In Becoming. Instability of Psychedelic Substances
Etnografia Polska December 22, 2022 Zuzanna Sadowska 2 citations
The article critiques the fixed legal and medical categories that distinguish illicit drugs from medicines, arguing that these categories are socially constructed and unstable. Drawing on ethnographic examples and research from the 'psychedelic turn' movement, the author demonstrates the fluidity and multiplicity of psychoactive substances. The work examines how dominant Euro-American drug classifications are undermined through embodied user practices and scientific discourses, showing that the border between an 'illicit drug' and a 'medicine' is both stabilized and destabilized. The analysis contributes to the 'ontological turn' in drug research by challenging assumptions of singular, fixed drug objects.