Psychedelics, White Saviorism and Compulsive Capitalism
The world of psychedelics is becoming more and more known to the wider, domesticated, culture. Articles on the subject have been popping up in publications like ‘Men’s Health’ and ‘The New Yorker’ for years now. While for some people this topic remains tainted with the energy of fear and skepticism, others are opening up to a reality that includes an integration of accurate information, hopefully including the indigenous perspective. Much of what we know about these substances has been filtered through the exploitative war-machine of a political system that our American culture is couched within.
Since fear of psychedelics was used as a tactic to break up anti-war, eco- and civil rights activists, the pain and trauma still impacts many communities and will for generations to come. According to the Center for National Drug Abuse Statistics, there are currently 244,000 people sent to prison every year for non-violent, substance related crimes. We now know that the war on drugs did not begin in the 1960’s and that that was just the most recent chapter of this particular area of cultural oppression. It is not possible to accurately speak on this subject without mentioning that this cultural shift is happening within the context of colonialism, european-centric dominant culture, patriarchy and ignorance of our interconnectedness with Earth’s ecosystems. While I will not be diving into all of this right now, please know that these subjects are inherently vital to this conversation.
No amount of reparations would ever come to repay the damage done to, mostly communities of color, by the war on drugs. It is very important to take our time when educating ourselves on this topic, and while the reparations are not the final answer, they are a great, and necessary, place to start. While millions of dollars are poured into research on substances that people have used for thousands of years, families continue to be ripped apart while, mostly BIPOC, are forced to separate from their families via the prison industrial complex. I recommend supporting in any way you can the Compassion Prison Project and The Last Prisoner Project with donations or volunteer time to help reduce recidivism. I can share more at another time about my experiences volunteering with the Compassion Prison Project, supporting their wonderful work bringing trauma-cycle awareness to those who are imprisoned, their families, and to corrections officers.
I am wanting to bring attention to this part of the movement here because it is my opinion that no one, especially any person benefiting from white-privilege and or who has benefitted from these substances ought to be capitalizing off of healing substances while others suffer due to prohibition. The psychedelics movement offers tremendous opportunity for wider healing that demands a radicalized perspective on what healing actually means. Since a common message from the psychedelic experience is this clarity around our interconnectedness to all, we must imbibe this knowing if we are to be involved with this work. Whether you are curious about psychedelics in a very personal way or if you are interested in it for your career orientation, education or work, this is still relevant.
The stigma around substance use is a common thread from abuse to recreational use, therapeutics and community health. This stigma harms everyone whether we acknowledge it or not because it feeds divisiveness within our families and communities and is largely based on false information. If people are addicted to work or exercise, they may be rewarded by society and if a person has an addiction to a substance, they are still judged through a lens of capitalistic subjectivity. Caffeine and alcohol help people with our current systems of productivity therefore they are sanctioned by ‘authority’ figures. Mushrooms and LSD do not necessarily support us within the systems of capitalistic productivity and consumerism so they are not sanctioned by the culture. I put the word authority in quotes because the way our social infrastructures currently work is based in abuse and a passive relinquishing of our collective power. It is based on abuse because we allow people who do not have knowledge on a subject to make decisions on that subject. We also allow people to make decisions who will not live with the consequences of these decisions and in this social structure we have become very used to abusing the responsibility of power. For example, many people making decisions in the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) around the scheduling of substances have zero experience or awareness around these substances.
If we want citizens to be productive members of society, we must take back our rights to play in nature and our rights to be designers of a society of which we can take pride. People inherently crave to be fulfilled in the context of their communities and that desire for fullfillment has been doused by the patronizing laws of our police state. One piece of silver lining, albeit intense, that has surfaced via the Covid pandemic, is that we were are in a societal mental health crisis and that our mental, physical and emotional health is all connected. Our current medical model of health care does not accurately represent this reality. After all, prescribed medications are one of the leading causes of deaths in the USA and mood stabilizing drugs only are effective for 30% of those who take them under prescription.
The ecosystems of our bodies and communities cannot be holistically, of fully, healed in the context of reductionist thinking.
