Ingesting chemicals to alter subjective experience has been part of human activity throughout recorded history. Aside from the use of caffeine and alcohol, the use of chemicals to enhance or change religious experience, to enhance social pleasure and activity, and to enhance cognitive performance has been peripheral to the culture of the USA and has seldom been seriously addressed in mainstream thought until artificially generated substances became widely available through standard medical practice. Prescription drugs that alter the experience of and response to anxiety, stress, mood, pain, sleep, attention, and memory have been among the most prescribed medications since the “minor tranquilizers” were introduced in the 1960s. Now there many reports of prescription drugs also being able to change an individual to a new and better personality and identity that is experienced as the “real me”. As the biology of the human brain and drug metabolism is better understood, prescriptions designed for the individual genetic and physiologic makeup of an individual is rapidly becoming a reality rather than a theoretical possibility. This plenary session will address the scientific, cultural, moral, religious, and ethical issues raised by emerging trends and opportunities in psychoneuropharmacology.