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Legalise some drugs, outlaw others?

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Hit nail on the head

‘If you legalised cannabis…not only would that take a hell of a lot of power, control and money away from criminals, it would free up a lot of time for police officers’ This police officer says the government should look at reforming drug policy to combat knife crime.​

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This was also on the radio today, l was driving home in peak hour traffic and was channel surfing and happen to catch a few minutes on 2GB (Brisbane). If l remember, l'll try to post the link tomorrow, it was very very interesting.

Medicinal cannabis legalisation opens gateway
for psychedelic research
​
Natural medicines are continuing their foray into commercial markets, with the next contender potentially being psilocybin mushrooms, colloquially known as “magic mushrooms” or “shrooms”.

Several organisations around the world are carrying out scientific research into the safety and efficacy of treating various mental conditions including depression, anxiety and phobias, with psilocybin mushrooms.

Results have been similar to other natural remedies such as cannabis – indicating there may be a case to be made for shrooms to be released from their extended government-imposed captivity into the commercial wilderness of world markets.

The emergence of cannabis as both a medicinal drug and a recreational pastime is taking the world by storm. Canada, the US and Australia are leading the field by easing existing prohibition and making the once-forgotten plant available for various types of consumers in recent months.

So, can magic mushrooms walk the same path towards alleviating a raft of illnesses while serving up a commercial opportunity for a new breed of pharmaceutical companies?

The answer, it seems, is yes.


Psilocybin to the rescue

The drive towards natural remedies could soon see yet another big hitter from the plant kingdom entering the commercial landscape: psilocybin-packed magic mushrooms.

Magic mushrooms contain a variety of psychedelic compounds, including psilocybin, psilocin, and baeocystin and boast a wide range of health benefits that scientists claim can be safely harnessed and sold to patients on a mass scale.

According to research published in 2013, based on over 20,000 users, researchers found that the use of psychedelics was not a risk factor for mental health problems.

Many other researchers studying all sorts of psychedelics have also discovered the same: natural plants and fungi are not inherently dangerous – they only pose risks when misunderstood and misused by naïve users.

Most recently, the psychedelic drug research community was given a huge official boost by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), after the US regulator approved psilocybin for what’s known as “breakthrough therapy designation” to life sciences company COMPASS Pathways, backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

COMPASS (and one of its major stakeholders Atai Life Sciences) have already begun the first large-scale psilocybin therapy clinical trial in Europe and Northern America with results eagerly anticipated over the coming 12 months.

According to some estimates, there are at least 100 million people worldwide suffering from drug-resistant depression, with these numbers growing every year – potentially because synthetic opiates are hitting a dead-end in their effectiveness, especially over extended periods of use.

The FDA’s classification is therefore significant because for the first time in modern history, psilocybin is being seen as a genuine pathway towards treating ailments such as drug-resistant depression.

The FDA awards this classification for treatments that have demonstrated significant potential in early clinical evidence and thereby means the FDA is ready to assist and expedite subsequent development, including periodic reviews and further approvals based upon ongoing clinical evidence.​


More on link below...


 
Big Pharma makes their enormous profits by getting people dependent on a lifetime usage of symptom-suppressing drugs. Cheap, single-dose drugs which promote cure don't fit with their model.

Some of the Youtube comments are worth reading.

 
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MDMA made older mice start socializing like adolescent mice,
finds a new study in Nature.
​

MDMA, the active ingredient of the drug ecstasy, might return older brains to a more malleable state, and provides a potential basis as to why MDMA has helped treat post traumatic stress disorder.​


You might think of young brains as soft clay that can take on new shapes in response to various inputs. But as time passes, the clay hardens and is less workable—and like clay, older brains can be less likely to change in response to new situations. Scientists doing research in mice have realized this analogy seems to work for learning social behaviors, and that MDMA, the active ingredient of the drug ecstasy, might return older brains to a more malleable state.

The earlier times of increased plasticity are called “critical periods,” and scientists have speculated that there might be a critical period for learning social behaviors—that during this period, social behavior feels extra good. This new research in mice presents quantitative evidence of such a critical period existing—and of MDMA re-opening that critical period in the brain. The research provides a potential basis as to why MDMA has helped treat post-traumatic stress disorder.


