Hamilton Morris

For the Australian actor, see Hamilton Morris (actor).

Hamilton Morris
Born	Hamilton Morris (1987-04-14) April 14, 1987 (age 37) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	The University of Chicago The New School (BSc)
Occupation(s)	Journalist, researcher
Known for	Hamilton's Pharmacopeia

Hamilton Morris (born April 14, 1987) is an American journalist, documentarian, and scientific researcher. 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. In September 2021, Morris left Vice to work as a chemistry consultant at the biotechnology startup, Compass Pathways.[1]

Biography

Hamilton Morris was born in New York City, the son of Julia Sheehan, an art historian, and documentary filmmaker Errol Morris.[2][3] He was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a teenager, Morris appeared in television commercials, notably a 2002 advertisement for the first-generation iPod.[4] He attended the University of Chicago and The New School, where he studied anthropology and chemistry.[5][6]

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.[7] 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.[8][9] Vice later hired him to write a monthly print column titled "Hamilton's Pharmacopeia" that evolved into a series of articles and documentaries for VBS.tv focused on the science of psychoactive drugs.[2]

Morris was a correspondent and producer for Vice on HBO until 2021, and is a contributor to Harper's Magazine.[10] Morris frequently consults with media on the subject of psychoactive drugs and conducts pharmacological research at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia[2][11][12] with an emphasis on the synthesis and history of dissociative anesthetics.[13][14][15][16]

Morris has coauthored scientific papers on hallucinogens, including a 2014 review on dissociatives[13] and a 2023 study identifying serotonergic psychedelics as mediating hallucinogenic-like effects (i.e., the head-twitch response) via activation of the serotonin 5-HT_2A receptor G_q signaling pathway.[17]

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] They have a contract with a pharmaceutical company called COMPASS Pathways to develop novel psychedelic therapeutics.[18]

Morris is notable in asserting, based on self-experimentation and along with Jonathan Ott, that bufotenin is active as a psychedelic.[19][20] According to Morris, its effects are like a cross between those of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 5-MeO-DMT.[20][19]

Projects

Video

• The Sapo Diary: Phyllomedusa bicolor skin secretions in Amazonia
• Nzambi: Wade Davis's theory of TTX-mediated zombification in Haiti
• High on Krystle: An exploration of the clandestine laboratory once operated by William Leonard Pickard
• SiHKAL: Shulgins I Have Known and Loved (with Alexander Shulgin & Ann Shulgin)
• The Icelandic Skin Disease Mushroom Fiasco
• Hamilton Morris and the Philosopher's Stone: Psilocybin-containing sclerotium laboratories in The Netherlands
• Tanks for the Memories: An exploration of sensory deprivation tanks with Joe Rogan
• The Ambien Effect
• Swaziland: Gold Mine of Marijuana
• Efavirenz as a classical psychedelic
• Chinese synthetic cannabinoid laboratories
• Businesses involved in the ongoing legalization of Cannabis in the United States

Hamilton's Pharmacopeia, Viceland

SEASON 1

• The Story of the South African Quaalude
• A Positive PCP Story
• Shepherdess: The Story of Salvia Divinorum
• Magic Mushrooms in Mexico
• Fish n' Trips
• The Lazy Lizard School of Hedonism

SEASON 2

• The Psychedelic Toad
• Peyote: The Divine Messenger
• Kratom: The Forbidden Leaf
• Wizards of DMT
• Ketamine: Realms and Realities
• A Clandestine Chemist's Tale
• A Fungal Fairy Tale
• The Cactus Apprentice

SEASON 3

• Synthetic Toad Venom Machine
• A Positive Methamphetamine Story
• Xenon: The Perfect Anesthetic?
• Synthetic Ibogaine-Natural Tramadol
• Bufotenine: In Search of Hataj
• Ultra LSD[21]

Podcast

• The Hamilton Morris Podcast (some freely available, some on Patreon)[22][23]

See also

• Bluelight (web forum)
• Erowid
• Gonzo journalism
• Responsible drug use
• Recreational drug use

