Rediscovering psychedelics

Psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin and MDMA are emerging as potential treatments for mental illnesses like major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Some companies aim to bring these drugs to market, while others seek to eliminate their hallucinogenic effects through chemistry, a controversial approach. Ancient civilizations used these substances as spiritual guides, and counterculture embraced them for consciousness alteration, but governments once demonized them. After decades of being considered too politically charged for scientific study, psychedelics are now poised to enter mainstream medicine as treatments for intractable mental illness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Over the past decade, psychedelic compounds like psilocybin and ecstasy have emerged as potentially life-changing treatments for mental illnesses, including major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Read on to learn how some companies are trying to bring these once-demonized drugs to market and how others are hoping to use chemistry to eliminate their hallucinogenic effects—a proposition many in the field find controversial. Ancient civilizations revered them as spiritual guides. Counterculture embraced them for their ability to change consciousness. Governments demonized them as psychosis-inducing scourges. Now, after being disregarded for decades as too politically charged for serious scientific study, psychedelic compounds are poised to enter the mainstream of modern medicine as treatments for intractable mental illness. What a long, strange trip it's been. Psychiatrists and companies are hailing psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, LSD, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), along with nonpsychedelic mind-altering drugs like ketamine, as the next breakthrough in treating mental