“Anyone who has studied critical periods ends their papers with ‘and for clinical reasons, it would be great if we could... understand how this works and to one day be able to open critical periods,’” Gül Dölen, an assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University, told Gizmodo. “We actually did both.”

There’s a well-known test on mice called conditioned place preference, where the mice are conditioned to associate locations with thing, and if they like the thing, they’ll have a preference for the place. After raising mice with other mice, the researchers moved individual mice into two new settings they’d never seen before: one where they were alone, and then a social setting with other mice. Then, the mice were left to choose between either setting.

The researchers tested the mice at 14 different ages, from just after weaning to mature adults. The preference for the social room peaked around adolescence, then declined until adulthood, when they didn’t show a preference for either room. This demonstrated the existence of some sort of critical period around adolescence where the mice found social behavior rewarding.

But then came the MDMA. The mice received small injections of the drug. Then, 48 hours later—well after the acute effects of MDMA had worn off—the adults showed a preference to be in the social room. It was as if the critical period had reopened, and the older mice once again desired social settings.​

 

MP calls for Queenslanders to be allowed to
grow cannabis for personal use
​
Medicinal cannabis will be easier to access in Queensland with new laws passing Parliament but people should be able to grow their own, a Greens MP argues.

A bill passed on Wednesday night repeals laws from three years ago and means medical cannabis will be treated the same as other drugs of addiction (schedule 8 medicines) or prescription drugs (schedule 4).

Health Minister Steven Miles said the changes streamlined the prescription process by removing state-based approvals and would mean patients would have access to treatment sooner.

"If cannabis is a suitable way to treat a patient's condition or associated pain, then we believe they should have the same access to it as any other medication," he said.

"These changes mean medical cannabis will be treated exactly the same as other prescription medications."

But Greens MP Michael Berkman said the repeal of the old regime reflected the government's broad unwillingness to deal with cannabis in a way that minimised harm, rather than putting people at risk of criminalisation.

"The bill does not address the ongoing concerns of advocates about the cost of these medicines and the difficulty in accessing them," he said.

"The bill does nothing to assist those who face criminal sanctions because of steps they have taken to access these medicines."

Any medical practitioner will be able to prescribe schedule 4 medicinal cannabis products and any specialist medical practitioner, including specialist GPs, will be able to prescribe schedule 8 medicinal cannabis without approval from the state.

Non-specialist medical practitioners will still require a state-based approval for schedule 8 medicinal cannabis.

The federal government will maintain controls on the use of unapproved therapeutic goods through the Commonwealth licensing and approval system.

It will remain illegal for members of the public to grow their own cannabis.

"It was the Palaszczuk government that led Australia in 2015 by enabling doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis to patients ... Now that the Commonwealth has caught up, we can streamline that process even further," Mr Miles said.

More on link below....

 
'It makes me enjoy playing with the kids': is microdosing mushrooms going mainstream?
​

It’s a trend that first emerged in San Francisco less than a decade ago. Unlike the hippies who flocked to the city in the 60s, these new evangelists of psychedelic drugs were not seeking oblivion. Quite the opposite. While a “full” tripping dose of LSD is about 100 micrograms, online forums began to buzz with ambitious tech workers from Silicon Valley eulogising the effect of taking 10 to 20 micrograms every few days. Others used magic mushrooms. While both drugs are illegal in the US and the UK, increasing numbers claimed that tiny amounts were making them more focused, creative and productive.

Yet the scientific evidence remains shaky. The latest study, published in February in the open- access journal Plos One and led by cognitive scientist Vince Polito, tracked the experience of 98 microdosers who were already using psychedelics – a class of drugs including LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms).

There is, the study noted, “a perception of microdosing as a general panacea that is able to improve virtually all aspects of an individual’s life”. All 98 participants expected its benefits to be “large and wide-ranging”. Yet while some clear changes were noted – decreased mind-wandering, for example – the study found no evidence of increased creativity or life satisfaction. In fact, after six weeks of microdosing, a small increase in neuroticism was noted.

The study’s participants did, however, report lower levels of stress and depression. It was this that drew Rosie to try it. “I’ve done the traditional treatments,” she tells me. “Therapy helped hugely – it got me out of a seriously bad place and to a functioning one. And for many years, I was functioning very well, outwardly. No one would have known. But inside, I was a mess.”

