Experiencing Interruptions?

Psychedelics and Addiction Recovery

A documentary look at how psychedelics have aided a variety of people in their quest to overcome addictions to such things as meth-amphetamines, prescribed psychiatric drugs and alcohol.

  • Paul Lisy
    Director
    Katrina Cop in the Superdome, Black Power (short), The Reach
  • Paul Lisy
    Writer
  • Paul Lisy
    Producer
    Katrina Cop in the Superdome, The Reach, Black Power
  • Brad Adams, PhD
    Producer
  • Lacey White
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 27, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    25,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Paul Lisy

Paul Lisy is a graduate of NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, Film, and while living in Manhattan was an IATSE Editors Union member working at ABC Sports. Upon moving to Los Angeles he worked as a script and story analyst, freelance and in-house, for a wide variety of studios and production companies, including Jerry Weintraub Entertainment, Badham Cohen, Tri-Star Pictures, Miller Boyett, Ciby 2000 and Spring Creek, amongst others.

He is a founding member and partner of eFootage.com, an on-line archive and stock footage company and has co-produced DeClassified, a History Channel program, and executive produced Slaphappy, a PBS program about silent comedians. He is currently a co-producer on “The Life and Deaths of Max Linder”, with director Edward Porembny in a collaboration with ARTE, TVP, VRT, RTBF, Wide House, and MEDIA Creative Europe.

He previously directed “Katrina Cop in the Superdome”, detailing the harrowing experiences of a Louisiana police officer trapped in the New Orleans Superdome with a variety of other city residents when Hurricane Katrina caused the levees to fail and massive flooding ensued. The feature doc won the audience award at The Big Easy Film Festival, and was a category finalist at other film festivals. It has received a special film studies screening at UCLA, and is available to view online on Amazon and other streaming venues.

He is a partner in LAMPS - the Los Angeles Medicinal Psychedelics Society, and the genesis of his involvement with LAMPS and his interest in psychedelic medicines is detailed in his film “The Reach.” In conjunction with LAMPS he is directing two other films, one on Psychedelics and Addiction Recovery, and one on Psychedelic Churches.

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Director Statement

Psychedelics continue to be viewed as controversial and it is understood that they are a tool that must be utilized with appropriate caution and care.

That being said, psychedelics hold vast potential to be able to help people in many ways, especially in the difficult area of addiction. Conventional psychiatric drugs (prescribed pharmaceuticals), normally seek only to suppress and sedate, often leaving a patient muddled and confused, wherein psychedelic medicines have been shown to facilitate the mind/body connection, allowing an "addict" the chance look within themselves and address absorbed trauma, free of some of the self-imposed, often protective blockages that may have prevented them from doing so in the past.

Psychedelics are not a magic bullet. They do not represent instant cures. Properly handled, they can offer hope, options, color in a world seemingly devoid of such. They can propose a pathway to inner healing, inner stability, inner spiritual growth.

Psychedelics are powerful and that power needs to be recognized and respected. Psychedelics are a tool. Following up on the perspectives and lessons gleaned from the use of psychedelics is the key. Doing “the work” of building upon newly discovered realizations, of resurrected self love, of enhanced empathy and compassion is what integration is all about. The concept of integration is something we wholeheartedly support and seek to emphasize.

Substance addiction continues to be an enormous problem within the United States and around the world, and it has taken an enormous personal and financial toll. Enhanced solutions are needed and this film is offered as an exploration of one such avenue of hope.