Clinical Uses for Psychedelic Drugs

Throughout the last forty years, psychedelic drugs have been illegal in the United States. Stigmatized due to the potential for abuse, the use of these drugs has been relegated to simple criminal activity and research stagnated for those 40 years. Slowly, research has begun to pick up as the restrictions begin to lift incrementally. However, the current restrictions are intense, further limiting the amount of research conducted that can reveal the medical benefits of these drugs. Through multiple studies, both open-label and double-blinded to show both feasibility and efficacy, as well as the biological impact of the drugs, significant anxiolytic, antidepressant, and anti-addictive effects of hallucinogens have been demonstrated. The medical use of these drugs could have a lasting effect regarding substance abuse addictions, severe cases of anxiety, and treatment resistant depression providing alternatives to current methods of treatment