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Outlawing drugs like marijuana censors science, researchers say
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Jun 16, 2013, 8:17:20 AM6/16/13
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Outlawing drugs like marijuana censors science, researchers say
Published June 12, 2013
Reuters
The outlawing of drugs such as cannabis, magic mushrooms and other
psychoactive substances amounts to scientific censorship and is
hampering research into potentially important medicinal uses, leading
scientists argued on Wednesday.
Laws and international conventions dating back to the 1960s have set
back research in key areas such as consciousness by decades, they
argued in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
"The decision to outlaw these drugs was based on their perceived
dangers, but in many cases the harms have been overstated," said David
Nutt, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College
London.
In a statement accompanying the Nature Reviews paper, he said the laws
amounted "to the worst case of scientific censorship since the
Catholic Church banned the works of Copernicus and Galileo".
"The laws have never been updated despite scientific advances and
growing evidence that many of these drugs are relatively safe. And
there appears to be no way for the international community to make
such changes," he said.
"This hindering of research and therapy is motivated by politics, not
science."
Nutt and Leslie King, both former British government drugs advisers,
and co-author David Nichols of the University of North Carolina,
called for the use of psychoactive drugs in research to be exempted
from severe restrictions.
"If we adopted a more rational approach to drug regulation, it would
empower researchers to make advances in the study of consciousness and
brain mechanisms of psychosis, and could lead to major treatment
innovations in areas such as depression and PTSD," Nutt said.
Nutt was sacked as a government adviser in 2009 after publicly
criticizing the government for ignoring scientific advice on cannabis
and ecstasy. He has conducted a small human trial using psilocybin,
the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms.
His study, using volunteers, suggested the drug had the potential to
alleviate severe forms of depression in people who did not respond to
other treatments.
But in April, Nutt said his plans to conduct the first full clinical
trial to explore psilocybin as a treatment had stalled because of
stringent rules on the use of illegal drugs in research.
The scientists said their call for reform had been endorsed by the
British Neuroscience Association and the British Association for
Psychopharmacology.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/12/outlawing-drugs-like-marijuana-censors-science-researchers-say/#ixzz2WNfyJL00
Published June 12, 2013
Reuters
The outlawing of drugs such as cannabis, magic mushrooms and other
psychoactive substances amounts to scientific censorship and is
hampering research into potentially important medicinal uses, leading
scientists argued on Wednesday.
Laws and international conventions dating back to the 1960s have set
back research in key areas such as consciousness by decades, they
argued in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
"The decision to outlaw these drugs was based on their perceived
dangers, but in many cases the harms have been overstated," said David
Nutt, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College
London.
In a statement accompanying the Nature Reviews paper, he said the laws
amounted "to the worst case of scientific censorship since the
Catholic Church banned the works of Copernicus and Galileo".
"The laws have never been updated despite scientific advances and
growing evidence that many of these drugs are relatively safe. And
there appears to be no way for the international community to make
such changes," he said.
"This hindering of research and therapy is motivated by politics, not
science."
Nutt and Leslie King, both former British government drugs advisers,
and co-author David Nichols of the University of North Carolina,
called for the use of psychoactive drugs in research to be exempted
from severe restrictions.
"If we adopted a more rational approach to drug regulation, it would
empower researchers to make advances in the study of consciousness and
brain mechanisms of psychosis, and could lead to major treatment
innovations in areas such as depression and PTSD," Nutt said.
Nutt was sacked as a government adviser in 2009 after publicly
criticizing the government for ignoring scientific advice on cannabis
and ecstasy. He has conducted a small human trial using psilocybin,
the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms.
His study, using volunteers, suggested the drug had the potential to
alleviate severe forms of depression in people who did not respond to
other treatments.
But in April, Nutt said his plans to conduct the first full clinical
trial to explore psilocybin as a treatment had stalled because of
stringent rules on the use of illegal drugs in research.
The scientists said their call for reform had been endorsed by the
British Neuroscience Association and the British Association for
Psychopharmacology.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/12/outlawing-drugs-like-marijuana-censors-science-researchers-say/#ixzz2WNfyJL00
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