POD75. Abbie Rosner on Psychedelics and the Counterculture of AgingPOD75. Abbie Rosner on Psychedelics and the Counterculture of Aging
The Peace On Drugs
Writer Abbie Rosner talks with Aaron Akulis about returning to psychedelics in her 60s, how that shaped her book on ageing, and what these substances might offer older adults wrestling with meaning, mortality and the legacy of the war on drugs. The conversation blends personal stories, social critique and practical ideas for using psychedelics more safely and purposefully later in life.
53:47•19 Jun 2026
Psychedelics, Ageing and Finding Meaning: Abbie Rosner’s Second Act
Episode Overview
- Psychedelics can help older adults work with fear of death and questions about whether their lives have had meaning.
- Cannabis and psilocybin often feel very different in later life, especially for people with therapy and meditation experience behind them.
- Set, setting, intention and support are crucial, especially for older people who may be anxious or out of practice with altered states.
- Legal, supervised psilocybin services in places like Oregon and Colorado offer safer options for those who can’t or won’t access the underground.
- Decades of the war on drugs have caused immense harm, from racial injustice to lost research into potentially life-changing treatments.
“Intentional psychedelic work is ideally suited for the work of becoming what I call a conscious elder.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This wide-ranging conversation tracks writer Abbie Rosner’s return to psychedelics after a 40-year break and how that experience reshaped her view of ageing, purpose and death. Now in her 60s and part of the baby boomer generation, Abbie explains how cannabis first re-entered her life after decades of wine and beer.
With therapy and a long-term meditation practice behind her, she suddenly found that cannabis felt like “a sacred medicine”, offering a clearer, kinder look at her own life. That shift opened the door to psilocybin. Her 60th birthday magic mushroom journey became the catalyst for her book, *Psychedelics and the Counterculture of Aging*.
She interviewed more than 30 older psychonauts and found a common thread: psychedelics helped them question long‑held fears, especially around death, and revisit the meaning of their lives. As she puts it, “Life itself is a terminal condition,” so why wait for a diagnosis to do the inner work?
Abbie and host Aaron Akulis talk frankly about the war on drugs, the damage of criminalisation, and how older adults are quietly becoming a major part of the cannabis and psychedelic conversation. They touch on practical issues too: boomers struggling with an identity crisis, safer access for curious older adults, and the value of legal, supported psychedelic sessions in places like Oregon and Colorado.
There’s also space for humour and honesty: Aaron jokes about being “the only guy” who got his life together by smoking more weed and less drinking, while Abbie insists later life “only gets better” if you care for yourself and stay open.
For anyone sober or sober‑curious who’s ageing, supporting ageing parents, or wondering whether psychedelics can sit alongside recovery and self-work, this chat offers a grounded, relatable take on how these substances might help people grow into conscious elders rather than fade into the background. What could ageing look like if fear wasn’t running the show?
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