Justin Natoli

As a queer, non-binary person, I am used to challenging misconceptions about gender and sexuality. However, as a psychotherapist who specializes in the field of psychedelics, it is not often that I receive these misconceptions from leaders within my own psychedelic community. I was therefore surprised to read Shelby Hartman’s 2019 interview of Jacques Mabit, an ayahuasca researcher, professor, and founder of Peru’s Takiwasi Center, a drug addiction treatment center that incorporates ayahuasca. In the interview, Mabit makes ignorant and homophobic comments criticizing the Chacruna Institute’s Queering Psychedelics conference, held at the Brava Theater in San Francisco, California from June 1 to June 2 in 2019. I feel compelled to mitigate the damage Mabit’s misinformation may cause by authoring this critique... continue reading.