(The Conversation) — Texas passed a landmark law in June 2025, supported by former Gov. Rick Perry, that allocates US$50 million to support research on ibogaine, one of the most powerful psychedelics, for treating opioid addiction and treatment-resistant PTSD.

Arizona passed a similar law in May, funding research on ibogaine’s effectiveness for treating veterans and those with traumatic brain injuries.

These laws come on the heels of states such as Oregon, Colorado, Kentucky and Georgia legalizing ketamine – a psychedelic that has been used in emergency rooms as anesthesia – for therapeutic purposes in the past two years.

Psychedelics, broadly defined, are a class of psychoactive substances that alter perception, cognition and mood through their interaction with neurotransmitters such as serotonin.

As a medical anthropologist I have spent the past 25 years studying the rise of alternative approaches to mental health treatments and have specifically focused in the past four years on the impact of psychedelics on consciousness and spirituality.

The push to legalize psychedelics in America is not new. What distinguishes the latest round of advocacy, however, is its backing by a holy trinity of supporters: some scientists, politicians and clergy.

Several religious groups have historically used psychedelics for sacred healing. Some clergy who have been exposed to these medicines in the past few years are advocating their use for gaining mystical insights.

What does the science say?

There are several kinds of psychedelics. Classic psychedelics include compounds such as lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD; psilocybin – the active component in “magic mushrooms”; and mescaline, which is derived from peyote and San Pedro cacti. Another psychedelic is N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, found in ayahuasca and other plants.

Beyond the “classic” category, other psychoactive compounds sometimes grouped with psychedelics include substances such as MDMA, a class of psychoactive drugs that can induce feelings of love, empathy and connectedness with others. A 2021 study on MDMA showed a 67% reduction of PTSD symptoms after three sessions of MDMA therapy. While the study had a limited sample size of 104, it marked a turning point in how the psychologists understood MDMA as a potential healing modality.

Dissociative agents such as ketamine, which can produce altered states of consciousness, are also included as a category of their own. Traditionally used as a medical anesthetic, ketamine has more recently gained attention for mental health treatment, particularly for its antidepressant effects.

A ceremony in Cameroon in which a spiritual leader is giving iboga to initiates.
Jorge Fernández/LightRocket via Getty Images

Derived from the iboga plant native to West Africa, ibogaine induces powerful visions and dreams. It has a long history of being used by traditional healers in villages throughout Africa to treat mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. A 2022 National Institutes of Health review of 24 studies showed that ibogaine significantly reduced depression, PTSD and opioid addiction in at least two-thirds of the 743 study participants. This mirrors the scientific evidence provided in the 2024 Stanford brain study, which showed an 88% decrease in PTSD symptoms following use of ibogaine in 30 military veterans.

Clergy and psychedelics

Several mental health practitioners and scientists have been staunch advocates of psychedelic-assisted therapy based on this research. What is somewhat new, however, is the addition of a handful of high-profile clergy to the list of supporters.

A recent study published by New York University and Johns Hopkins University highlights a number of religious practitioners, ranging from Episcopal ministers to Catholic priests, rabbis and Zen monks: 24 of the 29 participants made the case that psychedelics can lead to profound spiritual experiences.

A May 2025 article in The New Yorker noted that several of the clergy who participated in the NYU/Johns Hopkins study went on to become vocal advocates of psychedelics as spiritual medicine. While the sample size was small and heavily composed of Christian religious leaders, the findings are noteworthy. Some 96% of study participants described the use of psychedelics as one of the top five “most spiritually significant experiences of their lives.”

An NIH study conducted in 2019 focused on spiritual encounters experienced through DMT, or N,N-dimethyltryptamine. The study revealed that 75% of the 42 participants reported an “intense mystical encounter” and believed that it brought them closer to the divine. They narrated the experience as one in which they saw flashes of white light, heard angelic sounds, felt tingling in their bodies and had an overall sensation of God’s love.

A ‘chairlift to God’

Leaders and members of churches that use psychedelics as “sacrament” describe the role of these substances as facilitating a deeper connection with the divine. The psychedelics are offered at the beginning of weekly services by the religious leader, and then the congregants move into singing, chanting or prayer. Several leaders of such churches whom I have interviewed have described the role of the psychedelics as facilitating a deeper focus on God for longer periods of time.

The Native American Church, which is considered the largest Indigenous church in America and is located throughout the Southwest, has been legally using peyote, a hallucinogen, for services since the 1990s.

The 1994 American Indian Religious Freedom Act allows Native American churches to use and transport peyote, even though it is a Schedule 1 substance, meaning that its use is technically illegal outside of special circumstances as provided by exemptions to the law. Congregants in the church note that they have been using natural plants like peyote for as long as they can remember – even before it was officially legal.

Leonard Crow Dog, a Lakota Sioux medicine man and spiritual leader, participates in a peyote ceremony on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota in 1968.
MPI/Getty Images

More recently there have been a series of churches opening up across the U.S. that use ayahuasca as their sacrament.

In May 2025, the Gaia Church in Spokane, Washington, became one of the first churches in America to receive the Drug Enforcement Administration exemption for the use of ayahuasca in religious ceremonies. The DEA exemption makes the use of the substances completely legal for all members of the church as long as it is taken as a sacrament and provided by the spiritual leaders.

One shaman who runs an ayahuasca-focused church in Hawaii whom I interviewed last year described psychedelics as a “chairlift to God” because of the numbers of people in his congregation who report seeing, feeling, glimpsing or sensing God after drinking ayahuasca.

“There is no doubt that psychedelics can induce profound spiritual experiences,” one priest who has become a psilocybin advocate told me. “If this is what can bring people back together and back to the church, then harmonizing the ways of the ancients with plant medicines, modern technologies and religion might be the way to heal societal ills.”

Proceeding with caution

Although most classic psychedelics are considered safe and nonaddictive, they also carry some risks. Psychedelic use can induce acute anxiety, cause panic attacks or lead to paranoia. In rare cases, they could lead to psychotic breakdowns and suicidal thoughts, particularly among individuals with a personal or family history of schizophrenia or other severe mental illnesses.

Psychedelics can also temporarily impair judgment and coordination, which may increase the risk of accidents or unsafe behaviors if taken in recreational settings. Risks can also be amplified by uncertain dosage, adulterated substances and the absence of certified and trained facilitators.

Most mental health practitioners and advocates of these medicines suggest that they be taken under the care of medical or spiritual professionals who have trained in administering and facilitating preparation and aftercare for psychedelic use.

Shamans and Indigenous practitioners have long regarded these substances as sacred medicines and used them for healing. Modern-day science is confirming some of their benefits in supporting future treatments of trauma and addiction. Moreover, the mystical experiences that these medicines offer as pathways to connect people to the divine are profound.

(Pardis Mahdavi, Professor of Anthropology, University of La Verne. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)