Antidepressants failed to work, so she stopped taking them after the birth of her second child, comforting herself with alcohol instead. “I wasn’t getting blind drunk and peeling myself off pavements,” she says. “But if I felt bad, my mind would immediately travel to the next drink I could have. It was the only thing that helped block out the sadness.”

That changed about a year ago, when friends began talking about microdosing. Rosie wondered whether it might have a positive effect on her mental health. She gave up booze, went online and found a company in Holland selling kits for growing your own magic mushrooms.

In the very early days, she got the dosage slightly wrong and found herself, “not tripping at all, but staring at a tree for slightly longer than passersby would find normal”. Otherwise, she says, the only down side is, “I can’t take it after 5pm or I can’t sleep.”

She is scrupulously careful to keep her mushrooms far out of the reach of her pre-teen children. “But it definitely doesn’t impair my ability to parent,” she says. “If anything, my awareness is sharpened.”

There is, however, one major danger in Rosie’s mind – its illegality. She has agreed to meet me on the proviso that I keep her identity a secret. “I have two kids. I’ve got responsibilities. And although I believe completely in what I’m doing, these are still class A drugs.” Growing kits are illegal to possess in the UK and she says: “The thought that the company now has my name and address in their records makes me nervous, as did the fact that they mailed the kit to me through the post.”

Once her kit arrived, there were more concerns. It came with strict instructions to wash her hands up to her elbows and keep her mushrooms as sterile as possible, to prevent bacteria growing. “Blue streaks appeared on their stems,” she says. “As a novice, that was really scary. I didn’t want to kill myself with contaminated mushrooms. I went on lots of forums to check, and it turned out it’s just a normal, safe form of bruising.

“It would be much safer if it was legal, so you could openly seek expert advice,” she concedes, but adds, “I’ve taken antidepressants with lists of side-effects as long as my arm. Now I’m taking something with no known side-effects and it’s working. In life, you make risk calculations every day. Is it safe to cross the road? Should I have one more glass of wine? This is just another of those. And I’m significantly happier as a consequence.”

Just how much of a risk is microdosing? Research in this area has a long and trippy history. Used to treat mood disorders, from anxiety to alcoholism in the 1950s and 60s, psychedelics including LSD and psilocybin became classified as illegal, class A drugs in Britain in 1971. Since the US had also criminalised them the year before, research into their clinical use ground to a halt, while horror stories about recreational overdoses and bad trips abounded.

Then, in 2011, came The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide. Written by American psychologist and researcher James Fadiman, it introduced the term microdosing into popular culture, setting out appropriate doses (10 micrograms of LSD every three days) and including glowing first-hand reports of improved productivity. He attracted evangelical followers in the US, and then across the world. Scientific research into the practice began, too.

“There’s only one genuine concern about microdosing,” says David Nutt, former chief drugs adviser to the government and author of Drugs: Without The Hot Air. “There’s a theoretical possibility that a relatively low dose of LSD, taken every day, could narrow the heart valves.” Beyond that, he says, there is no evidence that even “full” doses of LSD are dangerous to health (though clearly, the ill-advised actions of those under its effects can be). But users should not underestimate its illegality: “Possession carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison,” he says.​


More on link below....

 
USA is miles in front....

Colorado sounds like the new Amsterdam (legal weed and shrooms). Could attract tourists. I might even pop over - haven't had magic mushrooms since l was in Amsterdam back in 2000.



As legal marijuana booms, Denver votes on decriminalizing hallucinogenic mushrooms
​

Mile High City is first in nation to vote on psilocybin mushrooms, which would still be illegal but ‘de-prioritized’​


If you thought legalized marijuana truly put the “high” in the Mile High City, wait until you hear what Denver is up to now. On Tuesday, residents will vote on whether to effectively decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms, the hallucinogen used by some cultures for religious purposes for centuries, and outlawed by the federal government since 1970.

