Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast – Interview with Matt Brockmeier, Counsel at Antithesis Law and Founding Member of Garden Variety

Date: October 4, 2025
Host: Scott Becker
Guest: Matt Brockmeier

Episode Overview

This episode offers an in-depth exploration of the rapidly evolving "natural medicine" industry, focusing on Colorado's pioneering legal psilocybin market. Scott Becker interviews Matt Brockmeier, a healthcare attorney turned entrepreneur, about his journey from health law to the forefront of regulated psychedelics. The conversation ranges from legislative change and business innovation to the therapeutic promise and evolving perceptions of natural psychoactive substances.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Matt’s Career Path and Entry into Psychedelics

• [00:24] Matt shares his background: Starting as a healthcare attorney in Chicago, moving to D.C. for consulting and policy work, then relocating to Colorado in 2014 after cannabis legalization opened up new opportunities.
• The Turning Point: During the pandemic, Matt became involved with Colorado’s "Natural Medicine Health Act" (2022), a ballot initiative deregulating psilocybin for adult personal use and creating a state-regulated therapeutic model.
• Industry Leadership: After helping craft the rules, Matt joined Entheogen, a company aiming to become the first vertically integrated, state-licensed natural medicine (psilocybin) business in the U.S., encompassing cultivation, extraction, product creation, and administration at licensed “healing centers.”

Microdosing & Neuroplasticity

• [03:05] Matt explains microdosing as using a "sub-perceptual dose" of substances like psilocybin (around 100 mg dried mushrooms) to gain neuroplastic benefits—“make new connections in your brain”—without hallucinations.
• [03:56] He explains:

  “You get the benefits of the neuroplasticity of psilocybin but without the trip, basically.” — Matt Brockmeier

Mushrooms vs. LSD—How They Differ

• [04:02] Both are "serotonergic" (targeting serotonin receptors). LSD has a stronger, longer-lasting effect due to higher receptor affinity.
• Analogy: Matt likens these molecules to a "key and a lock," each fitting receptors differently, providing different subjective effects.
• [04:20]

  “LSD has a stronger affinity... so it lasts longer... The molecules are a similar shape and that's why they both fit into the serotonin [receptors].” — Matt Brockmeier

Serotonin vs. Dopamine: Neurotransmitters Explained

• [04:53] Dopamine is excitement/anticipation; serotonin is “the happiness neurotransmitter.”
• [05:02]

  “Some of these molecules are both serotonergic and dopaminergic, but in different ratios... Cocaine, for instance, is like, releases a lot of dopamine.” — Matt Brockmeier

Drug Trends & Public Health Perspective

• [05:17] Discussion of increased cocaine use per a recent Wall Street Journal article. Matt, living in Colombia, notes the lack of health benefits—contrasting cocaine’s harm and addictiveness with the wellness-promoting, non-addictive nature of psilocybin mushrooms.
• [06:13]

  "Mushrooms, you can grow them in your closet and they're good for you and they're not... addictive." — Matt Brockmeier

Business Operations: Vertical Integration & Product Pipeline

• [06:48] Entheogen will grow, extract, and formulate psilocybin, with all administration tightly controlled in state-regulated healing centers—not a retail, over-the-counter model.
• Functional Mushroom Experience: Co-founders already operate Myco Love Farms (lion’s mane, cordyceps, reishi, turkey tail) in Longmont, Colorado.
• [07:44]

  "We pass this law because people need access to something that works. And the current mental health regime… SSRIs… they don't work as well as we hoped." — Matt Brockmeier

Innovation: Digital Health Platform

• [08:20] Launching an app to monitor “sleep, exercise, and diet” before, during, and after psilocybin therapy, and to correlate mushroom strains with outcomes. This approach aims at unprecedented personalization and data-driven protocols.

Lighthearted Moment: Mushrooms and Weight Loss

• [08:51] Scott jokingly asks about mushrooms for weight loss.
• [08:55]

  “No, that's just yoga.” — Matt Brockmeier (laughing)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the mission:

  “We're going to receive licenses from the state of Colorado to cultivate my mushrooms, extract the active compounds, put them into products... and then administer them via a licensed facilitator, kind of a therapist in these healing centers.” — Matt Brockmeier [01:21]

• On state support:

  “Working very closely with the state's natural medicine division, a really talented, committed group of regulators that really understands that this is the will of the voters.” — Matt Brockmeier [07:16]

• On the limits of traditional mental health treatments:

  "The current mental health regime, you know, where you just, you're throwing SSRIs at everybody and they don't work as well as we hoped." — Matt Brockmeier [07:44]

Important Timestamps

• 00:24 — Matt’s background and entry into legal cannabis and policy
• 01:21 — Overview: Colorado’s Natural Medicine Health Act and Entheogen
• 03:05 — Microdosing explained
• 04:02 — Differences between psilocybin and LSD
• 04:53 — Serotonin vs. dopamine
• 05:17 — Drug trends and cocaine discussion
• 06:48 — Vertical integration: growing, extraction, and product pipeline
• 07:44 — Critique of SSRIs and current mental health approaches
• 08:20 — Digital app for patient tracking
• 08:51 — Weight loss and mushrooms (humorous close)

Conclusion

This episode is a highly informative glimpse into Colorado’s transformative approach to natural medicine, featuring expert perspectives on therapeutic psilocybin, microdosing, neurobiology, and the promise of vertically integrated, data-driven mental health businesses. Matt Brockmeier brings deep legal, scientific, and entrepreneurial insights, painting a picture of a future where mental health treatments are more precise, personalized, and holistic.