For those of us who work in the psychedelic field, the April 18 press conference announcing several actions to speed up psychedelic research was a watershed moment. It was arguably the most significant change in U.S. drug policy in 50 years, and it had an immediate effect on research efforts of which I personally am a part.
It was also disorienting, especially for those unfamiliar with the field who may still associate psychedelics with ’60s countercultures, and legalization with liberalism. How did we get to the point where Donald Trump, of all people, jokingly asked for Ibogaine while praising psychedelics in the Oval Office? And where does the field go from here?
Fortunately, in addition to being a fellow in the Petrie-Flom Center’s Project on Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience (PULSE) and a field scholar at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality, I am also a journalist. And so I got to work, eventually crafting a 4,000-word explainer about the executive order, the surprisingly diverse ideological makeup of the field, and some of the challenges that policymakers and observers concerned about equity, public health, and religious freedom should consider.
I am grateful to the PULSE project for building a community of scholars engaged in this work, and to the support of the Mahindra Center for the Humanities that has enabled me to do it. I hope you enjoy (and share!) the result.
