Dr. John H. Halpern is the Associate Director of Substance Abuse Research, Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Halpern's current research projects include evaluating cognitive performance of MDMA users and non-users in the Southwest who have not ingested other illegal drugs. His current work also includes researching the effects of an experimental treatment giving MDMA to terminally ill cancer patients. He is also working on research into the use of hallucinogens (psilocybin, LSD, etc.) to help relieve Cluster Headaches and looking at long term mental function in regular users of Ayahuasca.

Dr Halpern's previous work has included studying the use of peyote by members of the Native American Church, re-examining the use of hallucinogens in the treatment of addiction, working on an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court for the UDV religious-use-of-ayahuasca case that was decided in 2006, asking the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law to take a stand against capital punishment, and other interesting work.

Current research affiliations: McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, National Institute on Drug Abuse, private foundations.

Dr. Halpern plans to continue doing more work researching Native American use of peyote.

Controversy : In January 2006, during the LSD Symposium in Basel, Switzerland, Dr. Halpern was accused of cooperating in a DEA investigation related to the "missile silo" LSD case between December 2000 and May 2002. See LSD Case Controversy below.