Through an understanding of significant histories, social justice issues, and ideas presented by psychedelic thought leaders such as Aldous Huxley and Humphrey Osmond, this anthology focuses on the potentials of psychedelics in providing insight to individuals and the collective whole so that we may make an attempt at a social justice revolution and work through inequalities more thoroughly.

NiCole T. Buchanan uses the new Chacruna anthology, Psychedelic Justice: Creating a Socially Just Psychedelic Renaissance, edited by Beatriz C. Labate and Clancy Cavnar, to reflect upon the nuance and meaning of the term “psychedelic justice.” For Buchan-nan, psychedelic justice is of increasing importance as we see psychedelics gain wide-spread acceptance and recognition for their radical healing potentials in that with social justice in mind we have the ability to address intersectionality, and dismantle multi-generational paradigms of op-pression.

On the 500th year commemoration of the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, this article recounts the destruction of the Aztec empire. This history is often overlooked when discussing the use of sacred plants today. We reflect on these roots as a way to understand how cycles of colonization have affected indigenous peoples and their traditions.

There is not a soul alive today who has not been infected by colonialism, and as people infected with the sickness of coloniality, we can reproduce colonial harm. Mestizos, descendents of Indigenous, African, and settler origins, have been weaponized by colonial hierarchies to further disenfranchise Indigenous and African-descended people. In our journeys toward healing from generational trauma as descendents of colonization, a decolonial praxis to disengage from colonial attitudes must include solidarity with and respect for Indigenous sovereignty.

Sean Lawlor interviews Hanifa Nayo Washington, energy healer, Reiki practitioner, and co-founder of Fireside Project, the psychedelic peer support line, about cultivating beloved community, systems of oppression in the psychedelic space, Burning Man, building trust, reducing harm, and creating a culture of belonging.

The CIA project, “MK Ultra” exploited people of color and other vulnerable groups to test the human limits of drugs like LSD for its use as a ‘mind-control’ agent. Dana Straus, Monnica Williams, Ph.D. and the research team from the University of Ottawa examined 49 research articles from the 1950s to the 1970s related to psychedelic science. As they analyzed their findings, they uncovered recurring themes surrounding safety and ethics regarding racial and ethnic groups, recruitment strategies, study methodologies, and potential dangers in the 49 studies.

In this article, Diana Negrin centers the need to have conversations about structural racism, ecological terrorism, and other forms of injustice that are present within the ecosystem of psychedelic plant medicines. She highlights Chacruna Institute’s efforts to include diverse voices from historically marginalized groups around debates of psychedelics; their launch of the Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative of the Americas; and the successful execution of Chacruna’s virtual conference Sacred Plants II, which was diverse, interdisciplinary, and highly educational about different realms of the field of psychedelics.

Sean P. Lawlor interviews Stephanie Michael Stewart, psychiatrist and psychedelic healer in British Columbia, Canada about shamanism, the spiritual path, MAPS, people of color, problems with the Western medical model, indigenous traditions, ayahuasca in Peru, ayahuasca tourism, and psychedelic integration.

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As he articulates the historical policies and eurochristian worldviews that contribute to the colonization of Native Americans, Roger K. Green writes about how well-intentioned psychonauts who advocate for religious use of psychedelic plant medicines can be implicated in neocolonial actions. Decolonizing means disrupting the politics of recognition, understanding the eurochristian worldviews which shape the political experience for Indigenous people, and overturning policies which have contributed to the ethnocide of Indigenous worldviews.