The Charlatans of the Plant Medicine Space

There’s something happening in the plant medicine world that absolutely infuriates me.

It’s the charlatans. The narcissists. The performers dressed as healers. And what’s worse is that some of them actually do help people, albiet accidentally. I’ve had to sit with that contradiction: sometimes the medicine still finds its way to the right people even when it’s delivered by the wrong hands. I try to find peace in that. I try.

And it doesn’t excuse the damage.

And I’m done pretending it does.

For me, this isn’t about the handful of people someone like Justin LaPree may have helped, it’s about the ones he broke. The veterans, the first responders, the vulnerable. The ones who came in with trust and left with deep, spiritual scars. I know more than I can count on both hands who walked away from him feeling violated, manipulated, and discarded.

He offered a community, as long as you stayed in his orbit. One disagreement, and you’re gone. That kind of leadership isn’t spiritual, it’s a cult. And while Justin is a raw nerve for me because of personal experience, he is not alone. This sickness is all over the plant medicine space.

I've personally sat with clients traumatized not only by combat and life, but by ketamine clinics, ayahuasca retreats, and yes, the psychedelic church charades. I don't see Big Pharma and these “healers” as all that different. Both thrive off suffering. Both use confusion as a business model. Both depend on you coming back broken so they can sell you the illusion of wholeness.

And I can’t stay quiet anymore.

This medicine, these sacred, ancient, spirit-led tools, were never meant to be sold at $5,000-a-pop luxury retreats with live bands and Instagram aesthetics. That’s not ceremony. That’s a show.

The real work happens in the mud. In the dark. In the discomfort. When you’re crying and snotting and shaking, with no one there to save you, only to witness and honor your process.

We’ve turned sacred healing into a business plan. And the truth is, most of these so-called “healers” wouldn't do this work if they couldn’t get paid. A real healer doesn’t charge you your rent. A real healer will sit with you on a donation, or for free, if that's all you’ve got, because real healing is a calling, not a career ladder.

So yes, lif you’re charging thousands of dollars to pour a cup of medicine that costs $5, I’ve got questions. And if you claim to be a healer and ghost people the moment they call you out, I’m going to say it: you’re a fraud.

Justin heard every word I ever said about him. I sent it to him directly. He deleted me, of course, because people like that don’t want conversations. They want control.

So I’m saying this out loud again now, not just for me. For all the broken ones who trusted the wrong people.

Be careful in this space. If it feels like too much money, it’s too much fucking money. If it feels manipulative, it probably is. And if someone’s selling you a dream while walking away with your soul, call it what it is.

Truth is all that matters now. Not image. Not branding. Not “love and light.” Truth.

And if that truth hurts your feelings, that’s on you.