LSD and other drugs could have therapeutic applications

It is one of several drugs that could have therapeutic use.

For some, they are the means to an otherworldly party. For others, they are dangerous "one-way" tickets to problems that merit their illegal status.

But regardless of how people view them, and whether politicians and legislators like to admit it or not, psychoactive psychoactive drugs are beginning to show great potential as effective therapies for various mental health problems. mental healthThey could also be a key to expanding our understanding of consciousness.

Discovering the therapeutic use of certain drugs

Ketamine

Take for example the case of Ketamineor "Special K" as it is colloquially known in the UK. Today, Ketamine is widely used in clinical settings as an anesthetic in both animals and humans, but several studies are also highlighting its remarkable ability to treat depression, bipolar disorders and suicidal behavior. Not only that, but they are extraordinarily fast acting, showing potent Antidepressant effects in as little as two hours.

2. Cannabis, MDMA, LSD

But that's not all: cannabis has shown potential in the treatment of ADHD and insomnia. The active component of hallucinogenic mushrooms, psilocybin, could be useful in the treatment of addictions, obsessive-compulsive disorders and depression. For its part, the MDMA could help those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and Parkinson's disease; and LSD could be useful in the treatment of addictions, obsessive-compulsive disorders and depression. LSD could alleviate anxiety, alcoholism or even inflammatory disorders. Quite an impressive list and one that opens the door to reflection on the use of these substances in the medicinal field.

3. Suspicion of drugs as a possible therapy

Unfortunately, despite these promising preliminary studies, there is a major barrier in this field of research: attitudes towards drugs. attitudes towards drugsIn the UK at least, attitudes towards drugs make it very difficult to carry out such studies. Not only are agencies wary of providing money for such experiments, but restrictions and regulations are equally difficult to circumvent.

Despite this, there are some who are trying to carry out human experiments on psychedelic drugs, especially LSD, Ketamine andespecially LSD, Ketamine and psilocybin. In parallel to investigating their potential therapeutic use, scientists also hope that studying how they affect the brain in controlled environments may unlock some of the mysteries of consciousness.

4. Experiments with LSD

One of those scientists who is willing to delve deeper into the human mind through these drugs is David Nuttof Imperial College London, a celebrated professor of neuropsychopharmacology and former chief advisor on Medicines to the British government. Given the ongoing struggle of academics to secure research funding, and the wariness of funding institutions when it comes to research involving the human use of illicit substances, Nutt is currently addressing the public via the platform start-up at crowdfunding platform scientific crowdfunding platform Walacea to pursue his LSD research, which has resulted from a collaboration with Imperial College London and the Beckley Foundation.

"Despite the incredible potential of this drug to expand our understanding of the brain, political stigma has silenced the research," Nutt said in a news briefing, referring to the fact that since LSD was banned there has only been one clinical test with LSD. "We should not play politics with promising science that has so much beneficial potential."

5. LSD seems to increase our brain's creativity.

To date, Nutt has already has already administered moderate doses of LSD to 20 subjects and conducted imaging studies of its effect on the brain using a combination of FMRI and MEG . Both monitor brain activitybut the latter takes "snapshots" of brain activity, while the MEG is more like a video recording.

These indicate that LSD may behave in a similar way to psilocybin, reducing blood flow to the control centers and thereby dampening their activity, which ultimately enhances brain activity. In doing so, psilocybin seems to encourage regions of the brain that are usually separated to start communicating with each other, which could be why we see an increase in creativity creativity when using this substance. In any case, we won't know if LSD works in a similar way until the second part of the experiment is completed, and that requires the public to dig deep into their pockets.