portal To: Plants & Other Medicines presented by Talking Joints Memo.

Join us at New Día Cannabis Mall as we learn from those leading research and advocacy efforts in this inaugural program that will mark the start of a free monthly program hosted at the largest experiential dispensary on the East Coast.

Featuring leading psychedelic and plant medicine community organizations and local businesses/brands from across Massachusetts and greater New England.

Portal To: Is brought you by sponsors, supporters and community leaders: Talking Joints Memo, New Dia Cannabis Co. NeCann, Psychedelic States of America, The Weedaker Group, SPAN, Latinas In Psychedelics, Harvard Cannabis Business Association, Connecticut for Accessible Psychedelic Medicine, Mass Healing, Entheogen Melanin Collective, Psychedelic Salon.

Schedule for March 20, 2025

3:30 PM → Gallery Doors Open

4:00 PM → Opening remarks by Jack Gorsline

4:15 PM - 5:00 PM → Livestream Panel Discussion 1

Intersectional Psychedelic Advocacy: Consideration for coalition building across partisan lines in pursuit of plant medicine freedom

Moderator: Mary Carreon

Panelists: Elizabeth Pulos, Founder of Psychedelics for Climate Action Boston, Laury Lucien of The Parabola Center for Law and Policy, and Kat Murti, Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)

5:15 - 5:45 PM → Live Fireside Chat 1Understanding the Absurdity of the Federal Analogues Act Featuring Robert Rush, ESQ

Host: Jack Gorsline

Guest: Robert Rush, ESQ

6:00 - 6:45 PM → Livestream Panel Discussion 3Industry Integration: Assessing Cannabis-Adjacent Plant and Fungi Products’ Place in The Evolving Retail Cannabis Landscape

Host: Susie Plascencia

Panelists: Amber Krasinski, Meg Sanders, Jordan Mackenzie Whittaker, and Phoebe McPhereson of FunGuy Kanna Edibles

7:00 - 7:30 — Live Fireside Chat 2

Psychedelic Churches 101 with Victoria Littman, ESQ.

Host: DoubleBlind Magazine Senior Editor Mary Carreon

Previous Featured Speakers & Panelists Bio's:

Jack Gorsline is a Boston-based investigative reporter covering the politics of drug policy reform - with a focus on psychedelics and cannabis legalization advocacy both in the United States and around the world. Jack’s reporting has been published by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ), Talking Joints Memo, DoubleBlind Magazine, Filter Magazine, Marijuana Moment,Psychedelic Alpha, and featured by Psychedelics Today, Ecstatic Integration, and The Microdose from UC’s Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, among others. Jack is also the founder of both Psychedelic State(s) of America and The Psychedelic Writers Guild (PWG) - a new community building-oriented, collaborative media project being created in partnership with a diverse coalition of psychedelic scientists, journalists, medical practitioners, legal professionals, political advocates, and community leaders from around the world. You can find Jack on Twitter @JackGorsline, Instagram @Jack.Gorsline, Linkedin, Substack, Bluesky, and more!

Ellen Brown is an award-winning educator and industry leader. For over a decade she has pioneered the cannabis industry by training thousands of students around the world. She’s held classes on a myriad of topics including dispensary services, commercial cultivation, responsible vendor training, and sustainable business practices. Her passion for education stems from being an educator in the United States Air Force.

After her service, Ellen moved to Humboldt County in 2010 to begin her cannabis career in the Emerald Triangle where she managed a dispensary, delivery operation and cultivation facility. She returned to Massachusetts because she saw there was a need for reputable cannabis knowledge. Ellen became one of the first cannabis educators on the East Coast and her trailblazing curriculum has gone from concept to accreditation. In 2015 as she’s started her own budding business, Green Path Training.

Ms. Brown's unparallel firsthand industry experience has made her company renowned for its expertise and professionalism. Having spoken all over the world, Ellen is a highly respected advocate, whose been a driving force in legislative policy. She’s spoken across the globe advocating for cannabis and hemp policy reform. Advocating for inclusion in the cannabis industry, lessening barriers to access for patients and a sustainable future. Her company continues to flourish because her comprehensive trainings provide a pathway to success for students in this growing industry.

