"Is there anything critical social justice does not poison or destroy? No, as it turns out—not even psychedelics. Conservatives might have a wholly confused and deeply misguided view toward psychedelic medicine, but at least they’re not rewriting psychedelic history, ruining psychedelic culture, and corrupting psychedelic practice.As a well-traveled psychenaut and accomplished psychedelic historian, Tom Hatsis is better positioned than just about anyone to expose the damage done by critical social justice ideology to the psychedelic Renaissance—and to offer a clear and unifying vision that celebrates psychedelics as a potential to expand minds, improve mental health, and connect individuals in ways that transcend material differences and divides.” 

—Peter Boghossian, Founder, National Progress Alliance

About the Book

Just as the world is waking up to the promise of psychedelics, the decades-long push to introduce these extraordinary medicines to the masses faces a significant threat—the introduction of critical social justice ideology into psychedelic culture, practice, and activism. Describing how this form of identity politics sees everything through an oppressor-oppressed lens, Psychedelic Injustice calls attention to the ways in which individuals and institutions within psychedelia have not only adopted the ideology’s most divisive narratives about race and gender but also aggressively pushed them. It also demonstrates how these same individuals and institutions misrepresent the history of psychedelics in the name of decolonialism, draw boundaries around psychedelics based on identity categories, and drive away anyone who does not submit to “approved” critical social justice ideas. Through first-hand accounts, rigorous scholarship, and an eye for nuance, Psychedelic Injustice serves as a much-needed and long-overdue counterpoint to the highly questionable, disunifying narratives increasingly found throughout modern psychedelia. Ultimately, however, it is a call for hope, unity, and simple common sense. If psychedelia is ever to go fully mainstream, the psychedelic Renaissance must reject ideological narratives about our present and past and see these sacred medicines for what they are: a universal birthright that allows for the expansion of minds, the healing of psyches, and the creation of deep human bonds and connections.

About the Author

Thomas Hatsis is a public speaker, psychedelic community leader, and author of four books in the field of psychedelic history and practice, including The Witches' Ointment. He is also the cofounder of a vibrant psychedelic society, Psanctum, and has the honor of having received the last thirty-four boxes of the Timothy Leary archive to catalogue, digitize, and preserve. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Details

ISBN: 9781634312783
Format: paperback
SRP: $24.95
Page count: 391 pages
Trim size: 6 x 9
Pub date: June 2025