Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T09:45:51.867Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why was early therapeutic research on psychedelic drugs abandoned?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2021

Wayne Hall Open the ORCID record for Wayne Hall [Opens in a new window]
Wayne Hall*
Affiliation:
National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research and Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Wayne Hall, E-mail: w.hall@uq.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Advocates of the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs have argued that a promising approach to treatment was prematurely abandoned in the 1960s primarily because of Richard Nixon's ‘War on Drugs’.

This paper (1) briefly describes research in the 1950s and 1960s in North America on the use of LSD to treat alcohol dependence, anxiety in terminal illness, and anxiety and depression; and (2) discusses the factors that led to its abandonment.

Method

An analysis of historical scholarship on psychedelic research in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s in North America.

Results

Research on psychedelic drugs in psychiatry was abandoned for a number of reasons that acted in concert. A major factor was that clinical research on psychedelic drugs was caught up in the tighter regulation of pharmaceutical research after the Thalidomide disaster in 1963. Psychedelic drugs also presented special challenges for randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trials in the 1970s that were not as positive as the claims made by their advocates in the 1950s and 1960s. Clinical research became more difficult after 1965 when Sandoz ceased providing psychedelic drugs for research and their nonmedical use was prohibited in 1970.

Conclusions

The demise of psychedelic drug research was not solely due to the ‘War on Drugs’. It was hastened by tighter regulation of pharmaceutical research, the failure of controlled clinical trials to live up to the claims of psychedelic advocates, and the pharmaceutical industry's lack of interest in funding clinical trials.

