Hamilton Morris
Hamilton Morris | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 14, 1987 New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | The University of Chicago The New School (BSc)[1] |
| Occupations | Journalist, researcher |
| Known for | Hamilton's Pharmacopeia |
Hamilton Morris (born April 14, 1987) is an American journalist, documentarian, and scientific researcher.[2] He is the creator and director of the television series Hamilton's Pharmacopeia, in which he investigated the chemistry, history, and cultural impact of various psychoactive drugs.[2] Morris is considered to be one of the world's leading drug journalists.[2]
Biography
[edit | edit source]Hamilton Morris was born in New York City, the son of Julia Sheehan, an art historian, and documentary filmmaker Errol Morris.[3][4] He was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a teenager, Morris appeared in television commercials, notably a 2002 advertisement for the first-generation iPod.[5] He attended the University of Chicago and The New School, where he studied anthropology and chemistry.[6][7][2] He earned a bachelor of science (BSc) degree in liberal arts from The New School.[1]
Morris's interest in psychoactive substances blossomed in his late teens when he began reading pharmacology information hosted on websites such as Bluelight and Erowid.[8] He began writing for Vice magazine as a college sophomore. He wrote a piece called 'The Magic Jews' in 2008 documenting his experience taking LSD with a group of Hasidic Jews.[9][10] Vice later hired him to write a monthly print column titled "Hamilton's Pharmacopeia" in 2009 that evolved into a series of articles and documentaries for VBS.tv focused on the science of psychoactive drugs.[2][3]
Morris was a correspondent and producer for Vice on HBO until 2021, and is a contributor to Harper's Magazine.[11] Morris frequently consults with media on the subject of psychoactive drugs and conducts pharmacological research at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia[3][12][13] with an emphasis on the synthesis and history of dissociative anesthetics.[14][15][16][17]
In September 2021, Morris left Vice to work as a full-time chemistry consultant at the biotechnology startup, Compass Pathways.[2] In October 2021, it was reported that Morris was working as a chemist in Jason Wallach's lab at the University of the Sciences's Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.[18] He is said to have worked with Wallach studying the chemistry and pharmacology of psychedelics for more than a decade.[2] Wallach's lab has a contract with Compass Pathways to develop novel psychedelic therapeutics.[18] Morris has coauthored scientific papers on hallucinogens with Wallach, including a 2014 review on dissociatives[14] and a 2023 study identifying serotonergic psychedelics as mediating hallucinogenic-like effects (i.e., the head-twitch response) via activation of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor Gq signaling pathway.[19] Although Morris left Vice, he said that he plans to continue to write, podcast, and potentially make additional films in the future.[2]
Morris is notable in asserting, based on self-experimentation and along with Jonathan Ott, that bufotenin is active as a psychedelic.[20][21] According to Morris, its effects are like a cross between those of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 5-MeO-DMT.[21][20]
Projects
[edit | edit source]Hamilton's Pharmacopeia web series, Vice Media (2010–2016)
[edit | edit source]Morris published a web series called Hamilton's Pharmacopeia for Vice Media with some of the following episodes:[22]
- S0E1: SiHKAL: Shulgins I Have Known and Loved: The Man who Birthed Ecstasy in a Test-Tube (with Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin)[23]
- S0E2: The Icelandic Skin-Disease Mushroom Fashion Fiasco[24]
- S0E3: Getting High on Krystle: Underground LSD Palace (about Krystle Cole and her involvement with Gordon Todd Skinner, William Leonard Pickard, and their clandestine LSD laboratory)[25]
- S0E4: The Sapo Diaries: Tripping on Hallucinogenic Frogs / Getting High on Frogs (Phyllomedusa bicolor skin secretions ("sapo") in Amazonia)[26]
