Jordan Kronick on Peaking, filming psychedelic healing, Ecstasy Rising, brain injury in sports, and drug policy

Jordan Kronick discusses Peaking: Psychedelics and the Pursuit of Happiness, his documentary following first-time users before, during, and months after psychedelic experiences across six substances. The film places cameras in dosing rooms and connects psilocybin sessions involving athletes with concussion histories, ayahuasca ceremonies involving veterans, ibogaine treatment for fentanyl addiction, and underground 5-MeO-DMT toad use. Kronick also reflects on making Ecstasy Rising at ABC News, the retracted study behind claims that MDMA caused brain damage, and Rick Doblin’s view that the documentary helped open doors for MDMA research. The conversation examines psychedelic approaches to brain injury, toad safety and sustainability, the drug war’s impact on research, MDMA history at Dallas’s Starck Club, bipartisan support for ibogaine, and the limits of possible FDA approvals, which would cover specific formulations and therapeutic protocols rather than psychedelics generally. Peaking premiered in June 2026 and is receiving a city-by-city theatrical release, with digital rental planned for early December.