Modern Culture

‘This isn’t the 60s again’: psychedelics business takes off amid culture clash

Much as happened with the cannabis industry a decade ago, a culture clash is now developing between social justice activists who fought for the legalisation of psychedelics and [the] wealthy… often new to the drugs, who have the resources to dominate an emerging industry.

“The idea that psychedelics should only be used to heal something that is broken within you – rather than as a way to communally understand our world – is the narrow definition that will get FDA approval,” says Jason Ortiz, co-founder of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, and executive director of Students For Sensible Drug Policy. “That communal bonding will be lost if we’re only pressing it into pills.” “There’s an institutionalisation of psychedelic drugs happening that will make them less accessible to the common person,” Ortiz says. “A lot of these corporations come from big pharma and have established networks within the FDA. Movements for justice threaten that monopoly by saying that folks should be able to cultivate, sell and consume these substances on their own.” Ortiz is pursuing decriminalisation for all psychedelics, allowing individuals to make their own choices about whether and how to take them. He views the pharmaceuticals industry as a threat to that.

Original Article (The Guardian):
‘This isn’t the 60s again’: psychedelics business takes off amid culture clash
Artwork Fair Use: Anonymous

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…to town

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