Psychedelics
March 7, 2026
Skylar J. Gaughan, Jae Sevelius, Rafael Lancelotta et al.
Psychedelics have long histories of use in Indigenous communities for healing, spiritual, and ceremonial purposes. In contrast, Western psychedelic science has emerged through frameworks shaped by colonization, racism, and medicalization. These systems often marginalize and exclude the very communities most impacted by trauma, including transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) individuals,...
January 8, 2026
Michael Esposito, Ana M Ortiz Bernal, Alan K. Davis et al.
preprint
Clinical trials using 5-MeO-DMT to treat various mental health conditions are currently underway, however research on 5-MeO-DMT use in humans is limited. To date, no scoping review of the published, peer-reviewed literature exists. The purpose of the present analysis is to examine the extent, range, and nature of peer-reviewed research on the use of 5-MeO-DMT in humans and, ultimately, to...
Psychedelics
November 15, 2025
Meghan DellaCrosse, Shoval Gilead, Rafael Lancelotta et al.
Serotonergic psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD have shown potential therapeutic benefits for mental health conditions, including depression, PTSD, and addiction. However, research remains limited due to regulatory barriers and a lack of diversity in study populations. Spanish-speaking individuals, despite their significant global and U.S. presence, are underrepresented in psychedelic...
International Journal of Transgender Health
March 19, 2025
Skylar J. Gaughan, Angie R. Wootton, Daphne Krantz et al.
6 citations
Background: While psychedelic medicines have increasingly been studied for their utility as an adjunct to psychotherapy, transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) individuals have rarely been the focus of psychedelic research. This study examines TGE people's naturalistic, non-clinical psychedelic experiences to explore how TGE people use psychedelics and how they describe relationships between...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
July 14, 2023
Christopher Timmermann, Aki Nikolaidis, Alan K. Davis et al.
4 citations
This study translated and tested the psychometric properties of acute psychedelic effects measures among Spanish-speaking people. The Psychological Insight Questionnaire (PIQ), Challenging Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ), and Mystical Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ) were translated before being incorporated into a web-based survey. We recruited native Spanish-speakers (N = 442; Mage = 30.8, SD...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
November 29, 2022
Ana María Ortiz Bernal, Charles L. Raison, Rafael Lancelotta et al.
26 citations
Background The psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT has shown clinical potential due to its short duration and ability to induce mystical experiences. However, a phenomenon known as “reactivations” (similar to “flashbacks”) is a poorly understood and frequently reported phenomenon which appears associated with 5-MeO-DMT use and warranted further investigation. Aims This study examined whether differences in...
Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental
March 17, 2022
Rafael Lancelotta
2 citations
The author confirms that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
March 1, 2022
Malin Vedøy Uthaug, Alan K. Davis, Trevor Forrest Haas et al.
64 citations
Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychoactive phenethylamine found in several cacti and historically used ceremonially by Indigenous and Latin American populations. Broader recognition of its possible therapeutic value in Western science began in the 1950s; however, knowledge of the safety profile of mescaline and the extent of its use remains limited. The primary aim of this study is to...
Journal of Neurochemistry
February 12, 2022
Johannes T. Reckweg, Malin V. Uthaug, Attila Szabo et al.
108 citations
Abstract 5‐methoxy‐N,N‐dimethyltryptamine (5‐MeO‐DMT) is a naturally occurring tryptamine that primarily acts as an agonist at the 5‐HT1A and 5‐HT2A receptors, whereby affinity for the 5‐HT1A subtype is highest. Subjective effects following 5‐MeO‐DMT administration include distortions in auditory and time perception, amplification of emotional states, and feelings of ego dissolution that...
ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science
April 9, 2021
Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Trevor F Haas, Rafael Lancelotta et al.
121 citations
Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychoactive alkaloid that has been used as a sacrament by Indigenous populations in spiritual ritual and healing ceremonies for millennia. Despite promising early preliminary research and favorable anecdotal reports, there is limited research investigating mescaline's psychotherapeutic potential. We administered an anonymous online questionnaire to adults (N...
