Our Access Fund

Over 30 million people currently living in the US have used LSD, psilocybin, or mescaline. Through data from prominent researchers including the rigorous work of a personal hero, Dr. Monnica Williams, it is clear that there has been a disparity of access to psychedelic clinical trials for people of color. Population based data (Krebs & Johansen, 2013) pulled from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health has demonstrated that psychedelic use among people of color is in the single-digit percentages (6.7% Hispanic, 4% Black, 1% Asian, 0.9% Native American), for a variety of reasons including the fall out of the War on Drugs. Looking at psychedelic clinical trials from 2000 to 2017, the inclusion of people of color was minimal, with only 2.2% of participants identifying as Black, for example (George et al., 2019). Sadly, the representation of gender minorities is wholly unknown given this data is yet to be collected. Additionally, the popularity of psychedelics seems bimodal when looking at household income: 36.3% of those who used psychedelics from 2000 too 2017 made 20 – 49,000$ and 26.8% made 75,000$ or more.

This paints a clear picture that is already clear to those working in psychedelic harm-reduction, research, and clinical work. We need equitable access to bridge the gaps. While we acknowledge this is a work in progress, we strive to provide sufficient access to those who are in need to our consultation services though may not be able to afford it or may benefit from the incentive of a lower cost as a gesture of moving towards collective healing that is inclusive of marginalized individuals.

Penumbra therefore has created the Access Fund which is funded by 20% taken from full-cost services. These funds will provide free consultations to those seeking them. In addition, we provide the option of low-cost services for appropriate individuals. In the future, we hope that Penumbra can grow to a size in which lower cost services are offered and where donors may contribute.