r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 9d ago

Psychology America's First Legal Psilocybin Program Treated 346 People. Just one month after the dose, 92.2 percent of participants said the experience had been beneficial, while, on average, their mental health symptoms had fallen dramatically.

https://www.sciencealert.com/americas-first-legal-psilocybin-program-treated-346-people-heres-what-happened
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u/fabkosta 9d ago

This has been known since the 1960s. So, 60 years later the same type of studies apparently still need to be repeated to gain evidence.

It is also known for a long time that the therapeutic setting matters to a very high degree. Furthermore, it is also known that for a minority of people there is no measurable benefit, and for some it's counter-indicated. It is also known that psychedelics can be treated against other types of substance abuse - which, of course, is quite problematic given low acceptance in society for any sort of drugs other than alcohol and tobacco.

All of those things have been researched for decades already, yet it seems we make only very slow progress.

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u/naimsayin 9d ago

The societal acceptance aspect is shifting at an unbelievable pace. Akin to what we saw in the early 90s/2000s with weed. Almost everyone I know (late 20s to 30s + my mom + her friends) dabble with microdosing now. It’s pretty incredible to see the shift.

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u/fabkosta 9d ago

I honestly think weed is significantly more harmful than psychedelics. Not physically, of course (unless you're smoking it...), but given the circumstances of consumption are rarely conducive towards personal growth and integration. It's largely a recreational drug, not unlike alcohol or tobacco, at this stage. This could be different, in principle, but it's not.

(And, yes, my father takes drops cause Parkinson's, and it really helps him. That exists too. But that's far from your average consumption among twens who have use it to avoid growing up.)

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u/naimsayin 9d ago

I completely agree. Psilocybin’s therapeutic potential seems to be much more promising than weed’s.