December 11, 2024, 5:30 – 7:00pm ET
Virtual

Psychedelics have been in the news a lot this year because of the FDA’s consideration, and subsequent rejection, of MDMA as a therapeutic drug for people with PTSD. For DoSER’s 2024 December Dialogues, we’ve gathered three experts to discuss the wider context around psychedelics. As part of giving a fuller picture, we’ll discuss: psychedelics’ long history in the use of sacred plants and medicines for Indigenous peoples; the legal and policy landscape for psychedelics; current work and research with psychedelics; and what may happen with FDA approval in the coming years. Join us on Zoom for this exciting event on December 11th at 5:30 p.m. Eastern!

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Speakers

Ariel Clark, JD (she/they) is an Odawa Anishinaabe attorney working in collaborative spaces of (re)emergence. As part of her advocacy (that is also a prayer) – can the overculture legalize “psychedelics” to help facilitate healing in a good way and do less harm to Indigenous communities and the medicines Themselves – she is co-producing a series and related resource library on legal frameworks and ethics through the Psychedelic Bar Association (an organization she co-founded in 2021). For over 15 years, Ariel has advised business organizations, non-profits, government agencies, tribes, practitioners, and providers regarding cannabis and other plant medicines and psychedelics, and recently joined the board of Benefit Honoring, an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building a global community rooted in Indigenous traditional lifeways and biocultural preservation. Ariel has written on Rights of Nature as a vehicle to protect sacred plants and traditional cultural knowledge, and she regularly lectures at universities and law schools on ecological justice, drug policy reform, and Indigenous rights. She is also honored to be in study of Indigenous Peacemaking ways. She has a BA from the University of Michigan in Religious Studies and a JD from Berkeley Law School. Ariel is an enrolled Tribal citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians.

Dr. Jamila Hokanson (she/her) is a psychiatrist that works with adolescents, young adults, women, and people of color who would benefit from a holistic mental health healing approach. She also conducts research in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy and ketamine assisted psychotherapy for obsession-compulsion disorder, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Hokanson completed her medical training at UT Southwestern medical school and psychiatric training at Yale University where she was the Chief Psychiatry Resident. She has completed additional training in integrative psychiatry as well as MDMA-assisted psychotherapy training for the treatment of PTSD. She is a study physician and co-therapist on several clinical trials for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the obsession-compulsion disorder and major depression disorder as well as Ketamine combined with prolonged exposure therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Hokanson is currently an Assistant Professor at Yale University Department of Psychiatry where she is the Director of Operations for both the Yale Program for Psychedelic Studies and the Yale Enact Research Group.

Moana Meadow, MDiv (she/her) serves as Program Staff Director at the Berkeley Psychedelic Facilitation Certificate Program, where she has overseen curriculum development for the past three years. Meadow is trained as an interfaith chaplain and was ordained in 2010 through the Chaplaincy Institute. Over the next ten years, she completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), worked as a hospice chaplain and birth doula, and supported hundreds of individuals and groups through psychedelic experiences. She has trained, mentored, and supervised psychedelic facilitators in various contexts, founded a plant medicine church, and serves on the advisory board of the Sacred Plant Alliance, a nonprofit association of churches defending the right to religious exercise through sincere, safe, and ethical ceremonial use of sacraments in the United States. She has sought learning through a variety of indigenous traditions and communities, both in North and South America, and brings a knowledge of healthcare systems, psychedelic healing, and spiritual community.

Moderator

Rachel Kline is a Senior Program Associate with DoSER. Originally from Chevy Chase, Maryland, she earned her undergraduate degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT and her Master’s in Pharmacology from Boston University. She worked in project management for nearly a decade at both nonprofits and commercial companies, managing numerous projects for clients in government, healthcare, and industry. Drawn by her long-time love of science, Rachel joined AAAS in 2017 as Assistant Editor for the journal Science Robotics. Now with DoSER, Rachel is thrilled to advance science and serve society by building relationships between scientists and faith-based communities.

This event will be live captioned and will have ASL interpretation.

The code of conduct for AAAS meetings: https://meetings.aaas.org/policies/