Are ‘Ketamine Bros’ Really The Biggest Problem in the Psychedelic Movement?

‘Ketamine bros’, a derogatory catch-all term for any man who uses the dissociative drug recreationally, have been getting a bad rap lately.

The current backlash all started with the misdemeanors of Elon Musk, the epitome of ‘tech alpha male’, according to one columnist. In 2023, it emerged that the tycoon takes ketamine microdoses for depression and enjoys bigger doses at parties. What a douchebag!

Musk said when questioned that ketamine was better than ‘zombifying’ antidepressants for treating his malaise, and that of many others, and clarified he had a legal prescription for the drug. But the mood music around ketamine, previously demonized as a horse drug before it was recast as a salve, is fast shifting and Musk swiftly became a useful bête noire.

‘Because Musk epitomizes the tech alpha male, it sends a concerning message about what psychedelics are all about,’ wrote Sylvia Benito, the chief executive of an equity fund, in a USA Today op-ed, of Musk’s endorsement of the drug.

Not so long ago, the psychedelic movement welcomed pretty much anyone who was willing to tout the benefits of the drugs, not least somebody so powerful, whose co-sign would have been deemed significant. No longer, it seems. Psychedelics are on an irrevocable course towards mainstream acceptance, and now people who take them are policing each other.

‘I’ve become unnerved by this ketamine bro culture, which threatens to halt the exciting progress in psychedelic research over the past few decades,’ Benito, who also described herself as a practicing shaman, added.  ‘The rise of ketamine bro culture not only trivializes the incredible therapeutic potential of psychedelics, it also could lead to a public backlash that jeopardizes the medical community’s freedom to further explore the lifesaving potential of these drugs.’

For good measure, she then scorned an acquaintance for taking ketamine, which has mild psychedelic effects, at a dinner party. ‘After a short trip to the bathroom, [she] returned and began laughing for no reason. She couldn’t string two sentences together.’

OK, so let’s get this straight. People who take ketamine, perhaps instead of drinking, at dinner parties and on dancefloors are imperiling the future of the psychedelic movement? What a pompous suggestion.

Benito even went on to present the tragic death of Friends actor Matthew Perry as solely the result of ‘the acute effects of ketamine’. Not necessarily untrue, but, as anyone who knows the details of the case, a vast simplification. Shame.

All of this is not to deny that ketamine is addictive, or that some people are misusing it. But stigmatizing those people is surely not the solution. Nor is a scathing column the way to encourage safer usage of the drug, an addiction to which thousands across the world are seeking treatment for.

Not so coincidentally, Benito offers private psychedelic therapy sessions with psilocybin mushrooms to the well-heeled who can afford her fees. Her article signed off with her bio, stating that she serves on the board of psychedelic retreat company Beckley Retreats.

It appears that the article ruffled feathers within the company. One employee told me that ‘name calling and judging’ was not part of their ethos. Benito was already in the process of leaving the company, but the internal criticism led to her departure being accelerated.

This hullabaloo, and others, demonstrates how the stakes are certainly getting higher in the psychedelic industry, as MDMA and psilocybin inch closer to approval. But, as the employee suggested, there are growing concerns that psychedelic use is being used to create separateness instead of togetherness.

‘Ensuring that ketamine remains available to those who need it while curbing its misuse is a delicate balance that must be struck,’ the website Psychedelic Invest said in an editorial titled Are ‘Ketamine Bros’ Ruining It for Everyone Else?, which followed the USA Today column.

Curiously, the Psychedelic Invest piece argues against people – namely ‘the elite in Silicon Valley and Wall Street’ – using psychedelics to enhance their productivity and wellbeing. Um, wait, isn’t that the whole point of the psychedelic renaissance?

The egomaniacal, and often contradictory, posturing is ironic, since psychedelics are supposed to dampen the ego. Sentiments that scream, ‘I’m more spiritual than you’, or ‘My way is the right way’, is how this whole thing goes wrong, a friend told me.

As it stands, some figures in the psychedelic world – themselves elites, let’s be honest – are sneering, and even hinting at law enforcement action, for those they deem to be less sophisticated. The parallels between dangerous media rhetoric, which has only recently begun to soften, towards those with addictions, usually from disadvantaged backgrounds in which they suffered trauma, is difficult to ignore.

‘Should one adult be able to tell other adults how to use these substances? How is that different than the government prohibiting them?’ lawyer Matt Brockmeier wrote on LinkedIn in response to the furor. “Is there a right or wrong way to heal or expand your consciousness? Or are those views suggestive of the residue of the drug war and psychedelic exceptionalism? Where do we draw the line?”

The psychedelic revolution will only succeed when, firstly, people take responsibility for their own healing before professing to have the solution to others’ malaise. And, more importantly, when love underpins our actions, not judgment.