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Hamilton Morris#Podcast

{{Short description|American journalist (born 1987)}}

{{For|the Australian actor|Hamilton Morris (actor)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Hamilton Morris

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1987|04|14}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Journalist, researcher

| known_for = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia

| education =

| alma_mater = The University of Chicago
The New School (BSc){{cite web | title=The New School at SXSW: The Psychedelic Renaissance: High Hopes and Rising Criticisms | website=The New School News | date=23 March 2023 | url=https://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2023/03/the-new-school-at-sxsw-the-psychedelic-renaissance-high-hopes-and-rising-criticisms/ | access-date=12 February 2025}}

}}

Hamilton Morris (born April 14, 1987) is an American journalist, documentarian, and scientific researcher.{{cite web | last=Hausfeld | first=Russell | last2=Nickles | first2=David | title=Hamilton Morris Hired by Psilocybin Startup COMPASS Pathways, Ends "Hamilton's Pharmacopeia" On Vice | website=Psymposia | date=22 September 2021 | url=https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/hamilton-morris-hired-by-psilocybin-startup-compass-pathways-ends-hamiltons-pharmacopeia-on-vice/ | access-date=12 February 2025}} He is the creator and director of the television series Hamilton's Pharmacopeia, in which he investigated the chemistry, history, and cultural impact of various psychoactive drugs. Morris is considered to be one of the world's leading drug journalists.

Biography

Hamilton Morris was born in New York City, the son of Julia Sheehan, an art historian, and documentary filmmaker Errol Morris.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/11/style/nesting-the-vice-media-way.html |title=Nesting, the Vice Media Way|access-date=July 10, 2015|date=June 10, 2015 |work=The New York Times |author=Green, Penelope}}{{Citation|title=Eric Andre talks with Hamilton Morris| date=January 13, 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXRcly_jDoM|access-date=2021-06-25}} He was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a teenager, Morris appeared in television commercials, notably a 2002 advertisement for the first-generation iPod.{{cite web|year=2002|title=Hamilton Morris – Apple iPod Switch Campaign|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuXQVGXm4kY|access-date=2021-06-20|website=YouTube|series=Switch (ad campaign)}} He attended the University of Chicago and The New School, where he studied anthropology and chemistry.{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/magazine/30wwln-essay-perlstein-t.html|title=What's the Matter With College?|date=September 23, 2007|work=The New York Times|author=Perlstein, Rick|access-date=July 10, 2015}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/movies/hamilton-morriss-web-series-hamiltons-pharmacopeia.html |title=Hamilton Morris's Web Series Hamilton's Pharmacopeia |access-date=July 10, 2015 |date=February 10, 2012 |work=The New York Times |author=Simonini, Ross}} He earned a bachelor of science (BSc) degree in liberal arts from The New School.

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.{{Cite news |last=Simonini |first=Ross |date=2012-02-10 |title=A Psychonaut's Adventures in Videoland |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/movies/hamilton-morriss-web-series-hamiltons-pharmacopeia.html |access-date=2024-03-19 |work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Margolin |first=Madison |date=November 27, 2023 |title=The Magic Jews |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/the-magic-jews |access-date=March 18, 2024 |work=Tablet}}{{Cite web |last=Williamson |first=Hamilton Morris; Photos: Jess |date=2008-09-02 |title=The Magic Jews |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/magic-jews-205-v15n9/ |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=Vice}} 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.

