From Booze to Breakthroughs: How LSD Helped Me Sober Up and Launch Cosmo D’s Outrageous Edibles

Getting sober is rarely a straight line—and mine looked more like a Jackson Pollock painting. For years, I wrestled with alcohol. I’d make it a few months dry, only to get sucked back in. I wanted to be free from it so badly, but no matter how many times I tried, I always seemed to land back at square one. It was frustrating, exhausting, and lonely.

Then, something unexpected happened: liquid LSD. It wasn’t a party trip. It wasn’t recreational. It was a turning point.

One day, while I was still struggling and at a dive bar in Boulder Creek (Santa Cruz Mountains) I met a relative of Ken Kessey and told him my struggle and he offered me a solution; I had heard Bill W. Did this to get sober 80 years ago so why not! I took a small dose of liquid LSD. What followed was a mind-expanding experience that peeled back the layers of my habits, fears, and pain. It gave me a glimpse into what life could be like without alcohol clouding my vision. It wasn’t just some fleeting insight—it stuck. For the first time, I felt like I was truly done with drinking. It was like I had finally been handed the manual to my own soul, and I knew I had to change.

I got sober.

And then, like lightning, the idea struck: Cosmo D’s Outrageous Edibles.

This wasn’t just a hobby or a side project—it was purpose. In 2016, I launched the company officially. The timing felt right. I’d started companies before, and in fact, I was one of the many voices that helped push Proposition 215 through back in 1996, California’s groundbreaking medical marijuana law. Cannabis has always held a sacred, healing space in my life. And with 30+ years as a chef under my belt, crafting cannabis edibles just made perfect sense.

I started simple: chocolates. I wanted to stop the cancer in my dad, he would not smoke, but maybe he would eat chocolate! Then came rice krispy treats, gummies, and even hot sauce (because who doesn’t want to get high with a side of fire?). Every recipe was an experiment—sometimes wild, sometimes weird, but always made with love and creativity. I poured my heart into every batch, turning pain into product, chaos into craft.

My Rice Krispy Snickerdoodle was a Hit!

It’s been a wild, crazy 10-year ride. I’ve learned so much—not just about cannabis, culinary technique, or business—but about myself. About resilience. About transformation. About how sometimes, your lowest point becomes the launchpad for your greatest creation.

Cosmo D’s isn’t just an edible company. It’s my story in every bite.

If you’re on a healing journey of your own—whether it’s sobriety, reinvention, or just finding your spark again—know this: the path might be messy, but you can build something beautiful from it.

Thanks for being part of mine. Stay outrageous.

— Cosmo D

Founder, Alchemist, Survivor

Cosmo D’s Outrageous Edibles