Could drugs like MDMA and LSD treat mental problems? Scientists need your help

Drugs like LSD, magic mushrooms and MDMA have a bad reputation as street hallucinogens used by hippies and ravers freaking out on dancefloors.

But could the same drugs be the medicines of the future?

Scientists have launched a crowdfunding initiative to raise money for scientific tests of the drugs – after promising experiments where MDMA was used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, and psilocybin was used to treat anxiety in end-of-life patients.

The Fundamental campaign is championed by psychiatrists – and hopes to raise $2 million in four months.

Research into such drugs is often difficult due to the legal status of hallucinogenic compounds – many of which are classified as Class A drugs in the UK.

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At the recent Wired Health conference, mental health advocate Khaliya Khan, who has travelled to 65 countries as a public health specialist, called for more research into hallucinogenic drugs.

Khan said, ‘Mental health for years has been inadequately addressed, partly because the tools we had on offer were hard to scale, and partly because some of the most powerful tools in brain health were stigmatised and turned into scheduled drugs, effectively halting any progress that could be made to prove their efficacy.

esearchers from John Hopkins University conducted a trial where cancer patients were given psilocybin – the ‘active ingredient’ in magic mushrooms.

The results – for some patients – were electrifying.

Cancer patient Dinah Bazer told Science Alert, ‘I visualised my fear as physical mass in my body. I was bathed in God’s love, and that continued for hours. I really had no other way to describe this incredibly powerful experience.’

Dr Roland Griffiths of JHU said earlier this year that 92% of patients treated with psilocybin (the active ingredient in ‘shrooms’) saw a reduction in depression and anxiety

Of those, 79% said the effect lasted six months.

Roland Griffiths of John Hopkins University – who is conducting scientific trials of magic mushrooms, and says that the fungi can help people quit smoking – said, ‘This is a potential pathway to clinical approval.’

Griffiths has said that ‘looking inwards’ or ‘tripping’ is perfectly natural.

Previous John Hopkins experiments found that many people find spiritual value in psychedelic journeys – with 67% of Griffiths’ volunteers saying their trips were among the most spiritually significant events of their lives.