The gentrification of consciousness
…a gentrification of consciousness, a brave new world of psychedelic haves and have-nots… the gentrification of consciousness often involves stripping the journeys to altered states of all their historical, cultural, and religious significance and commodifying them in the mill of mass consumption… “The trauma we’re dealing with most is the trauma that comes from the tension of the high cost of living here. More and more people are being threatened with eviction; landlords are moving into the apartments to raise the rents; [people here] face daily insults and are looked at as if they’re martian…”
What for centuries has been a largely taboo or prohibited experience is on the verge of becoming fully legal in… states. The growing… business of blowing minds adds to the economic distress of poor… communities while denying them access to the powerful mind-altering substances that might help them. The fate of the psychedelic underworld hangs in the balance… I ask her about the similarly high costs of medicine needed by poor and working patients suffering from severe depression, PTSD, alcoholism and addiction, and other once-intractable ailments. Therapist-guided ketamine treatments at for-profit clinics cost anywhere from $400 to $2,000 per session. The clinics are one of several signs – others include new laws decriminalizing psychoactive substances, major research projects and think tanks studying them, and multimillion-dollar investments – of the pricey so-called psychedelic renaissance. The unfortunate use of renaissance provides yet another example of the cluelessness of the modern movement. Its application in marketing messages overlooks the word’s dark association with the Inquisition and the start of a drug war that continues to ravage descendants of Indigenous peoples who first introduced us…
Original Article (Alta):
The gentrification of consciousness
Artwork Fair Use: VirtuallyLondonBecky
