While some who choose to partake in psychedelics often find their way to the substances on their own or through friends, others are introduced to it with help from individuals much close to them. The latter was the case for Jaden Smith. While attending the Psychedelic Science conference in Denver recently, the 24-year-old revealed that his mom, Jada Pinkett-Smith, 51, was the one to get him and his family into psychedelics, as they followed her lead in the usage of hallucinogens.
“I think it was my mom, actually, that was really the first one to make that step for the family,” he said. “It was just her for a really, really long time and then eventually it just trickled and evolved and everybody found it in their own ways.”
The primary way the artist and model says psychedelics have helped him is by making him more empathetic, especially towards his brother and sister, Trey, 30, and Willow, 22.
“Siblings can argue so much and fight so much, and lord knows me and my siblings have done so much of that in the past,” he said. “But the level of love and empathy that I can feel for them inside of the (psychedelic) experiences and outside of the experiences has been something that’s profound and beautiful.”
Psychedelic drugs are still illegal in the majority of states, with only Colorado and Oregon legalizing them. In Colorado specifically, psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline are now legal at the state level but still illegal at the federal level.
Jaden continued to explain how using psychedelics has helped strengthen his relationship with his loved ones.
“It will actually help us to open up our minds to get out of the old ways of thinking that got us into lots of these arguments and open it up so that it just releases and makes room for you to work it out and massage it out until it’s completely gone,” he said.
Although controversial, the conversation around the use of psychedelics and how it can evoke a spiritual awakening isn’t new and is becoming more common within the culture. Many celebrities have been open about using it over the years, and more and more Black women are seeing what an experience on the substances has to offer for themselves.