Hamilton Morris
American journalist (born 1987)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hamilton Morris (born April 14, 1987) is an American journalist, documentarian, and scientific researcher.[2] He is the creator and director of the television series Hamilton's Pharmacopeia, in which he covered the chemistry, history, and cultural impact of various psychoactive drugs, particularly psychedelics.[2] Morris is considered to be among the world's leading psychoactive drug journalists.[2]
The New School (BSc)[1]
Hamilton Morris | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 14, 1987 New York City, U.S. |
| Education | The University of Chicago The New School (BSc)[1] |
| Occupations | Journalist, researcher |
| Known for | Psychoactive drug research and journalism, Hamilton's Pharmacopeia, The Hamilton Morris Podcast |
Biography
Hamilton Morris was born in New York City, the son of Julia Sheehan, an art historian, and documentary filmmaker Errol Morris.[3][4] He was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a teenager, Morris appeared in television commercials, notably a 2002 advertisement for the first-generation iPod.[5] He attended the University of Chicago and The New School, where he studied anthropology and chemistry.[6][7][2] He earned a bachelor of science (BSc) degree in liberal arts from The New School.[1]
Morris's interest in psychoactive substances blossomed in his late teens when he began reading pharmacology information hosted on websites such as Bluelight and Erowid.[8] He began writing for Vice magazine as a college sophomore. He wrote a piece called 'The Magic Jews' in 2008 documenting his experience taking LSD with a group of Hasidic Jews.[9][10] Vice later hired him to write a monthly print column titled "Hamilton's Pharmacopeia" in 2009 that evolved into a series of articles and documentaries for VBS.tv focused on the science of psychoactive drugs.[2][3]
Morris was a correspondent and producer for Vice on HBO until 2021, and is a contributor to Harper's Magazine.[11] Morris frequently consults with media on the subject of psychoactive drugs and conducts pharmacological research at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia[3][12][13] with an emphasis on the synthesis and history of dissociative anesthetics.[14][15][16][17]
In September 2021, Morris left Vice to work as a full-time chemistry consultant at the biotechnology startup, Compass Pathways.[2] In October 2021, it was reported that Morris was working as a chemist in Jason Wallach's lab at the University of the Sciences's Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.[18] He is said to have worked with Wallach studying the chemistry and pharmacology of psychedelics for more than a decade.[2] Wallach's lab has a contract with Compass Pathways to develop novel psychedelic therapeutics.[18] Morris has coauthored scientific papers on hallucinogens with Wallach, including a 2014 review on dissociatives[14] and a 2023 study identifying serotonergic psychedelics as mediating hallucinogenic-like effects (i.e., the head-twitch response) via activation of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor Gq signaling pathway.[19] Although Morris left Vice, he said that he plans to continue to write, podcast, and potentially make additional films in the future.[2]
Morris has reported, based on self-experimentation and along with Jonathan Ott, that bufotenin is active as a psychedelic.[20][21] According to Morris, its effects are like a cross between those of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 5-MeO-DMT.[21][20]
Projects
Some notable projects of Morris include:
- Hamilton's Pharmacopeia (web series, Vice Media, 2009–2016)
- Hamilton's Pharmacopeia (TV series, Viceland, 2016–2021) (see also)
- The Hamilton Morris Podcast (2020–)