SciAm covers psychedelic research

Scientific American recently ran a very snazzy overview of the current state of research into the therapeutic effects of psychedelics; as Entheogenic Reformation noted, "This is a very positive article in an extremely revered and popular publication." Indeed, the only individuals quoted in the article are usual suspects like Rick Doblin, David Nichols, and Charles Grob; there's no attempt to pull in some kind of anti-psychedelic, "war on drugs"-level viewpoint, since the research seems to be so clear, and it's all approved research anyway. It's an encouraging read, which is a welcome contrast to the relentless flow of scare stories and casualty reports that the media typically chooses to hype.

In another 2006 study, researchers at the University of Arizona, led by psychiatrist Francisco Moreno, found that psilocybin relieved the symptoms of nine patients with OCD. The patients suffered from a wide range of obsessions and compulsions. Some of them showered for hours; others put on their clothes over and over again until they felt right. All nine experienced improvements with at least some of the doses tested.

“What we saw was a drastic decrease in symp­toms for a period of time,” Moreno says. “People would report that it had been years since they had felt so good.” Moreno cautions that the goal was simply to test the safety of administering psilocybin to OCD patients and that the true effectiveness of the drug is still in question until a larger controlled study can be conducted. Such a study is being planned, although there are currently no funds available for it. According to Moreno, however, no treatment in the medical literature eases OCD symptoms as fast as psilocybin does. Whereas other drugs take several weeks to show an effect, psilocybin worked almost immediately.