A Psychedelic Revival in Modern Medicine

The over-use and abuse of LSD, magic mushrooms and other hallucinogens in the counter-cultural sixties led to a federal ban signed by Richard Nixon in 1970. Nobody says it's time to "tune in, turn on and drop out" again, but researchers around the country report that psychedelics have real medical benefits after all. They've eased the anxiety of terminal cancer patients and helped suicidal veterans with PTSD want to live again, as highlighted in a recent article by Michael Pollan in the New Yorker magazine. But the risk of adverse side effects has medical authorities preaching caution about continued experimentation.