Keywords

Early psychedelic treatment researchaddictionanxietydepressionreasons for abandonment
Type
Review Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , January 2022 , pp. 26 - 31
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barber, P. W. (2018). Psychedelic revolutionaries: Three medical pioneers, the fall of hallucinogenic research and the rise of big pharma. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
BBC News. (2019). Denver votes to decriminalise magic mushrooms by razor-thin margin. BBC News, 9 May. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48185366.Google Scholar
Blewett, D. B., & Chwelos, N. (1959; 2002). Handbook for the Therapeutic Use of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25: Individual and Group Procedures. Regina, Saskatchewan: Unpublished manuscript; digitised version online. Retrieved from https://erowid.org/psychoactives/guides/handbook_lsd25.shtml.Google Scholar
Bogenschutz, M. P., & Ross, S. (2018). Therapeutic applications of classic hallucinogens. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, 36, 361–391. doi:10.1007/7854_2016_464CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bogot, W., Horn, J., & Kwan, K. (2021). Why the cannabis industry should make room for mushrooms. MJBiz Daily (Denver, Colorado), 17 August. Retrieved from https://mjbizdaily.com/why-the-cannabis-industry-should-make-room-for-mushrooms/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=MJD_20210817_NEWS_Daily.Google Scholar
Bonson, K. R. (2018). Regulation of human research with LSD in the United States (1949–1987). Psychopharmacology, 235(2), 591–604. doi:10.1007/s00213-017-4777-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, J. (2021). A trip to the doctor: a personal experience of how psychedelics are transforming mental health therapies. The Monthly (Carlton, Victoria), August. Retrieved from https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2021/august/1627740000/james-bradley/trip-doctor?fbclid=IwAR2rEVed_ayD_AP9W5OYmJBiTQWLNxd-jbeju1h_ffI4N675Guaxdy_fuc8#mtr.Google Scholar
Brecher, E. M., & Consumer Reports Editors. (1972). Licit and illicit drugs: The consumers union report On narcotics, stimulants, depressants, inhalants, hallucinogens, and marijuana - including caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Goodwin, G. M. (2017). The therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs: Past, present, and future. Neuropsychopharmacology, 42(11), 2105–2113. doi:10.1038/npp.2017.84CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carpenter, D. (2010). Reputation and power: Organizational image and pharmaceutical regulation at the FDA. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. (1967). Psychotomimetic agents. Annual Review of Pharmacology, 7, 301–318. doi:10.1146/annurev.pa.07.040167.001505CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, S., & Dilman, K. S. (1962). Complications associated with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25). JAMA, 181(2), 161–162. doi:10.1001/jama.1962.03050280091013bCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, S., & Eisner, B. G. (1959). Use of lysergic acid diethylamide in a psychotherapeutic setting. AMA Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 81(5), 615–619. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1959.02340170081008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornwell, B., & Linders, A. (2002). The myth of “moral panic”: An alternative account of LSD prohibition. Deviant Behavior, 23(4), 307–330. doi:10.1080/01639620290086404CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Courtwright, D. (2001). Forces of habit: Drugs and the making of the modern world. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Courtwright, D. (2005). Mr. ATOD's wild ride: What do alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs have in common? Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, 20, 105–140. Retrieved from http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/SHADv20n1xCourtwright.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Decriminalize Nature. (2020). For immediate release: Decriminalize nature submits emergency mental health ordinance draft to city council to legalize community-based healing with entheogens. Oakland, California. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/decriminalizenature/posts/3323539437682995.Google Scholar
Didion, J. (1979). The white Album. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Drug Science & Mind Medicine Australia. (2021). Psilocybin. Part 1 - History and Law. Retrieved from https://mindmedicineaustralia.org.au/educational-slides/.Google Scholar
Dyck, E. (2006). ‘hitting highs at rock bottom’: LSD treatment for alcoholism, 1950-1970. Social History of Medicine, 19(2), 313–329. doi:10.1093/shm/hkl039CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyck, E. (2008). Psychedelic psychiatry: LSD from clinic to campus. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Giffort, D. (2020). Acid revival: The psychedelic renaissance and the quest for medical legitimacy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grinspoon, L., & Bakalar, J. (1979). Psychedelic drugs reconsidered. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hartogsohn, I. (2017). Constructing drug effects: A history of set and setting. Drug Science, Policy and Law, 3, 1–17. doi:10.1177/2050324516683325CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartogsohn, I. (2020). American trip: Set and setting and the psychedelic experience in the twentieth century. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, D. (2002). The creation of psychopharmacology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffer, A. (1970). Treatment of alcoholism with psychedelic therapy. In Aaronson, B. & Osmond, H. (Eds.), Psychedelics, the uses and implications of psychedelic drugs (pp. 357–365). New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Hoffer, A. (2004). Humphry Osmond: countering schizophrenia with vitamins. 1 July 1917–6 February 2004. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/feb/26/mentalhealth.guardianobituaries.Google Scholar
