PSA's Sunday Sound-Off: March 1st, 2026

From The Maenad Diary on Substack

Plants and Empire, Londa Schiebinger’s study of 18th century plant science, focuses on one plant in particular: Merian’s peacock flower, which Europeans brought back to their lavish gardens for its beauty. But the white men who collected this plant left out knowledge about some of its medicinal attributes, namely those having to do with women’s health care and abortion because it offended their sensibilities. Schiebinger chronicles how one female explorer to the Americas, the artist and insect researcher Maria Sibylla Merian, recorded the use of the peacock flower by slave women to induce abortion as a means of resistance to empire.

It’s funny the details these men leave out.

In contrast, the version of the uses of the plant given by Sir Hans Sloane, a leading botanist at the time, was tepid. Schiebinger explains, “Sloane placed his discussion of the abortive qualities in the context not of the colonial sufferings but of the growing conflict between doctors and women seeking assistance in abortion. In this instance, Sloane carried fully-formed notions concerning abortion with him to Jamaica; his attitudes toward abortion mirrored those of the majority of his male medical colleagues in Europe.”

While Plants and Empire functions as a plant biography, it’s also a history of the exclusion and suppression of women’s plant knowledge from science and medicine in service of the empire. In my view, the psychedelic renaissance continues to re-inscribe these exclusions to the determent of all non-male, non-white psychedelics users.

Here’s Schiebinger writing about the 18th century: “The colonial enterprise was, as we have seen, largely male—most planters and slaves were men, as were colonial administrators, naturalists, and colonial physicians. The voyages of scientific discovery, as part of the colonial enterprise, showed little interest in the female side of life.” Instead, scientists were interested in plants that could supply the empire with cures or food and make them rich. The same thing is happening in psychedelics today.

The research in psychedelics remains focused on mental health and trauma, in part by design of MAPS—once a nonprofit research association but now a for-profit pharmaceutical company called Lykos—because these applications were seen as the most profitable. Just like in the 18th century, women’s health care applications have been almost completely left out or forgotten in psychedelic studies. But the applications of psychedelics for women’s health care are many, as I and other female guides know to be true in our bodies.

In the dozens of courses on psychedelics I’ve taken, I only heard about the benefits for women’s reproductive health once from a female researcher studying indigenous female healers in Mexico. Perhaps people have kept this knowledge secret from the psychedelic renaissance and Michael Pollan, or the psychedelic renaissance has been too blind to look, or psychedelic research is funded by straight-up quacks who don’t believe in vaccines and want all women back in the home. Anything that touches life or death white people have systematically banned from medicine and our medical and plant research at least since the 1700s. The fact that Project 2025 proposes a ban on fertility treatments shows how these biases are alive and well.

If you dance with psychedelic substances, then you understand and respect their connection to death, earth, menstrual blood, everything fecund. This is why I say don’t listen to old white men about psychedelics. In my experience, they are the least likely to have confronted death in their lifetimes. Some of these elites are so insulated from the discomfort of normal life that they experience few of death’s lessons until they’re on their literal death beds ala Ivan Ilych (or maybe you’ve never read any Tolstoy). These type of people don’t make good psychedelic guides; in fact it has been my experience that these types are more willing to use psychedelics for manipulation. If someone is trying too hard to avoid actual death or ego death, they won’t make a good psychedelic guide no matter how many trainings they complete. The people who have gone to the darkest places and returned from the underworld are the true guides. The elements of this type of wisdom that come from lived experience cannot be learned in any psychedelic sitter training.

Your tolerance for discomfort—physical and psychic—is strongly related to what plants teach you. If you’ve hardly experienced discomfort in your life and you don’t read books, then you’re more likely to lack the imagination to see your way through rough or big trips.

As soon as you start talking about something’s use value, you take away its integrity, at least in your own mind, and you unconsciously close channels through which it might have spoken to you if you weren’t so greedy.

This article was originally published at The Maenad Diary Be sure to like, subscribe, and share with a friend over on Substack

In part 2 of a series with Florian Brand and Lars Wilde, this conversation explores the founders’ overall impressions of the COMP005 and COMP006 data readouts from Compass Pathways’ ongoing Phase 3 program, how COMP360 may compare with other interventional psychiatry treatments, and the small proportion of treatment-resistant depression patients who currently receive therapies with proven efficacy in TRD. The discussion also examines next steps for Compass, key developments to watch in the coming months, what recent partnerships may signal about real-world clinical practice, and upcoming clinical trial readouts across the broader psychedelic drug-development space.

Disclaimer: The content presented on the Psychedelic Vantage YouTube channel is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The opinions expressed are solely those of the content creators and should not be construed as financial, investment, or professional advice. Viewers are advised to conduct their own research, consider their individual financial circumstances, and consult with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.

March 1st, 2026

Roles independently selected and curated by a licensed natural medicine facilitator.

1️⃣ Spiritual Care Facilitator - University of California, San Francisco

📍San Francisco, CA (On-Site) | Part-Time, As-Needed

Why this made the list: Rare hybrid role requiring chaplaincy credentials (ordination, CPE units) alongside clinical research training to facilitate manualized drug-assisted therapy sessions with medically complex populations. A direct on-ramp for spiritual care providers who want clinical psychedelic research experience at a major academic medical center. Note: ~10% appointment - best suited as a complement to another role or practice.

2️⃣ Clinical Research Coordinator, Lead or Assistant Level - Inner Space Research

📍Orem, Utah (On-Site) | Full-Time

Why this made the list: Small, mission-driven site running Phase II–III psychiatric and psychedelic-assisted trials with a dual-track hire — experienced coordinators can step into a lead role, while earlier-career folks can enter at assistant level and grow. Hands-on exposure to full study lifecycle (startup through close-out) in an outpatient setting.

3️⃣ Psychiatrist — Healing with Grace Counseling and Ketamine Center

📍 Las Vegas, NV (Hybrid) | Part-Time

Why this made the list: Clinical psychiatry role with direct involvement in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy at a trauma-informed practice. Open to candidates willing to train into KAP, which lowers the barrier for psychiatrists curious about psychedelic-adjacent work.

4️⃣ Community Outreach & Physician Relations Coordinator - New Life Wellness

📍 Dayton, Ohio (Field-Based) | Part-Time, Independent Contractor

Why this made the list: Business development role focused on building referral pipelines for TMS and Spravato services across physicians, therapists, and wellness providers. Good fit for someone with a relationship-building skill set who wants to work at the intersection of community education and access to interventional psychiatry. Starts at ~10 hrs/week.

5️⃣ Multiple Roles - Compass Pathways

📍New York, NY (Hybrid) or Remote (East Coast) | Full-Time

Why these made the list: Compass is staffing up its US commercial team ahead of a potential COMP360 psilocybin launch for treatment-resistant depression. These are senior pharma/biotech marketing and education roles = site-of-care strategy, HCP engagement, speaker bureau buildout - aimed at people with launch experience who want to apply that skill set to a first-in-class psychedelic therapeutic. Comp ranges from $200K–$330K base plus equity.

Note: All job listings are independently curated and written by Work In Psychedelics. While anyone/everyone is welcome to reference or share with credit and a link back. Automated scraping, wholesale reproduction, or republishing without attribution is discouraged.

All postings relate exclusively to legal job opportunities and educational materials within regulated jurisdictions and are shared for professional development only.

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Until next time,

The Psychedelic State(s) of America Team