FDA Removes Clinical Hold on LSD Research--A Transformative Moment in Psychedelic History: On September 26th, 2008, the FDA issued a letter saying that we had successfully resolved all the outstanding issues in our Investigative New Drug application (#101,825) to evaluate LSD-assisted psychotherapy in our Swiss end-of-life/anxiety pilot study (PDF). FDA is now open to the possibility of the therapeutic potential of LSD-assisted psychotherapy and will accept data from our Swiss study. “FDA’s acceptance of our pilot study for our Swiss LSD/end-of-life anxiety protocol is the culmination of the first phase of the psychedelic renaissance,” MAPS President Rick Doblin PhD remarked emphatically. It has taken several years for MAPS to reach this milestone with the FDA, This approval bolsters the belief that patience is the fastest way towards legitimizing psychedelic psychotherapy. In our culture, LSD is the most controversial of all the psychedelic drugs due to its association with the cultural rebellion of the 1960s, the implications of which are both celebrated and feared. The FDA has previously approved research with MDMA, psilocybin, DMT, ketamine, and mescaline. LSD is the last of the classic psychedelic drugs to be accepted as a research tool again, and the acceptance by the FDA of our Swiss LSD protocol is a transformative moment in the ongoing psychedelic renaissance. The budget for our Swiss LSD/end-of-life anxiety study is $225,000. We’ve raised about $125,000 and are still seeking the final $100,000. http://www.maps.org/ That is very good news for all of us. Just ate two to celebrate and I'll see you all in the cosmos.
Oh wow, that is really fantastic news, and not just because this happens to be about LSD which is an interest of mine... I am shocked that the government would be this open-minded and allow for the study of a chemical that was once so demonized. This is a victory for the LSD community, yes, but first and foremost it is a victory for science and creativity.