References

1. Hausfeld, Russel; Nickles, David (September 22, 2021). "Hamilton Morris Hired by Psilocybin Startup COMPASS Pathways, Ends "Hamilton's Pharmacopeia" On Vice".
2. Green, Penelope (June 10, 2015). "Nesting, the Vice Media Way". The New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
3. Eric Andre talks with Hamilton Morris, January 13, 2021, retrieved June 25, 2021
4. "Hamilton Morris – Apple iPod Switch Campaign". YouTube. Switch (ad campaign). 2002. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
5. Perlstein, Rick (September 23, 2007). "What's the Matter With College?". The New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
6. Simonini, Ross (February 10, 2012). "Hamilton Morris's Web Series Hamilton's Pharmacopeia". The New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
7. Simonini, Ross (February 10, 2012). "A Psychonaut's Adventures in Videoland". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
8. Margolin, Madison (November 27, 2023). "The Magic Jews". Tablet. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
9. Williamson, Hamilton Morris; Photos: Jess (September 2, 2008). "The Magic Jews". Vice. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
10. Morris, Hamilton (September 20, 2012). "The Weird Science Issue". Vice Magazine. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
11. Halford, Bethany (April 10, 2015). "A Glimpse Inside The Sophisticated World of Synthetic Cannabinoids". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
12. Grigoriadis, Vanessa (April 7, 2013). "Travels in the New Psychedelic Bazaar". New York. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
13. Morris, H.; Wallach, J. (2014). "From PCP to MXE: a comprehensive review of the non-medical use of dissociative drugs". Drug Testing and Analysis. 6 (7–8): 614–32. doi:10.1002/dta.1620. PMID 24678061.
14. Elliott, S.P.; Brandt, S.D.; Wallach, J.; Morris, H.; Kavanagh, S. (2015). "First Reported Fatalities Associated with the 'Research Chemical' 2-Methoxydiphenidine". Analytical Toxicology. 39 (4): 287–293. doi:10.1093/jat/bkv006. PMID 25698777.
15. McLaughlin, G.; Morris, N.; Kavanagh, P.; Power, J.; O'Brien, J.; Talbot, B.; Elliott, S.; Wallach, J.; Hoang, K.; Morris, H.; Brandt, S. (2015). "Test purchase, synthesis, and characterization of 2-methoxydiphenidine (MXP) and differentiation from its meta- and para-substituted isomers" (PDF). Drug Testing and Analysis. 8 (1): 98–109. doi:10.1002/dta.1800. PMID 25873326. S2CID 33626099.
16. Wallach, J.; Kavanagh, P.; McLaughlin, G.; Morris, N.; Power, J.; Elliott, S.; Mercier, M.; Lodge, D.; Morris, H.; Dempster, N.; Brandt, S. (2014). "Preparation and characterization of the 'research chemical' diphenidine, its pyrrolidine analogue, and their 2,2-diphenylethyl isomers" (PDF). Drug Testing and Analysis. 7 (5): 358–67. doi:10.1002/dta.1689. PMID 25044512.
17. 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 (December 2023). "Identification of 5-HT2A receptor signaling pathways associated with psychedelic potential". Nat Commun. 14 (1): 8221. doi:10.1038/s41467-023-44016-1. PMC 10724237. PMID 38102107.
18. "Psychedelic Compounds are Focus of USciences Lab". Newsroom. October 18, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
19. Hamilton Morris (September 1, 2021). "PODCAST 28: A talk with Jonathan Ott". The Hamilton Morris Podcast (Podcast). Patreon. Event occurs at 49:20–50:36. Retrieved January 20, 2025. [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.
20. Hamilton Morris (December 1, 2022). "A New One-Hour Talk On 5-MeO-DMT". The Hamilton Morris Podcast. Patreon. Event occurs at 6:27–8:40, 10:15–11:13. Retrieved January 21, 2025. [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.
21. "'Pharmacopeia' Season Finale Features Cutting Edge Psychedelic Research". Psychedelic Science Review. February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
22. "The Hamilton Morris Podcast". Buzzsprout. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
23. "Hamilton Morris is creating Science, Film". Patreon. Retrieved November 15, 2022.