The Duke of Sussex has opened up about his drug use during a Q&A as part of the release of his book The Substitute (Spare in the language of Shakespeare).
Speaking of cocaine, Prince Harry told Dr Gabor Maté: “It didn’t get me anything. It was more of a social thing.”
He added: “It gave me a sense of belonging, for sure. It also made me feel different from what I was feeling, which is kind of the point. »
Moving on to cannabis, which he admitted to having used before, Harry said: “Cannabis is different, it really helped me. »
The interview was conducted by Dr. Gabor Maté, an expert in childhood trauma and development, specialist in addictions and a strong advocate for the decriminalization of drugs. He himself has used ayahuasca to treat patients with addiction and mental illness.
Prince Harry’s interview with Dr Gabor Maté
The discussion was more generally about how to live after the loss of a loved one and the importance of personal healing. The live event took place a month after the release of the highly anticipated book, which explains how the young prince coped with the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
He also revealed that he felt strong peer pressure to drink alcohol.
The Prince said, “I was at a dinner party and people were all drinking and I wasn’t the one drinking. I felt excluded from the conversation, so much so that I was told ‘if you don’t want to have a drink, leave’. So I said ‘Okay, I’m going to leave’. »
“I began to realize that the world was like that. »
“If for some reason you don’t drink or don’t want to drink that night, there seems to be this peer group pressure. »
The Duke also recounted using psychedelics like ayahuasca.
He continues: “It was a way to cleanse yourself, to purify yourself, to remove the filters from life like on Instagram, with these layers of filters. »
“It exposed me and gave me a feeling of relaxation, liberation, comfort, a lightness that I managed to hang on to for a while. »
“I started doing it recreationally and then I started realizing how good it was for me, I would say it was one of the fundamental parts of my life that changed me and helped me deal with the traumas and pains of the past. »
