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Horizon: Psychedelic Science
In the late 1960s, human experiments with psychedelic drugs were brought to a halt. Government reacted to the anarchy of the hippy counter-culture. The drug-crazed Charles Manson slayings came to symbolise public fear of the street use of LSD. Funding ceased, and the few researchers who battled on were ostracised. But lost in the blanket ban were remarkable research projects in the field of psychiatry that held out new hope for the treatment of schizophrenia and alcoholism. Bill Eagles' extraordinary film tells the story of a handful of dedicated scientists who have struggled to make psychedelic research respectable again. In the USA, psychiatrists Rick Strassman and Charles Grob, and neuroscientist Deborah Mash each quietly began investigations with unknown psychedelic compounds, to avoid the alarm bells of LSD. Strassman pursued the Federal Drug Administration for permission to do safety trials of DMT. Mash works on treating cocaine addicts, achieving success with Ibogaine, a psychedelic derived from a West African plant. Their success hinges on the patient having a 'peak' experience, entering the realm of the mystical or religious. The early researchers had spotted this. Now it was dramatically reinforced by unique new evidence from Brazil. Unable to work in the USA, Grob visited Brazil to track down the ritual use of Ayahuasca, a leaf rich in the powerful DMT. For centuries it has been used amongst the shamans of the Amazon. But today, in urban Brazil, tens of thousands of men, women and children are taking the drug as part of an ecstatic Christian cult experience. The Brazilian Government asked Grob to look at long-term damaging effects of the drug. Instead, he found no evidence of toxicity or brain damage, and also that long-term users functioned better in their community. In 1992 Brazil legalised ritual use of Ayahuasca. The FDA took careful note. Then in the early 1990s, leading lights of the US computer industry began admitting that many breakthroughs in Silicon Valley in the 70s and 80s had been inspired by regular psychedelic drug use. Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis, and founding father of Microsoft, Bob Wallace, reveal on camera the psychedelic influence on their creativity. This anecdotal evidence raised support for the psychedelic researchers. Now Strassman has received approval from the FDA for research into LSD itself.
Jan 29, 2008 5:49 AM
Re: Horizon: Psychedelic Science
Fascinating stuff.
BUT: This documentary seems to date from the relatively more enlightened nineties. The people currently occupying the White House have become notorious for throwing decades of solid research out the window, favoring a return to a mindset they hold dear and close to their chests, a horse-with-blinders, Reagan era dogma. Witness the drug czar and his extreme, marijuana-as-a-gateway stance, while completely neglecting the meth epidemic. Disgusting.
Too many important wisdoms accumulated in decades past are now officially Unlearned. Another example is the current attitude to teenage sex: teach only abstinence. The result? Gonorrhea, syphilis and herpes are on the rise among the teenage population.
Given this current environment, has government allowed this research to continue, or has the plug been pulled?
An interesting factoid: In 2006, the US Supreme Court allowed a religion in New Mexico to use ayahuasca as one of its' sacraments. So who knows what's the current status of things.
BUT: This documentary seems to date from the relatively more enlightened nineties. The people currently occupying the White House have become notorious for throwing decades of solid research out the window, favoring a return to a mindset they hold dear and close to their chests, a horse-with-blinders, Reagan era dogma. Witness the drug czar and his extreme, marijuana-as-a-gateway stance, while completely neglecting the meth epidemic. Disgusting.
Too many important wisdoms accumulated in decades past are now officially Unlearned. Another example is the current attitude to teenage sex: teach only abstinence. The result? Gonorrhea, syphilis and herpes are on the rise among the teenage population.
Given this current environment, has government allowed this research to continue, or has the plug been pulled?
An interesting factoid: In 2006, the US Supreme Court allowed a religion in New Mexico to use ayahuasca as one of its' sacraments. So who knows what's the current status of things.
By: niktemadur
Re: Horizon: Psychedelic Science
I've seen this video before, and it's pretty telling. Pity that Ibogaine isn't legal here in the US, as it remains a "Psychadelic", and therefore of no use to the AMA. In actuality, it can help cure people of addictions to heroin, and alcoholism. Of course, there's no money in the cure. Big Pharma just wants you to live with your conditions. That way you keep comin back to get your prescription filled.
By: Psylon
Re: Horizon: Psychedelic Science
yeh, it seems out of date. there's a lot going on involving mystical expereinces and shrooms (http://psychedelicresearch.org) and research with mdma or psilocybin and cancer.
also, i don't think strassman ever got permission to give lsd. he certainly never actuallly did give any.
also, i don't think strassman ever got permission to give lsd. he certainly never actuallly did give any.
By: squiggle


