The Case for Conservative Psychedelics, with Karen King and Wesley Smith

Karen King is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and trainer with nearly 20 years of clinical experience, specializing in trauma, Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, and psychedelic integration. Trained in psychedelic-assisted therapy through MAPS, she has spent the last several years helping clients and clinicians approach psychedelic medicine with both clinical rigor and philosophical depth. As co-author of the upcoming book The Conservative Case for Psychedelics, Karen brings a free-thinking and intellectually independent voice to a field often dominated by narrow ideological perspectives, arguing that healing, personal responsibility, tradition, and human dignity deserve a central place in the psychedelic conversation. Through her writing, teaching, and public speaking, she advocates for clinical neutrality, open dialogue, and making space for more politically and philosophically diverse voices in mental health and psychedelic therapy.Wes is a ‘small c’ conservative (pro business, individual liberty, and limited government) psychonaut, and writer focused on bringing the psychedelic renaissance out of the counterculture and into the living rooms of average Americans. After a head injury led him to explore nontraditional paths for healing, he discovered that, in the right set and setting, psychedelics candeepen the very values conservatives hold dear: faith, family, duty, and personal responsibility, while expanding our awareness of our collective consciousness .He’s the co-author, along with therapist Karen King, of the forthcoming book The Case for Conservative Psychedelics: How American Values Can Save the Movement and Strengthen America. The book chronicles veterans, parents, entrepreneurs, and churchgoers who’ve used these tools to reconnect with purpose and the people they love, and lays out conservative principles that support the use of psychedelics.His work sits at the intersection of science and ethos—bridging evidence-based research with a culturally grounded case for humility, gratitude, and moral clarity when approaching altered states that don’t fit nicely into scientific categories. He has engaged with clinicians, veterans’ advocates, pastors, and policy voices, and he speaks candidly about guardrails: legality, preparation, integration, and community accountability. Whether addressing the two major orthodoxies inside the psychedelic movement or the broader Left-Right rift in our culture, Wes argues that freedom and order aren’t rivals—they are the necessary elements of any society that wishes to promote human flourishing._____________________________________________________________________If you would like to contact me, my website is: https://theradicalcenterconsulting.com/ I am also on X @JLeslieElliott And if you appreciate this ongoing project and would like to support my continued work in this area you can chip in at any of the following (thank you very much!): https://www.paypal.me/jleslieelliott https://www.buymeacoffee.com/radicalcenterhttps://www.patreon.com/theradicalcenterAnother great way to support my work (and get something nice for yourself!) is to shop my handmade ceramics online at: https://ceramics.wherethealdersgrow.comJoin us every Monday at 10:00am Pacific/1:00pm Eastern for the Solid Ground Live stream. Come join our Solid Ground peer support and discussion groups at https://sground.substack.com/ And you can join our locals community at https://solidground.locals.com/ Additional resources and affiliates: Critical Therapy Antidote: https://criticaltherapyantidote.orgChristine Sefein Wolk: cohost of the CTA podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@ctapodcast