The Myth of Psychedelic Exceptionalism
Psychedelic drug reform is not occurring at the expense of other drug reforms. Instead, it paves the way for larger reforms.

Psychedelic drug reform is not occurring at the expense of other drug reforms. Instead, it paves the way for larger reforms.

The lack of diversity among research participants can have significant consequences on generalizability and distribution of treatments.

The field has a frustrating tendency to make lofty claims about psychedelics that stray from the realities and limitations of the data.

As a scholar of religion who cares deeply about this psychedelic renaissance, I offer two points of caution from the perspective of my field.

Amid a fractured political landscape, a pandemic, and a reckoning with the country’s racist past, psychedelics may offer some hope for healing.

While city-wide decriminalization efforts make psilocybin a “low priority” for law enforcement, state and federal agencies provide no such guarantees.

A focus on furthering neurodiversity could allow the psychedelics decriminalization movement to gain broader public support.

Event Description Science has shown psychedelics to offer resilience and comfort where there seemed to be none. The Food and Drug Administration calls them “breakthrough therapies” for mental health conditions that lack effective treatments. Indigenous communities have known their benefits for centuries, but legal restrictions have stripped them of their rites and remedies. As Schedule…
