Psychedelic Rock Stars: The Names You Should Know

Psychedelic therapy isn’t a new concept but it’s still not legal or accessible in many places around the world. While some US states and Canadian provinces have started to acknowledge psychedelic therapy as a suitable and legal option for healing, it has been an uphill battle and many people deserve credit for kick-starting our psychedelic revolution.

In this article, we’ll have a look at six highly influential people in the psychedelic space who have influenced our access to knowledge around psychedelic substances and their therapeutic uses.

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The Biggest Influences on Psychedelic Knowledge

1. Rick Doblin

Rick Doblin has dedicated a large portion of his adult life to promoting the various medical uses of psychedelics. It was even the topic of his dissertation at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

The 67-year-old man, best known for founding MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), is working hard to secure FDA approval for the use of MDMA (i.e., molly or ecstasy).

Like many other experts, Doblin believes that MDMA can be used to treat health issues including PTSD. He has run several clinical trials on veterans from Israel, Canada, and the US. During an interview about his research, he had this to say:

“PTSD is a disorder of fear; MDMA reduces fear. Also, people who have trauma have learned to be suspicious, and they often don’t have trust for people because they’ve been betrayed or attacked or in some way traumatized. By stimulating the release of oxytocin, MDMA promotes what we call a therapeutic alliance. We know from psychotherapy-outcome research that the therapeutic alliance is the most important factor in whether patients get better.”

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2. Timothy Leary

Known as the father of psychedelic therapy, Timothy Leary is one of the most popular players who studied the benefits of psychedelics in the 1960s at Harvard. 

Unable and unwilling to find volunteers, he decided to use  LSD himself and developed a new philosophy of personal truth and mind expansion through his experiences. 

His brave claims cause a ruckus forcing the feds to ban the drugs. He, however, continued his research even after leaving Harvard and became a popular figure of the counterculture of his times.

A published author, Leary gave the world the eight-circuit model of consciousness in his critically acclaimed book Exo-Psychology (1977). He liked to bill himself as a "performing philosopher" and occasionally gave lectures around the world.

Called "the most dangerous man in America'' by former President Richard Nixon, Leary has been to 36 prisons yet we can’t make a list of psychedelic rock stars without mentioning him.

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3. Tom & Sheri Eckert

Tom and Sheri Eckert invested years of hard work to create an acceptable legal pathway to enable the use of psychedelic mushrooms in therapy for addiction, anxiety, and depression. Together, these psychedelic activists founded the Oregon Psilocybin Society (OPS) with the goal of bringing psilocybin-assisted therapy to the state.

Tom and Sheri were instrumental in making psychedelic treatment legal in Oregon. They're credited with making the Psilocybin Service Initiative possible, a successful ballot petition designed for the 2020 Oregon elections.

In 2020, Sheri passed away due to cardiac arrest.

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4. Richard Alpert 

Known widely as Baba Ram Dass, Richard Alpert was a spiritual teacher, author, and psychologist who worked closely with Timothy Leary during his time at Harvard University.

In 1962, he assisted Walter Pahnke, a Harvard Divinity School graduate student, in his "Good Friday Experiment". This study led to his dismissal from Harvard in 1963. Despite not being illegal, the study highly controversial and brought a lot of negative press attention due its unorthodox methods.

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5. Hamilton Morris

Hamilton Morris is a scientific researcher known for directing and creating the successful TV show Hamilton's Pharmacopeia in which he travels to various locations around the world to interact with different cultures and actually try different psychedelic substances.

Hamilton works as a scientific advisor for MINDCURE, bringing a wealth of knowledge from his research and practical experience psychedelic substances.

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6. Tim Ferriss

Known for hosting The Tim Ferriss Show, Tim is a big name in the world of psychedelics, regularly taking to social media to promote knowledge into psychedelics.

He regularly donates to different organizations that conduct psychedelic research. In fact, he was Psychedelics Invest’s #1 most influential person for 2021 due to his contributions to the industry.

Conclusion

These were some of the most influential people in the world of psychedelic treatment. Check out our team to learn more about the rock stars involved in MINDCURE's mission to change the face of mental health care with psychedelic substances.