Dosed 2: The Trip Of A Lifetime
In 2018, Laurie Brooks was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a 6-12 month countdown to the end. A mother of four and wife to a man who decades later still adores her, she is understandably distraught at the prospect of leaving them all behind. With little hope for a cure and anxiety through the roof, she signs up for the eponymous trip of a lifetime in DOSED 2. For when you’re staring down the barrel of a definite death sentence, what harm could a few mushrooms do?
Co-directed by Tyler Chandler and Nicholas Meyers, this is a follow-up to DOSED - a documentary about a woman with severe anxiety, depression, addiction and suicidal ideation who discovers that mushrooms do more for her than her meds ever could. I’d not seen the first film and worried that I was perhaps repeating a childhood mistake of seeing the sequel before the OG; thankfully, these films function more as an ongoing series whose chronological order matters very little.
Chandler and Meyers are invited into Laurie’s house, marriage and family as they document the ups and (many) downs of her journey towards acceptance and peace. They hold our hand through the kaleidoscopic visualisation of Laurie’s trip, just as the psilocybin therapist holds Laurie’s as she navigates the first psychedelic experience she’s had in her 54 years. A former student of theology and child of a devout religious household, Laurie could never have dreamed that she’d be experimenting with illicit substances in any lifetime, let alone this one. While the Big C puts everything into perspective, it doesn’t hold a candle to psychedelics.
As Laurie finds answers to the mysteries of her universe, her attitude towards death completely changes. Positivity about the life she’s had up to this point radiates through her face and in the expressions on the faces of her children and husband, and alternatives never before considered viable are suddenly on the table as Laurie’s end may be further away than initially anticipated. But cancer has a way of turning a straightforward train ride into a rollercoaster, and it’s something the filmmakers were acutely aware of while documenting her journey.
If Laurie were to pass away during the production of a documentary on the positive effects of magic mushrooms, how could the uplifting message - that there’s hope on the horizon for people overwhelmed by the prospect of impending death - be maintained? It’s clear that all involved in the production factored this in and decided that the importance of the subject matter outweighed the possibility of capturing a real-life tragedy. And it’s a choice that I think pays off.
Amplifying the emotion of such an intimate experiment are the very relatable moments of reignited hope captured on screen. If you’re like the majority of people who’ve lost a loved one to cancer, you’ll be struck by the uneasy feeling of seeing a person previously resigned to death entertaining fanciful ideas about natural treatments and their efficacy. You’d love to feel that same hope but at the same time, the pessimist in you is already preparing for disappointment. DOSED 2 is kind enough not to cross the line into the land of fool’s hope, emphasising that the aim of psilocybin treatment is to alleviate the anxiety that comes with a terminal diagnosis and better prepare the patient for a stress-free transition. But if a side effect of lessened anxiety is more rest and better resilience through traditional cancer treatments (like chemotherapy), then it’s feasible that hope may not be so foolish after all.
Those with more sensitive dispositions may find themselves ugly crying almost as much as this reviewer who, while not left as streaky as by the conclusion of Dear Zachary, fogged up her glasses to an almost comedic degree during moments of this film. This is not to give the impression that DOSED 2 ends in tragedy; rather, it’s just very good at capturing the simple urgency of appreciating what you have while you have it. It’s a message that should appeal to cohorts of the audience that the film is trying to persuade; the ones who’ve never tried banned substances and likely dismiss them as anything other than life-ruiners based on something a friend of a friend told them in school.
One of the film’s most interesting points is a shallow dive into the history of psilocybin criminalisation in order to reframe what some audience members associate with ‘magic mushrooms’. Prior to the 60s, research into psilocybin was uncovering profound uses for a substance very low on the danger scale (below even marijuana and WAY below alcohol). But paths to enlightenment must always be controlled until they can be monetised and those at the top were not quite there yet. The least cool leaders can always be trusted to ruin the party and thanks to Nixon and Reagan, psilocybin (along with its slightly harder friends) was banned and further research, halted in its tracks.
But voices are starting to be heard again and some make cameos in this film; Fantastic Fungi mycologist Paul Stamets is here giving his two cents, along with physician/author Gabor Maté, whose knowledge lies in trauma and addiction. While DOSED 2 could delve deeper into the science behind this miraculous mushy, it’s Laurie who needs to remain at the centre of this particular outing.
What I enjoy most about this film is its dedication to giving Laurie the time she deserves and us, the background we need to develop a connection. It’s fascinating to watch a historically abstinent person discuss the high dosage cannabis oil she takes every day or the edible she has before bed to help her sleep when you’re a (relatively) young person who, only a few weeks prior, got comatosed on a wine tour from half a brownie. If I’d been worried about the possibility of going past the point of no return with any of the substances discussed, I’m not anymore - and I have this little film to thank.
DOSED 2: The Trip Of A Lifetime has encore screenings at Luna Leederville from Dec 8th-14th.
