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James J. H. Rucker, a psychiatrist and honorary lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, has argued in a British Medical Journal (BMJ) article that psychedelics should be reclassified as schedule 2 compounds:
He explains that many trials of psychedelics published before prohibition, in the 1950s and 1960s, suggested "beneficial change in many psychiatric disorders".
However, research ended after 1967. In the UK psychedelic drugs were legally classified as schedule 1 class A drugs - that is, as having "no accepted medical use and the greatest potential for harm, despite the research evidence to the contrary," he writes.
Rucker points out that psychedelics remain more legally restricted than heroin and cocaine. "But no evidence indicates that psychedelic drugs are habit forming; little evidence indicates that they are harmful in controlled settings; and much historical evidence shows that they could have use in common psychiatric disorders."
In fact, recent studies indicate that psychedelics have "clinical efficacy in anxiety associated with advanced cancer, obsessive compulsive disorder, tobacco and alcohol addiction, and cluster headaches," he writes.
And he explains that, at present, larger clinical studies on psychedelics are made "almost impossible by the practical, financial and bureaucratic obstacles" imposed by their schedule 1 classification. Currently, only one manufacturer in the world produces psilocybin for trial purposes, he says, at a "prohibitive" cost of £100,000 for 1 g (50 doses).
[...] He concludes that psychedelics are neither harmful nor addictive compared with other controlled substances, and he calls on the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, "to recommend that psychedelics be reclassified as schedule 2 compounds to enable a comprehensive, evidence based assessment of their therapeutic potential."
[See also: Research into Psychedelics, Shut Down for Decades, is Now Yielding Exciting Results - Ed.]
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Sir Finkus on Sunday May 31 2015, @02:23AM
It's a stupid ban anyway, I've found Psilocybe cyanescens growing naturally in my backyard. None of these drugs are addictive, nor do they really have a high potential for abuse. Ironically, all these bans do is force people to try dangerous (but legal-ish) research chemicals that can actually kill you. I make the same arguments for all illegal drugs, but in this case it's especially outrageous.
If you look back at the history of other drugs that have been banned, typically they're banned because they were perceived to be popular among certain "undesirable" social groups. Whether the government wanted them banned for that reason, or if that's just how they sold the bans to the public I'll leave for you to speculate. The "white women will have sex with $Race OR $MembersOfSocialGroup" narrative seems to be common.
Join our Folding@Home team! [stanford.edu]
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Sunday May 31 2015, @04:16AM
RCs (research chemicals) have a tendency to run afoul of the Analogue Act in the United States. Say you order the RC 2CP-Dragonfly from a fab in China and have it shipped here to this country and get caught. If it does the same thing as a banned substance and uses a similar route or chemical composition then you are looking at a great deal of time in a federal penitentiary.
Heaven forbid if the RC tickles the same receptors, acts in a, loosely defined, similar manner, or has the same general method of causing the effects. I bet that the jackass judges and prosecutors would consider recreational RCs that had an effect similar to LSD or psilocybin as illegal since both pass the blood brain barrier... I seriously would not put it past them.
Have it shipped to someone who can be trusted to say that they had no idea it was coming and place your order online through a wireless access point not belonging to you and where you are not on camera. Spoofing your MAC address would be smart and using a throw away credit card is obvious. It may be worth the hugely inflated price to avoid the hassle and legal ramifications.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."