The 1960s and early 1970s were the “psychedelic era” in America – especially in California – as advocates including Timothy Leary and the Beat Generation glorified LSD and other drugs that made people high.
Poet Allen Ginsberg wrote about and took drugs; Tom Wolfe authored The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test; and even the Beatles composed a song entitled “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” that was thought to refer to LSD.
More than six decades later, psychedelics have become respectable. Physicians and scientists in Israel and abroad are testing them to determine whether, under controlled situations, such drugs can relieve post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other problems that beset mankind.
Pharmaceutical companies are also investigating them, but they can’t patent preexisting molecules; they can, however, patent delivery methods and change the molecules to make them more efficacious.
Tel Aviv University has its own Institute for Psychedelic Research, and brain researchers at the Hebrew University are looking into it. At the Weizmann Institute, a woman is doing her postdoctoral researcher on psychedelics.
Psychologists at Reichman University in Herzliya followed up with survivors of the murderous attack by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival, where taking psychedelic drugs was widespread. The attack, which took place on October 7, 2023, claimed the lives of nearly 400 people and left hundreds more physically and psychologically wounded.
Three weeks after the massacre, researchers led by Dr. Zohar Rubinstein found that survivors who consumed classic psychedelics at the festival suffered from lower anxiety and post-traumatic responses three weeks after exposure compared to those who had not taken such mind-altering drugs.
Now, Prof. Jeffrey Gerst – a veteran and respected molecular geneticist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot who admits to having used psychedelics and praises them as “life changing” – has written an impressive, 193-page book on the subject.
Entitled Bioengineering Enlightenment: The Revolutionary Science Behind Sustainable Psychedelic Medicine, available on Amazon, Gerst explains “how genetic engineering can power the psychedelic renaissance and change our minds – and our world – one molecule at a time.
The psychedelic renaissance has gained momentum in recent years, given its demonstrated value in the treatment of major global mental health issues, like PTSD and depression, as well as its well-documented use in the search for spiritual enlightenment.
But the question of how psychedelics are sourced and where they come from remains largely unknown to most users, both professional and recreational. Previous works have shown that, yes, psychedelic drugs can change our worldview.
But can this unexplored avenue into human consciousness change not only our perception – but the actual world we live in?
Gerst told The Jerusalem Post after sending a digital copy of the book – which is jam-packed with scientific information and has 211 footnotes – that it was “written for both the layman and the scientifically inclined.
“It examines the historical context for the use of psychedelics, their means of sourcing – whether by chemical synthesis or natural extraction – and their often hidden ecological, environmental, and ethical consequences.”
THE VOLUME covers issues in cell biology, biochemistry, messenger RNA, RNA, and saccharomyces cerevisiae (a species of yeast).
“I was born and raised in New York and first came to Israel out of curiosity, as a young student of marine biology,” said Gerst, adding that “it turned out to be a life-changing opportunity.”
“After completing my doctoral studies at Weizmann, I left Israel for a while and was a professor of biology at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, but when I received an offer to join the Weizmann faculty, I accepted without hesitation.
“In my view, the Weizmann Institute and Israel are a winning combination. My lab studies RNA localization as a mechanism of regulating cellular and organismal physiology and has made numerous discoveries regarding the intracellular and intercellular trafficking of mRNA in yeast and animal cells,” he told the Post.
Gerst has made numerous seminal discoveries in the field of cell biology and is currently developing new ways to treat human genetic disorders using RNA therapy. He has also published over 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers in top journals and received numerous awards for his work.
When he turned 55, Gerst recalled, he had an existential crisis, “so I went for psychedelic therapy in Israel, near Yehud. It really gave me important insights. I wanted to be engaged with nature. We’re living away from nature.
“MDMA is the way to go,” he advised. “It offers healing and helps you re-experience what caused trauma more objectively and be more self-loving. Anyone who has experienced psychological trauma should consider it.
“Psychedelics don’t have to be taken regularly, and perhaps only a few times are necessary to facilitate healing. I am certain psychedelics will finally be approved by the FDA and legalized everywhere, including in Israel.”
In 2023, Gerst went to a conference on psychedelics in Denver that was attended by 12,000 people – physicians, lobbyists, advocates, scientists, therapists, and mental health professionals.
“Some used psychedelics for themselves, while others wanted to make money from it. I thought it mustn’t reach only rich people and rich countries but be accessible to everyone who needed them.”
At the event, he met a woman, Deborah Barrish Snyder, who has published over 40 books through her publishing house, Synergetic Press, which deals with global ecology, regenerative agriculture, ethnobotany, psychedelics, and social justice.
“When I suggested that psychedelics could be very beneficial to people around the world, she said: ‘Why not write a book about it?’ So I decided to do it and published it myself.”
The book describes how we can genetically engineer psychedelic medicines in simple organisms, like yeast, and garden-variety plants like tomatoes, and why it’s necessary for their sustainable, eco-friendly, and ethical production.
“Psychedelic biosynthesis basically starts from two common amino acids, and in just a few small chemical steps, largely shared by the different psychedelic plants, fungi, and animals, leads to their production.”
