Harvard will soon implement a new program of study dedicated to the use of psychedelics and how they impact various facets of the modern day, thanks to an eight-figure grant from a former Tesla employee.

According to a news release, Harvard University will begin teaching a new multidisciplinary study of “Psychedelics in Society and Culture.” The course was funded by a $16 million grant from the Gracias Family Foundation, started by former Tesla employee and CEO of Valor Equity Partners, Antonio Gracias. 

Gracias, a long time friend and colleague of Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a director at Tesla from 2007-2021. A Quartz article said  Gracias’ firm also served as an informal CEO of Twitter after Musk fired the original CEO immediately after acquiring the social media giant. The news release from Harvard said that the Gracias Family Foundation is interested in the potential of using psychedelics for therapeutic use as well as applying funding to such endeavors. 

“Harvard is the ideal place to explore the topic of psychedelics from new angles, and to craft a framework for their legal, safe, and appropriate impact on society,” Gracias said in a statement.

The news release from Harvard said that the new psychedelic-oriented program will be taught as a joint effort between the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Divinity School. The program will seek to apply Harvard’s record of excellence and professionalism to a topic often marred in mysticism and bro science partially leftover from the somewhat messy psychedelic and psychedelic-adjacent movements of the 1960’s.

In Harvard’s own words, the program “seeks to transform the psychedelics research landscape by producing cutting-edge scholarship and convening faculty, students, and experts to engage in discussion around their far-reaching implications.”

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring students, faculty, and researchers together around the important issue of how psychedelics impact our society,” said Robin Kelsey, Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography and dean of arts and humanities. “Harvard is uniquely poised to become the most exciting place to debate, discuss, and innovate in this area.”

The new Harvard program would not be considered the first psychedelic-based area of study at an American university as several psychedelic-based credential programs already exist at certain other colleges but this certainly marks a monumental announcement from an Ivy League University of Harvard’s caliber. The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School also started an initiative in 2021 called the Project on Psychedelic Law and Regulation (POPLAR) to study psychedelics’ “ethical legal and social implications.”

The recent news was hailed by many as much-needed progress in the development of psychedelic education, including Michael Pollan, long-time psychedelic advocate and author of several books on the topic including “How to Change Your Mind” which was later made into a Netflix series. 

“This is a visionary gift, in that it is the first to take the so-called psychedelic renaissance beyond medicine, by recognizing the importance of the humanities in exploring the impact and potential of these remarkable substances,” Pollan said in a written statement. 

It was not immediately clear based on the news release specifically when the new program would be available to Harvard students or what sort of curriculum would be applied to a relatively new and still-emerging field of study. The news release did indicate that the program would “approach the field from a range of humanistic and social scientific viewpoints including law, policy, ethics, religion and spirituality, the nature of consciousness, and art and literature.”

The news release also said that the $16 million from the Gracias Family Foundation would additionally be used to help fund  the expansion of existing programs at the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions as well as funding new fellowships at the CSWR and the Mahindra Humanities Center. 

“One of Harvard’s greatest strengths is our ability to bring together experts from various fields to engage in vibrant discussions that advance scholarship from multiple angles,” said Bruno Carvalho, interim director of the Mahindra Humanities Center. “This initiative will give us the space to explore and enrich public dialogue around psychedelics, including their potentials, as well as ethical and social implications.”

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Tryp Therapeutics announced on Wednesday that it had “submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its planned Phase 2a clinical trial investigating the effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of patients aged 21+ suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).”

The Canadian company said in the announcement that the “planned open label study in collaboration with Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital will evaluate the effect of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in patients with treatment-resistant IBS who experience chronic abdominal pain and other debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms.” 

“Many of these patients also suffer from fibromyalgia, anxiety and fatigue. The primary efficacy endpoint of the study will be improvement in abdominal pain. The proposed study will also explore changes in brain connectivity and responses to pain at baseline and at four weeks, six months and twelve months post the psychedelic drug sessions, along with numerous other secondary endpoints,” the announcement said. 

“Tryp and our collaborators at Harvard/MGH believe there is tremendous potential for the treatment of debilitating IBS symptoms by utilizing the combined administration of psilocybin and psychotherapy. The clinical study will examine how psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may alter brain networks involved in chronic abdominal pain and gastrointestinal-specific anxiety in patients with IBS to improve their symptoms. Submission of IND 163994 is an important step in advancing our program,” said Jim Gilligan, the chief executive officer of Tryp Therapeutics.