The standard western science perspective is a reductionist perspective, separating the parts of a system and reducing the sum to parts. Our culture has been coasting on the impacts and structures of Euro-centric thinking and being for many generations now. The axiology (the study and nature of cultural value) of our culture is oriented around subject / object relations as opposed to subject / subject or subject / collective. This socialization is foundational to our individualistic thinking in the United States and is intricately related to exploitative capitalism and isolation from our nature. After all, how else could we allow non-violent offenders to serve so many years in a prison, separated from their communities, when we know the atrocities sanctioned by government officials are some of the most violent acts ever committed?
While white-supremacy culture is not the only area of concern with the current psychedelics movement, it is relevant. I want to address white saviorism briefly before moving on because I think a fear of white saviorism, and lack of awareness around it, can keep people from moving forward. White saviorism can show up in many different ways when a white or white passing person becomes aware of the current system of white supremacy and they decide they want to help. One way we can identify white saviorism is when someone is wanting to support anti-racism efforts and is not willing to do the emotional work required to do this properly and therefore mitigate further harm. This could look like, for example, wanting to help a dis-enfranchised area of the community and not taking the time to listen to the people actually living there and taking their lead on what ‘help’ they really could use. This can also show up in a more ambiguous way where we as individuals may think that those in historically marginalized groups don’t have the resilience and awareness to solve their own problems if only we would get out of the way. I use the word ambiguous because from my experience, being in continuing higher education since 2017, this belief is often imbedded into the structures of our socialization and education systems so deep that it can be challenging to identify or rather, easy to ignore.
The following are several concepts to help prevent white saviorism. Know that anti-racism and anti-oppression work cannot be contained in a book or a training. While there are many decent trainings out there that we white folks ought to partake in, and there are many good books, anti-oppression work is never over. This is a part of our life’s work, our generation’s calling, as we all can find fulfillment in supporting the culture moving towards life-affirming, respectful, systems. If you have questions, concerns and would like to proactively work on internalized-white supremacy culture, and you are white, please try and turn first towards other white people educated on the subject for your personal processing. Be aware of ‘new woke energy’ and take time to integrate. There are also many people, of all melanin levels, out there committed to anti-oppression education who you can pay for their services or workshops for a consensual exchange. Remember that any one person of a historically marginalized group does not necessarily represent others in their community and to not homogenize groups of people under one overarching characterization. Know that while financial reparations are not nearly the complete answer to this cultural wound, they are a foundational and required step in the repair process. Committing to ongoing financial donations to your local indigenous nation or group is an example of reparations as well as demanding your political representatives to prioritize this repair work. If you have benefitted from white privilege and would like to be more intentional with unlearning internalized white culture or peripheral impacts, this work is available within my private coaching practice as well.
I understand this political lean so far in this write up may be invoking an array of emotions so perhaps we can use the power of integration in this moment. Our capacity, as humans, for emotional awareness, is a key tool for integration. To integrate simply means to incorporate one thing into another. Integration can look like a lot of different things such as intentionally talking about an experience, physically shaking my body to release any tension, physical therapy, going for a walk, or visual art. So, I invited you to take a moment to briefly check out what is happening with your body after reading the above information. For example, scan your body for physical sensations, notice your thoughts or emotions or take several deep breaths while you notice the impact of this information without any judgment. Know that you are not a bad person and that there is no such thing as perfection. Notice what it is like to have this awareness, taking a pause for one intentional inhale and exhale, and read on.
Compulsive capitalism is intertwined with our lifestyles as we are all swimming in an atmospheric culture that puts capitalism on an energetic, and very real, pedestal over other versions of exchange. Since we live within an infrastructure built around capitalism, we must use what tools we have to continue to mitigate harm as we move towards more life-affirming social structures. As psychedelics are entering mainstream therapeutics, trainings and clinics are popping up like no-body’s business to ensure people have access to government sanctioned ketamine, cannabis & MDMA support. There are many folks out there too doing great work to ensure accessibility is at the forefront of awareness and efforts during this transition within the mental health field. I am throwing this concept of compulsive capitalism in here just because it is something to be explicitly aware of so that folks who do work as wellness practitioners can move towards a holistic practice with integrity.
