Psillow is launching a series of articles on Psychedelic Communities. This series is not intended to end, to ever be a conversation that is not deemed worthy of having.

Psillow is launching a series of articles on Psychedelic Communities. Follow Psillow on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest installments.

Psychedelic Community

Ponder the phrase. What does it mean to you? What does it mean to others?

Are you in it?

Have you turned on, tuned in, and dropped out?

Have you realized the paradigm-shifting power of psychedelic therapies?

Do you organize, facilitate, or attend a local integration circle?

Do you microdose, or macrodose, on the regular?

Do you believe people should not be criminalized for possession of natural fruits of the earth?

Do you believe ‘drugs’ are a construct of a bygone era, with legalization an inevitability?

These are some of the valid tickets given to psychedelic community members, they are avenues of entry to a larger gathering of allies. These individuals belong to a psychedelic community. But there is no single psychedelic community.

The Great Divides in Psychedelics

As with any community, there are divisions and factions. More often than not, their disagreements are lone stand-outs among a sea of mutual agreements and aspirations. However, they are the ‘red lines’ which allow partisan disputes to flourish even in the most accepting and open-minded domains.

 “The plethora of people who use, advocate and research psychedelics are referred to as a ‘community.’ While this notion of a united group of psychedelic champions, all working together to better society with these incredible tools, is a wonderful notion – it is not actually how it plays out in real life. Instead, I would propose that there are instead several tribes that cooperate, or at least tolerate, each other depending on the day or topic; while other tribes are insular, and have a rigid operational structure which, if not adhered to exactly, leads to immediate rejection.”

-Dr. Ivan Casselman, Chief Psychedelic Officer of Havn Life

Like cannabis before it, psychedelics as a theme brings along centuries of baggage that challenge consensus and compromise. Perhaps more than ever, the community demands equity, consideration, inclusion, and access from the industry. Perhaps more than ever before, the industry pursues its feasible and profitable ideation of an ideal future for psychedelics.

“If you believe in peace, act peacefully; if you believe in love, act lovingly; if you believe every which way, then act every which way, that’s perfectly valid—but don’t go out trying to sell your beliefs to the System. You end up contradicting what you profess to believe in.”

-Tom Robbins, ‘Even Cowgirls Get the Blues’

(as suggested by Ronan Levy, Founder and Executive Chairman of Field Trip Health)

And so the conversation begins

This series is not intended to end, to ever be a conversation that is not deemed worthy of having.

Chapters of the series will be dropping every Friday, for the foreseeable future. We’ve got a few lined up, but we want to hear from you. Contact Roderick directly at [email protected] for your insights and questions on the divisions – or lack thereof – in this newly revitalized domain.