Getting high is a marketable commodity, probably the first and most widely distributed kind of economy. Exploitation is inevitable. The only hope for any substantive cultural preservation is for that with substance to die down in popularity and sex appeal, and revert back to the underground. The advantage is generally speaking, authentic manifestations of culture are never lost to even the most crass commercialism, because there are always authentic folk preserving it off the radar until the hype dies away. There are plenty of legitimate shamans sitting around naked in Brazil putting together tropical plant concoctions to send people off on spiritual vision quests. HOWEVER, the key to shamans is that they are, like Priests in a Church, always present during the Sacraments. The Catholics/Orthodox us bread and wine, but under a consecrated situation and tight supervision of the distributing and overall experience. Shamans are no different, in actuality, for all intents and purposes Christian priests are post-Roman shamans of the west (after all, don't let all those teetotaling Baptists fool you, Catholics/Orthodox are a drinking religion, ask the Russians/Georgians or the Italians/Irish, in fact, never ever challenge a Georgian to a drinking contest, he will win, drink you under the table, and show up early for Mass BEFORE work the next morning
). Shamans guide and mentor the individual or groups through a self-reflective psychoactive experience. It is crucial. People shouldn't fuck with shit on their own, the inward man has many hidden pathways, tunnels, and alleys and one could find ones' self irreparably lost. Lord knows I've learned my lesson, and yet conversely I've had to serve as babysitting shaman for several seriously lost people. Like Hunter Thompson said, "You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug."