![]() He used to love punching people in the face. Others had been recruited by Riley Cote, a former enforcer with the Philadelphia Flyers and now a psychedelics evangelist who is an adviser to Wake with an equity stake.Ĭote was once just like Lee. Lee had learned about the retreat from a childhood friend who works as a doctor for Wake. They didn't know what to expect, whether the treatment would work, whether they'd return home with a solution or just more disappointment. They'd come from all over North America, from different backgrounds and different sports, but they had a few things in common: They were vulnerable and they felt like prescription medications had failed them. The participants were nervous, but also hopeful.Īlong with Lee, there was a professional football player considering retirement and a former hockey star who had multiple concussions. Two psychedelic mushroom ceremonies and two therapy sessions awaited them at the retreat run by a Canadian company called Wake Network. They each had come to the Good Hope Estate, a sugar plantation turned exclusive resort, hoping to rid themselves of depression, anxiety and chronic pain they had experienced for years. Lee was part of a small group - many of them retired athletes - who'd traveled to Jamaica in March 2022 for a retreat costing as much as $5,500. Psychedelic mushrooms, he hoped, could change his life. Now, he had come to a verdant jungle at the end of a dirt road halfway up a mountain. "When you're in pain and you're stuck in a corner, you'll do anything to get out of it," Lee said. The impulse faded, but the pain remained. ![]() He was willing to do anything to escape the hell he felt trapped in. In his lowest moment, on a night when he was in the depths of an addiction to painkillers, he said, he contemplated driving his car into the median of a Chicago freeway at 140 mph. At one point, Lee was taking eight different prescription medications, all of them trying to help him cope. He'd gone 21-1 professionally, fought in Madison Square Garden, and in front of millions on TV.īut it had been more than two years since he'd been inside a ring, and every day was a reminder of the cost. He had been one of the best professional fighters in the world in his weight class. Some days, it was debilitating headaches. WAKEFIELD, Jamaica - The boxer felt broken. Pain, hope, science collide as athletes turn to magic mushrooms Markian Hawryluk and Kevin Van Valkenburg You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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