image by: HWN

HWN Suggests

Can Psychedelics Be Therapy? Allow Research to Find Out

In the last few years, calls for marijuana to be researched as a medical therapy have increased. It may be time for us to consider the same for psychedelic drugs.t

Two general classes of such drugs exist, and they include LSD, psilocybin, mescaline and ecstasy (MDMA).

All are illegal in the United States because they carry a high risk of abuse. They can also cause harm. The best-known adverse event is persistent flashbacks, though these are believed to be rare. More common are symptoms like increased heart rate and blood pressure, anxiety and panic.

Some people have pointed to anecdotal evidence of positive effects. Ayelet Waldman, a novelist and former federal…

read full article

Featured

 AI maps psychedelic ‘trip’ experiences to regions of the brain – opening new route to psychiatric treatments

For the past several decades, psychedelics have been widely stigmatized as dangerous illegal drugs. But a recent surge of academic research into their use to treat psychiatric conditions is spurring a recent shift in public opinion.

 Explaining what causes different psychedelic experiences is a trip. This study shows why.

The researchers’ approach pushes the boundaries of drug research in necessary ways—but their datasets could be unreliable. To start, Roth says that Erowid doesn’t verify the chemical makeup of the drugs described in each narrative. “In a large number of cases, the drugs that are purchased from the street are not the drugs that the person thought they bought, particularly when it comes to psychedelic compounds and hallucinogens,” he explains. As an example, Roth points to how two US Military Academy cadets recently overdosed on cocaine that was actually laced with fentanyl.

 Should Psychedelic Researchers Disclose Personal Use of the Drugs They Study?

Advocates argue disclosing psychedelic use fosters transparency, while critics warn it could fuel bias and undermine credibility.

 ‘Psychedelics renaissance’: new wave of research puts hallucinogenics forward to treat mental health

Psychedelics … through whatever mechanisms, seem to represent a significant improvement over the standard therapies.

Articles of Interest

The ancient psychedelics myth: ‘People tell tourists the stories they think are interesting for them'

The narrative of ancient tribes around the world regularly using ayahuasca and magic mushrooms in healing practices is a popular one. Is it true?

A Trip That Doesn’t End

Hallucinogens are enjoying something of a revival: the drugs are being tried recreationally by nearly one in five American adults (approaching that of the nineteen-sixties), while being tested empirically for their powers to heal alcoholism and other addictions, anxieties from impending death, P.T.S.D., major depression, and even cluster headaches.

Can Psychedelic Drugs Treat Mental Illness? Scientists Need Your Help To Find Out

A new crowdfunding campaign seeks to raise $2 million to advance promising research that the government has largely neglected.

Johns Hopkins Opens New Center for Psychedelic Research

The research center, with $17 million from donors, aims to give “psychedelic medicine” a long-sought foothold in the scientific establishment.

LSD-Like Drugs Are Out of the Haze and Back in the Labs

At respected research centers in the United States and other countries, scientists have spent much of their professional lives in drug rehabilitation. It is not because they themselves struggle with addiction. What they are trying to rehabilitate are the drugs. Their focus is on mind-altering compounds that fell far from grace nearly half a century ago, LSD prominent among them.

Psychedelic drug use linked to fewer mental health problems

There is now an increasing push for more research into the potential benefits of psychedelics in medicine and in mental health. For example, psilocybin could help treat people with severe depression and LSD has been suggested to help people come to terms with a terminal illness. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and treating alcohol dependence are two other areas where psychedelics could help. “Everything has some potential for negative effects, but psychedelic use is overall considered to pose a very low risk to the individual and to society,” Johansen said.

Psychedelic Drugs Don't Make People Crazy, Study Says

Researchers even found some associations between psychedelic drugs and fewer mental health issues.

Psychedelic drugs: neurobiology and potential for treatment of psychiatric disorders

After a hiatus of about 50 years, state-of-the art studies have recently begun to close important knowledge gaps by elucidating the mechanisms of action of psychedelics with regard to their effects on receptor subsystems, systems-level brain activity and connectivity, and cognitive and emotional processing. In addition, functional studies have shown that changes in self-experience, emotional processing and social cognition may contribute to the potential therapeutic effects of psychedelics.

Psychedelic Mushrooms And LSD Are Among The Safest Recreational Drugs, Survey Finds

Thousands of people reported using these drugs last year, and 1 percent or less sought medical attention.

Psychedelics to treat mental illness? Australian researchers are giving it a go

We’re now beginning to understand the neurological mechanisms responsible for the mystical states and creative thinking psychedelics can produce, and how they can aid the treatment of anxiety and depression. Psychedelics reduce the activity of a neural circuit in the brain called the default mode network (DMN).

Seeing Opportunity in Psychedelic Drugs

New research into LSD and psilocybin makes a powerful argument against prohibition.

Talking Acid Trips and Drug Legalization with the Psychedelic Society of Brooklyn

"The psychedelic experience has the potential to help a lot of people," said Daniel Miller, founder of the Psychedelic Society of Brooklyn.

The psychedelic renaissance is at risk of missing the bigger picture

It’s been quite the journey for psychedelics, and it’s just getting started. First, they were sacred and ceremonial plant medicines for millennia. In the 1960s era, they traversed an American culture of mind expansion, which used them as wild tools for transcending ordinary states of consciousness. Then came the backlash in the 1970s when they were outlawed by a nervous Nixon administration. Now, psychedelics are emerging from the underground as a new generation of researchers amasses evidence that mind-altering drugs offer new and effective therapies to help stem the rising tides of mental illness.

The Trip Treatment

Research into psychedelics, shut down for decades, is now yielding exciting results.

The War on Drugs Halted Research Into the Potential Benefits of Psychedelics

Now it’s finally starting up again.

Tim Ferriss, the Man Who Put His Money Behind Psychedelic Medicine

The author of “The 4-Hour Workweek” is behind a surge in funding for clinical research into psychedelic drugs.

Why scientists want to create psychedelics that give better trips

Drugs modeled on natural compounds could help people with anxiety, depression, and addiction. But can side effects, like long-and-winding trips, be eliminated while keeping the therapeutic benefits?

Resources

Compass

Founded in 2016, our first major initiative is developing psilocybin therapy through late-stage clinical trials in Europe and North America for patients with treatment-resistant depression. We are taking a new approach to mental health and are committed to developing care pathways and therapies that will help patients and their families, and ease the burden on healthcare systems. Backed by a team of leading experts in medicine, mental health, business, and academia, we put the patient at the centre of everything we do.

Beckley Foundation

Since its creation by Amanda Feilding in 1998, the Beckley Foundation has been at the forefront of global drug policy reform and scientific research into psychoactive substances. We collaborate with leading scientific and political institutions worldwide to design and develop ground-breaking research and global policy initiatives.

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

Founded in 1986, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana.

Psychedelic Times

Our mission at Psychedelic Times is to share the latest news, research, and happenings around the study of psychedelics as tools of healing, recovery, and therapy. We are passionate about the incredible potential that psychoactive substances such as marijuana, ayahuasca, MDMA, LSD, iboga, psilocybin, and DMT present to humanity, and are excited to share that passion with you.