Can Hallucinogens Help the Mentally Ill?
Could ’shrooms or LSD help the mentally ill? At Harvard, a psychiatrist is studying whether the hallucinogenic cactus peyote creates any long-term memory or attention problems in the American Indians who take the drug as part of religious rituals. A University of Arizona psychiatrist is poised to begin researching whether taking the hallucinogen psilocybin under controlled circumstances may help people suffering with obsessive compulsive disorder. And another Harvard psychiatrist is in the beginning phases of designing a protocol that may employ LSD or another hallucinogen to see if it helps terminally ill people suffering from depression and pain. With some support from the private New Mexico-based Heffter Institute, these researchers, along with others in the United States and abroad, represent a small movement of scientists looking at the possible medical benefits of hallucinogens for some psychiatric conditions. Hallucinogens Among Oldest Drugs Hallucinogens are among the oldest kn
