Religious texts state that when Moses climbed to the top of Mount Sinai, he was spoken to by God and inscribed that message onto stone tablets that became known as the Ten Commandments. Thunder rumbled, trumpets blared and lightning shot across the sky.
It was, by biblical and other standards, an extraordinary moment. Moses had been fasting and was clearly in an altered state of consciousness when God appeared to him, scholars say.
But what if, as at least one Jewish scholar has suggested, Moses was also high?
It may sound like blasphemy, but some religious scholars say they see an overlap between the pursuit of the divine and the use of psychedelic drugs — an unlikely partnership that underpins one of the most unusual legislative efforts in New York this session.
The goal is to expand access in the state to psilocybin, a psychedelic compound found in over 200 types of mushrooms that has been used as a part of religious experiences — as well those of a spiritual and existential sort — for thousands of years.
“There has been a long, documented history of humans interacting positively on religious, spiritual and cultural grounds with psilocybin,” said Aaron Genuth, president of Darkhei Rephua, a Jewish nonprofit that pushes for the legalization of psychedelics.
That history could trace as far back as biblical times. Benny Shanon, a psychology professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, argued in 2008 that the Israelites may have come across hallucinogenic plants as they wandered in the desert ahead of Moses’ revelation.
Many Jewish scholars and leaders caution against searching for evidence of drug use in religious texts, and find Professor Shanon’s theory offensive. But Mr. Genuth and others assert that psychedelics can deepen religious practice.
“I think the momentum is continuing to grow and the issue is becoming more mainstream and less stigmatized,” Mr. Genuth said.
Religion aside, researchers have discovered the compound’s remarkable effects on neuroplasticity and its potential as a treatment for various mental and physical health issues. In 2020, Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin for medical use, and a handful of cities, including Seattle; Oakland, Calif.; and Ann Arbor, Mich., have more broadly decriminalized hallucinogens.
New York is considering several proposals to make psilocybin available for public use, two of which are pending in committee. The first, sponsored by Assemblyman Pat Burke of Buffalo, takes a relatively conservative approach, allowing trained “facilitators” to dispense psilocybin in a controlled setting to help treat conditions like anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
The second, carried by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal of New York City’s Upper West Side, would legalize some plant- and fungus-based hallucinogens for personal use, including psilocybin and mescaline. The bill would allow for the substances to be used, cultivated and given as gifts; sales would remain prohibited.
Ms. Rosenthal said the measure was intended in part to help people cope with anxiety toward the end of their lives.” I thought people should be able to have access for that kind of use without being prosecuted and without having to buy it illegally,” she said.
Neither bill seems like it has enough support to come to the Assembly floor for a vote this session. Even so, proponents believe that change is possible.
On a lobbying day earlier this year, advocates including several rabbis, a culinary mushroom purveyor, and representatives of a handful of nonprofits blanketed the main artery between lawmakers’ offices and the Capitol with tables offering mushroom-shaped stickers, chocolate and free soap from Dr. Bronner’s — one of the highest-profile corporate supporters of psychedelic medicine — in an effort to persuade lawmakers of the fantastic possibilities of the fungus.
Those lobbying for the bill’s passage come from a range of faiths that have found psilocybin and other drugs can enhance users’ religious experiences.
But the largest religious contingent features a number of Orthodox Jewish people fighting to legalize psilocybin, colloquially known as “magic mushrooms.”
The Jewish community is not by and large pro-drugs, Mr. Genuth said, but he contended that some people have come around after having positive experiences with psilocybin that made them feel closer to God.
“I have connected to people who are Methodist, Buddhist, Rastafarian and other faith streams,” he said.
One of those connections is Zachary Stamp, a practicing Buddhist who is not involved in lobbying efforts but does support the legalization of psilocybin.
Mr. Stamp suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, opioid addiction and alcohol dependency after serving in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan. One night at a party, he was offered the psychedelic LSD, which he described as a profound experience that led to his using psilocybin and giving up alcohol and pain medication.
Mr. Stamp, 31, added that in the Buddhist faith, some look at Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, who sat meditating under a tree for seven weeks until he achieved enlightenment, as having entered an altered state similar to that of Moses when God appeared before him. The psychedelic experience, Mr. Stamp said, can mirror that of long-term fasting, helping modern-day followers of many religions deepen their practices.
“There’s just something about having this profound spiritual awakening,” Mr. Stamp said. “By legalizing it, it helps to normalize something that probably shouldn’t have been made illegal in the first place.”
The movement to legalize psychedelics like psilocybin grew in 2022, when voters in Colorado approved a referendum to decriminalize possession and use of certain psychedelic plants. Some states have resisted: In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed an attempt to legalize psilocybin, citing the need for stricter frameworks “to prevent against exploitation during guided treatments.”
The National Institutes of Health has cited psilocybin’s long history of use for treating mental illnesses, but said that substantive research remains to be done into the drug’s medicinal uses. High doses can lead to hallucination, and side effects include “increased heart rate or nausea.”
Despite those findings, a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that, based on the model of cannabis legalization, the majority of states will legalize psychedelics by 2037. According to data from LexisNexis, a research software site, more than 70 bills related to psilocybin have been introduced across 26 states since December.
The proposals in New York come as the state is facing the repercussions of its uneven efforts to build a legal cannabis marketplace. In 2021, the Legislature legalized recreational marijuana use and allowed those who had been harmed by the war on drugs to have the first opportunity to get dealer licenses. But legal and logistical challenges have delayed the rollout of legal products in the years since, allowing the illicit market to proliferate.
Despite broad cultural and chemical differences between the two substances, psilocybin could nonetheless face similar barriers thanks to severe restrictions at the federal level. That prohibition has the potential to seriously complicate even those efforts that would keep the substance tightly controlled.
Corinne Carey, who leads lobbying efforts for New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives, said the group was so far agnostic about approaches — supporting both Ms. Rosenthal’s blanket legalization and Mr. Burke’s medicalized approach, which she acknowledged could be more politically acceptable in the short term.
“Our goal is to expand access as much as possible, in any possible way,” Ms. Carey said.
A political strategist who turned to psilocybin for burnout and discovered a new sense of purpose, Ms. Carey is one of many who have come to embrace psychedelics with the fervor common among religious converts.
Members of law enforcement and the military have also played a critical role in advocating the use of psychedelics to ease anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, which they experience at higher rates than civilians.
That includes Ethan Abend, a former New York City police detective who said he turned to psychedelics after pharmaceutical options failed to help him cope with the traumatic brain injury he received on the job.
“That changed my life,” Mr. Abend said. “He has since become involved in a group that helps others in his situation travel outside the United States to obtain psychedelics. Not all of the feedback has been positive.
“I bumped into some resistance,” he said, “from old-school people that bought into the war on drugs” and became convinced that illegal products must be harmful.
“Why,” he added somewhat playfully, “would the government mislead us?”
