From Psychedelic Therapist Jo Dice:
“The psychedelic community is an interesting one..
In no other area of mental health is there such a pronounced hierarchy and system of power at play.
Researchers, scientists and psychologists are catapulted to a “rock star” status. They are idolised and hero worshipped.
To my eyes, they are predominantly white men of a certain age and socio-economic background. As such they are likely to have similar value systems, based on their own life experience and privilege.
Websites and blogs obsessively compile numerically ranked lists of the most influential players. Why? Power.
Systems of power are a manifestation of patriarchy. The patriarchal influence within the psychedelic sphere is extreme. Abuse always happens within the context of systems and dynamics of power.
Abuse is rampant with the psychedelic world, and not just sexual abuse from shamans. The largely unspoken shadow of psychedelics is narcissistic abuse. The psychedelic community is crawling with narcissists.
The recent case of Ben Sessa, a prominent psychedelic researcher and psychiatrist, who entered into a sexual relationship with his client who tragically killed herself, highlights to us that qualifications, experience and professional credentials give absolutely zero indication of a person’s good character.
The dogma and doctrine of the psychedelic cult has become:
We are all one
Love is the best feeling that a human being can have
We must all be connecting to the land
The indigenous way is the right way
We must all be raising human consciousness (most of the people I have met who describe themselves as being more conscious than other human beings, are narcissists)
Psychedelics are going to save the world We must be hero worshipping human beings and plants
Pharmaceuticals are the enemy
We must create our own elite community, that is separate from the rest of the world (and better)
You don’t have to be an anthropologist to feel the cult-like vibes here…
While these values may feel pertinent to an indigenous community in the Amazon, or even to someone bought up in the leafy suburbs of Kent, they may not resonate quite so strongly with someone raised in a council estate in Manchester. For them, their ancestral wisdom might relate to the factories, the mills and the voices of the working classes.
My values, which have emerged from my psychedelic work and daily meditation practice include:
Courage
Integrity
Speaking truth
Calling out abuse from those in systems of power
Feminism
I believe I can positively impact the world just as much with my own values, as with anyone else’s.
I would like to see psychedelics used to facilitate a process of….
Individuation: what is my unique value system and who am I amongst the masses?
As opposed to what is currently happening within the psychedelic community, which is….
Indoctrination: you must subscribe to our belief and value system.”