CJ LoConte is a West Point graduate and former Army Infantry Officer who served with the 4th Infantry Division. After transitioning out of the military, CJ faced his own mental health challenges, which led him to discover the transformative potential of psychedelic therapies. This personal journey inspired him to become a grassroots advocate for the Yes on 4 campaign in Massachusetts. Building on this advocacy, CJ co-founded Mass Healing, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to safe, evidence-based psychedelic therapies for veterans, first responders, and frontline healthcare workers. CJ earned an MBA from The Wharton School and is currently pursuing an MPA at Harvard Kennedy School.

Erin Doolittle’s practice as a 20+ year Marriage & Family Therapist is anchored in trauma-focused therapy employing EMDR, Medical Cannabis, and Psilocybin Therapy. She is the Director of Education for CT For Accessible Psychedelic Medicine (CAPM) and author of “Modern Mushroom Medicine Made Easy” and “I Got High Now What Do I Do?” instructional guide and post-psychedelic integration manual.

Graham Moore Graham Moore is a passionate advocate for plant medicines, inspired by his experiences using plant medicines (including cannabis, amanita muscaria, blue lotus, and psilocybin mushrooms) to treat his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in consultation with his psychologist and his psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a key leader in the Yes on 4 campaign, Graham worked to build community support, engage local governments, and advocate for psychedelic policy reform in Massachusetts. His efforts contributed to the endorsements of Somerville and Cambridge for the statewide initiative and played a vital role in the filing of multiple psychedelic-related bills in the Massachusetts legislature. Graham is currently serving as an educator for Mass Healing, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to safe, effective, and community-supported psychedelic therapies.

Imani Turnbull-Brown grew up in Portland, Maine, where she learned early on how to carve out spaces of belonging and resilience. Raised in a culturally rich family, she was deeply influenced by her Costa Rican grandmother, who instilled in her the power of natural healing, and her father, who had been advocating for the benefits of psychedelics since she was a teenager. While most parents warned their kids about drugs, he emphasized that entheogens were ancient healing tools, suppressed by systemic oppression but capable of profound transformation. His insights, combined with her grandmother’s holistic wisdom, laid the foundation for her lifelong passion for wellness, spirituality, and plant medicine.

After serving in the U.S. Navy, Imani turned to entheogens as part of her own healing journey, realizing their potential to address generational trauma, mental health challenges, and overall well-being. However, she quickly noticed a lack of Black representation in the psychedelic space. Determined to change that, she co-founded the Entheogen Melanin Collective (EMC) to advocate for safe, informed, and culturally relevant access to plant medicine for Black communities. Through EMC, she merges ancestral wisdom with modern advocacy, working to break stigma, push for policy reform, and create spaces where Black people can reclaim the transformative power of psychedelics—on their own terms.

Julian Fontaine Fox is a passionate and longtime psychedelic entheogen advocate, poet, and storyteller. He began his advocacy while in Santa Fe New Mexico where he founded a chapter of SSDP and worked with Synergetic Press as a volunteer consultant and advisor. He is the co-creator of Entheogen Melanin Collective and a resident of Boston in Roslindale. In his role with EMC he facilitates community building and outreach. He plans and holds events in the Boston area for community members to attend holding workshops centered on intergration, healing and education. He also reaches out through tabling at bus stops and train stations offering a place for locals to ask and get answers about these substances are.

Kate Avruch dedicated educator and advocate in cannabis and psychedelics, she brings deep expertise in mycology, including foraging, cultivation, tissue culture, and gene sequencing. As a founding core member of Decriminalize Nature Massachusetts, she played a pivotal role in successfully decriminalizing entheogens in Easthampton, Somerville, Northampton, and Cambridge in 2021, driving meaningful policy change and fostering community awareness.

A longtime member of the Boston Psychedelic Research Group, she has contributed to impactful research and initiatives advancing the understanding and application of psychedelics both within and beyond regulated therapeutic practice models. Her work spans workforce training and education, designing and implementing programs that integrate real-world expertise with regulatory and safety standards to empower professionals in emerging industries.

Victor constanza is the founder and lead organizer for CT for Accessible Medicine. They became active in the psychedelic movement after finding relief from their addiction of alcohol and PTSD after several attempts in treatment. Victor is also a Pre-Medical Behavioral Neuroscience Major at Quinnipiac University.