Since their introduction to industrial societies, psychedelics have been hailed as catalysts for personal and societal change. Researcher David Nickles delves into recent discoveries surrounding these compounds and the experiences they can bring. He highlights friction around questions of who should control access to these experiences and who gets to craft the social narratives around them.

Nickles delves into the challenges of access, social control, and power dynamics that have crystallized since the psychedelic revolution of the 1960’s. He highlights the ways which profit-motivated corporations and advocates of psychedelic mainstreaming have exerted control over public narratives about psychedelics under the pretense of addressing mental health epidemics. He urges us to examine psychedelics as tools for grappling with widespread social and political maladies—declining global ecosystem, the #MeToo movement, and the ongoing failures of late capitalism—rather than merely the next chic self-improvement product. Join Nickles for a conversation about fighting commodification and exploring culture through a psychedelic lens.

David Nickels is an underground researcher and moderator for The DMT-Nexus community. He has worked on numerous harm reduction projects including KosmiCare, Check-In, TLConscious, DanceWize, and The Open Hyperspace Traveler. He’s offered cultural critiques and commentary on psychedelics and radical politics, as well as novel phytochemical data for psychedelic preparations at venues around the world.

Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Cascadia Psychedelic Community.