Enthusiasts vs Healers: The Hidden Costs of Psychedelic Medicine

Last month, Oregon’s first licensed psilocybin center made headlines across the psychedelic industry with their first listed price of $3500 for a high dose session. Considering Oregon’s first licensed psilocybin facilitators are an artist, a hemp and alpaca farmer, and a flight instructor, you may wonder what type of healing container they are providing. For the average American, it appears to be a steep price point. Especially if you take our healthcare system into account and the reality that most insurance companies will likely not be covering the cost of this care (at least anytime soon). For someone who is not a psychedelic healer, facilitator or familiar with the work, this initial shock is all completely understandable.

News outlets, healers and onlookers have been sounding off with their thoughts on the matter all month. While my perspective is always people over profits as it applies to corporations and pharmaceutical companies, I would like to reaffirm that “high” price points are usually indicative of quality and safe care. However, today I will not be simply adding bullet points as to why psychedelic medicine is expensive, but also how to see past the price tag to make sure you’re working with a psychedelic healer, not just an enthusiast or corporate bandwagoners.

So let’s get into it. I truly believe we all grow from information transparency, and I’ll be honest, my rates are not cheap. In fact, they have priced many people out looking for care, and that doesn’t sit well with me. I have fortunately grown my practice enough to cover all of my expenses, personnel, and set aside additional funds to now provide scholarship and reduced fees, which makes me feel exponentially better that I am able to subsidize the care of those less fortunate. If we look at the structures that create trauma, we notice a huge disparity between the “have” and “have nots.” The structures and systems that create trauma disproportionately affect women, people of color, indigenous people, LGBTQIA+, and those in lower socioeconomic statuses. And, unfortunately, the inequalities are only growing.

As a former trauma surgeon, I have worked tirelessly to provide emergency surgical services to both private pay and underserved populations. I practiced in county, private, academic, and community settings. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in education and was at the mercy of a broken insurance system for reimbursement. When I formally transitioned to psychedelic trauma healing, I spent at least another $20K on certifications and trainings to “formalize” a psychedelic healing framework. Some of the educational hoops I jumped through were necessary to ensure I had the proper credentialing in anticipation of the legal status of medicines such as MDMA and psilocybin being rescheduled – hopefully by 2023 and 2024, respectively.

I don’t regret it one bit, as I have been able to take over 2 decades of wisdom both learned and earned in the healing arts to integrate and innovate a novel healing framework that has helped many clients heal from longstanding trauma and find new meaning and purpose in the world. But, the education to get healers credentialed is not cheap. It also must be mentioned that the high cost of credentialing is limiting representation from communities that are in dire need of healers to carry this work into their communities. Communities with limited resources that have been impacted by trauma for far too long.

There’s an increasing capitalistic lens expanding on psychedelics. While my prices are fully indicative of my medical and psychedelic training and I am happy to be transparent about this, it needs to be discussed that high prices do not always equal quality in the new frontier of psychedelics.

Enthusiast Vs. Healer

Enthusiasts:

• Often believe and rely on the medicine to do the work

• Try to model and/or advertise a one-size-fits-all healing framework

• Do not emphasize or explain individual training or educational background (instead focus more on their personal journey)

• Often have no experience working within healing systems 

• Often base their entire practice or “framework” off a positive psychedelic healing journey or insight during (they might have worked with renowned healers, but that would mean their journey was tailored and individualized for their personal journey)

• May have high or low price points

Professional Healers & Facilitators:

• Bring integrity, trust, safety, and transparency into the space aka the container

• Have navigated non-ordinary states, difficult terrain, and conflicts with and without medicine – a healer that has not done their own work (self-healing) will project their unhealed traumas onto their clients

• Utilize the medicine as a tool and catalyst into their established and practiced healing framework

• Account for physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing before, during and after psychedelic medicine journeys

• Are transparent about both their personal psychedelic healing journeys and their educational training, background and career.

• May have high or low price points…but more often than not, have higher price points.

Red Light Holland has Asked Former Porn Star Mia Khalifa to Advise on a Female Focused Mushroom Brand

This past April, former porn star turned Only Fans creator, Mia Khalifa, took to Instagram to announce a partnership with Red Light Holland. She shared the news with a carousel of images captioned, “she doesn’t drink, but has a pre-roll for every hour of the day and psilocybin for breakfast.”

Khalifa was able to spindle her time spent in adult film into a lucrative career as an influencer with over 27 million followers. It’s clear she has a skill for social media and self-promotion, but it isn’t clear whether her experience with psilocybin stretches beyond recreational or if that’s important to her new role at all.

Red Light Holland is an umbrella corporation which produces, sells and markets “magic truffles.” Partnering with Khalifa is a strategic move to expand their business and help bring their line of products into the mainstream. But, is that what this movement is about? Promoting another way to check-out, numb, or distract ourselves through life? The recreational and reckless promotion of these sacred substances is compromising the work of indigenous healers, healing cultures, and researchers fighting to change the legal landscape to be able to offer new tools and therapies to help a sick society heal.

The psychedelic “gold rush” doesn’t seem to be slowing down as legislations continue to move forward across the US. The questions I pose today are - what does it mean when psychedelic companies don’t integrate experts? Will consumers be looking for qualifications and credentials or will they treat psychedelics like any other brand on their social media feeds and base their decisions off of optics? When will integrity and compassionate care take precedent over product placement and turning profits?