💧 Psychedelics and capitalism collide

PLUS: 87% of festival goers say they’ll imbibe (shocking!)

Author

Mary Carreon // Senior Editor
10 Jun

Science says that psychedelics can bestow upon us the gift of cognitive flexibility. What does that mean, exactly? You can think of it as mental agility, more or less. Mushrooms, LSD, DMT varieties, and other trippy 5-HT2A agonists are said to make it easier to adapt to new situations, embrace new perspectives and ideas, and problem-solve more fluidly. If you’re a reader of DoubleBlind this probably isn’t news to you!

But it’s worth noting that, despite this mental flexibility, the movement — even the research! — upholds the status quo. The very language used to describe this moment in history — ahem, the “Psychedelic Renaissance”— is loaded. Activist, journalist, and political strategist Alnoor Ladha tells us that “the language of the ‘Psychedelic Renaissance’ belies the idea that the ‘60s were this amazing period of psychedelic growth and now we're in this second phase—a renaissance of that high period. [But that is] the Bill Gates/Steven Pinker worldview: Everyone has a microwave, GDP is increasing, therefore things must be all right and we should just continue on our current trajectory. That neoliberal logic is embedded within the discourse of the Psychedelic Renaissance.”

In other words, the "psychedelic renaissance" is simply another byproduct of late-stage capitalism: extractive, exclusive, and a glaring testament to the constraints of cognitive flexibility.  Writer, academic, and thinker Preeti Simran Sethi tackles this complex topic in an elegant story she penned for DB — the first in a six-part series — on decolonizing psychedelics. 

I love all of the stories we publish on DB, but this Q&A is brilliant. You can find it below. You can also find stories on (real) shamans getting arrested for possessing Ayahuasca, drug use at music festivals, and famous psychedelic art.

Enjoy!

Mary CarreĂłn
Senior Editor

The “Psychedelic Renaissance” Is a Product of Late-Stage Capitalism

We spoke to activist and political strategist Alnoor Ladha about what it means to decolonize psychedelics and why the future of this space depends on it.

In 2022, Alnoor Ladha and Rene Suša penned “Why the Psychedelic Renaissance Is Just Colonialism By Another Name,” highlighting that the psychedelic boom of the 1960s was a novelty only for the Global North. Global South communities have long used animal, plant, and fungi medicines for healing and spiritual practices. Ladha urges decolonizing our relationship to psychedelics by challenging Western-centric notions of progress, which can open up new ways of being and empower diverse communities.

We caught up with Ladha to discuss the current narrative of the “psychedelic renaissance” and what it means when psychedelic and spiritual communities push for people to  become their “best selves.” We also explored why the burgeoning psychedelic industry is bound to repeat the same colonial harms of the past 500—possibly 5,000—years, unless we commit to decolonizing our minds, hearts, bodies, and psyches, and lean into community and true interconnectedness with each other and the non-human world.

Together With…

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Our Latest

As festival season hits full swing, music lovers are not just planning their squads and outfits but also figuring out their drug use strategies. The new 2024 Drug Safety at Music Festivals study from Innerbody sheds light on festival-goers' behaviors and safety measures. The survey, involving 900 attendees, reveals that 87% plan to use drugs, with cannabis, cocaine, and psychedelics topping the list. Interestingly, 80% now test their drugs beforehand, a significant increase from last year.

From the hypnotic sounds of Jimi Hendrix to the visionary art of Salvador Dalí, we’ve gathered sixteen iconic psychedelic artworks that both reflected and helped to foster the 1960s spirit of experimentation and social change. By disseminating mass-produced objects like concert posters, as well as carefully crafted works of film, literature, and painting, artists sought to support their generation’s quest for revolutionary liberation.

Since 2022, nine shamans, mostly Indigenous from Colombia, Peru, and Brazil, have been arrested in Mexico for possessing ayahuasca, sparking a heated debate over its classification as a drug and the need for legal religious protections. Shaman Claudino Perez, one of those arrested, spent two years in jail before being released, highlighting the harsh treatment of Indigenous healers under current drug laws. Colombian President Gustavo Petro intervened in Perez's case, leading to its dismissal.

