On Drugs by Justin Smith-Ruiu review - a philosopher’s guide to psychedelics

Psychedelics, as presented in Justin Smith-Ruiu’s On Drugs: Psychedelics, Philosophy, and the Nature of Reality, are framed as experiences that dissolve the self and connect people to “cosmic consciousness,” potentially making freedom like Spinoza’s idea of accepting the order of things. The review highlights Smith-Ruiu’s analytic-philosopher approach, contrasting a Descartes-style focus on rational selfhood with a counterfactual “melted mind” scenario where hallucinogens foreground imagination instead of strict rationality. The book also links psychedelic experience to ritual and religion, drawing a comparison between psychedelic time-perception and Catholic mass, including an account of attending mass for the first time in decades. It notes a broader non-drug route to expanded consciousness too, such as reading, as a kind of everyday psychedelia.