From Hype to Integration: Rethinking Psychedelic Media in 2025
The psychedelic conversation has fundamentally changed. At the 2025 Psychedelic Culture conference, this shift was palpable—we’re no longer debating whether these substances have legitimate uses, but rather how to thoughtfully integrate them into our existing systems. The old narrative framing of “counterculture versus mainstream” has become obsolete, replaced by the far more complex work of cultural, medical, and regulatory integration.
The battle to introduce the idea of psychedelics as potential therapeutic tools has largely been won. Most educated Americans now accept that compounds like psilocybin, MDMA, and ketamine, when used carefully with proper support, can offer meaningful benefits for certain conditions. This represents a remarkable shift from just a decade ago, when these substances were still widely dismissed as dangerous “party drugs” with no legitimate use.