Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley have announced a collaborative venture. Titled “Psychedelics in Society and Culture,” the collaboration aims to understand the social history and societal implications of psychedelics. In a notable departure from the nascent psychedelic industry’s focus on clinical outcomes, the collaborative initiative will focus on societal sciences, humanities and arts.
Psychedelic-focused initiatives mostly focus on how psychedelic use affects the human body and typically study the clinical outcomes of using psychedelics such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD and MDMA against a myriad of mental disorders. A growing body of scientific literature has found that psychedelics have the potential to alleviate hard-to-treat mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders and treatment-resistant depression.
Unlike traditional mental-health medications, psychedelics can deliver long-term benefits after only a couple of doses and have minimal negative side effects. With a large portion of mental-health patients failing to respond to conventional mental-health treatments or experiencing negative side effects, researchers are searching for substances that can treat poor mental health safely and more effectively.
Consequently, most psychedelic-related initiatives, especially at institutions of higher learning, typically focus on the potential clinical outcomes of the ongoing psychedelic revolution. However, “Psychedelics in Society and Culture” pioneers a new age of psychedelic research that will incorporate cultural expression and the human experience.
The joint venture will be accessible to faculty, undergraduate and graduate students from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University to encourage interdisciplinary projects of great diversity.
On top of helping researchers gain new insights into how psychedelics shaped and will continue to shape human thought and culture, the joint venture will also explore the history of psychedelics in literature and the arts as well as the effect hallucinogenics have had on societal transformation and human consciousness. The program will also commit to maintaining diversity and inclusivity to alleviate past criticisms of marginalization and lack of diversity in the young psychedelic research field.
The program will be supported by significant funding from private donors, including the Flourish Trust, and rely on a committee of members selected from Harvard and UC Berkeley to handle the grant rewards. The initiative is calling for interdisciplinary proposals from faculty and students from both universities in a bold attempt to explore how psychedelics affect human consciousness and our relationship with the natural world and death.
If it is successful, the program will increase the scope of psychedelic-related research and may even contribute to a significant shift in how we perceive and engage with psychedelics.
As Harvard and Berkeley delve into the societal impacts of psychedelics in the short- and long- term, for-profit entities such as Seelos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SEEL) are also doing their part in advancing the psychedelics renaissance by conducting clinical-development programs aimed at yielding regulator-approved psychedelic treatments.
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