Psychedelics 2.0

Abstract

This chapter focuses on psychedelics as another emerging front in the war over the war on drugs in the mid 2010s, with most psychedelic substances, such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin, being Schedule I listed since 1970. It explains how the scheduling imposed significant barriers to scientific research on hallucinogenic substances and their effects, through stringent security requirements, FDA approval, and expensive DEA licensing fees for institutions working with the drugs. It also recounts the creation of the Pilot Drug Evaluation Staff by the FDA in 1989, which made it easier for the scientific community to liaise with the administration. The chapter refers to Dr. Richard Strassman, who managed to get a research protocol involving DMT and psilocybin off the ground. It details how Strassman defended his work by arguing that hallucinogens elicit a multifaceted clinical syndrome.