Description: In the 1950s and early 1960s, over 1,000 scientific papers were written about LSD, an exciting phenomenon new to Western medicine that offered an unprecedented window into brain function and revolutionary potential in mental health care. By 1970, the status of LSD and other psychedelics had changed dramatically; they were branded a menace to… Read More “The Legal History of Psychedelics” is taking place in front of you

From the Financial Times: a UK start-up is preparing (presumably “funding”) a clinical trial of psilocybin in treating depression! Great news! Progress on another front! Just one little quirk: “The widespread recreational use of magic mushrooms has given regulators reassurance that psilocybin is safe….” Hmm. Sounds like “anecdotal evidence.” Can the regulators really look to anecdotal… Read More UK start-up to test psilocybin effectiveness in treating depression: where does that leave the psychonauts?

I’m reading Professor Blitz’s 2010 article “Freedom of Thought for the Extended Mind: Cognitive Enhancement and the Constitution” as part of my preparation for the Legal History of Psychedelics program at the NYC Bar Association next Wednesday. The topic of his paper is not psychedelics per se. Instead it focuses on the legality of using… Read More Drug policy without neuroscience

It is my pleasure to announce that I will moderate a panel discussion of “The Legal History of Psychedelics” on Wednesday 9/13 at the NYC Bar Association.   There will be three highly distinguished speakers: (1) Dr. Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, (2) Nancy Hollander, counsel for O Centro Espirita… Read More Time to write the legal history and future of psychedelics

Given the ever-increasing interest in psilocybin, I’m not especially surprised that there is a move to reduce criminal penalties in California by a voter initiative even though I wasn’t expecting it so soon. There have been two categories of news coverage which I have been recording on the Psychedelic Law Facebook, primarily news stories about arrests for… Read More An end-run around rescheduling psilocybin

This story about the recent academic paper from Germany identifying enzymes that create psilocybin ran in the Smithsonian. It follows this story from Newsweek. Name recognition-level awareness of psilocybin is taking place in the mainstream newsmedia to an unprecedented degree. The Smithsonian and Newsweek articles are a counterweight to the steady stream of shrooms-and-crime stories… Read More Psychedelic cross-over

Sessions’ comment is a total non sequitur, a decoy. The AG is fully-empowered to take action to review the status of cannabis under federal law. Put the questions to him.

… Read More Two essential cannabis law questions for the next Attorney General