Hoffman, A. (1980). LSD: My problem child (J. Ott, Trans.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Jay, M. (2019). Mescaline: A global history of the first psychedelic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jerome, L., Feduccia, A. A., Wang, J. B., Hamilton, S., Yazar-Klosinski, B., Emerson, A., … Doblin, R. (2020). Long-term follow-up outcomes of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of PTSD: A longitudinal pooled analysis of six phase 2 trials. Psychopharmacology, 237(8), 2485–2497. doi:10.1007/s00213-020-05548-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M. W., Hendricks, P. S., Barrett, F. S., & Griffiths, R. R. (2019). Classic psychedelics: An integrative review of epidemiology, therapeutics, mystical experience, and brain network function. Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 197, 83–102. doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2018.11.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kast, E. (1966). LSD And the dying patient. Chicago Medical School Quarterly, 26(2), 80–87. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4163076.Google ScholarPubMed
Kast, E. (1967). Attenuation of anticipation: A therapeutic use of lysergic acid diethylamide. Psychiatric Quarterly, 41(4), 646–657. doi:10.1007/BF01575629CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., & Schaffner, K. F. (2011). The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia: An historical and philosophical analysis. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 18(1), 41–63. doi:10.1353/ppp.2011.0005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilmer, B., & MacCoun, R. (2017). How medical marijuana smoothed the transition to marijuana legalization in the United States. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 13(1), 181–202. doi: 10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110615-084851CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krebs, T. S., & Johansen, P. O. (2012). Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for alcoholism: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 26(7), 994–1002. doi:10.1177/0269881112439253CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Langlitz, N. (2013). Neuropsychedelia: The revival of hallucinogen research since the decade of The brain. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lee, M. A., & Shlain, B. (1985). Acid dreams: The CIA, LSD, and the sixties rebellion (first grove press ed.). London: Pan Books.Google Scholar
Lomax, M. (2017). Beyond the Aetiology Debate: The “Great LSD Scandal” at Newhaven Private Hospital and the Social Foundations of Mental Health Legislation in Victoria, Australia. (PhD). University of Melbourne, Victoria. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11343/208997.Google Scholar
Luoma, J. B., Chwyl, C., Bathje, G. J., Davis, A. K., & Lancelotta, R. (2020). A meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 52, 289–299. doi:10.1080/02791072.2020.1769878CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Madras, B. K. (2013). History of the discovery of the antipsychotic dopamine D2 receptor: A basis for the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 22(1), 62–78. doi:10.1080/0964704x.2012.678199CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mangini, M. (1998). Treatment of alcoholism using psychedelic drugs: A review of the program of research. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 30(4), 381–418. doi:10.1080/02791072.1998.10399714CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin, J. H., Hall, W., Fitzcharles, M. A., Borgelt, L., & Crippa, J. (2020). Ensuring access to safe, effective, and affordable cannabis-based medicines. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 86(4), 630–634. doi:10.1111/bcp.14242CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mills, J. A. (2010). Hallucinogens as hard science: The adrenochrome hypothesis for the biogenesis of schizophrenia. History of Psychology, 13(2), 178–195. doi:10.1037/a0019394CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mind Medicine Australia. (2019). Overview: Pioneering a new paradigm for mental health treatment in Australia. Important resources. Retrieved from https://mindmedicineaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/MMA-overview-2019-.pdf.Google Scholar
Muttoni, S., Ardissino, M., & John, C. (2019). Classical psychedelics for the treatment of depression and anxiety: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 258, 11–24. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.07.076CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nichols, C. D., & Hendricks, P. S. (2020). Classic psychedelics as therapeutics for psychiatric disorders. In Müller, C. P. & Cunningham, K. A. (Eds.), Handbook of behavioral neuroscience (Vol. 31, pp. 959–966). London: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Novak, S. J. (1997). LSD Before leary – Sidney Cohen‘s critique of 1950s psychedelic drug research. Isis, 88(1), 87–110. doi:10.1086/383628CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Neill, T., & Piepenbring, D. (2019). Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the secret history of the sixties. London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Oram, M. (2014). Efficacy and enlightenment: LSD psychotherapy and the drug amendments of 1962. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 69(2), 221–250. doi:10.1093/jhmas/jrs050CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oram, M. (2016). Prohibited or regulated? LSD psychotherapy and the United States food and drug administration. History of Psychiatry, 27(3), 290–306. doi:10.1177/0957154x16648822CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oram, M. (2018). The trials of psychedelic therapy: LSD psychotherapy in America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Osmond, H. (1957). A review of the clinical effects of psychotomimetic agents. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 66(3), 418–434. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1957.tb40738.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osmond, H., & Hoffer, A. (1959). A small research in schizophrenia. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 80(2), 91–94. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13618799.Google Scholar
