Rick Doblin

It turned out that the Congress had given the Attorney General the power to emergency schedule drugs, but the Attorney General had never sub-delegated that power down to the DEA. So they didn't have the authority to do that. So the people that got busted in the first year were all let go once their lawyers figured this out. So the first move to criminalize MDMA was a crime, you could say. Wow.

It turned out that the Congress had given the Attorney General the power to emergency schedule drugs, but the Attorney General had never sub-delegated that power down to the DEA. So they didn't have the authority to do that. So the people that got busted in the first year were all let go once their lawyers figured this out. So the first move to criminalize MDMA was a crime, you could say. Wow.

But we're stuck. And so when we think about if MDMA had not been criminalized, how many people's lives would have been saved? How many people would have been able to... benefit from psychedelics. That's one of the things that we're going to be talking about at the Psychedelic Science 2025 Conference, the 16th to 20th in June in Denver. We have over 500 speakers. We had over 1500 applications.

But we're stuck. And so when we think about if MDMA had not been criminalized, how many people's lives would have been saved? How many people would have been able to... benefit from psychedelics. That's one of the things that we're going to be talking about at the Psychedelic Science 2025 Conference, the 16th to 20th in June in Denver. We have over 500 speakers. We had over 1500 applications.

But we're stuck. And so when we think about if MDMA had not been criminalized, how many people's lives would have been saved? How many people would have been able to... benefit from psychedelics. That's one of the things that we're going to be talking about at the Psychedelic Science 2025 Conference, the 16th to 20th in June in Denver. We have over 500 speakers. We had over 1500 applications.

There's an enormous amount of research taking place with psychedelics, with psilocybin, with Ibogaine, with MDMA, with 5-MeO-DMT, with a whole host. And the healing potential of these are incredible. And yet they've been kept away from people by these prohibitionist laws. And so it's enormously frustrating and tragic.

There's an enormous amount of research taking place with psychedelics, with psilocybin, with Ibogaine, with MDMA, with 5-MeO-DMT, with a whole host. And the healing potential of these are incredible. And yet they've been kept away from people by these prohibitionist laws. And so it's enormously frustrating and tragic.

There's an enormous amount of research taking place with psychedelics, with psilocybin, with Ibogaine, with MDMA, with 5-MeO-DMT, with a whole host. And the healing potential of these are incredible. And yet they've been kept away from people by these prohibitionist laws. And so it's enormously frustrating and tragic.

And yet if we let that overwhelm us, then we're not going to work as hard to make it happen. So I've had to learn how to deal with that frustration.

And yet if we let that overwhelm us, then we're not going to work as hard to make it happen. So I've had to learn how to deal with that frustration.

And yet if we let that overwhelm us, then we're not going to work as hard to make it happen. So I've had to learn how to deal with that frustration.

Well, it's counterproductive. Yes. It's not even, you know, like stopping a lot of the benefits. It's actually creating more harms. Just as one example, my father was a pediatrician. He's no longer alive, but he worked on the first study with crack babies. He and his partners did the pediatric evaluation. And you remember this in the 80s.

Well, it's counterproductive. Yes. It's not even, you know, like stopping a lot of the benefits. It's actually creating more harms. Just as one example, my father was a pediatrician. He's no longer alive, but he worked on the first study with crack babies. He and his partners did the pediatric evaluation. And you remember this in the 80s.

Well, it's counterproductive. Yes. It's not even, you know, like stopping a lot of the benefits. It's actually creating more harms. Just as one example, my father was a pediatrician. He's no longer alive, but he worked on the first study with crack babies. He and his partners did the pediatric evaluation. And you remember this in the 80s.

This idea was that there's going to be this whole generation of super predators and these Women that were pregnant with crack were having babies that were addicted and they were going to be mentally deficient and prone to violence and this whole scenario that Reagan amplified. Right.

This idea was that there's going to be this whole generation of super predators and these Women that were pregnant with crack were having babies that were addicted and they were going to be mentally deficient and prone to violence and this whole scenario that Reagan amplified. Right.

This idea was that there's going to be this whole generation of super predators and these Women that were pregnant with crack were having babies that were addicted and they were going to be mentally deficient and prone to violence and this whole scenario that Reagan amplified. Right.

And what my father and his partners found out was that really these kids could recover, that they could do better, that it was mostly malnutrition, poverty. It's not like fetal alcohol syndrome, that it was really not this direct connection between the crack cocaine and the problems with these kids.

And what my father and his partners found out was that really these kids could recover, that they could do better, that it was mostly malnutrition, poverty. It's not like fetal alcohol syndrome, that it was really not this direct connection between the crack cocaine and the problems with these kids.

And what my father and his partners found out was that really these kids could recover, that they could do better, that it was mostly malnutrition, poverty. It's not like fetal alcohol syndrome, that it was really not this direct connection between the crack cocaine and the problems with these kids.