Centre of Biomedicine Self and Society Seminar: Psychedelic Healing

Fifty years after Woodstock, medical researchers claim to have rediscovered the extraordinary healing power of psychedelic medicine for a wide range of psychiatric, behavioural and neurological disorders. What few know, however, is that many of these psychedelic therapies were actually developed “underground” by networks of people seeking better ways to treat challenging medical problems. In this panel, we’ll hear from one such innovative citizen scientist – Craig “Flash” Adams – who launched a global, patient-led research movement with his discovery that Liberty Cap mushrooms could treat cluster headache, and Joanna Kempner, Associate Professor at Rutgers University, who is writing a book about how Flash’s discovery went from an internet post in 1998 to a 2019 clinical trial at Yale. Angus Bancroft, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh and expert in underground drug markets, will contribute reflections on the talks – after which there will be plenty of time for audience discussion and questions. The event will be chaired by Dr Martyn Pickersgill, Wellcome Trust Reader in Social Studies of Medicine, University of Edinburgh.

Please note this event will be filmed and photographed. By taking part in this event you grant the event organisers full rights to use the images resulting from the photography/video filming, and any reproductions or adaptations of the images for fundraising, publicity or other purposes to help achieve the project’s aims. This might include (but not limited to), the right to use them in their printed and online publicity, social media, press releases and funding applications.