Harvard Psilocybin Project

Record summary

Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert’s Harvard Psilocybin Project investigated subjective effects, personality change, religious experience, and possible behavioral outcomes of psilocybin. Related work included the Concord Prison Experiment, which explored recidivism after psychedelic-assisted experiences. The program matters for comparing set, setting, spiritual interpretation, and institutional authority in altered-state research. Its legacy is complicated by methodological limitations, conflicts with Harvard administration, inadequate controls, and later criticism of exaggerated or selective claims.