The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire

Psychedelic substances such as LSD, mescaline, peyote, MDMA, and ayahuasca are often viewed as harmful recreational drugs, but leading scholars argue their use for health, religious, intellectual, and artistic purposes is a constitutional and human right. This edited volume surveys research on psychedelic use in medicine, religion, and truth-seeking across history and contemporary practice, then examines government policies regulating psychological, physiological, biochemical, and spiritual aspects of research and experience. It challenges experts to formulate policies that reduce misuse dangers while maximizing emerging diverse benefits.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Edited by two preeminent scholars, this book provides coverage of the policy issues related to the increasingly diverse treatments, practices, and applications of psychedelics. Hallucinogenic substances like LSD, mescaline, peyote, MDMA, and ayahuasca have a reputation as harmful substances that are enjoyed only by recreational users committing criminal acts. But leading international researchers and scholars who contributed to this book hold that the use of psychedelic substances for health, religious, intellectual, and artistic purposes is a Constitutional right—and a human right. Based on that conclusion, these scholars focus on policy issues that regulate the use of psychedelic drugs in medicine, religion, personal life, and higher education, arguing that existing regulations should match current and anticipated future uses. This volume has two parts. The first surveys research on the use of psychedelic drugs in medicine, religion, and truth-seeking, following these topics through history and contemporary practice. The second section treats government policices that regulate the psychological, physiological, biochemical, and spiritual aspects of research and experience in these fields. The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire: Health, Law, Freedom, and Society challenges medical and legal policy experts, ethicists, scientists, and scholars with the question: How can we formulate policies that reduce the dangers of psychedelics' misuse and at the same time maximize the emerging diverse benefits?