Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Lancet calls for LSD in labs
‘The blanket ban on psychedelic drugs enforced in many countries continues to hinder safe and controlled investigation, in a medical environment, of their potential benefits,’ said the editorial, ‘…criminalisation of these agents has also led to an excessively cautious approach to further research into their therapeutic benefits.’Dr Horton told Guardian Unlimited that important advances were made by researchers using psychedelic drugs on themselves, but that these studies were stifled by the post-1960s anti-drug backlash. ‘Our very earliest understanding of the neurochemistry of the brain came from studying LSD-like compounds. Those same researchers were also taking those drugs, not recreationally, but as experiments on themselves. This was immensely important work.’
And this is very interesting:
MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, has shown promise in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety in cancer patients, while LSD and psylocibin – the active ingredient in magic mushrooms – are being investigated as treatments from cluster headaches. Sativex, a treatment for multiple sclerosis derived from cannabis, is already available in Canada.
There is so much good in so many things (people too)we just must look deeper into them to find it. I admire whoever found the use for snake venom and digitalis, etc. We have a tendency to go overboard and not use common sense. at one time cannabis and marijuana and opium were the latest wonder drugs. Abused they are destroyers of health, but we shouldn’t cast out the good they can do just because people have abused what nature has provided.