The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire: Health, Law, Freedom, and Society

(Hardback)

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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 rightand 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

Reviews

It is inevitable that this book will be a catalyst for lively and robust debate. Recommended to academics and researchers in various fields, including psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and the arts, this work should challenge many long-held assumptions about these fascinating substances. * BJPsych Bulletin *
[A] fascinating, important, and timely book. It has particular relevance for American psychologists. * PsycCRITIQUES *

Author Bio

J. Harold Ellens, PhD, is a retired university professor of philosophy and psychology, a retired Presbyterian theologian and pastor, a retired U.S. Army chaplain (Colonel), and executive director emeritus of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies. Thomas B. Roberts, PhD, is an emeritus professor of educational psychology at Northern Illinois University, where he taught Foundations of Psychedelic Studies as an Honors Program Seminar.