New York Magazine partnered with anti-psychedelics activists on MDMA series

In 2022, New York Magazine produced a podcast about the dangers of MDMA-assisted treatment for people dealing with post-traumatic stress, along with two leaders of an activist group that was loudly critical of a recent attempt to legalize the practice.

Now, the group is coming under greater scrutiny for its at times aggressive tactics, putting a spotlight on why the activist duo had editorial control over a major publication’s podcast.

Last week, The New York Times published a story about how Psymposia successfully helped derail an effort last year to convince the Food and Drug Administration to approve MDMA-assisted treatment for people dealing with post-traumatic stress.

The story noted that two of the former primary figures in the group, David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross, had long been vocal critics of the process to legalize MDMA-assisted therapy, including by exaggerating its risks, and tamp down criticism of their own group and its tactics. In a since-deleted 2018 post, Nickles “outlined strategies for damaging psychedelic companies and nonprofits through persistent, critical media coverage and sabotaging ‘business operations in ways designed to raise the costs of operating.’”

In 2022, New York produced Cover Story, a limited series podcast, whose first season was about the dark side of psychedelic-assisted therapy. The show quoted Ross heavily as a source. But in an unusual arrangement, it also made her and Nickels co-producers on the show. (Psymposia said on its website that the group itself was a co-producer.)

In a statement, a Vox Media spokesperson told Semafor that although they were producers on the show, Ross and Nickles were two members of a larger production team that included others with editorial oversight.

“New York Magazine retained full editorial control of the podcast, which was rigorously reported and thoroughly fact-checked, and raised important questions about the psychedelic renaissance that warranted deeper exploration,” the spokesperson said.

In a statement to Semafor, Ross and Nickles said the New York podcast clearly explains how they are situated, and the accompanying articles for New York show the depth of their research and investigations into the world of psychedelic therapy.

“The New York Times article contains numerous inaccuracies and misleading assertions which we are working to get the paper to correct,” they wrote, disputing some parts of the Times’ timeline.

The Times also separately singled out Vox for referring to an explosive accusation that one of the therapists who took part in clinical psychedelic therapy trials, Veronika Gold, had admitted in her book to pinning down a screaming patient. The paper reported that the incident was actually much more complicated than it has been presented in the media, including a 2024 Vox article.

Following Semafor’s inquiry, a Vox Media spokesperson said the story had been updated and corrected to reflect that the drug used in the session was ketamine, not MDMA, and updated to include more context from Gold’s account of the therapy session at the center of the allegation.