- S0E5: Nzambi: Investigating the Haitian Zombie (Wade Davis's theory of tetrodotoxin-mediated zombification in Haiti)[27]
- S0E6: Hamilton Morris and the Philosophers Stone: The Rise of Psychedelic Truffles in Amsterdam (about psilocybin-containing magic truffles in the Netherlands)[28]
- S0E7: Hamilton's Tanks for the Memories: Sensory Deprivation Tanks (about sensory deprivation tanks with Joe Rogan)[29]
- S0E8: The Ambien Effect: Medical Miracles With Ambien (about zolpidem treating brain damage)[30]
- S0E9: Getting High on HIV Medication (efavirenz as a classical psychedelic)[31]
- S0E10: Swazi Gold / Swaziland: Gold Mine of Marijuana (about cannabis in Swaziland)[32]
- S0E11: The Synthetic Marijuana Steampunk Rock Opera (about "legal highs" in New Zealand with Matt Bowden)[33]
Hamilton's Pharmacopeia TV series, Viceland (2016–2021)
[edit | edit source]Morris published a TV series for Viceland with the following seasons and episodes:[34][35]
Season 1 (2016)
[edit | edit source]- S1E1: The Story of the South African Quaalude (about recreational use of methaqualone in South Africa)[36]
- S1E2: A Positive PCP Story (including Steve-O)[37]
- S1E3: Shepherdess: The Story of Salvia Divinorum[38]
- S1E4: Magic Mushrooms in Mexico (with Maria Sabina's son)[39]
- S1E5: Fish N' Trips (about hallucinogenic fish and ichthyoallyeinotoxism)[40]
- S1E6: The Lazy Lizard School of Hedonism (with Casey Hardison and Darrell Lemaire)[41]
Season 2 (2018)
[edit | edit source]- S2E1: The Psychedelic Toad (about Bufo alvarius and the psychedelic toad pamphlet)[42]
- S2E2: Peyote: The Divine Messenger[43]
- S2E3: Kratom: The Forbidden Leaf[44]
- S2E4: Wizards of DMT[45]
- S2E5: Ketamine: Realms and Realities[46]
- S2E6: A Clandestine Chemist's Tale (with Steve Gill)[47]
- S2E7: A Fungal Fairy Tale (about Amanita muscaria, muscimol, and gaboxadol, with Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen and Carsten Holler)[48]
- S2E8: The Cactus Apprentice (about the San Pedro cactus)[49]
Season 3 (2021)
[edit | edit source]- S3E1: Synthetic Toad Venom Machine (about Bufo alvarius and the psychedelic toad pamphlet)[50]
- S3E2: A Positive Methamphetamine Story (with Uncle Fester)[51]
- S3E3: Xenon: The Perfect Anesthetic? (about Czech xenon clinics)[52]
- S3E4: Natural Tramadol, Synthetic Ibogaine (about naturally occurring tramadol in Africa, recreational use of tramadol in Africa, entheogenic use of ibogaine in Africa, and chemical synthesis of ibogaine)[53]
- S3E5: Bufotenine: In Search of Hataj (about bufotenin-containing hallucinogenic snuff in South America)[54]
- S3E6: Ultra LSD (with Dan Panaccione about ergot, Amanda Feilding about trepanation and the Beckley Foundation, David E. Nichols about CE-LAD, and Bryan L. Roth about serotonin 5-HT2A receptor ultra-large-scale docking (Ultra-LSD))[55][56]
Morris also almost featured lysergamide producer Lizard Labs in the third season of the show.[57]
The Hamilton Morris Podcast (2020–)
[edit | edit source]See also
[edit | edit source]References
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Hamilton Morris - Psychedelic Science Review (PSR)
- HamiltonMorris - X (formerly Twitter)
- Hamilton Morris - Google Scholar
- The Hamilton Morris Podcast - Patreon
- Updated and Reorganised Wiki / Index of Hamilton Morris Content - r/HamiltonMorris - Reddit
- I'm Hamilton Morris, I've traveled the world studying drugs, their creators, and their impact on society for almost a decade. AMA. - r/IAmA - Reddit
- A Psychonaut’s Adventures in Videoland - The New York Times
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- 1987 births
- Living people
- 21st-century American Jews
- American psychedelic drug advocates
- Dimethyltryptamine
- Drug culture
- Hamilton Morris
- Jewish American journalists
- Journalists from New York City
- Psychedelic chemists
- Psychedelic drug researchers
- The New School alumni
- University of Chicago alumni
- Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Writers from Manhattan
- 21st-century American male journalists
- 21st-century American journalists