Conditional Access: Psychedelics, Power, and the Fight to Keep Whole-Plant Cannabis Medicine in the Public Domain

Presented by Dr. Del Potter, Founder and Chief Science Officer of BioUnbound, this first webinar in a new AFDO Cannabis, Hemp, and Natural Psychedelics Committee series highlights how systems of regulation, access, and control shape today’s emerging psychedelic‑therapy and cannabis‑medicine landscape, offering practical insights into how rules operate, who gains entry, and how power is negotiated in real‑world settings. State and local retail jurisdictions will find it especially relevant given the surge of in‑progress cannabis legislation, as it clarifies how standards, compliance expectations, and public‑interest safeguards are evolving.

Stay tuned for more webinars in this series.

Speaker Name: Dr. Del Potter, Founder and Chief Science Officer of BioUnbound

Date: February 13, 2026

Time: 2-3:30 p.m. ET

Abstract: The webinar will trace the intertwined histories of psychedelic research, underground economies, and institutional power from the 1970s to the present, drawing on both lived experience and contemporary scientific and policy work.

Beginning in academic anthropology and early psychedelic research, the narrative follows how informal countercultural networks evolved under prohibition into increasingly formalized systems: illicit supply chains, cartel logistics, clandestine chemistry, and ultimately, law enforcement and regulatory response. Throughout, the webinar examines access as a governing principle: who is permitted entry, under what conditions, and how permission is tested, withdrawn, and enforced across different systems of power.

Rather than a confessional account, the presentation offers an anthropological analysis of systems under constraint: how rules operate when they are rarely written, how trust and threat coexist, and how participation gradually narrows freedom without ever fully eliminating agency. These themes reappear in contemporary settings, particularly in the modern resurgence of psychedelic-assisted therapy and cannabinoid medicine, where informal knowledge is being translated into clinical, commercial, and regulatory frameworks.

Additionally, the talk turns to recent research and advocacy work focused on the risk of enclosure as these substances become medically legitimate. Drawing on a current proposal for a public-domain, whole-plant cannabis medicines program, the presentation explores how standards, formulations, intellectual property, and FDA-grade evidence can either concentrate control or be deliberately designed as shared public infrastructure. The goal is not to reject medicalization, but to ask how legitimacy can be achieved without captivity, how rigorous science, clinical access, and public interest governance might coexist.

The presentation will be of interest to clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and others engaged in psychedelic science, drug policy, and the ethics of translating countercultural practices into institutional medicine.