Rhetorical Analysis of the 1985 MDMA Rescheduling Trial and Reverberations in Contemporary Georgia
Disciplines
English Language and Literature
Abstract (300 words maximum)
In our society, “hype” or hyperbole surrounding psychedelics is ubiquitous, especially as they return to being more commonplace within the medical field. This study will consider the impact of historical and ongoing hype, negative and positive, that surrounds the scheduling of psychedelics, and how these rhetorical dimensions have impacted the legal process of scheduling. The primary object of analysis within this study is testimony from the 1985 DEA trial regarding the rescheduling of MDMA, as seen in archival documents in the Betsy Gordon Psychoactive Substances Research Collection at Purdue University. Additionally, I reflect on this analysis within the contemporary rhetorical landscape of biomedical psychedelic resurgence in the state of Georgia. For context, I draw on field interviews conducted with Dr. Emile Risby (Chief Medical Officer and Director, Division of Hospital Services of GA Departments of Behavioral Health), and Dr. Boadie Dunlop (Co-Director of the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality), as well as analysis of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. The result of this analysis will contribute to an understanding of how the 1985 testimonies were rhetorically constructed to sway perceptions and influence the legal narrative around scheduling psychedelics, and how that legal narrative may be reflected in contemporary Georgia.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - English
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Amanda Pratt
Rhetorical Analysis of the 1985 MDMA Rescheduling Trial and Reverberations in Contemporary Georgia
In our society, “hype” or hyperbole surrounding psychedelics is ubiquitous, especially as they return to being more commonplace within the medical field. This study will consider the impact of historical and ongoing hype, negative and positive, that surrounds the scheduling of psychedelics, and how these rhetorical dimensions have impacted the legal process of scheduling. The primary object of analysis within this study is testimony from the 1985 DEA trial regarding the rescheduling of MDMA, as seen in archival documents in the Betsy Gordon Psychoactive Substances Research Collection at Purdue University. Additionally, I reflect on this analysis within the contemporary rhetorical landscape of biomedical psychedelic resurgence in the state of Georgia. For context, I draw on field interviews conducted with Dr. Emile Risby (Chief Medical Officer and Director, Division of Hospital Services of GA Departments of Behavioral Health), and Dr. Boadie Dunlop (Co-Director of the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality), as well as analysis of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. The result of this analysis will contribute to an understanding of how the 1985 testimonies were rhetorically constructed to sway perceptions and influence the legal narrative around scheduling psychedelics, and how that legal narrative may be reflected in contemporary Georgia.