Morris was a correspondent and producer for Vice on HBO until 2021, and is a contributor to Harper's Magazine.{{cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/tag/Weird%20Science%20Issue |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210233238/https://www.vice.com/tag/Weird%20Science%20Issue |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 10, 2015 |title=The Weird Science Issue|access-date=July 10, 2015|date=September 20, 2012 |work=Vice Magazine |author=Morris, Hamilton}} Morris frequently consults with media on the subject of psychoactive drugs and conducts pharmacological research at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia{{cite news|url=http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/04/Glimpse-Inside-Sophisticated-World-Synthetic.html |title=A Glimpse Inside The Sophisticated World of Synthetic Cannabinoids |access-date=July 10, 2015|date=April 10, 2015 |work=Chemical & Engineering News |author= Halford, Bethany}}{{cite news|url=http://nymag.com/news/features/synthetic-drugs-2013-4/ |title=Travels in the New Psychedelic Bazaar |access-date=July 10, 2015|date=April 7, 2013 |work=New York |author= Grigoriadis, Vanessa}} with an emphasis on the synthesis and history of dissociative anesthetics.{{cite journal|first1=H.|last1=Morris|first2=J.|last2=Wallach|title=From PCP to MXE: a comprehensive review of the non-medical use of dissociative drugs|journal=Drug Testing and Analysis|year=2014|doi=10.1002/dta.1620|pmid=24678061|volume=6|issue=7–8|pages=614–632}}{{cite journal|first1=S.P.|last1=Elliott|first2=S.D.|last2=Brandt|first3=J.|last3=Wallach|first4=H.|last4=Morris|first5=S.|last5=Kavanagh|title=First Reported Fatalities Associated with the 'Research Chemical' 2-Methoxydiphenidine|journal=Analytical Toxicology|volume=39|issue=4|pages=287–293|year=2015|doi=10.1093/jat/bkv006|pmid=25698777|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|first1=G.|last1=McLaughlin|first2=N.|last2=Morris|first3=P.|last3=Kavanagh|first4=J.|last4=Power|first5=J.|last5=O'Brien|first6=B.|last6=Talbot|first7=S.|last7=Elliott|first8=J.|last8=Wallach|first9=K.|last9=Hoang|first10=H.|last10=Morris|first11=S.|last11=Brandt|title=Test purchase, synthesis, and characterization of 2-methoxydiphenidine (MXP) and differentiation from its meta- and para-substituted isomers|journal=Drug Testing and Analysis|year=2015|doi=10.1002/dta.1800|pmid=25873326|volume=8|issue=1|pages=98–109|s2cid=33626099 |url=http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/3276/1/DTA-15-0028.R1.pdf}}{{cite journal|first1=J.|last1=Wallach|first2=P.|last2=Kavanagh|first3=G.|last3=McLaughlin|first4=N.|last4=Morris|first5=J.|last5=Power|first6=S.|last6=Elliott|first7=M.|last7=Mercier|first8=D.|last8=Lodge|first9=H.|last9=Morris|first10=N.|last10=Dempster|first11=S.|last11=Brandt|title=Preparation and characterization of the 'research chemical' diphenidine, its pyrrolidine analogue, and their 2,2-diphenylethyl isomers|journal=Drug Testing and Analysis|year=2014|doi=10.1002/dta.1689|pmid=25044512|volume=7|issue=5|pages=358–367|url=http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/3408/1/DTA-14-0117.R1.pdf}}

In September 2021, Morris left Vice to work as a full-time chemistry consultant at the biotechnology startup, Compass Pathways. 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.{{cite web | title=Psychedelic Compounds are Focus of USciences Lab | website=Newsroom | date=18 October 2021 | url=https://www.sju.edu/news/psychedelic-compounds-are-focus-usciences-lab | access-date=9 January 2025}} He is said to have worked with Wallach studying the chemistry and pharmacology of psychedelics for more than a decade. Wallach's lab has a contract with Compass Pathways to develop novel psychedelic therapeutics. Morris has coauthored scientific papers on hallucinogens with Wallach, including a 2014 review on dissociatives 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.{{cite journal | vauthors = Wallach J, Cao AB, Calkins MM, Heim AJ, Lanham JK, Bonniwell EM, Hennessey JJ, Bock HA, Anderson EI, Sherwood AM, Morris H, de Klein R, Klein AK, Cuccurazzu B, Gamrat J, Fannana T, Zauhar R, Halberstadt AL, McCorvy JD | title = Identification of 5-HT2A receptor signaling pathways associated with psychedelic potential | journal = Nat Commun | volume = 14 | issue = 1 | page= 8221 | date = December 2023 | pmid = 38102107 | pmc = 10724237 | doi = 10.1038/s41467-023-44016-1}} Although Morris left Vice, he said that he plans to continue to write, podcast, and potentially make additional films in the future.

