A Founding Pillar of the Psychedelic Renaissance
Timeline: Amanda Feilding and the Beckley Foundation
A tripart timeline covering key moments of psychedelic change driven by Amanda Feilding and the Beckley Foundation
SCIENCE
Significant Scientific Research Milestones
POLICY
Key Drug Policy Change Milestones
MEDIA
Significant Media Moments for Raising the Public Profile of Psychedelic Research
1998
Amanda Feilding founds the Beckley Foundation to pioneer psychedelic research and drive evidence-based drug policy reform.
2000
A collaboration with Prof Franz Vollenweider begins, on a study investigating psilocybin’s effects on changes in cerebral circulation using PET (results unpublished). The investigation of the changes in cerebral circulation and capillary volume have been Amanda's passion since 1966.
2002
Amanda sets up ‘Society and Drugs: a Rational Perspective’, a series of ten highly influential international seminars (2002-2011) at which high level international decision-makers, politicians, and scientists participated at an invitation-only, Chatham House rules, series of events, in order to develop policy ideas and influence and educate thought leaders. These conferences were key in opening up research and in laying the ground for scientifically-based international drug policies.
2005
A research collaboration with Prof David Nutt at the University of Bristol initiated, with the aim of investigating the effects of LSD and psilocybin on brain function.
2005
A collaboration with Berkeley, California, gains the first ethical approval for a brain imaging study with LSD in humans.
2006
The BF’s seminal Global Commission on Cannabis was initiated in 2006 and launched in 2008 with the report titled ‘Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate’. The highly influential report was later copublished by Beckley and Oxford University Press.
2008
Setting up of the Beckley/Imperial Psychedelic Research Programme with Prof David Nutt and Amanda as co-directors, and Dr Robin Carhart-Harris as PI.
2012
The Beckley/Imperial Research Programme publishes the first brain imaging study of the neural correlates of the psychedelic state induced by psilocybin, identifying for the first time, crucial changes in the Default Mode Network during the psychedelic experience.
2015
The BF’s collaborative research with UCL on the effects of two different strains of cannabis is featured in the Channel 4 documentary ‘Drugs Live: The Cannabis Trial’.
2016
The Beckley/Imperial Research Programme publishes ground-breaking results on psilocybin-assisted therapy for treatment resistant depression. Amanda is a co-author in the study.
2016
The Beckley/Imperial Research Programme publishes the first images of the human brain on LSD. Amanda is an author on the paper and the driving force behind the conception of the study.
2018
Amanda is an author on the paper and the driving force behind the conception of the study. Amanda sets up the Beckley/Brazil Translational Research Programme with Prof Sidarta Ribeiro and Prof Stevens Rehen.
2017
Amanda and Jordi Riba publish the first study showing that components in ayahuasca (harmine and tetrahydroharmine) promote neurogenesis.
2018
Amanda sets up the Beckley/Maastricht Psychedelic Research Programme with Prof. Jan Ramaekers to study microdosing LSD. The results showed an increase in BDNF....
2019
Results from the Beckley/Brazil collaboration demonstrate the beneficial effects of LSD on neuroplasticity in lab-grown minibrains, and enhancement of cognitive functions in rats.
2019
Ground-breaking results from the Beckley/ Maastricht lab-based study demonstrates for the first time, the beneficial effects of LSD microdosing on mood, vigilance, neuroplasticity (BDNF) and pain tolerance.
2019
Development of the double-headed LSD research programme with leading experts in neuroscience, including the first personalised fMRI study with LSD, and the first clinical study of LSD microdosing for Alzheimer’s.
1998
Amanda Feilding founds the Beckley Foundation to pioneer psychedelic research and drive evidence-based drug policy reform.
2019
Results from the Beckley/Brazil collaboration demonstrate the beneficial effects of LSD on neuroplasticity in lab-grown minibrains, and enhancement of cognitive functions in rats.
1998
A collaboration with Prof Franz Vollenweider begins, on a study investigating psilocybin’s effects on changes in cerebral circulation using PET (results unpublished).
2002
Amanda sets up ‘Society and Drugs: a Rational Perspective’, a series of eleven highly influential international seminars (2002-2011) at which high level international decision-makers, politicians, and scientists participated at an invitation-only, Chatham House rules, series of events, in order to develop science-based policy ideas and influence and educate thought leaders, particularly concentrating on cannabis and the psychedelics. These conferences were key in opening up research and in laying the ground for scientifically-based international drug policies.
2003
Amanda first discusses with Prof Colin Blakemore the need for a Scale of Harm for All Social Drugs which would compare controlled drugs with alcohol and tobacco. He presented papers at the Beckley Seminar on the subject at the 2003 & 2004 BF conferences and this was later developed by Prof David Nutt into an influential paper published in the Lancet in 2007.
2004
A long-term collaboration with Prof Yuri Moskalenko at the Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry commences, on cerebral circulation and the development of a non-invasive monitor of cranial compliance.
2004
Amanda, working with Mike Trace, set up and launched two international organizations called the ‘International Drug Policy Consortium’ and the ‘International Society for the Study of Drug Policy’, at the BF seminar: ‘Global Drug Policy: Future Directions’. Since then, they have both become independent and highly influential organisations.
2005
A research collaboration with Prof David Nutt at the University of Bristol initiated, with the aim of investigating the effects of LSD and psilocybin on brain function.
2006
Amanda publishes ‘Reviving research into psychedelic drugs’ in The Lancet.
2006
The BF’s seminal Global Commission on Cannabis was initiated in 2006 and launched in 2008 with the report titled ‘Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate’. The highly influential report was later copublished by Beckley and Oxford University Press.
2007
First ethical approval obtained for the use of LSD in human subjects (Beckley/UC Berkeley research) since prohibition blocked all research.
2007
The BF is granted Consultative Status by ECOSOC, becoming a UN accredited NGO.
2007
Amanda initiates a collaboration with Dr Paul Morrison at King’s College London to investigate the effects of CBD and its relationship to THC, and how this might affect psychotic symptoms.
2007
Amanda, working with Mike Trace, set up and launched two international organizations called the ‘International Drug Policy Consortium’ and the ‘International Society for the Study of Drug Policy’, at the BF seminar: ‘Global Drug Policy: Future Directions’. Since then, they have both become independent and highly influential organisations.
2008
The BF cosponsors the MAPS-led trial of LSD-assisted psychotherapy for end-of-life anxiety. It was the first study to use LSD in patients since prohibition.
2008
Setting up of the Beckley/Imperial Psychedelic Research Programme with Prof David Nutt and Amanda as co-directors, and Dr Robin Carhart-Harris as PI.
1998
Amanda launched ‘The Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform’ in collaboration with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform. It consisted of bringing together high-level representatives from countries who had undertaken reform, countries interested in reform, and representatives from the Global Commission on Drug Policy Reform. Amanda commissioned two reports for the Commission: ‘Roadmaps to Reforming the UN Drug Conventions’; and ‘Towards a Cost Benefit Analysis of a Regulated and Taxed Cannabis Market in the UK & Wales’.
2010
Amanda collaborates with Dr Torsten Passie (Hanover Medical School) in a pilot study to demonstrate how 2-bromo-LSD, a non-psychoactive analogue of LSD, can stop or reduce the frequency of cluster headaches.
2010
‘Lady Mindbender’ - Daily Mail 04.10
