The current national conversation on racism and social justice work intersects with the psychedelic movement in several ways. We often talk about psychedelics for personal liberation, but as a collective movement, psychedelics also inform and are informed by wider social movement. Madison Psychedelic Society feels that investing in intentional conversation around social liberation is necessary to our role as a community discussion forum building positive psychedelic culture. We cannot talk about psychedelic research without talking about medical research bias and unequal access in psychiatric medicine. We cannot talk about lobbying for decriminalization without talking about the war on drugs and racist prison institutions. We cannot talk about traditional psychedelic use without talking about cultural appropriation and indigenous resource reparations. We cannot talk about personal liberation without also talking about social liberation.
This satellite discussion group has been brewing in MPS for a long while, and will become a regular offering of our calendar. While we've had intersectional and social justice-focused conversations before, we haven't before made intentional space to unpack the ways systemic injustice impacts the wider psychedelic movement, and our own local corner. While these discussions may be stirring and uncomfortable, they are necessary and timely. We will be working to create a container of community growth and personal clarity, to hold complexity and discomfort in generative support. We want to keep our eyes and hearts focused on the more excellent future we can make together. We will mostly be discussing articles and films and talks from psychedelic and social justice thought leaders, but we will also discuss ways MPS can become more actively antiracist. In our first meeting, we will be using two pieces of media to set the groundwork for our group. Both come from the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines (chacruna.net). Chacruna is an academic organization dedicated to propogating accessible psychedelic research and to sharing "cultural and political reflections on the field of psychedelic science and facilitate conversations about controversial topics that have been simmering on the sidelines as psychedelics go mainstream." They are one of the few international organizations in the psychedelic movement who focus on the intersectional impact of psychedelics in science, politics, and global culture. We hope you will join us for our new conversation on social liberation and psychedelics experience.
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