Erica Rex: Scientific Integrity, Psychedelic Research, and the Religious Leader Study

Psychedelics Today interviews science journalist Erica Rex about scientific integrity in psychedelic research and the controversies around the Religious Leader Psilocybin Study. Rex draws on her firsthand experience as a participant in the original 2012 study that helped establish Roland Griffiths as a leading figure in psychedelic science. She discusses the Religious Leader Study’s aims to assess how psilocybin might affect religious leaders’ effectiveness and community connection, and she highlights methodological and ethical problems she believes undermined the work. The conversation critiques perennialist frameworks and questions measures such as the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ). It also argues that religious ideology may have infiltrated parts of psychedelic science, reducing rigor and enabling flawed research to go unchecked. They further debate limits of academic tools for capturing subjective and spiritual dimensions of the psychedelic experience, including discussion of Matt Johnson’s critique of “psychedelic consciousness” framing. Rex also previews a forthcoming book combining memoir, neuroscience, and social critique, scheduled for January 2026.