The Shadow of Mainstreaming Psychedelics

A global “psychedelic renaissance” is well underway, with a new generation of drug policy reformers, researchers, and well-informed psychonauts eager to end the War on Drugs and unlock the healing power of psychedelics. 

As we have seen with cannabis, opening up alternative medicines to the masses comes with its challenges and risk of corruption, with organisations and individuals looking to profit from regulatory progress. With a wave of new start-ups and increased investment in alternative drug research, we are reaching a pivotal point where we must ensure that the conversation around psychedelic drugs remains true and fair, indigenous communities and cultures are protected, and commercialisation is carefully managed, to avoid falling into familiar traps.

What can we learn from the legalisation and commercialisation of cannabis? How do we best navigate the conflict between decriminalisation of psychedelics vs. all drugs? How can the community respond to start-up organisations commercialising psilocybin and other psychedelics, using traditional market tactics that create artificial scarcity? As the decriminalisation movement continues to gather pace, how do organisations ensure they are being considerate of indigenous communities, so that these cultures are shown full respect and sufficiently protected? Finally, how do we educate the general population to dispel the myths of prohibition?