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28 © THE BUILDING BLOCKS I taught a psychedelic drug research seminar to senior psychiatric resi- dents at the University of New Mexico—probably the only one of its kind in the country in decades. The lack of academic attention to psychedelics may have been partly due to the absence of any ongoing human research. However, it is com- mon for physicians-in-training to learn about previously popular theories and techniques, even if they no longer are in favor. The psychedelic drugs, however, seemed to have dropped out of all psychiatric dialogue. Most new theories, techniques, and drugs in the clinical psychiatric field follow a predictable course of evolution as they are introduced, tested, and refined for further application. Therefore, it was not at all surprising that conflicting results began to emerge as more data accumulated during the first wave of human psychedelic research. Enthusiasm predictably slowed for claims that psychedelics could produce a "model psychosis" or "cures" in intractable psychotherapy cases. The natural process within psychiatric research is for scientists to refine research questions, meth- ods, and applications. This never happened with the psychedelic drugs. Instead, their study went through a highly unnatural evolution. They be- gan as "wonder drugs," turned into "horror drugs," then became nothing. I believe that medical students and psychiatric trainees learn so little about psychedelic drugs not because research did end, but because of how it ended. This process deeply demoralized academic psychiatry, which then turned its back on psychedelic drugs. Psychedelic research was a bruising and humiliating chapter in the lives of many of its most prominent scientists. These were the best and the brightest psychiatrists of their generation. Many of today's most respected North American and European psychiatric researchers, in both academ- ics and industry, now chairmen of major university departments and presidents of national psychiatric organizations, began their professional lives investigating psychedelic drugs. The most powerful members of their profession discovered that science, data, and reason were incapable of defending their research against the enactment of repressive laws fueled by opinion, emotion, and the media. Once these laws passed, government regulators and funding agencies quickly withdrew permits, drugs, and money. The same psychedelic drugs