Harvard University will revive psychedelic drug research 60 years after its former professor, Timothy Leary, was expelled from academia for investigating it.
Researchers at the university will study the world of psychedelic drugs amid growing evidence that they can be an effective form of treatment for depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The move comes decades after Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary, best known for his phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out,” was fired from the university for his controversial investigations into “deliberately expanding” drugs.
Jerry Rosenbaum, a Harvard psychiatrist and director of the Massachusetts Hospital’s Center for Neuroscience in Psychedelics, said psychedelics are “remarkably safe” and the discovery of their psychoactive properties “goes far back.”
60 years ago, Timothy Leary (pictured) was expelled from academia for his research on psychedelic drugs
Harvard University will now study the properties of drugs against the backdrop of growing evidence that they can be an effective form of treatment for depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder.
He told the Ask a Harvard Professor podcast: “There has been a lot of research on LSD since the 1960s as a serious study of what it could mean for patients with mental disorders.
“It has also been studied as a model of psychosis, as a potential treatment for psychotic disorders, and there is some recognition that it may play a role in the treatment of addictive disorders.
“Scientists looked at these LSD-related substances in the early 1960s.”
The scientist continued: “You should know that these drugs are extremely safe in the sense that they are not addictive.
“What they do is offer you an experience that you can prefer to the experience you have in everyday life, so people may have used them in protest or used them as an escape, but they are really remarkably safe. medicines in terms of medicines that are available to people at the counter.
“Their ability to harm themselves or others is remarkably low.
“However, despite their therapeutic potential being studied and their use for entertainment, they have become seen as a threat to the government, I guess at the moment.
“There were some people who had bad experiences and were damaged in some way by these experiences, but the vast majority of young people were quite well-meaning.”
The university will now explore the potential of these drugs to help with mental illness.
Mr Rosenbaum added: “They will be developed and tested for really everything.”
The study comes after Dr. Timothy Leary, who was considered the godfather of psychedelics in the 1960s, and fellow psychologist Richard Alpert began studying the effects of psychotropic substances on the human mind in the 1960s.
Dr. Leary, who received his doctorate in psychology from the University of Berkeley and came to lecture at Harvard in 1959, and Dr. Alpert soon began the Harvard Psilocybin Project.
Scientists have looked at how psilocybin, a hallucinogen found naturally in certain types of mushrooms, can affect the human mind.
During their study at Harvard, neither LSD nor psilocybin were illegal substances in the United States, but the experiment was considered controversial and scientists were criticized for their unorthodox methodology.
By 1962, university officials had raised concerns about volunteers involved in Leary and Alpert’s research.
Articles in Harvard Crimson also accuse scientists of actively promoting the use of drugs for entertainment.
Dr. Leary, considered the godfather of the psychedelic 1960s, began studying the effects of psychotropic substances on the human mind in the 1960s.
Scientist and fellow psychologist Richard Alpert began the Harvard Psilocybin Project
Leary, whose catchphrase was “get involved, get ready, drop out”, was made an enemy of the state, especially by President Nixon, who claimed that his advocacy of hallucinogenic drugs had “killed more people since the Vietnam War”.
In 1963, Alpert was fired from Harvard for administering psilocybin to a student, and Leary was also fired.
The layoffs of both scientists led to the sudden end of the Harvard Psilocybin Project.
Leary, whose phrase was “turn on, tune in, drop out”, was turned into an enemy of the state, especially the Nixon government, which claimed that his advocacy of hallucinogenic drugs had “killed more people since the Vietnam War”.
In 1968, amid an increase in those who turned to LSD, the drug became illegal in the United States.
That same year, Leary was arrested for possession of marijuana and sentenced to ten years in prison in 1970.
But he soon cooperated with government agents and informed left-wing friends to get his early release from prison, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He continued to write books and become a lecturer and “stand-up philosopher” after his release from prison, and his extensive lecture touring tours provided him with a comfortable lifestyle until the mid-1980s.
Leary continued to take drugs often in private, but stayed away from the proselytism of psychedelics.
In January 1995, Leary was diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer and died the following year.
In February 2021, Oregon officially became the first state in the United States to decriminalize possession of all drugs, including heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, and oxycodone.
Proponents of the heavy drug decriminalization measure hailed it as a revolutionary move for the United States, while a vocal minority of opponents – including two dozen district attorneys – denounced the measure as reckless and said it could increase drug use.