Community mental health services everywhere in the world should aim to meet the mental health and social care needs of people as perceived by people themselves; be relevant and sensitive to local conditions and cultures; involve all stakeholders including marginalised groups; and be culturally and economically sustainable, if it is to be ethically acceptable in a post-colonial world. Otherwise, the result will be the imposition of Euro-American psychiatry en masse, amounting to cultural imperialism. Also, there is an urgent need for regulating the marketing of psychoactive drugs in order to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable people in LMI countries.