Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
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Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#2It's amazing. The more and more research we do, the more we find out that the FUD surrounding lots of drugs is nothing more than that... FUD.
Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#3"Psilocybin has shown promise in [...] relieving cluster headaches (a common form of chronic headache) and in alleviating the anxiety experienced by terminally ill cancer patients."
Cluster headaches are absolutely not a common form of chronic headache. They are fairly rare, affecting .1% of the population, and are extremely debilitating; many sufferers commit suicide rather than suffer through the pain.
Here is an amazing talk by Bob Wold, the guy who founded Cluster Busters, the non-profit organization that's partnering with Harvard to do the research on psilocybin as a treatment:
"and in alleviating the anxiety experienced by terminally ill cancer patients."
Here is the talk by one of the researchers who was testing psilocybin for treating anxiety due to terminal cancer:
Both are among my all time favorite talks, both are extremely powerful and moving. I submitted them to TED as potential talks last year, but apparently no luck so far.
Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#4I have never understood the mechanics of 'drug is bad if use equal entertainment'. It will be interesting to see if the release of this information and the refereed to thaw in the taboo will lead anywhere...
Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#5I have never understood the mechanics of 'drug is bad if use equal entertainment'. It will be interesting to see if the release of this information and the refereed to thaw in the taboo will lead anywhere...
"It will be interesting to see if the release of this information and the refereed to thaw in the taboo will lead anywhere..."
This document shows the projected timeline for legalizing MDMA for medical purposes: http://maps.org/prospectus.pdf
Essentially the MDMA phase 2 trials are going to continue for another 2 - 3 years, at which point there will be an end-of-phase-2 meeting with the FDA, where they will come up with a plan for phase 3 studies. Phase 3 will take another 3 - 5 years, and that's assuming they're able to raise all the money it's going to take. However, it's looking like there is a good chance of getting MDMA legalized within ten years for medical use if MAPS can raise the money.
Psilocybin is also close to getting moved to schedule 2 or even schedule 3. However, AFAIK the research that's being done isn't formally designed to turn psilocybin into a prescription drug, so I'm not entirely sure how the current research gets used going forward.
Most research into the medical benefits of marijuana has been stalled because of Obama. Essentially the person Obama appointed has decided to block MAPS from getting any marijuana to use for studies that might show potential benefits from marijuana, so even though the FDA keeps approving their studies they can't actually go forward with any of them.
Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#6I have never understood the mechanics of 'drug is bad if use equal entertainment'. It will be interesting to see if the release of this information and the refereed to thaw in the taboo will lead anywhere...
Aren't most recreational drugs addictive and destructive? It's not too hard to understand why there's a stigma.
Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#7I have never understood the mechanics of 'drug is bad if use equal entertainment'. It will be interesting to see if the release of this information and the refereed to thaw in the taboo will lead anywhere...
Aren't most recreational drugs addictive and destructive? It's not too hard to understand why there's a stigma.
"There are no good or bad drugs. Drugs are what we make of them. They have good and bad uses."
Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#8It's amazing. The more and more research we do, the more we find out that the FUD surrounding lots of drugs is nothing more than that... FUD.
I haven't seen anyone asserting the abuse potential has vanished (or never existed). They are simply acknowledging there are legitimate uses.
Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aren't most recreational drugs addictive and destructive? It's not too hard to understand why there's a stigma.
"There are no good or bad drugs. Drugs are what we make of them. They have good and bad uses." http://www.matrixmasters.net/salon/?p=129
Exactly, so using (e.g.) oxycodone recreationally is a bad use, and is thus stigmatized.
Re: Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
#10Regardless of how effective drugs like LSD and psilocybin are, they make it difficult to maintain traditional societal hierarchies of power and control and thus will be stamped out.