U.S Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. is sticking his fingers into many pies. One of these contains psychedelics that are either synthetic or natural substances capable of producing changes in mood, cognitive processes and an altered perception of reality often accompanied by hallucinations. Kennedy believes that the U.S. government has hindered research into psychedelics which have been unjustifiably painted with a broad brush as being dangerous. These substances should be further explored, he maintains, because they have promise for clinical use in conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression sand opiate withdrawal.
One of the compounds that does indeed merit further investigation is ibogaine, a psychoactive compound that can be extracted from the root of a shrub that grows in central Africa. Ibogaine has long been used in Gabon and Cameroon as a hallucinogen in traditional ceremonies, but it is illegal in the U.S. In Canada it is a 鈥渃ontrolled substance,鈥� meaning that it can be obtained legally but only with a medical prescription. The reason for the interest in medical application is some preliminary evidence that a single administration can dramatically reduce opiate withdrawal symptoms. There is also the possibility that ibogaine can reduce cravings for alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamines and nicotine. Unfortunately, ibogaine has a dark side. It is associated with a serious side effect, life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Some synthetic derivatives of ibogaine appear to be safer but need to be subjected to clinical trials.
This is not the first time that there has been commotion about the use of psychedelics in therapy. Let鈥檚 turn the clock back to the 1960鈥檚 and the hubbub around Dr. Timothy Leary, the Harvard Professor who became an icon of the counterculture movement with his promotion of psychedelics and his mantra of 鈥渢urn on, tune in, drop out.鈥�
The 鈥渢urn on鈥� referred to LSD and psilocybin, mind-altering drugs that Leary claimed would 鈥渆nable each person to realize that he is not a game-playing robot put on this planet to be given a Social Security number and to be spun on the assembly line of school, college, career, insurance, funeral, goodbye.鈥� Timothy Leary鈥檚 path from respected scientist to psychedelic celebrity is an intriguing one.
At Harvard, Leary鈥檚 research focused on the effects of psilocybin which at the time was totally legal. At first, he followed proper scientific methodology and investigated the possibility of aiding alcoholics with psilocybin and using it to rehabilitate released prisoners. The 鈥淐oncord Prison Experiment,鈥� in which Leary claimed that his use of psychotherapy combined with psilocybin reduced the rate of released prisoners returning to criminal activity from sixty to twenty percent, received extensive publicity. Follow-up studies contested Leary鈥檚 results, but by that time he and colleague Richard Alpert had gone on to experimenting with the effects of psilocybin on human consciousness by administering it to volunteers.
Concerns began to be raised by other faculty members about the way this research was being conducted. Apparently, some disturbing side effects were not disclosed, and some of the research was carried out when Leary and Alpert were under the influence of psilocybin. There were also allegations that the duo were actively promoting the use of hallucinogens for recreational purposes and had been giving drugs to undergraduates. This did not sit well with the Harvard administration and in 1963 both Leary and Alpert were dismissed.
There would be no more academic appointments in Leary鈥檚 future, but his promotion of the use of psychedelics under controlled conditions 鈥渇or serious purposes, such as spiritual growth, pursuit of knowledge and personal development鈥� would make him an icon for the counterculture movement of the sixties. In a famous interview with Playboy Magazine in 1966, he curiously claimed that 鈥渋n a carefully prepared, loving LSD session, a woman will inevitably have several hundred orgasms.鈥� He then went on to say that 鈥測our life before was a still photograph that with LSD comes alive, balloons out to several dimensions and becomes irradiated with color and energy.鈥�
President Nixon wanted no part of any such ballooning and called Leary 鈥渢he most dangerous man in America.鈥� The legal system did indeed treat him as a dangerous man, ridiculously sentencing him to thirty years in prison for possession of a small amount of marijuana. That conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court, but not before he had spent time in prison, including one stint in Folsom Prison in a cell next to murderer Charles Manson. In the 70s and 80s, Leary spoke on campuses, wrote articles and continued to describe his own experimentation with an array of psychedelic drugs. Being leery of the law, Leary was careful about promoting their use.
There is no question that the name of Timothy Leary has to appear prominently in any discussion of psychedelics. While some of his unorthodox experiments deserve rightful criticism, his claim of improved creativity and cognition with the use of small doses of psychedelics is now getting traction with researchers studying 鈥渕icrodosing.鈥� Kennedy鈥檚 push for more research into these interesting compounds may produce evidence for legitimate medical applications or show that risks outweigh benefits. In any case, we need to know.