ACS Omega
December 2, 2020
Alexander M. Sherwood, Romain Claveau, Rafael Lancelotta et al.
38 citations
To support clinical use, a multigram-scale process has been developed to provide 5-MeO-DMT, a psychedelic natural product found in the parotid gland secretions of the toad, Incilius alvarius. Several synthetic routes were initially explored, and the selected process featured an optimized Fischer indole reaction to 5-MeO-DMT freebase in high-yield, from which the 1:1 succinate salt was produced...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
June 12, 2020
Jason B. Luoma, Christina Chwyl, Geoff J. Bathje et al.
206 citations
After a two-decade hiatus in which research on psychedelics was essentially halted, placebo-controlled clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health conditions have begun to be published. We identified nine randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy published since 1994. Studies examined psilocybin, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide),...
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 25, 2020
Malin V. Uthaug, Rafael Lancelotta, Ana María Ortiz Bernal et al.
25 citations
Abstract Background Previous research suggests a therapeutic potential of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT). However, online anecdotal reports have described a phenomenon following cessation of the acute effects of 5-MeO-DMT use which has been termed reactivation (i.e., re-experiencing [“flashback”]). To date, no research has investigated whether different routes of administration...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 9, 2020
Rafael Lancelotta, Alan K. Davis
32 citations
5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a potent, fast-acting psychedelic. Anecdotal reports from 5-MeO-DMT users suggest that they employ a variety of benefit enhancement (BE) strategies aimed to increase positive effects and decrease any potential challenging effects of the substance, but no empirical study has investigated this claim. We examined the prevalence of BE strategy use...
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
December 27, 2019
Nathan D. Sepeda, John Clifton, Laura Y. Doyle et al.
23 citations
Background and aims 5-Methoxy- N,N -dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a potent, short-acting psychedelic that produces strong hallucinogenic effects. The association between the context (i.e., set and setting) of 5-MeO-DMT use and the acute and enduring effects of the substance is unknown. Therefore, this study examined these associations using secondary data from two cross-sectional survey...
Psychopharmacology
December 10, 2019
Malin V. Uthaug, Rafael Lancelotta, Attila Szabo et al.
116 citations
Abstract Rationale 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine is a psychotropic substance found in various plant and animal species and is synthetically produced. 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine is used in naturalistic settings for spiritual exploration, recreation, or to address negative affect and mood problems. However, scientific knowledge on the effects of 5- methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine in...
The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
2019
Alan K. Davis, Sara So, Rafael Lancelotta et al.
141 citations
A recent epidemiological study suggested that 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) used for spiritual and recreational reasons is associated with subjective improvement in depression and anxiety. Further exploration of the potential psychotherapeutic effects of 5-MeO-DMT could inform future clinical trials. We examined self-reported improvement in depression and anxiety among people who...
Frontiers in Psychology
December 6, 2018
Rafael Lancelotta, Austin-Marley Windham-Herman, Kristel Peterson et al.
80 citations
5-MeO-DMT is a psychoactive substance found in high concentrations in the bufotoxin of the Colorado River Toad (Bufo alvarius). Emerging evidence suggests that vaporized 5-MeO-DMT may occasion mystical experiences of comparable intensity to those occasioned by more widely studied psychedelics such as psilocybin, but no empirical study has tested this hypothesis. Data was obtained from 20...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
July 1, 2018
Alan K. Davis, Joseph P Barsuglia, Rafael Lancelotta et al.
137 citations
5-Methoxy- N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a psychoactive compound found in several plants and in high concentrations in Bufo alvarius toad venom. Synthetic, toad, and plant-sourced 5-MeO-DMT are used for spiritual and recreational purposes and may have psychotherapeutic effects. However, the use of 5-MeO-DMT is not well understood. Therefore, we examined patterns of use, motivations for...