The movement to “Decriminalize Denver” is the nation’s first public referendum on “magic mushrooms,” after an effort in California failed to reach the ballot last year. Initiative 301 would apply only to Denver, not the entire state of Colorado. It would place into city code the directive that enforcing laws for personal use or possession of psilocybin mushrooms “shall be the lowest law enforcement priority in the City and County of Denver,” though having the mushrooms would still technically be illegal. The mushrooms would not be available in the city’s cannabis dispensaries, and sales would still be classified as a felony. They would remain classified a Schedule I drug under federal law, as is marijuana, with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

The image of hallucinogens as chemicals that launch users into a swirling mélange of colors and voices, presumably impairing one’s ability to drive or operate heavy machinery, can be tough to overcome. But supporters say the mushrooms’ powerful mind-altering qualities can have long-term positive effects on addiction, depression, chronic pain, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to the eight-hour journeys into the mystic.

Psilocybin is not addictive, does not lead to overdoses and is not thought to have long-term side effects, research has shown. It is a naturally occurring compound in some fungi. A number of studies have shown positive effects on people addicted to opioids, alcohol or tobacco, as well as diminished depression and anxiety. Researchers have found such benefits to mushrooms that the Food and Drug Administration has granted “breakthrough therapy” status to study psilocybin for treating depression. The FDA describes breakthrough therapy as designed to expedite development of a drug after preliminary evidence shows “the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy.”

Kevin Matthews was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who was forced to retire due to major depression. He returned to Denver and struggled for years until he tried mushrooms for the first time.

“It was one of the most profound experiences of my life,” he said. “It cleared the fog and lasted for weeks and weeks after. It enabled me to see outside the box of my own depression.”
​

 
A potted history of the promotion of the legal lethal drug Cigarettes


Juul’s New Marketing Is Straight Out of Big Tobacco’s Playbook
The e-cigarette giant is relying on some awfully familiar tactics to distinguish its products.

Annika Neklason 11:55 AM ET
lead_720_405.jpg

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
Out of a firestorm of controversy over teen nicotine use, Juul Labs emerged in January with a newly sober and adult marketing identity. Forget the fruit-flavored vaping pods, the colorful ads populated with young models, the viral Instagram and Facebook posts. What the Silicon Valley e-cigarette giant is really about, its $10 million television ad campaign declares, is helping cigarette smokers shake their cigarette addictions and get healthy.

The ads feature mature subjects with their ages clearly stated on screen: “Carolyn, 54,” “Patrick, 47,” “Mimi, 37.” They sit against muted domestic backdrops and say that because of Juul, they’ll never touch a cigarette again after decades of dependency. Juuling, they emphasize, is an “alternative” to smoking. Juul’s website underlines that message: “Our mission,” one page reads in bold white text, is to “improve the lives of the world’s one billion adult smokers by eliminating cigarettes.”

In its effort to define its products as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, Juul appears to be following a familiar marketing cycle. Throughout the 20th century, as warnings about the health risks of cigarettes arose, tobacco companies repeatedly found new ways to downplay concerns and advertise their products as healthy options. When their claims were refuted by evidence, they traded them out for new claims.
E-cigarettes like Juul’s are still a recent invention, and their long-term health effects remain largely unknown. Some evidence shows that vaping can help smokers quit, as Juul’s ads profess, and that it is a safer substitute for people who already smoke. But studies are finding that, like the many tobacco and nicotine products that preceded them, Juuls also come with considerable risks. History seems to be repeating itself.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/06/juul-big-tobacco-marketing/592174/
 
Senate Decriminalizes Marijuana Use In New York State
​
(Albany, NY) The Senate today passed legislation that will address the racial disparities that are present in New York’s antiquated marijuana drug laws. New York’s existing marijuana laws disproportionately affect the African American and Latinx communities. This monumental legislation will decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and establish procedures for record expungements for both past and future convictions.

“Communities of color have borne the brunt of New York State’s marijuana drug laws. Our justice system directly reflects who we are as a society and that is why the Senate Majority is taking action to fix this broken system,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said. “This legislation is marking a momentous first step in addressing the racial disparities caused by the war on drugs. The Senate Majority continues to move forward on full legalization and I thank Senator Jamaal Bailey for his leadership on this issue.”

Bill Sponsor, Senator Jamaal Bailey said, “In New York State, people of color are disproportionately arrested for marijuana possession. The misdemeanor charge for public view of marijuana possession gives those people convicted a criminal record that will follow them throughout their lives, potentially limiting their access to housing, access to education, affecting their ability to obtain employment, all leading to a potential inability to provide for their families. While this legislation falls short of the goal of legalization of adult-use cannabis, the ability to create a mechanism for expungement, both retroactively and forward-looking, is a step in the right direction in finally ending the heavy-handed war on drugs that has decimated communities of color.”

