Landmark Clinical LSD Study Nears Completion
by David Jay Brown, santacruz.patch.com
June 30th 2011
The first clinical LSD study on the planet in over 35 years is almost complete.
The Santa Cruz Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is
currently sponsoring this research, which began in 2008, when Swiss
psychiatrist Peter Gasser, M.D., became the first medical researcher in the
world to obtain government approval to do therapeutic research with LSD since
1972.
Before 1972, nearly 700 studies with LSD and other psychedelic drugs were
conducted. This research suggested that LSD has remarkable medical potential.
LSD-assisted psychotherapy was shown to reduce the anxiety of terminal cancer
patients, the drinking of alcoholics, and the symptoms of many
difficult-to-treat psychiatric illnesses.
For example, early LSD studies with advanced-stage cancer patients showed that
LSD-assisted psychotherapy could alleviate symptoms of anxiety, tension,
depression, sleep disturbances, psychological withdrawal, and even severe
physical pain. Other early investigators found that LSD may have some valuable
potential as a means to facilitate creativity, problem-solving abilities, and
spiritual awareness.
Between 1972 and 1990 there were no government-approved human studies with any
psychedelic drugs anywhere in the world. Their disappearance was no mystery.
The worldwide ban on psychedelic drug research was the result of a political
backlash that followed the promotion of these drugs by the counterculture of
the 1960s. This reaction not only made these substances illegal for personal
use, it also made it extremely difficult for medical researchers to obtain
government approval to study them.
The situation began to change in 1990 when, according to MAPS President Rick
Doblin, “open-minded regulators at the FDA decided to put science before
politics when it came to psychedelic and medical marijuana research.” There are
now over a half dozen clinical studies occurring worldwide that are examining
the medical potential of psychedelic drugs.
Gasser’s almost-completed, MAPS-sponsored LSD study is being conducted in
Switzerland, where LSD was discovered in 1943 by Albert Hofmann. The study is
examining how LSD-assisted psychotherapy effects the anxiety associated with
suffering from an advanced, life-threatening illness. There are twelve subjects
in the study with advanced-stage cancer and other serious illnesses.
According to Gasser, so far the results look promising. Early researchers found
that LSD-assisted psychotherapy has the incredible ability to help many people
overcome their fear of death, and this is probably a major contributing factor
in why the drug can be so profoundly helpful when people are facing a
life-threatening illness.
On May 26th the final subject in Gasser’s study completed his last experimental
therapy session. The clinical team at MAPS is now conducting a preliminary data
analysis, finalizing the study’s database for the FDA, and assisting Gasser in
preparing a manuscript for publication.
MAPS is also sponsoring other medical research into the psychotherapeutic
potential of psychedelic drugs, and more studies are on the way. The medical
and therapeutic value of LSD and other psychedelic drugs appears to be quite
substantial--although, personally, I’m really looking forward to the day when
this research can go beyond its initial potential as a psychotherapeutic tool,
as well as a spiritual aid, and delve into the mysteries of creativity, psychic
phenomena, and the possible reality of parallel universes and non-human entity
contact.
Meanwhile, it seems like these mysterious substances hold enormous potential
for treating numerous psychiatric disorders. Evidence suggests that they have
the ability to help us treat posttraumatic stress disorder, depression,
obsessive compulsive disorder, end-of-life anxiety, cluster headaches, and
other difficult-to-treat mental disorders, including, I suspect, the general
neurosis that comes from simply being a human being.
To read the interview that I did with LSD researcher Peter Gasser, see:
www.maps.org/news-letters/v20n1/v20n1-42to43.pdf
To find out more about MAPS and medical research into psychedelic drugs, see:
www.maps.org
If you enjoy my column, and want to learn more about psychedelic and cannabis
culture, “like” my Facebook page:
Original Page:
http://santacruz.patch.com/articles/landmark-clinical-lsd-study-nears-completion
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