The Heffter Research Institute is named for Dr. Arthur Heffter who first isolated mescaline from peyote cactus in 1898.1 Among the members of the Board of Directors are Roland Griffiths of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Franz X. Vollenweider of the University of Zurich, and Dennis McKenna, brother of Terence McKenna and a co-founder of the institute.
Their mission statement says the institute “promotes research of the highest scientific quality with the classic hallucinogens and related compounds (sometimes called psychedelics) in order to contribute to a greater understanding of the mind leading to the improvement of the human condition, and to alleviate suffering.”
The Heffter Research Institute is highly focused on psilocybin research “…for the treatment of cancer-related distress and addiction, for understanding the relationship between the psychedelic
experience and spirituality, and for basic science research into the physiology of brain activity, cognition, and behavior.”