Beyond Medicalization: The Renaissance of Relationship

Traditional Indigenous medicines such as Ayahuasca traveled outside of their native territories about a century ago to become part of a global cultural phenomenon. With the momentum of the psychedelic renaissance, psychedelic companies are now looking at these Indigenous medicines as substances of interest for drug development. This brings along important challenges both for Indigenous communities and communities engaged in ceremonial practices. Traditional Indigenous medicines are part of highly sophisticated knowledge systems, that the psychedelic space does not recognize and understand. The underlying assumption of this space is that extracting these medicines from these traditional medicine systems turning them into commercial commodities in a biomedical health framework will create a mental health breakthrough. Are we missing the point?