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The Daily Beast - Susan Sarandon on Her Love Affair With David Bowie, Woody Allen’s Creepiness, and Psychedelics by Marlow Stern 07.24.14    5:45 AM ET

I heard you went to Burning Man last year, but sadly couldn’t make it this year.

It’s fabulous. I can’t go this year because my daughter’s having a baby around that time, so I don’t think I’d feel very free to indulge if I was waiting for a message to see if she’s gone into labor. I went all around on a Segway and a bicycle, which was great, and even though people sometimes recognized me and said, “Oh, it’s so cool you’re here!” it wasn’t like walking the streets of New York. The art was amazing. You’ll find fantastical stuff like four-story women, and when the light comes up, a half-naked woman with a parasol. Despite the fact that there was more of a police presence there, it was a lot of fun and I’d definitely go back.

Did you take any psychedelics? You kind of have to, right?

Well, it’s pretty psychedelic to begin with. But, yeah, I’m not new to the idea of mushrooms. I don’t really like chemical things, really. Timothy Leary was a friend of mine, so that acid was nice and pure, but I’m not really looking for chemicals, and I don’t like to feel speedy.

But I’ve done Ayahuasca and I’ve done mushrooms and things like that. But I like those drugs in the outdoors—I’m not a city-tripper. My attitude about marijuana or anything is, “Don’t be stoned if you have to pretend you’re not,” so I’d never do drugs if I was taking care of my kids. I like doing it in the Grand Canyon, or in the woods. You want to be prepared and not have responsibilities. It does remind you of your space in the universe—your place in the universe—and reframe things for you. I think you can have some very profound experiences.

The late Steve Jobs said taking LSD was a very profound experience, and one of the most important experiences of his life.

But it didn’t make him a kinder person. It’s not going to solve all your problems. But, yes, I’m totally supportive of that means to reframe your universe.

And marijuana was recently decriminalized in New York.

It got decriminalized in small amounts. It will be legal everywhere, and that will cause a very interesting tipping point. Certainly, if more people were smoking instead of drinking, people don’t get mean on weed, don’t beat up their wives on weed, and don’t drive crazy on weed. They just get hungry, don’t go out of the house, or laugh a lot. I think it would make for a much more gentle world.

From Dept. of Psychopharmacology  September 12, 2016 Issue  The Drug of Choice for the Age of Kale, How ayahuasca, an ancient Amazonian hallucinogenic brew, became the latest trend in Brooklyn and Silicon Valley.  By Ariel Levy

……………..In the decades since the McKennas’ odyssey, the drug—or “medicine,” as many devotees insist that it be called—has become increasingly popular in the United States, to the point where it’s a “trendy thing right now,” as Marc Maron said recently to Susan Sarandon, on his “WTF” podcast, before they discussed what she’d learned from her latest ayahuasca experience. :

“I kind of got, You should just keep your heart open all the time,” she said. “Because the whole point is to be open to the divine in every person in the world.”