Canary in a K-Hole

Canary in a K-Hole
Hager, Sandy Brian. (2026). Ghost in the Megamachine. 27 January. pp. 1-9. (Article - Magazine; English).

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Alternative Locations

https://sbhager.substack.com/p/canary-in-a-k-hole

Abstract or Brief Description

Ketamine’s rise from anaesthetic to antidepressant is often celebrated as a psychiatric breakthrough. This piece instead shows how the commercialization of mental-health treatment is shaped by struggles over profit and control rather than by patient need. Using a power-centred framework and Thorstein Veblen’s concept of strategic sabotage, it traces how patents and regulatory privilege concentrate power in drug development, while competition in clinics and telehealth pushes providers to cut the most time- and care-intensive elements of treatment. Though these markets for drug development and clinical delivery look very different, they produce the same result: access becomes uneven, care is thinned out, and therapeutic value is subordinated to capitalization. Ketamine has emerged as a blueprint for the rollout of psychedelic medicines; it should be a warning about the dangers of organizing mental healthcare along capitalist lines.

Language

English

Publication Type

Article - Magazine

Keywords

capital as power cost finance Ketamine mental health pharmaceutical price profit psychedelics sabotage

Subject

BN Law
BN Power
BN Production
BN Region - North America
BN Science & Technology
BN Value & Price
BN Business Enterprise
BN Capital & Accumulation
BN Conflict & Violence
BN Distribution
BN Industrial Organization
BN Institutions

Depositing User

Jonathan Nitzan

Date Deposited

16 Feb 2026 18:47

Last Modified

16 Feb 2026 18:47

URL:

https://bnarchives.net/id/eprint/881

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