Sources in this era
11 results
May 31, 1985 (effective July 1, 1985)DEA emergency scheduling of MDMA
John C. Lawn · Source
The Drug Enforcement Administration's order placing MDMA in Schedule I on an emergency basis from July 1, 1985, using powers Congress had given it the year before for so-called designer drugs. The notice cites rising recreational use, promotional parties, and a new rat study showing that the related drug MDA destroy...
May 22, 1986In re MDMA Scheduling (ALJ Young opinion)
Francis L. Young · Source
After seventeen days of hearings, Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young recommends placing MDMA in Schedule III rather than Schedule I. He finds currently accepted medical use and accepted safety for medical supervision based on psychiatrists' testimony, animal lethality studies, and clinical experience with sup...
September 18, 1987Grinspoon v. DEA
Frank M. Coffin · Source
The First Circuit vacates the DEA's rule placing MDMA in Schedule I, holding the Administrator's interpretation of 'accepted medical use' was contrary to Congress's intent. Dr. Grinspoon, a Harvard psychiatrist seeking to research MDMA therapeutically, brought the appeal after the Administrator overruled the ALJ's S...
Prohibition
April 17, 1990Employment Division v. Smith
Antonin Scalia and Harry Blackmun · Source
The Supreme Court holds that Oregon may deny unemployment benefits to two Native American Church members dismissed for sacramental peyote use, since a neutral criminal drug law requires no religious exemption. Blackmun dissents.
Approved October 6, 1994AIRFA Amendments of 1994
103rd United States Congress · Source
Congress restored a nationwide exemption for the ceremonial use of peyote by Indians in connection with traditional religions. The statute carves out exceptions for prison, military, and safety-sensitive positions.
1994NIDA Research Monograph 146
Rick J. Strassman · Academic Article
Proceedings of a 1992 NIDA technical review on hallucinogen research, prompted by rising LSD use among teenagers. Includes Rick Strassman's account of the regulatory process (IRB, DEA, FDA) for his DMT study, the first human hallucinogen study approved since the early 1970s.
ClinicalLSDPsilocybin
February 21, 2006Gonzales v. O Centro
John G. Roberts · Source
Chief Justice Roberts holds the federal government failed to show a compelling interest justifying its ban on the Uniao do Vegetal church's sacramental use of hoasca (ayahuasca tea with DMT) under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Court rejects the UN Convention argument and upholds the peyote precedent for...
DMTAyahuasca
March 18, 2009Church of the Holy Light of the Queen v. Mukasey
Owen M. Panner · Source
A federal court ruling applying Gonzales v. O Centro to the Santo Daime church in Oregon, granting the right to import and drink ayahuasca under RFRA. Judge Panner's findings describe the religion's origins, ritual, physiological effects, and the government's health and diversion evidence.
PharmacologyDMTAyahuasca
Approved by voters November 3, 2020; codified as Oregon Laws 2021, chapter 1Oregon Measure 109
Sheri Eckert and Thomas Eckert · Source
Oregon's 2020 ballot measure created the first US state-licensed psilocybin services program. The findings cite FDA's breakthrough-therapy designation for depression, and the statute establishes licensed service centers and facilitators rather than unsupervised legalization.
Psilocybin
June 4, 2024FDA advisory committee on MDMA, 2024
Rajesh Narendran · Testimony
The transcript of the FDA advisory committee that reviewed Lykos Therapeutics' application for MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. Hosted here are the chair's opening of the committee questions and the two votes: 2 to 9 against finding the drug effective, and 1 to 10 against finding that its be...
PTSDTherapy
July 2026 (finalizing a June 2023 draft)FDA Psychedelic Drugs Guidance
FDA Division of Psychiatry, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research · Source
FDA guidance (July 2026) for sponsors developing psychedelics—5-HT2A agonists including psilocybin and LSD, plus MDMA—as approved medicines. It addresses the regulatory pathway for Schedule I drugs in clinical trials and identifies methodological challenges: perceptual effects complicate blinding ('functional unblin...
LSDPsilocybin
Historical overview
A contextual essay for this era is in preparation. In the meantime, the sources at left, the key figures below, and the further-reading panel offer entry points.
Key figures in this era
Further reading
Secondary sources- Vetted secondary sources for this era are being prepared.