Join our coalition!

VISION

We are healing communities - in both senses. We envision a world where transformation and justice are possible for all. Psychedelics remind us of our ancient roots. Our work centers Black and brown stories, ensuring that the harms of Western medicine and the war on drugs are not repeated in psychedelic spaces. We work to remember and preserve traditional knowledge. We strive for increased access, popularized safe usage, and right relationship to the medicines that can heal our generational trauma and uplift our community autonomy. 

MISSION

PAHJ is committed to decolonizing care, disrupting inherited institutions, and decentralizing healing justice for Black and brown communities through the revolutionary potential of psychedelic medicine. We heal by reclaiming ancestral practices and educating our people harmed by racial capitalism and state violence. We confront drug exceptionalism and the dominant narratives that exclude and misrepresent our communities in the psychedelic space. Through collaboration, education, and solidarity, we empower BIPOC leaders who dream up more just and inclusive systems of care, research, and policy.

Why Join?

Joining PAHJ offers a unique opportunity to connect with a community of like-minded leaders of color driving change in the psychedelic space. As part of PAHJ, you’ll have access to a supportive network where you can share resources, exchange knowledge, and collaborate on solutions to the unique challenges we face. Whether through collective storytelling, problem-solving, or gaining insights into funding opportunities, you’ll contribute to a movement that centers our voices, experiences, and visions for a just transition within our psychedelic future. Together, we’re shaping the narrative, influencing policy, and building a healing ecosystem that works for us and our communities. Our virtual meetings are open to people of color who are already community leaders working with an organization or group in the psychedelic field.

monthly Meetings every third wednesday, 3-4:30pm pst / 6-7:30pm est

as a coalition, we aim to:

• Shape narratives around psychedelics that are firmly rooted in social justice.

• Research and address the specific needs of communities of color from community-based and institutional perspectives

• Raise the standards we uphold as advocates and practitioners within this movement

• Develop healing models that are by us, for us as the global majority

• Build popular education and practical skills within the movement

connecting to movement history

The psychedelic space has been shaped by for-profit actors driven by capitalistic motivations, leaving many of our leaders and community-based organizations of color without the infrastructure to thrive. The systemic lack of information about the incarceration of people on the basis of psychedelic use or distribution—along with the racial disparities at play—hampers efforts to create equitable policies.

Our communities have unique healing needs that cannot be disconnected from who traditional knowledge keepers of psychedelic medicine are and cannot be disconnected from the disproportionate impact of drug arrests, health outcomes, and overall life experiences. Yet, much of the current research and narratives in psychedelics lack a deep understanding of social justice from our voices. We’re committed to building healing frameworks that acknowledge the global harm of drug criminalization on people of color, and to creating the conditions for lasting change.

• Criminalization: Criminalization limits research, education and safe practices. Criminalization increases your risks of overdose or of potentially fatal interactions with law enforcement. Criminalization decenters harm-reduction and restricts business development by prioritizing “business banking”.

• “Integrating into a burning system”: We’re ushering psychedelics into a society with no social safety net—no universal healthcare or paid leave, all while the pandemic persists.

• Lack of BIPOC-centered training: There’s a shortage of psychedelic training for therapists and practitioners of color, with minimal oversight for those already in practice.

• Advocacy gaps: Most psychedelic legislation overlooks the needs and history of communities of color knowledge keeping psychedelic practices, especially Indigenous Mesoamerican groups. Psychedelic ballot initiatives often lack reparative justice components, like freeing those incarcerated for these substances.

• Narrative and culture: Media fails to reflect the experiences and cultural contributions of people of color in the psychedelic space.