The '60s were a time of hippies, free love, tie-dye clothing and psychedelic drugs. The '70s, '80s and '90s were mostly about trying to forget the '60s.
Yet now, as we move into the second decade of this new millenium, people are taking a look back and re-examining what useful ideas we may have been keeping locked up all these years. Well, as far as the drugs are concerned anyway. Public opinion on the medical use of marijuana is at its most positive point since the '60s, with 14 states currently having laws legalizing some form of
medical cannabis.
Now scientists are going even further by looking into the possible uses of other drugs from that era... such as the psychedelics.
Psychedelic drugs as medicine?
Researchers at
New York University are currently
conducting a study in which they are giving terminally ill patients
psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms. They say that in a controlled setting, hallucinogens can help patients reduce anxiety, personal isolation and fear of death.
chemical structure of psilocybin
Photo: C. Burnett Anthony Bossis, Professor of psychiatry at the NYU school of medicine, claimed in a recent interview that: "Mysticism is really the cornerstone of all major religions going back millennia... It is characterized by a sense of unity, transcendence, connecting to the broader universe and a sense of life and the promotion of personal spirituality. It recalibrates how we see our life and gives a sense of sacredness and reshapes how we view death."
The study is fully FDA approved, and while the researchers are still looking for 32 more volunteers, patients are extensively screened prior to being accepted. Eligibility requires that one be 18-76 yrs old, suffering from a potentially life threatening disease and without any psychotic spectrum disorders such as schizophrenia or severe depression.
One of their volunteer patients, a 67 year old cancer patient and former French teacher described her anxieties over death to reporters:
"I thought of my two granddaughters and not seeing them growing up... it made me profoundly sad. I wanted to do something for myself, to be able to live more in the moment, rather than worrying."
Having never taken any hallucinogens in the past, the patient had only good things to say about her 'trip': "It was incredible... I wanted to share it. I couldn't believe the world could be so beautiful."
