First Study in 40 years on LSD Therapy

[Firth]

About time,
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4906596/

[R_burke]

Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert wrote the Psychedelic Experience which was a guide to the use of psychedelics based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which is a religious guide to the death experience when they were still considered doctors and not crazy. 50 years later (originally published in 1964) they say LSD could help people cope with death. Hopefully the two of them and the original researchers will get the credit they so deserve for their initial work.

[Firth]

I'm just happy that LSD, mushrooms and MDMA are being studied under respectable scientific controls. Possibly, just possibly there could be licensed and perhaps controlled manner to expand consciousness. Leary thought the Web would also expand consciousness. I would say that Web itself may be responsible for more of the truth about pot and psychedelics to be available, even if it maybe ignored by many. To the very least government can no longer be the only source for truth, even in the US which is corrupted by politics.

[PeterG]

I take it you all know the history of LSD, why it was created?

[Firth]

I take it you all know the history of LSD, why it was created?

I'm more concerned about the here and now. It doesn't matter what the history is and the "I told you so". What matters is the path forward and legitimization of it's usage. I'm not impressed by knowledge of history. I do find this piece interesting:


Albert Hofmann in 2006
Hofmann, interviewed shortly before his hundredth birthday, called LSD "medicine for the soul" and was frustrated by the worldwide prohibition of it. "It was used very successfully for ten years in psychoanalysis," he said, adding that the drug was misused by the Counterculture of the 1960s, and then criticized unfairly by the political establishment of the day. He conceded that it could be dangerous if misused, because a relatively high dose of 500 microgrammes will have an extremely powerful psychoactive effect, especially if administered to a first-time user without adequate supervision.

In December 2007, Swiss medical authorities permitted psychotherapist Peter Gasser to perform psychotherapeutic experiments with patients who suffer from terminal-stage cancer and other deadly diseases. Completed in 2011, these experiments represent the first study of the therapeutic effects of LSD on humans in 35 years, as other studies have focused on the drug's effects on consciousness and body. Hofmann acclaimed the study, and continued to say he believed in the therapeutic benefits of LSD. In 2008, Hofmann wrote to Steve Jobs, asking him to support this research; it is not known if Jobs responded. The Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has supported research in the field of psychoanalysis using LSD, carrying on Hofmann's legacy and setting the groundwork for future studies.

Hofmann was due to speak at the World Psychedelic Forum from March 21 to March 24, 2008, but was forced to cancel because of bad health.

DeathEdit
Hofmann died of a heart attack on April 29, 2008 and was survived by several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He and his wife, Anita, reared four children, one of whom died at the age of 53. Hofmann revealed that LSD had not affected his understanding of death and explained "I go back to where I came from, to where I was before I was born, that’s all.”

[JKL2000]

I take it you all know the history of LSD, why it was created?

So we could trip our balls off?

[ronmac]

So we could trip our balls off?

I thought it was created because of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

[Joe F.]

^^^^

or (The) Stars that Play with Laughing Sam's Dice.

[Bungalow Bill]

"Hofmann revealed that LSD had not affected his understanding of death and explained "I go back to where I came from, to where I was before I was born, that’s all.”

If the entire human race could get to this point, the world would improve. All human strife is, at bottom, frustration at and fear of bodily obliteration.

LSD can be helpful. It needs to be used safely. It is not a recreational drug, IMO.

[PeterG]

I'm more concerned about the here and now. It doesn't matter what the history is

What an odd response. The reason for its creation matters very much.

[wideopenears]

PeterG, I disagree.