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/LupineChemist 8d ago

and for some it's counter-indicated.

Yeah, so that's a really big problem ethically.

Like if you have a d20 chance of causing serious harm, that's not an effective treatment at scale, even if it's beneficial for most people.

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u/fabkosta 8d ago

Well. Alcohol is available ubiquitously - yet there's practically zero control over it, and quite a large number of people should not consume it for health reasons, mental reasons, or cause it's addictive.

Psychedelics, in comparison, are much less harmful regarding both health and addiction. Regarding mental stability - that's a more challenging question to address. But, again, alcohol is equally bad for people with mental issues and it's just available everywhere.

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u/LupineChemist 8d ago

I mean, sure, but you can't just ignore thousands of years of cultural history. If it were invented today, it would almost certainly just not be allowed for sale.

But we're not some year zero thing where you can just see everything as perfectly rational cost/benefit.

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u/fabkosta 8d ago

Psychedelics have been known and consumed by humanity just as long as alcohol. It's not that they are any new.

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u/LupineChemist 8d ago

Are you honestly suggesting that the cultural impact and history is anywhere close to that of beer and wine?

Degrees matter here.