African-American and Latinx individuals are arrested at higher rates for misdemeanor marijuana possessions. In New York City, African-Americans are eight times more likely to be arrested on low-level marijuana charges and Latinx people are arrested at five times more. The racial disparities for arrests are wider for cities in Upstate, NY. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), African Americans living in Schenectady County are 74 times more likely to be arrested on a marijuana charge.​

Decriminalization of Marijuana, S.6579A, will:

  • Decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana by reducing the penalty for unlawful possession of marijuana to a violation punishable by a fine.
  • Establish procedures for automatic record expungement both retroactively and for future convictions.
  • Remove criminal penalties (since a violation is not a crime) for possession of any amount of marijuana under two ounce.
  • Reduce the penalty to a $50 fine regardless of criminal history for possession under one ounce, and a $200 fine regardless of criminal history for possession between one and two ounces.
  • Add marijuana to the definition of “smoking” under the Public Health Law so that smoking marijuana will be prohibited in any circumstances where smoking tobacco is prohibited by law

 
Illinois is expunging marijuana convictions from
nearly 800,000 criminal records​


If you've been arrested for weed in Illinois, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker just signed HB 1438 this week, which makes cannabis legal in the state for individuals 21 and over, along with sweeping criminal criminal justice reforms designed to help those whose lives have been upended by the state's drug laws.

In addition to legalizing marijuana, the 610-page bill offers relief to the roughly 770,000 residents of the state with marijuana-related offenses on their criminal records, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.


A new law legalizes weed and helps those caught with it in the past​

The state's new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, which takes effect in 2020, allows people to automatically receive clemency for convictions up to 30 grams of cannabis. Those convicted with larger amounts, from 30-500 grams can petition a court to have the charge lifted.

The bill defines expunge to mean to "physically destroy the records or return them to the petitioner and to obliterate the petitioner's name from any official index or public record, or both." But it doesn't require the physical destruction of circuit court files.

The bill also includes a "social equity program," which makes it easier for those with marijuana convictions to get business licenses. The program also allocates $12 million for startup businesses related to cannabis, as well as funding for job training programs in the state's cannabis industry, the Marijuana Policy Project says.

The state's Department of Agriculture and its community college board are creating pilot programs to get people ready to work in the newly legal industry, and the state will require them to focus on enrolling the low income students into those programs.


Illinois is the latest state to liberalize its cannabis laws​

Gov. Pritzker is fulfilling a promise he made on the campaign trail, and is making Illinois the 11th US state to legalize recreational marijuana. So far 18 states have decriminalized marijuana, the MPP says, and in all 34 states allow patients with health complaints to use medical marijuana.
And Illinois is the latest state to offer clemency for marijuana convictions. Last month Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law that gave marijuana offenders the ability to have their sentences vacated in the state.​


 

New research shows legalized recreational marijuana a substitute for alcohol, but not tobacco

​
New Marketing Science Study Key Takeaways:
​
  • Research shows once recreational marijuana is legalized, the number of online searches for tobacco increase by 8%, while searches for alcohol drop by 11%.​
  • The findings could have an implication on sales for the alcohol and tobacco industries.​
  • The passing of recreational cannabis increases online searches for cannabis done by adults by 17%, but not by youth.​

CATONSVILLE, MD, July 17, 2019 – The recent wave of recreational cannabis legalization across the U.S. could generate $22 billion in sales per year, but not everyone is happy about it. New research in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science shows the alcohol industry could be impacted when the substance is legalized.

“It appears the alcohol industry has valid reason to be concerned about legal marijuana and may need creative strategies to avoid market decline if it passes,” said Pengyuan Wang, an assistant professor in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

The study shows online searches for alcohol saw a drop of nearly 11%, but tobacco products were searched online nearly 8% more often.

The U.S. alcohol and tobacco industries are worth a combined $300 billion. They are typically avid opponents of marijuana legalization legislation, but this research suggests, “tobacco companies may need to reexamine their presumption, and that anti-cannabis legalization is not to the best of their interest,” said Wang.

The research by Wang and co-author Guiyang Xiong of Syracuse University looked at anonymous data from 28 million online searches and 120 million ad impressions from a leading U.S.-based web portal from January 2014 to April 2017.

