Wayne Hall is an Emeritus Professor at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences. He was: a Professor at the National Addiction Centre, Kings College London (2014-2019); Director of Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research (2014-2016), NHMRC Australia Fellow, the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (2009-2014), Professor of Public Health Policy, School of Population Health (2005-2009), Director of the Office of Public Policy and Ethics, Institute for Molecular Bioscience (2001-2005) and Executive Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (1994-2001). He has advised the World Health Organization on the health effects of cannabis use; the effectiveness of drug substitution treatment; the contribution of illicit drug use to the global burden of disease; and the ethical implications of genetic and neuroscience research on addiction.
Colloquium Presentation: 18 November 2022
The 21st Century Revival of Therapeutic Research on Classic Psychedelic Drugs: Antecedents, Evidence and Potential Future Medical and other Uses
Abstract
Clinical research on classic psychedelic drugs in psychiatry has undergone a revival over the past decade and a half. An increasing number of clinical trials of psilocybin and MDMA and other psychedelic drugs have been or are being conducted on their use in treating depression, anxiety and addictions. This paper describes the European discovery of the psychedelic effects of plant-based drugs from the Americas, the synthesis of LSD and psilocybin in the 1940s and 1950s, clinical research on the therapeutic uses of LSD in the 1950s and 1960s, and the reasons for the abandonment of psychedelic research in North America in the 1970s. It addresses the following questions: What factors have contributed to renewed research interest in psychedelic drugs? How does the recent psychedelic research relate to earlier research? What types of research studies have been done and what have they shown? If approved, how should we regulate the clinical use of psychedelic drugs to treat addiction and mental disorders? Should governments allow the nonmedical use of
psychedelic drugs by adults?