Integrity, integral, integration and integer all share a common root word meaning complete or whole.
We can move towards wholeness when we take time to integrate our acute experiences with the rest of our personal history and within the context of our time and culture. While this may seem like ‘a lot’ or potentially overwhelming to pursue, rest assured that it is not. It is inherently not overwhelming because if we are feeling overwhelmed, we cannot integrate information. This is why, exemplified by somatics work, slowing down our thought processes, slowing down our literal nervous system in a safe way, is one process used to support integration. When I say ‘a safe way’ I mean that in a vague sense because what feels safe to each of us is unique and slowing down to focus inwardly on the body or self may be even more negatively activating for some. If this is you, please know there are many ways to navigate these processes of heightened self awareness and there is no ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ way as long as you are being compassionate to yourself and whoever you are working with if you happen to have a practitioner.
If you have taken any time, or by chance been exposed to, the world of psychedelics, you probably have heard of this term ‘integration’.
My coaching practice has organically been integrating the work of psychedelic integration as my clients are exploring these tools on their own. I also have completed the first eight months of the Vital psychedelics training via Psychedelics Today and am starting to intentionally work more with these natural tools via preparation and integration sessions. Psychedelics have been a part of my life ever since the boyfriend I had at the age of 20 requested me to not explore them. As soon as we had that conversation I knew our relationship was over and that I would commit to not allowing others to block my personal consciousness explorations. Since then I’ve had over 13 years of direct experience with a variety of psychedelics and I still would not call myself an expert. This is because the more you are in this world, the more you know that you don’t know. I started exploring psychedelics more deeply in the context of healing from an abortion and in conjunction with my herbalism studies and work.
It is also important to note that psychedelics are non-specific amplifiers of the psyche. That means that if you have anxiety that you manage for example, a psychedelic experience may either help or add challenge to this. It’s only through careful preparation for an experience that you may find how psychedelics may help or hinder your personal growth goals. Psychedelics do not make someone ‘a good person’ and they are simply tools that can be used in different ways. Since they are powerful tools, it is important to educate yourself, find or create a supportive community and do plenty of your own research before diving into this work. This intentionality applies whether you are taking smaller doses, such as micro-dosing, or if you are getting ready for a larger experience such as a ceremony. While I offered much critique of the over-medicalized healthcare system of the United States, I respect and understand that prescription drugs do work for many people. If you take any prescription medications, please be careful to do your own research around potential contraindications between substances. For more information on psychedelics and pharmaceutical interactions go to spiritpharmacist.com where Dr. Ben Malcolm has many resources so that you can navigate your experiences with safety and choice.
The inherently potent nature of psychedelics and the opportunities that lie in the healing benefits, offer our species a much needed helping hand at a moment of crisis. These opportunities will become apparent to us, if and only if, we integrate these tools into our society with great care and reverence. Great care and reverence can happen in the context of therapy, group ceremony, your living room, or a rave. Only you can decide what is best for you should you choose to explore this realm and know that there is a network of support out there, so take advantage.
There are many people out there just starting to learn about the reality of psychedelics, and unlearn the propaganda, to become better allies for their friends, teens or adult child, sibling or partner/s. There are some out there re-educating themselves so that they can be at choice whether or not to explore these tools and there are many too who have their own direct experiences within psychedelia already. Wherever you are at, thank you for your commitment to move towards authenticity and integrity as a fellow human being – and for opening your mind to the vast possibilities of holistic reconnection.
*While psychedelics are becoming decriminalized in many cities and some states, these substance remain illegal on the Federal level. I do not condone the use of illegal substances and any information on this page or throughout this site is for educational and harm-reduction purposes only. There are more and more bills being pushed for decriminalization so if you would like this movement to grow in your local area, join or start a local psychedelics meet-up, propose a bill and ask your representatives to consider decriminalization. There is a lot of momentum around the decriminalization and reparations movement so you are welcome to join us!