Morris is notable in asserting, based on self-experimentation and along with Jonathan Ott, that bufotenin is active as a psychedelic.{{cite podcast | url=https://www.patreon.com/posts/podcast-28-talk-55653035 | title=PODCAST 28: A talk with Jonathan Ott | website=The Hamilton Morris Podcast | publisher=Patreon | host=Hamilton Morris | date=1 September 2021 | time=49:20–50:36 | access-date=20 January 2025 | quote=[Morris:] I've used [bufotenine] a couple times, once at 50 milligrams of the freebase snorted. [...] I found it to be extremely nauseating. I found it to be qualitatively intermediate between 5-MeO-DMT and DMT in that it was more visual than my experiences with 5-MeO-DMT but less visual than my typical experiences with DMT. It had a longer duration than 5-MeO-DMT and maybe even a longer duration than DMT as well. It was about an hour. Although I don't have all that much experience snorting DMT freebase.}}{{cite web | title=A New One-Hour Talk On 5-MeO-DMT | website=The Hamilton Morris Podcast | publisher=Patreon | host=Hamilton Morris | date=1 December 2022 | url=https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-one-hour-on-75373519 | access-date=21 January 2025 | time=6:27–8:40, 10:15–11:13 | quote=[Morris:] Bufotenine is a drug that I have tried. I've tried isolated pure bufotenine and it is a psychedelic that is both pharmacologically and experientially and chemically intermediate between DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. So it has a longer duration than actually both 5-MeO-DMT and DMT. It's yet less visual than DMT but more visual than 5-MeO-DMT, so it's kind of like in-between the two. It's also very nauseating, which is the main reason that people seem not to enjoy it very much. But it is a classical psychedelic drug that produces visionary effects. And Jonathan Ott actually liked the effect of it quite a bit.}} According to Morris, its effects are like a cross between those of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 5-MeO-DMT.

Projects

=''Hamilton's Pharmacopeia'' web series, Vice Media (2010–2016)=

Morris published a web series called Hamilton's Pharmacopeia for Vice Media with some of the following episodes:{{ cite web | author = Hamilton Morris | title = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | date = 2010–2016 | publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.vice.com/sv/tag/hamiltons-pharmacopeia/}}

  • S0E1: SiHKAL: Shulgins I Have Known and Loved: The Man who Birthed Ecstasy in a Test-Tube (with Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 22 December 2010 | title = SiHKAL: Shulgins I Have Known and Loved: The Man Who Birthed Ecstasy in a Test-Tube | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E1| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYlAuf-3t0g | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/sihkal-shulgins-i-have-known-and-loved/}}
  • S0E2: The Icelandic Skin-Disease Mushroom Fashion Fiasco{{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 1 January 2010 | title = The Icelandic Skin-disease Mushroom Fashion Fiasco | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E2| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://vimeo.com/732492815 | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-icelandic-skin-disease-mushroom-fashion-fiasco/}}
  • S0E3: Getting High on Krystle: Underground LSD Palace (about Krystle Cole and her involvement with Gordon Todd Skinner, William Leonard Pickard, and their clandestine LSD laboratory){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 28 September 2011 | title = Getting High on Krystle: Underground LSD Palace | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E3| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://vimeo.com/29699851 | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/getting-high-on-krystle/}}
  • S0E4: The Sapo Diaries: Tripping on Hallucinogenic Frogs / Getting High on Frogs (Phyllomedusa bicolor skin secretions ("sapo") in Amazonia){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 1 May 2009 | title = The Sapo Diaries: Tripping on Hallucinogenic Frogs / Getting High on Frogs | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E4| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/video/getting-high-on-frogs/55ddf909fb1dfc9933b9dfaa | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-sapo-diaries-872-v16n5/}}
  • S0E5: Nzambi: Investigating the Haitian Zombie (Wade Davis's theory of tetrodotoxin-mediated zombification in Haiti){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 29 October 2010 | title = Nzambi: Investigating the Haitian Zombie | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E5| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXcjioLLvRQ | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/sv/article/nzambi-episode-1/}}
  • S0E6: Hamilton Morris and the Philosophers Stone: The Rise of Psychedelic Truffles in Amsterdam (about psilocybin-containing magic truffles in the Netherlands){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 27 December 2012 | title = Hamilton Morris and the Philosophers Stone: The Rise of Psychedelic Truffles in Amsterdam | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E6| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8vaRVwF0xA | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/hamilton-and-the-philosophers-stone-part-1/}}
  • S0E7: Hamilton's Tanks for the Memories: Sensory Deprivation Tanks (about sensory deprivation tanks with Joe Rogan){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 2 May 2013 | title = Hamilton's Tanks for the Memories - Sensory Deprivation Tanks | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E7| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCYglCDgpu0 | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/tanks-for-the-memories-part-1/}}
  • S0E8: The Ambien Effect: Medical Miracles With Ambien (about zolpidem treating brain damage){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 18 September 2013 | title = The Ambien Effect: Medical Miracles With Ambien | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E8| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/video/the-ambien-effect/560e8e0632947aed78329184 | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-ambien-effect/}}
  • S0E9: Getting High on HIV Medication (efavirenz as a classical psychedelic){{cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date=10 April 2014 | title=Getting High on HIV Medication | series=Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E9| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyuFBmlQS_s | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url=https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/video/getting-high-on-hiv-medication/55ccf50623652a5532d4fba5}}
  • S0E10: Swazi Gold / Swaziland: Gold Mine of Marijuana (about cannabis in Swaziland){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 9 January 2014 | title = Swazi Gold / Swaziland: Gold Mine of Marijuana | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E10| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/video/swaziland-gold-mine-of-marijuana/564a364798902876392296fb | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/swazi-gold-part-1/}}
  • S0E11: The Synthetic Marijuana Steampunk Rock Opera (about "legal highs" in New Zealand with Matt Bowden){{ cite episode | credits = Hamilton Morris | date = 15 July 2016 | title = The Synthetic Marijuana Steampunk Rock Opera | series = Hamilton's Pharmacopeia [web series] | number = S0E11| publisher = Vice Media | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2SOcj-82H0 | transcript = [Web article] | transcript-url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-man-behind-a-synthetic-marijuana-steampunk-rock-opera/}}