Gilligan told Green Market Report that the “most important thing is a clinical data – to be able to not just assume or hypothesize that we’re going to have a benefit, but to actually demonstrate that we can do something positive for patients.

“We’re looking at things a little bit differently than the big guys, looking at unique areas where we can have first-mover advantage. But we’re judicious in selecting areas where we really think that we’ll have a positive outcome,” Gilligan said.

According to Green Market Report, Gilligan “likened the planned administration of psilocin to the work of anesthesiologists.”

“Using an IV to induce and subsequently awaken the patient from the psychedelic state, the approach might also allow for the use of serotonin antagonists to terminate the psychedelic experience, if necessary,” the outlet said, which noted that TRP-8803 will be “central” to the company’s approach to the therapy.

TRP-8803 is “Tryp’s lead program,” the company says, describing it as “a proprietary formulation of IV-infused psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin) that alleviates numerous shortcomings of oral psilocybin including: significantly reducing the time to onset of the psychedelic state, controlling the depth and duration of the psychedelic experience, and reducing the overall duration of the intervention to a commercially feasible timeframe.

“The Company has an ongoing Phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of Binge Eating Disorder at the University of Florida, an upcoming Phase 2a clinical trial with the University of Michigan for the treatment of fibromyalgia and a planned Phase 2a trial for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome at Mass General Hospital, all of which are utilizing TRP-8802 (synthetic, oral psilocybin) to demonstrate efficacy in these indications. Where a preliminary clinical benefit has been demonstrated, subsequent studies are expected to utilize TRP-8803 (IV-infused psilocin) which has the potential to further improve efficacy, safety and patient experience,” Tryp said in Wednesday’s announcement. 

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Rodrigo Ventocilla Ventosilla, 32, a Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) graduate student from Peru, died on August 11 while under police custody at a hospital in Denpasar, Indonesia under what the family calls suspicious circumstances. Ventosilla, a trans man, was arrested for possession of cannabis while traveling to Bali to celebrate his honeymoon.

The HKS and trans communities are pleading for help in highlighting the injustice and human rights violations that allegedly took place last month in Bali, with allegations of police brutality and torture.

Police took Ventocilla to Bhayangkara Hospital after he suffered stomach pain and vomiting, according to Radar Bali. But his condition deteriorated, and he was transported to the Sanglah Central General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on August 11 at around 3:10 p.m.

HKS Dean Douglas Elmendorf and HKS Senior Associate Dean for Degree Programs and Student Affairs ​​Debra E. “Debbie” Isaacson announced Ventocilla’s death to school associates and friends on August 12. 

Witnesses allege that it was a case of police brutality, and say that the police’s official story is baloney. They are demanding an independent investigation of what happened in Bali. Stefanus Satake Bayu Setianto, head of public relations for the Bali Police, claims Ventocilla consumed more unseized drugs on August 8 in jail which led to his death.

A statement from the families of Ventocilla and his spouse, Sebastián Marallano, asked for the “Peruvian justice system to properly investigate the human rights violations of Rodrigo and Sebastian and to guarantee truth, justice, and reparation.”

Marallano flew to Bali on a separate flight but was detained by police without charge after attempting to help Ventocilla, according to the family’s statement. Marallano—who had nothing to do with the cannabis charges—was also “hospitalized” days after being detained by police.

“We received yesterday a statement from Rodrigo’s family with their description of extremely disturbing circumstances surrounding Rodrigo’s death—a statement that talks about his arrest and detention just before his death, and that highlights his rights as a transgender man,” Elmendorf wrote in an August 24 statement.

“The statement from Rodrigo’s family raises very serious questions that deserve clear and accurate answers. Harvard Kennedy School supports the family’s call for an immediate and thorough investigation and for public release of all relevant information, and the School stands with all of Rodrigo’s friends and colleagues and with the LGBTQ+ community.”

Ventocilla was a co-founder of the Peruvian trans rights advocacy organization Diversidades Trans Masculinas. At the Harvard Kennedy School, he was pursuing a master’s degree in Public Administration in International Development.

The family is asking the Peruvian Foreign Ministry to conduct an investigation into the actions of Julio Eduardo Tenorio Pereyra, the head of consular services for the Peruvian Embassy in Indonesia.

It’s just the latest cannabis-related crime in Bali in which the punishments don’t seem to fit the crime by Western standards. A Brazilian student faced 15 years after he was caught at the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali with 9.1 grams of cannabis.

Elmendorf and Isaacson said that HKS will hold a memorial gathering in memory of Ventocilla.

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A remembrance: The Harvard physician’s 1971 book laid the scientific foundation for today’s legal cannabis laws.

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