New Initiative Explores Cultural and Societal Impacts of Psychedelics

LOS ANGELES- The University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University have launched a groundbreaking collaborative initiative titled “Psychedelics in Society and Culture” aimed at expanding research into the cultural, societal, and humanistic aspects of psychedelics. This initiative represents a significant shift from the predominantly therapeutic-focused psychedelic research to exploring broader implications in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Led by UC Berkeley’s Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP) and the Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry (CICI), along with Harvard’s Mahindra Humanities Center (MHC), the project is supported by a $1 million grant from the Flourish Trust. This funding is earmarked to support innovative research projects at UC Berkeley over the next three years.

Principal investigators, Debarati Sanyal of the CICI and Imran Khan of the BCSP, are at the helm of this initiative at UC Berkeley. Their leadership underscores the collaborative nature of this effort between the nation’s leading public and private universities. The initiative not only promises to foster new partnerships and ideas but also aims to provide substantial grants of up to $100,000 to both students and faculty for research that bridges disciplines and explores new territories in psychedelic studies.

Research topics under this initiative may include the contemporary use of psychedelics in Indigenous communities, ethical debates over psychedelic patenting, and philosophical inquiries into reality, consciousness, religion, and the human experience. This program stands as one of the first comprehensive efforts to systematically examine the wide-reaching impacts of psychedelics beyond medical and therapeutic contexts, potentially shaping future discussions and policies surrounding these substances.