Opening event
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The FDA rejected MDMA therapy in 2024; Phase 2 PTSD trials showed 67% remission. Oregon is running licensed psilocybin clinics. Most promising psychiatric breakthrough in 50 years — or a hype cycle with a blinding problem? Two debaters, opposing sides — you score who makes the stronger case.
Friday, October 9, 2026 · 7:00 PM EDT
What's at stake
If the evidence holds, 50 years of Schedule I classification was a catastrophic error in medical history. If it doesn't replicate, enormous credibility has been misplaced.
The Matchup
Debater: To be announced
Debater: To be announced
Join the debate
Record a 60-second video on either side, or make it in writing. The strongest cases get featured before the live debate.
“Phase 2 MAPS trials showed 67% of MDMA-treated PTSD patients no longer met the diagnostic criteria at 12 months — a remission rate no existing treatment approaches. Psilocybin trials at Johns Hopkins and NYU show comparable results for treatment-resistant depression. For conditions that have defeated every available treatment, the evidence base is remarkable.”
“Psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, and ayahuasca each have documented histories of safe ceremonial and therapeutic use spanning millennia. The unknown-risk framing applies to rapid pharmaceutical commercialization, not to the substances themselves. Safety profiles are better understood for these compounds than for many FDA-approved medications.”
“The most rigorous MDMA trial the FDA reviewed in 2024 failed to beat placebo in one of two Phase 3 studies. The blinding problem is severe: participants almost always know they took the drug, making expectancy effects inseparable from pharmacological ones. The effect size may be mostly placebo amplified by intense therapeutic context.”
“Psychedelics carry real risks: triggering latent psychosis, cardiac events with MDMA, and serious ethical violations in therapeutic contexts. Three therapists in MAPS's own trials were found to have sexually abused patients during or after sessions. The vulnerability of people in altered states creates abuse risks that are not hypothetical.”
The Format
Standard SuperDebate: two people, cross-examination, moderated from start to finish.
4 min · PRO · opening case
4 min · CON questions PRO
4 min · CON · opening case
4 min · PRO questions CON
3 min · PRO
3 min · CON
3 min · PRO · final case
3 min · CON · final case
— · You pick the winner
Don't miss it
The debate happens live with real-time audience voting. Get one email right before we go live, with the watch link.
Premieres
Friday, October 9, 2026 · 7:00 PM EDT
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