McNutt, Ronald
Biography
Ronald McNutt studied Religion at Tufts University in the mid/late 1970s. After taking an impactful psychology course on Altered States of Consciousness that included well-known guest speakers such as Walter Huston Clark, Ram Dass, and Roland Fisher, among others, McNutt organized the Tufts Altered States of Consciousness Organization, a student group which hosted lectures by prominent speakers in the field of consciousness.
McNutt went on to study law at the University of Georgia, where he became the executive research editor of the Georgia Law Review and wrote a research paper on the first amendment protection for psychedelics. He practiced as an attorney based in Nashville for forty years, with a focus on civil rights litigation and workers’ compensation cases. He worked on numerous cases involving police misconduct, employment discrimination, and unsafe confinement.
His appreciation for plant medicine and mysticism remained ardent during the entirety his adult life, with a particular interest in indigenous traditions. He is active in the Nashville Psychedelic Society and as a discussion leader and journalist in other psychedelic-community-spaces.
He is also an elder and a certified lay pastor with the Presbyterian Church.