Gerst writes that “the goal is to globalize the psychedelic renaissance in order to heal trauma worldwide and yet limit species and habitat decimation, environmental pollution, and cultural appropriation. It [his book] delves into the basic biology of the psychedelics and how they may have influenced human consciousness.”
Psychedelics rooted in ancient religions and spiritual practices
HE ASSERTS in the book that the use of psychedelic substances “formed the basis of nearly all ancient religions and spiritual practices” and that it “expands the bandwidth of our human experience and thereby acts as a tool of exploration.”
“Despite the many attempts to remove psychoactive substances from common use over the past two millennia, including the banning of teonanacatl (psilocybin-containing mushrooms), peyote, and ayahuasca by Catholic missionaries in the Spanish Americas; to the burnings of so-called witches in medieval Europe and the colonial US; and finally the passage of Schedule I (having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse and its intended control of narcotics) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1970, all manners of government have aimed to silence this exploration,” explained Gerst.
Despite this, he said “Continued underground use and more recent above-ground clinical studies have shown the tremendous positive effects that substances like psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, and LSD can have under therapeutic conditions.
“Now, given the timely beginnings of the decriminalization/legalization of psychedelics for use in therapeutic settings, it is possible to conceive of ways in which the mental health of the world’s human population can directly benefit.”
Many Israelis have undergone a great deal of psychological trauma in the past two years – not only the families of hostages still in Gaza and former hostages who have been released, but also a large number of soldiers and their families, those evacuated from border areas, and those exposed to ballistic missiles, Gerst said.
“The number of suicides among soldiers has skyrocketed, and the number of mental health professionals in public organizations is much too low. Many Israelis are taking antidepressants prescribed by their doctors, but they don’t work.
“In Western cultures, around 10% to 20% of the adult populations regularly use antidepressants, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).We are disconnected from our own nature and don’t feel in control.”
In a world replete with trauma and traumatizing events, “the expected demand for these substances will be far greater once they become legalized for use in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Yet, given the limitations of our biosphere and the great urgency to develop new sources for the psychedelics, we cannot afford to be passive.”
Legalization of the psychedelics will lead to increased demand and thus, numerous issues regarding their production and distribution need to be considered, Gerst suggested.
“First, how will psychedelic substances be sourced – from the natural environment through the direct harvesting of fungi, plants, and animals, or by chemical synthesis from the pharmaceutical industry?
“Second, who will control the supply – governments, companies, or in some cases the indigenous peoples that first discovered them? Third, what are the costs at the environmental, ethical, and economic levels?”
“If biosourced from nature,” he continued, “how will we protect the psychedelic species and their environment so that extinction and degradation, respectively, are avoided?
“If synthetic, how do we prevent pollutants from their manufacture from contaminating the environment and ensure that entourage molecules found in natural sources that affect the psychotherapeutic experience are not forgotten?”
ALL RELIGIONS, including Judaism, evolved from sacred plants, said Gerst. “I know of many religious Jews, including the ultra-Orthodox (haredim) in Israel and abroad, who have learned about psychedelics by word of mouth and use them.
“Production and usage will have to be eco-friendly, scalable/sustainable, accessible, and at low user cost (ESAU). I purposely use the acronym ESAU because, according to the Bible, Abraham’s grandson Esau was the elder twin brother of Jacob and a hunter-gatherer who lived a simple life in the desert, as opposed to his brother, who was a shepherd and lived an ordered, domesticated life.”
Gerst stressed that treatment with psychedelics must be carried out in a controlled environment under the guidance of a licensed therapist.
“They could harm young children who are exposed to them accidentally. Driving under the influence is not recommended – although the influence of alcohol while driving is a million times more dangerous. Pregnant women should not use psychedelics, as no research has been conducted on effects on the fetus.”
Psychedelic mushrooms, he continued, “change the channel in your brain and allow the development of higher levels of consciousness. They can help people make more rational decisions. One can experience other worlds. LSD, however, can change physical reality.
“The Health Ministry in Jerusalem doesn’t allow clinical trials of MDMA or other psychedelics, but Australia has legalized some psychedelics for use by psychiatrists; some countries and US states have decriminalized it.”
Gerst quotes Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Bioengineering Enlightenment, who has been a principal force in the movement towards legalization of the psychedelics.
At the Denver meeting, Doblin suggested that mankind actively move towards a world of net-zero trauma by 2070, in part through the availability of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
“This is an ambitious and admirable goal, yet if the modes of sourcing the psychedelics are not changed, we will add habitat destruction, species extinction, and cultural appropriation to the list of traumas that the psychedelics are meant to help heal,” said Doblin.
Gerst insists that the mission is urgent.
“There are endless reports of mass shootings, physical violence, road rage, theft, and discrimination that plague modern human society. No creature on the planet exhibits such criminal and pathological tendencies towards its own as well as to the environment upon which it survives.
“In its least destructive form, alienation can lead to mental health issues and the pharmaceutical intervention used in psychiatry as typified by the extensive prescription of antidepressants or opiates.”
As neither a medical doctor nor a mental health expert, “I can’t advocate the use of psychedelics as a panacea for all the ills of humanity. That would be too easy. Rather, my role here as a biologist is to illustrate how one can employ simple, cost-effective, sustainable, and accessible practices to generate these potential agents of change using bioengineering,” he concluded.