This is a speech Max gave on psychedelics at the Adam Smith Institute, a think tank in London. He talked through the importance of categories in the history of science and how treating psychedelics as “drugs” like alcohol or cocaine is erroneous and distracts us from the many potential benefits.

There is now lots of scientific evidence for the benefits of psychedelics, from treating anxiety and depression to substantial physiological benefits, including for the immune system and inflammation. We should start to think of psychedelics as an extraordinary, sui generis group of substances that has many benefits in different areas!