& More Must-Reads

  • From the mandala to fractals, people across cultures have given spiritual significance to repetitive patterns for millennia. But is there an explanation?

  • What happens when psychedelic evangelism goes too far? Consequences can be dire when psychedelic enthusiasm takes on religious fervor, but there are some solutions.

Trip Tales

❝

My first time dropping in, my heart burst open like rays of sunshine beaming from my chest.

— Bobby G.

Have you had a profound experience with psychedelics before? Share your story with us for a chance to be featured in The Drop In. Submit your entry here.

Learn with Us

🍄 PF Tek is your classic indoor mushroom cultivation technique. It can be a little tricky to get the hang of, but it’s cheap as hell, and uses things you can get from any grocery store or horticulture shop.

💨 Move over cannabis. There are other smokeable legal herbs that produce intoxicating effects ranging from mood-boosting to mind-expanding.

🎶 Sit back and tune in. We’re serving up the best psychedelic sounds—plus a little history, too.

🌸 This flower was once called the scariest in the world. But why? Meet the plant that produces one of the most powerful and controversial botanical compounds.

😵‍💫 A neurologist walks us through the ins and outs of trip killers—pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter drugs people use to halt a trip.

DoubleBlind Supports

LEARN: Join the Cohort 5 waitlist for the Psychedelic Liberation Training. In this 10-week training program, current and aspiring psychedelic therapists and facilitators will learn how to decolonize themselves and their practice to become stewards of collective liberation.

ATTEND: The Intercollegiate Psychedelics Network (IPN) is hosting PsychedelX 2024 – the premier global psychedelic student talk conference – from June 20th - 22nd! PsychedelX is a virtual conference for students and rising professionals to present engaging talks about novel and impactful ideas within the psychedelics field and it is FREE and open to the public.

DONATE: The Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund is fighting for the sovereign protection and regeneration of the medicines, ecologies, and traditional knowledge Indigenous communities have honored for centuries. Learn more about their work and donate here.

At DoubleBlind, we believe in reciprocity—the idea that everything in the world is interconnected and that we have a responsibility to uplift a psychedelic ecosystem that centers equity, inclusivity, and healing for all. Through our work, we hope to help our community participate in this effort with us.

Together With…

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We experienced immediate relaxation and deep, restful sleep. Doesn’t that sound nice?

From the Magazine

“Everyone you ought to talk to is already dead” is a sentiment I’m told repeatedly when asking about the Haight-Ashbury in 1968. The people I do speak to seem to paint the era as a bundle of thorny contradictions, each one more unnerving than the last. “There were good things about it. There were horrible things about it,” says Stanley Mouse, a legendary psychedelic poster artist and former Haight-Ashbury resident, over the phone. “Martin Luther King was assassinated. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. Then everything went downhill, but it started out really, really beautiful.” I remind him of Charles Manson, whose Hollywood killing spree also cast an ambient paranoia and suspicion onto the hippie generation. “Right, right,” he agrees. 

Haight-Ashbury in 1968 has often been described this way: a place where counterculture decayed into rot. Still, Mouse emphasizes that it had beautiful beginnings. Want to read more from writer Maddie Connors? Click here to get DoubleBlind Issue No. 11.

Latest Youtube Video

🎥 NEW VIDEO ALERT!  DoubleBlind Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, Shelby Hartman covers everything you need to know about mushrooms, from types and access to safety and integration. Whether you're a curious beginner or a seasoned explorer, this comprehensive guide is a must-watch.

Around the Web

  • Eat up: Whole Foods founder John Mackey credits psychedelics for business inspiration: ‘It was always a spiritual thing for me’. Read more in Yahoo Finance.

  • Data from law enforcement shows that seizures of shrooms have increased in nearly every major region in the country. Read more in High Times.

  • The U.S. House has approved amendments allowing VA doctors to recommend medical marijuana and support psychedelics research. Read Marijuana Moment.

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