Govt funding psychoastrology

Dr Jerry Coyne writes:

The latest effort to “indigenize” knowledge is the bestowing of a huge pot of money on Māori organizations to use “ancestral knowledge” to help cure mental health issues among the indigenous people.  …

What are these treatments? It’s not clear, but they’re based on lunar cycles and what can only be called psychoastrology.

Yes the health budget is going to be used to teach psychastrology.

Mental health is a form of health, and this is like treating diseases using astrology and “traditional methods” that have never been subject to genuine scientific tests. Doesn’t it seem wise, before investing $100 million in mental-health treatment, that the government of New Zealand be sure that those treatments actually work? 

This is the key – test and assess. Don’t just throw $100 million at something as a gesture. You could use that money on things proven to work.