Over the past few episodes I’ve been talking to people involved in what we at Reason call a psychedelic renaissance, or a rebirth of interest in substances long associated with the CIA and hippies and counterculture. The current interest in these substances is primarily driven by the desire to help veterans and sexual assault victims who suffer from PTSD and related conditions, including substance abuse. The psychedelic renaissance could sound the death knell for the war on drugs, at least in its current form.
So it makes sense that today’s guest is a historian researching the man who coined the term psychedelic.
Erika Dyck is a professor at the University of Saskatchewan who studies the history of psychedelics, with a special interest in the legacy of Humphry Osmond, the British-born psychiatrist who gave Aldous Huxley his first dose of mescaline and did groundbreaking work using LSD to help alcoholics stop drinking. One of Osmond’s most famous patients was Bill W., the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Reason spoke with Dyck at the MAPS Psychedelic Science 2023 conference held in Denver in June, where a reported 13,000 people gathered to talk about all aspects of today’s psychedelic renaissance. We talked about why drugs like MDMA, psilocybin and LSD are making a comeback; how tensions between indigenous people and doctors are increasing; and whether prohibitionists have finally lost the war on drugs.