Are you interested in health law and health policy topics? You’re invited to the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics’ 2024 Open House. The Petrie-Flom Center is an interdisciplinary research program at Harvard Law School dedicated to scholarly research at the intersection of law and health policy. For our 20th anniversary year we are focused…
The Petrie-Flom Center hosted an intensive training on issues in psychedelics-related law, medicine, research, and policy from July 29th to August 1st, 2024. Made possible by a generous gift from the Gracias Family Foundation, Psychedelics Bootcamp 2024 was part of Petrie-Flom’s Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR). Attendees were selected with a range of perspectives and backgrounds, gathering…
A major sea change seems likely on the legal treatment of psychedelic medicines – including psilocybin, a substance produced by many species of fungi, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a synthetic substance colloquially referred to as ecstasy, and mescaline, produced by several species of cactus, including peyote, a sacrament of Native American churches. As Phase II and III…
In 2017, New York Times best-selling author Ayelet Waldman (HLS ’91) published a groundbreaking memoir: A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life. This intimate, courageous, and humorous book describes Waldman’s experience consuming very small doses of the psychedelic drug LSD. Ms. Waldman engaged in a…
The legalization of cannabis has raised significant questions for law and public policy. In her annual lecture, neuroscientist Dr. Yasmin Hurd explored the science of cannabis, CBD, and the future of substance use disorder treatment. Dr. Stephanie Tabashneck moderated a discussion and audience Q&A about the implications for law and policy. Recording Panelists This event is part of the Project…
On 9 April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights decided its first ever climate cases: Verein Klimaseniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland, Carême v. France, and Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Others. In these landmark cases plaintiffs sued 33 European governments, including the entire European Union, for their failure to adequately curb greenhouse gas emissions….
This event launched the Center for the Study of World Religion’s new “Psychedelics & Ethics” initiative, which brings together interdisciplinary scholars and practitioners to explore ethical questions surrounding psychedelics. The series seeks to create a forum for constructive conversations about the role of psychedelics in society, with an eye toward justice and care. For our opening…
Legal scholars, immigrant rights advocates, and health professionals have been calling for the end of solitary confinement in immigration detention for more than a decade. But the use of this inhumane treatment has only increased. In a recently published report, researchers from Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and Physicians for Human Rights exposed the expansion…
Persons with disabilities (PWDs) across their lifespan face higher risk for arrest and incarceration due to extensively documented discriminatory law enforcement practices. According to research in the American Journal of Public Health, PWDs are 44% more likely to be arrested by age 28 than those without disabilities—a problem based in part on unfounded, ableist notions about PWDs’ propensity toward…
Locked in a Hotbox: The Impact of Climate Change on the Incarcerated was a critical examination of how climate change impacts people who are incarcerated. Many jails and prisons are inadequately equipped to handle extreme weather, exposing people who are confined within them to unique health vulnerabilities. This event highlighted how the effects of climate-related events on prisons…
