(Clockwise from top left: Kwasi Adusei, Ismail Lourido Ali, Jonathan Perez-Reyzin, Dustin Marlan.)
We are excited to welcome our inaugural group of affiliated researchers for the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR). Through regular contributions to Bill of Health, as well as workshops and other projects, POPLAR affiliated researchers will share their expertise and perspectives on developments in psychedelics law and policy. We look forward to learning from and sharing their insights with our audiences. Keep an eye out for their bylines!
Kwasi Adusei, D.N.P. is a service-oriented, curious Ghanaian native passionate about the intersections of community, wellbeing, and technology. He is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, co-founder of the Psychedelic Society of Western New York, and led the development of a grassroots psychedelic harm reduction organization called the Sanctuary Project. His writing will be informed by his experience with the war on drugs and community mental health, both as a patient and a clinician.
Ismail Lourido Ali, J.D. (he/him or they/them) has been personally utilizing psychedelics and other substances in celebratory and spiritual contexts for over fifteen years, and has been actively participating in the drug policy reform movement since 2013. As the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Ismail advocates to eliminate barriers to psychedelic therapy and research, develops and implements legal and policy strategy, and supports MAPS’ strategy, organizational development, and ethics work. His writing interests include harmonizing disparate policy approaches; spiritual practice and care with psychedelics; compassionate drug policy reform; post-prohibition frameworks; and relational approaches to substances and the people who use them. Ismail’s work aims to balance medical, marginalized, mainstream, and mystical perspectives.
Dustin Marlan, J.D. is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts School of Law. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of intellectual property, privacy, and the regulation of controlled substances. He previously taught at the University of Michigan Law School and practiced law at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and K&L Gates LLP. Dustin’s writing will focus on microdosing trends, as well as questions at the intersection of psychedelics law and intellectual property.
Jonathan Perez-Reyzin is a law student at Yale Law School interested in health justice, criminal law, and the intersection of law and philosophy. Justin is currently engaged in clinical work seeking to expand the reach of harm reduction services in New Haven. His writing interests include FDA regulation of recreational drugs; conflicts between medical and recreational legalization; regulating harm reduction for psychedelics and other drugs; comparisons between emerging state psychedelics law models; and the pitfalls of “psychedelic exceptionalism” and the “miracle cure” narrative.