The study also found the legalization of recreational marijuana increases online searches by adults by 17%. There is actually a decrease in searches done by those age 19 years and younger after the substance is legalized.

“Contrary to widely held public concern after recreational cannabis is legalized, teenagers appear to lose interest, rather than gain interest,” added Wang. “Policymakers only concerned with an uptick in teen users, may want to rethink their stance.”​


 
MDMA treatment for alcoholism could reduce relapse,
study suggests
​
The first study looking into the use of MDMA to treat alcohol addiction has shown the treatment is safe and early results show encouraging outcomes from the approach, scientists have said.

Doctors in Bristol are testing whether a few doses of the drug, in conjunction with psychotherapy, could help patients overcome alcoholism more effectively than conventional treatments. Those who have completed the study have so far reported almost no relapse and no physical or psychological problems.

In comparison, eight in 10 alcoholics in England relapse within three years after current treatment approaches. Dr Ben Sessa, an addiction psychiatrist and senior research fellow at Imperial College London, and who led the trial, said: “With the very best that medical science can work with, 80% of people are drinking within three years post alcohol detox.”

Eleven people have so far completed the safety and tolerability study, which involves nine months of follow-ups. “We’ve got one person who has completely relapsed, back to previous drinking levels, we have five people who are completely dry and we have four or five who have had one or two drinks but wouldn’t reach the diagnosis of alcohol use disorder,” Sessa said.

Most addiction is based on underlying trauma, often from childhood, explained Sessa. “MDMA selectively impairs the fear response,” he said. “It allows recall of painful memories without being overwhelmed.

“MDMA psychotherapy gives you the opportunity to tackle rigidly held personal narratives that are based on early trauma. It’s the perfect drug for trauma-focused psychotherapy.”

The first stage of the new study was designed to show the therapy is safe. Further research, which compares results with a randomised control group who receive a placebo instead of MDMA, will be needed to back up the treatment’s effectiveness.

After preliminary screening, including medical and psychological tests, the participants are given an eight-week course of psychotherapy. In weeks three and six, they are given a powerful dose of MDMA.

Sessions are conducted in a hospital with a psychiatrist and a psychologist present. Participants are given the drug and then spend eight hours with the specialists, mostly lying down, wearing eyeshades and headphones.

“We let them lead the sessions as to where they want to go. What comes up comes up, so it’s not very guided by the clinicians,” said Sessa.

After the MDMA-assisted sessions, patients stay overnight and are telephoned every day for a week to collect data on sleep quality, mood and potential suicide risk. Significantly, this data has shown no evidence of drug withdrawal or comedown symptoms from the MDMA.

“There is no black Monday, blue Tuesday, or whatever ravers call it. In my opinion, that is an artefact of raving. It’s not about MDMA,” said Sessa, referring to recreational users of the drug, which is often associated with clubbing.​



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CBD oil (medicinal, non-psychoactive) is unavailable to most who need it for pain because of red tape and cost. Most doctors won't prescribe it purely because of the massive paperwork involved. And yet marijuana (with all its known problems) is to be legalized in Canberra. Utterly moronic politicians, and dangerous. They clearly have no idea what they're doing.
 
Active agent in magic mushrooms could treat addiction, depression and anxiety
​
Cooper speaks with participants and scientists who conduct clinical trials. Roland Griffiths, of Johns Hopkins University, is a pioneer in psychedelic research, which was studied extensively until former President Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Thirty years later, Griffiths received FDA approval for to study psilocybin. The results amazed him. "The red light started flashing. It's unprecedented – the capacity of the human organism to change. It just was astounding."

The experiences of the study participants on psychedelics, even under the highly controlled conditions used, are often harrowing but still worth it in the end. Researchers screen out people with psychotic disorders or with close relatives who have schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder. So far, none of the participants reports any serious adverse outcomes.

Griffiths said he is optimistic about the potential therapeutic value of the drugs but acknowledges they can be harmful under different circumstances. "Let's be really clear on that… We're very aware of the risks and would not recommend people simply go out and do this."​


 
There was a special on Radio National on the history and use of LSD.

It's being presently tested scientifically after many years of all use being banned and there appears t o be valid reasons for it to be used as a treatment.

Need to go to ABClisten to hear.
 

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