Wait, Mormons Are Allowed to Use Ketamine?

Stephanie is a registered nurse who works as a guide at a ketamine therapy clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. She's also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, part of a small but growing group of Mormon people engaging with psychedelic medicine. Not long ago, that would have seemed not only taboo, but outright forbidden.

“There’s the conventional side of any religion,” she tells me by phone, “But the work I do with ketamine is more spiritual. It might seem like I’m straddling two worlds. But religion and spirituality can go hand in hand.” 

Stephanie’s not alone. As psychedelic medicine enters the mainstream, more LDS members, both practicing and post-faith, are cautiously exploring its potential. Ketamine can be an easy point of entry: As a doctor-prescribed, medically sanctioned therapeutic-dissociative with psychedelic properties, it doesn’t carry the same stigma as “street drugs” or substances purchased from a dealer.

The buzz about Mormons trying ketamine began with Jen and Zac Affleck, stars of the Hulu reality show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” According to Women’s Health, their relationship was "on shaky ground" after season one, marked by issues such as Zac's "infamous rage texts.” Seeking to salvage their marriage and improve their mental health, they turned to ketamine therapy in late 2024, prior to filming season two.

Despite coming from a devout Mormon family and having no prior experience with alcohol or drugs, Zac’s interest in ketamine was piqued by research he conducted while in med school at Midwestern University in Arizona. "There's nothing in the Mormon guidelines that says you can't do ketamine,” he told Women’s Health. “It’s in the gray area.”

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