Brian Muraresku on science: what the evidence says · JRE #1543
SUBJECT: SCIENCE
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
he claimed in 1976, it was five to ten times more potent than psilocybin
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Muraresku traces this claim to a 1976 letter he says he found in the Harvard archives, in which Albert Hofmann reportedly told co-author Gordon Wasson that he had self-experimented with ergonovine (ergometrine) and rated it five to ten times more potent than psilocybin. That letter has not been published as data and its specific potency comparison has not been independently verified or replicated in the scientific literature. A 2024 peer-reviewed Frontiers in Pharmacology review of hallucinogenic drugs and the heart confirms that ergometrine can act as a 5-HT2A receptor agonist and has been linked to hallucinations, but notes the human evidence for this is limited to animal studies and a single 1980 case report (Ott and Neely), not a systematic or quantitative potency comparison against psilocybin. Ergometrine is otherwise a well-established obstetric drug (used for postpartum hemorrhage) and is not recognized in mainstream pharmacology as a recreational hallucinogen with an established potency ranking relative to psilocybin. The claim rests on an anecdotal, unpublished, non-peer-reviewed source and is not corroborated by the broader scientific literature.