A multi-faceted group of academics gathered at Harvard Law School last week to contemplate the impact that federal legalization of psychedelic therapies would have. They considered the benefits that these drugs could provide for treating trauma and mental health conditions and debated whether FDA oversight was necessary.
The news, which came to light in an article from the prestigious institution’s student newspaper — The Harvard Crimson — comes amid a steady flow of research on psychoactive substances. Many of these studies have shown that psychedelics like psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine and LSD can have a positive impact on patients when administered in controlled settings.
However, despite legal amendments made in certain American states to promote research and expand access for therapeutic purposes, they remain illegal at the federal level and subject to strict regulations. Nonetheless, Colorado and Oregon, Texas, and New Mexico have been pushing the envelope in the country with decriminalization measures and research funding commitments.
One of the notable attendees was former Navy TOPGUN fighter pilot Matthew “Whiz” Buckley. He told the crowd about how psychedelics helped him overcome trauma, addiction and suicidal thoughts at the Nov. 5 gathering.
“Through these sacraments, I didn’t become something new,” he said on social media. “I remembered who I truly was. I remembered that God had never left and he was waiting with loving open arms.”
Buckley explained that his experience with psychedelic therapy inspired him to found the No Fallen Heroes Foundation — a non-profit dedicated to preventing veteran suicide by promoting these alternative treatments. He said he was proud to stand alongside legislators, PhDs, entrepreneurs, legal experts, religious leaders, researchers and visionaries who are “changing the landscape of healing and spirituality” in the United States.
Among these who joined him at Harvard were David B. Yaden, a psychedelics research professor at Johns Hopkins University; Holly Fernandez Lynch, a medical ethics expert at the University of Pennsylvania; and Cat Packer, a director at the Drug Policy Alliance in New York City.
Yaden highlighted the promise of psychedelic drugs for alleviating substance abuse and mood disorders, Lynch said that psychedelics needed to be held to the same FDA standards as all other medicines, and Packer highlighted the negative toll the War on Drugs has taken while advocating for drug policy reform that prioritizes equity.
Yaden also emphasized the importance of large-scale clinical trials on these compounds that produce data which is in short supply at the moment and the need for government funding to do so.
Read more: Researchers to start FDA-approved study on ‘Jedi Mind Fuck’ psilocybin
Harvard has made sizeable research contributions in the field
Harvard’s history with psychedelics research dates all the way back to the Harvard Psilocybin Project in the early 1960s. It was one of the first academic investigations of scale of this nature in the Western world. Ninety-five per cent of participants said their experience was transformative in the years after this controversial research endeavour took place.
Following a latency period in the early years of the modern-day psychedelic renaissance, Harvard launched the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics at Massachusetts General Hospital. It has been the site of multiple studies on psilocybin in particular.
Harvard has also commenced a “Study of Psychedelics in Society and Culture” in 2023 and hosted the Explorations in Interdisciplinary Psychedelic Research conference that year.
In 2024, the Psychedelics Intersections Conference hosted by the school built upon the findings from the 2023 event. They both focused on spirituality, Indigenous traditions and plant medicines.
Read more: Catholic Church pays for abuse victim’s magic mushroom therapy
Follow Rowan Dunne on LinkedIn
rowan@mugglehead.com
