The Ghosts of Psychedelic Science: Haunting and Moral Repair

Psychedelic science is burdened by a history of colonial harms, participant abuse, and the violent War on Drugs, which continue to shape the field. These 'ghosts' include appropriation, biopiracy, ecological damage, unethical MK-Ultra experiments, and ongoing vulnerabilities in clinical trials, as well as over-policing that makes racialized communities feel unsafe. Moral repair demands acknowledgment, accountability, compensation, and listening, echoing reconciliation after human rights abuses. The manuscript questions whether reconciliation is possible or desirable, or whether remaining haunted is preferable.

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Abstract

Psychedelic science is haunted. A dark past, and contemporary violations, litter the field with ghosts of appropriation, abuse, and a violent war on drugs. Yet, these forms of haunting often remain unseen in discussions of the ethical aspects of psychedelic science. This manuscript explores various ways in which ghosts populate our collective and individual set and settings when it comes to psychedelic drugs, and what moral demands these ghosts might place on us. The first section examines three forms of haunting in psychedelic science. Colonial harms loom large, as a booming psychedelic industry creates scars of appropriation, biopiracy, and ecological damage. In psychedelic research contexts, various harms to participants haunt the past and present, from unethical experiments funded by MK-Ultra to current concerns related to vulnerabilities and shortcomings within ongoing clinical trials. The War on Drugs has left further damage, preventing racialized communities from feeling safe in psychedelic contexts, given enduring effects of over-policing. The next section examines demands for moral repair that have been made in response to these ghost stories. These demands, which focus on themes of acknowledgement and accountability, compensation, and listening and learning, bear a striking resemblance to discussions of reconciliation in the wake of human rights abuses. In light of these demands, the final section asks whether reconciliation is either possible or desirable in psychedelic science, or if perhaps we’re better off remaining haunted.