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ApriDespite the fact that the U.S. government deems many hallucinogenic or psychedelic substances to be dangerous, classifying them as Schedule I drugs with “no currently accepted medical use,” various scientists have dared to study their effects. What they’ve found over the years paints a startling, promising and powerful picture of potentially game-changing medicines.
The government’s "war on drugs" policies severely limit research on psychedelics. Before scientists can complete any federally sanctioned studies, they have to jump through an expensive tangle of hoops and red tape. Restrictions aside, over the years researchers have collected a database of research showing that many psychedelics have an unprecedented potential to treat cancers, addictions and psychological traumas, among other things.
Here are some of the coolest things scientists have discovered about psychedelics over the years.
1. LSD can mitigate end-of-life anxiety.
The results of the first clinical study of the therapeutic use of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) in humans in more than 40 years were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease in March. They show that LSD can promote statistically significant reductions in anxiety for people coming to terms with their own impending demise.