Pahnke, W. N., Kurland, A. A., Unger, S., Savage, C., & Grof, S. (1970). The experimental use of psychedelic (LSD) psychotherapy. JAMA, 212(11), 1856–1863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perkins, D., Sarris, J., Rossell, S., Bonomo, Y., Forbes, D., Davey, C., … Castle, D. (2021). Medicinal psychedelics for mental health and addiction: Advancing research of an emerging paradigm. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 4867421998785. doi:10.1177/0004867421998785Google ScholarPubMed
Peters, B. (2021). MindMed stock reverses in Nasdaq debut as psychedelics follow pot's path to mainstream. Investor's Business Daily Los Angeles, 27 April. Retrieved from https://www.investors.com/news/mindmed-stock-nasdaq-debut-psychedelics-follow-marijuana-stocks-path-to-mainstream/.Google Scholar
Pollan, M. (2019). How to change your mind: The New science of psychedelics. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Reiff, C., Richman, E., Nemeroff, C., Carpenter, L., Widge, A., Rodriguez, C., … McDonald, W. (2020). Psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 177(5), 391–410. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19010035CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ribeiro, S. (2018). Whole organisms or pure compounds? Entourage effect versus drug specificity. In Labate, B. & Cavnar, C. (Eds.), Plant medicines, healing and psychedelic science (pp. 133–149). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, J. (2019). The bad trip: Dark omens, new worlds, and the end of the sixties. London: Icon.Google Scholar
Roberts, C. (2021). Proposed California law would legalize magic mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, and other psychedelic drugs. Forbes, 18 February. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisroberts/2021/02/18/proposed-california-law-would-legalize-most-psychedelic-drugs/?sh=60f79f2150a4.Google Scholar
Ross, S. (2018). Therapeutic use of classic psychedelics to treat cancer-related psychiatric distress. International Review of Psychiatry, 30(4), 317–330. doi:10.1080/09540261.2018.1482261CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shortall, S. (2014). Psychedelic drugs and the problem of experience *. Past & Present, 222(suppl_9), 187–206. doi:10.1093/pastj/gtt035CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siff, S. (2015). Acid hype: American news media and the psychedelic experience. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sliwoski, V. (2020). The “right to try” psilocybin and new drug therapies by Vince Sliwoski, Attorney at Harris Bricken. Cannabis Business Executive, 11 November. Retrieved from https://www.cannabisbusinessexecutive.com/2020/11/right-try-psilocybin-new-drug-therapies/?utm_source=CBE+Master+List&utm_campaign=312cc47bf3-CBE-P%26L-Issue-198-Nov-12-2020-V1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1f64189714-312cc47bf3-264266645.Google Scholar
Smart, R. G., & Storm, T. (1964). The efficacy of LSD in the treatment of alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 25, 333–338. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14161796.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, J. (2021). No hallucination: Psychedelics could be next cannabis-like boom. MJBiz Daily (Denver, Colorado), 3 May. Retrieved from https://mjbizdaily.com/no-hallucination-psychedelics-could-be-next-cannabis-like-boom/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=MJD_20210503_NEW.Google Scholar
Spillane, J. F. (2004). Debating the controlled substances Act. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 76(1), 17–29. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.04.011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stephenson, S. (2014). LSD And the American counterculture. Burgmann Journal, (III), 41–16. Retrieved from https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n1679/pdf/book.pdf.Google Scholar
Stevens, J. (1998). Storming heaven: LSD and the American dream. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Trope, A., Anderson, B. T., Hooker, A. R., Glick, G., Stauffer, C., & Woolley, J. D. (2019). Psychedelic-assisted group therapy: A systematic review. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 51(2), 174–188. doi:10.1080/02791072.2019.1593559CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. (1977). Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research In Behavioral Modification Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, First Session, August 3, 1977. Washington: US GPO. Retrieved from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013739290&view=1up&seq=4.Google Scholar
Wolfe, T. (1968). The electric kool-aid acid test. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Yensen, R., & Dryer, D. A. (1993). Thirty years of psychedelic research: the Spring Grove Experiment and its sequels. Based on an address to the European College of Consciousness (ECBS) International Congress, Worlds of Consciousness in Göttingen, Germany, 24-27 September 1992. Paper presented at the Yearbook of the European College for the Study of Consciousness, Göttingen, Germany.Google Scholar