The controlled narrative goes something like this: ayahuasca is good, and we need to control how people perceive it because this is a controlled substance we want to see legalized, a medicine we want to see legitimated. And if we have to sacrifice a few women who get themselves raped to keep ayahuasca’s name clean, so be it.

A few years ago, I witnessed the systematic silencing and shaming of Lily Kay Ross for having dared to call attention to severe abuses of power in the psychedelic space. Her extraordinary bravery in sharing her own experience with abuse was met with victim blaming and accusations of selfishness. Key members of the psychedelic research community turned on her for “jeopardizing” the entire field of psychedelic science with her “negativity” and “theatrics.”

Consent is really pretty simple but also apparently complicated, due to our inheritance of a messed up culture.

The research team at UConn studying MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD is now defunct.

As venture-capital-backed, for-profit companies barrel into psychedelic therapy, the potential for the widespread privatization of psychedelic knowledge and profits looms large. Some researchers are so enthusiastic about medicalization by “any means necessary” that they’re resorting to prohibitionist historical narratives and calling for monopolies to push the agenda forward.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Terry Demio talks about reporting on heroin for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

What’s it like being sentenced to life in prison for selling LSD? Timothy Tyler, a Deadhead convicted of selling LSD and granted clemency by President Barack Obama, talked to Psymposia about his 26 years in prison, and the challenges of adjusting to a brave, new world.

Narratives which gloss-over the history and socioeconomic dynamics of ayahuasca’s globalization may, despite good intentions, actually do more harm than good.

Clashes between SSDP and New College administrators represent growing confusion about handling harm reduction on campuses

A conversation between two (white) activists to further the dialogue around inclusivity in the field of psychedelic research and culture.

Today, we have a world where we can say: “I’m proud to be a woman” and “I’m proud to be gay.” But we can’t say: “I’m a drug-user.”

Like the vast majority of psychonauts, I didn’t use a chemical reagent to verify I was taking LSD, even though I had been active in harm reduction work for three years prior and was aware of testing kits.

Before I met Adam I didn’t really know anyone with OCD. It was just an abstract concept to me. Like most people, I had the image of the stereotypical germaphobe who obsessively scrubs their hands in a futile attempt at washing the thousands of bacteria away.

Rhana Hashemi is the site coordinator for drug and alcohol programs and services for Oakland Unified School District. But, to her students, she is just “the drug lady.”

Vincent Horn of Meditate.io talks about psychedelics and meditation.

When two men entered a party in Uneeda Nichols’ home in Washington, D.C. in August 2017 with a couple hundred dollars in cash, they were greeted as cannabis enthusiasts. No one realized they were undercover cops.

I first discovered the potential psychedelics have for treating stuttering during an experience with psilocybin mushrooms.

A candid talk with Arturo Lua Castillo, named Outstanding Student Organizer of 2018 by Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Meet some of the people on the front lines of global drug reform at The Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna.

The Ibogaine Conversation Conclusion | The goal of this conversation was to provide a platform for a diverse range of perspectives on a single topic. Not everyone agrees, and that’s the point.