LSD Just Joined The Establishment

This Week’s Sunday Insider: The most anti-establishment Psychedelic in history is becoming part of the establishment.

There was a time when LSD represented everything the establishment feared…it was the Psychedelic of the counterculture, the anti-war movement & the Summer of Love. This week, that same molecule took another step toward becoming an FDA-approved medicine.

Definium Therapeutics announced positive Phase 3 results for DT-120, its proprietary LSD formulation for major depressive disorder. Assuming the remaining regulatory hurdles are cleared, psychiatrists could one day prescribe LSD the same way they prescribe antidepressants today.

That’s a remarkable reversal. But I don’t think the biggest story is whether LSD works…it’s that one of history’s most anti-establishment substances has joined the very institutions it once symbolized rebellion against.

Most coverage focused on the clinical implications: another promising treatment for depression, another milestone for Psychedelic medicine. Those stories matter, but they also obscure a broader cultural shift: LSD isn't just entering psychiatry…it's entering legitimacy.

Legitimacy changes more than regulation. It changes who feels comfortable trying something, who is willing to talk about it publicly & who gets to shape the narrative around it. The same molecule that once symbolized rebellion is now being introduced through doctors, clinics & pharmaceutical companies.

None of this means I oppose it. I'm skeptical of the idea that every Psychedelic experience needs to be framed as healing, but if pharmaceutical LSD genuinely helps someone with depression, especially someone who would otherwise spend years cycling through SSRIs, that's a good outcome. Better lives are more important than ideological purity.

Of course, this didn't happen overnight. The establishment didn't suddenly decide LSD was misunderstood. It happened because depression remains incredibly difficult to treat, millions of people haven't found lasting relief with conventional antidepressants, and two decades of clinical research have steadily made Psychedelics harder to dismiss.

Institutions rarely change because of symbolism. They change when the evidence becomes too compelling to ignore.

The timing is interesting as I recently came into possession of Nasal Spray LSD. It's sitting in my refrigerator next to a Cacao Psilocybin Chocolate Bar reserved for date nights & special occasions.