The social hysteria about psychoactive drug use was caused partly by cynical calculation by politicians, partly by profit-seeking drug lords themselves, I suspect, and partly by a deep pervasive unconscious fear of loss of control. For the moment it seems to be losing ground, and scientists are ever-so-carefully going back to what they were doing in the 1960s in the first place — exploring the fascinating inner potential these drugs can reveal. But nobody wants to be accused of being another Tim Leary (whose main offense appears to be that he was not apologetic about his belief in the potential for transformation), so, as usual, they wrap their experimentation in vigorously defended protocols. It reminds me of how they had to invent the protocol we know as “remote viewing” in order to give themselves permission to investigate even one aspect of extra-sensory perception.
From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/science/12psychedelics.html?emc=eta1
Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: April 11, 2010
As a retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin was well acquainted with traditional treatments for depression, but his own case seemed untreatable as he struggled through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer. Counseling seemed futile to him. So did the antidepressant pills he tried.
Nothing had any lasting effect until, at the age of 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms.