How should we sell psychedelics?
…so if we’re going to consider the retail sale of psychedelics… public conversation about how a retail psychedelic market might actually work has been all but nonexistent. So far, most debate over how to expand legal access to psychedelics has focused on segmented approaches like therapy, religious exemptions, or supervised retreat centers. The reports from Transform and RAND have at least started the important work of taking them seriously, rather than turning away at the first depiction of psychedelic capitalism gone awry.
But even in a world with all these models firmly in place, plus more general drug decriminalization across the board, there would still be plenty of people who would not be able to access psychedelics. Not everyone will or can get a prescription for their psychedelic of choice. Most people won’t be able to afford supervised programs, which run for a minimum of about $1,800 for a single, low-dose session in Oregon’s state program, or thousands more in luxury retreats abroad. Neither will everyone want to join a literal church in order to get religious exemption. And for anyone who doesn’t happen to have a friend who knows a guy who grows mushrooms and wants to share, decriminalizing psychedelics won’t do much to expand access on its own, either. If ending psychedelic prohibition means all adults should have reasonable access, retail sales – being able to simply buy the drugs from a store – could help fill the gaps… the most modest step in retail would be letting the government have a monopoly on distribution… one step further would be legalizing sales through only certain types of organizations, like non-profits or for-benefit corporations… applying a bit more restriction a non-profit collective model for cannabis that could be adapted for psychedelics… and finally, the approach that now dominates cannabis in the US: for-profit sales.
Original Article (Vox):
How should we sell psychedelics?
Artwork Fair Use: Kate Harbison