Kristen Nash and Erica Siegel on Risk Reduction and Psychedelic Safety

Harm reduction and psychedelic safety take center stage in a conversation with Kristen Nash and Erica Siegel, focused on risk reduction, harm prevention, and ethical education. Kristen Nash shares how losing her 21-year-old son to a psychedelic-related tragedy led her to found the Coalition for Psychedelic Safety and Education and launch the Before You Trip campaign, piloted in Colorado to help Gen Z users assess readiness and safety before taking psychedelics. Erica Siegel brings experience from Nest Harm Reduction and Shine Collective, emphasizing peer-based support, non-abstinence frameworks, and trauma-informed approaches. They highlight gaps in current education, the danger of glorifying substances without context, and community harms including untrained facilitators, predatory behavior, and gaslighting. The discussion also covers poly-substance use, limits of existing harm scales, and the importance of setting, support, and intention, while calling for transparency about psychological and relational risks and broader public funding for survivor-informed leadership.