=''Hamilton's Pharmacopeia'' TV series, Viceland (2016–2021)=

{{Main|Hamilton's Pharmacopeia}}

Morris published a TV series for Viceland with the following seasons and episodes:{{cite web | title=Hamilton's Pharmacopeia (TV Series 2011– ) ⭐ 8.8 | website=IMDb | date=27 September 2016 | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6090814/ | access-date=30 January 2025}}{{cite web | author=Hamilton Morris | title=Hamilton's Pharmacopeia | website=Viceland | date=2016–2021 | url=https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/show/hamiltons-pharmacopeia | access-date=30 January 2025}}

==Season 1 (2016)==

==Season 2 (2018)==

==Season 3 (2021)==

=''The Hamilton Morris Podcast'' (2020–)=

  • The Hamilton Morris Podcast (some freely available, some on Patreon){{Cite web |title=The Hamilton Morris Podcast |url=https://hamiltonmorris.buzzsprout.com/1870388 |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Buzzsprout}}{{Cite web |title=Hamilton Morris is creating Science, Film |url=https://www.patreon.com/HamiltonMorris |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Patreon}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://psychedelicreview.com/person/hamilton-morris/ Hamilton Morris - Psychedelic Science Review (PSR)]
  • [https://x.com/hamiltonmorris HamiltonMorris - X (formerly Twitter)]
  • [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eGph6dQAAAAJ Hamilton Morris - Google Scholar]
  • [https://www.patreon.com/HamiltonMorris The Hamilton Morris Podcast - Patreon]
  • [https://www.reddit.com/r/HamiltonMorris/comments/14jk9u9/updated_and_reorganised_wiki/ Updated and Reorganised Wiki / Index of Hamilton Morris Content - r/HamiltonMorris - Reddit]
  • [https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5gnx6c/im_hamilton_morris_ive_traveled_the_world/ I'm Hamilton Morris, I've traveled the world studying drugs, their creators, and their impact on society for almost a decade. AMA. - r/IAmA - Reddit]
  • [https://archive.today/20201229061519/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/movies/hamilton-morriss-web-series-hamiltons-pharmacopeia.html A Psychonaut’s Adventures in Videoland - The New York Times]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Hamilton}}

Category:1987 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:American male journalists

Category:American psychedelic drug advocates

Category:Drug culture

Category:Jewish American journalists

Category:Journalists from New York City

Category:Psychedelic drug researchers

Category:The New School alumni

Category:University of Chicago alumni

Category:Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts

Category:Writers from Manhattan