Psychedelics at a crossroads: medical boon or capitalist asset?

Overall, the project has the following objectives:

1. To chart the marketization and assetization of psychedelic therapies, including ‘following the money’ to key individuals investing in this area, mapping their spheres of influence beyond psychedelics into other critical areas of biopharmaceuticals.
2. To assess the extent to which cultural and biopiracy are taking place in this area and to engage with legal scholars in reflections around how existing patent legislation, which is ‘blind’ to ethics concerns, can be utilized to halt or prevent such extractivism.
3. To critically evaluate current proposals for a ‘psychedelic commons’, including attempts to replace psychedelic patents with so-called distributed autonomous organizations that would hold patent rights on blockchains.

More specifically, my objectives for the Brocher fellowship are:

1. To finalise paper 1 on ‘sacramental capitalism’ (lead author Susi Geiger)
2. To draft paper 2 on destigmatization (lead author Gianluca Chimenti)
3. To draft a book proposal for a renowned publishing house.
4. To engage policymakers and non-governmental organizations based in Geneva about the issues that the project raises.

Expected outcomes

1. At least two journal publications: one in Socio-Economic Review / Economy & Society; the second in Social Science & Medicine.
2. An accepted book proposal. 
3. A cocreation workshop and further policy engagement: mapping the path toward a psychedelic commons.