Among the core personality traits, openness-along with agreeableness-is linked to prosocial behavior ( Kline et al., 2017). Prosociality and openness have both been shown under experimental conditions to be dramatically affected by psilocybin ( MacLean et al., 2011 Griffiths et al., 2018). In light of the nascent psychedelic renaissance and burgeoning psychedelic industry, the assumption that psychedelics lead to progressive politics deserves greater scrutiny-particularly given the hype around positive implications for society. Yet psychedelic usage by modern and premodern culture predates this era, and different contexts did not produce individuals with a more progressive politics. Because this specific time witnessed an explosion in countercultural fascination with widely available classical psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline, psychedelics have often been conflated with the progressive and radical politics of the moment: sexual revolution, the civil rights movement, and youth radical groups like Students for a Democratic Society or the Yippies. The notion that psychedelic experiences can result in individual dispositional change has its roots in their association with the cultural and political upheavals of the late 1960's and 1970's. Contrary to recent assertions, we show that conservative, hierarchy-based ideologies are able to assimilate psychedelic experiences of interconnection, as expressed by thought leaders like Jordan Peterson, corporadelic actors, and members of several neo-Nazi organizations. We suggest that the historical record supports the concept of psychedelics as “politically pluripotent,” non-specific amplifiers of the political set and setting. Instead, we argue that any experience which challenges a person's fundamental worldview-including a psychedelic experience-can precipitate shifts in any direction of political belief.

We propose that the common anecdotal accounts of psychedelics precipitating radical shifts in political or religious beliefs result from the contextual factors of set and setting, and have no particular directional basis on the axes of conservatism-liberalism or authoritarianism-egalitarianism. However, research supporting the hypothesis that psychedelics induce a shift in political beliefs must address the many historical and contemporary cases of psychedelic users who remained authoritarian in their views after taking psychedelics or became radicalized after extensive experience with them. Recent media advocacy for the nascent psychedelic medicine industry has emphasized the potential for psychedelics to improve society, pointing to research studies that have linked psychedelics to increased environmental concern and liberal politics. 3Department of Bioethics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States.

2Department of Comparative Literature, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States.

1Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.

Lunacy synonym