Is Polyethylene vinyl acetate (PEVA) plastic Harmful to Health?

Volatile organic compounds of polyethylene vinyl acetate plastic are toxic to living organisms.

Abstract: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic products readily evaporate; as a result, hazardous gases enter the ecosystem, and cause cancer in humans and other animals. Polyethylene vinyl acetate (PEVA) plastic has recently become a popular alternative to PVC since it is chlorine-free. In order to determine whether PEVA is harmful to humans, this research employed the freshwater oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus as a model to compare their oxygen intakes while they were exposed to the original stock solutions of PEVA, PVC or distilled water at a different length of time for one day, four days or eight days. During the exposure periods, the oxygen intakes in both PEVA and PVC groups were much higher than in the distilled water group, indicating that VOCs in both PEVA and PVC were toxins that stressed L. variegatus. Furthermore, none of the worms fully recovered during the24-hr recovery period. Additionally, the L. variegatus did not clump together tightly after four or eight days' exposure to either of the two types of plastic solutions, which meant that both PEVA and PVC negatively affected the social behaviors of these blackworms. The LD50 tests also supported the observations above. For the first time, our results have shown that PEVA plastic has adverse effects on living organisms, and therefore it is not a safe alternative to PVC. Further studies should identify specific compounds causing the adverse effects, and determine whether toxic effect occurs in more complex organisms, especially humans.

Is eating artificially ripened fruits harmful?

Eating artificially ripened fruits is harmful

By Md. Wasim Siddiqui* and R. S. Dhua
Source

Abstract: Presently, the whole world is emphasizing on malnutrition, food safety and health security. Several programmes have also been launched in this regard. The year 2008–09 was declared as the ‘Food Safety and Quality Year’ by the Government of India. Most fruit sellers use Calcium carbide for ripening the fruits. Calcium carbide is extremely hazardous to the human body as it contains tracesof arsenic and phosphorus. It is banned in many countries of the world, but it is freely used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and other countries. Thus we are at risk of short-term and long-term health effects simply by eating fruits that are induced to ripen. This article discusses the com-mon yet most important fact related to fruits – how nutrition changes over to malnutrition?

Article Snippets:

Unsaturated hydrocarbons, particularly acetylene, ethylene, etc. can promote ripening and induce colour changes effectively. Although the cosmetic quality of such artificially ripened fruits was found to improve, the organoleptic quality was impaired especially when harvested fruits were subjected to treatment without considering their maturity status. Besides, the quantity of ripening agent required to induce ripening for better cosmetic quality, including appearance, etc. will be much more than the conventional dose, when properly mature fruits are not used for such purposes.

Although fruits developed good peel colour with CaC2,the intensity of colour developed commensurates with increase in the concentration of CaC2 used; but fruits were less in flavour volatiles and had shorter shelf-life. Actually CaC2 only changes the skin colour, whereas the fruit remains raw inside. More raw/immature the fruit, higher CaC2 is required to ripen it. This makes the fruit taste-less, unhealthy and slightly toxic. It also breaks down the organic composition of vitamins and other micronutrients. Chemicals have the potential to damage the vital organs of the body. CaC2 is used for ripening mango and banana in Brazil, Senegal and Malaysia. Comparative effectiveness of ethylene and related compounds is given in Table 3.

Mangoes of the Langra, Himsagar and Fazli varieties,Cavendish banana and some varieties of tomato are not yellowish or fully red when they are ripe. But people are not aware of this and are mostly attracted by the colour of the fruits. Traders sell the chemical-mixed fruits in the market, subjecting consumers to risk, as chemically ripened fruits contain traces of arsenic and phosphorus which are hazardous to the human body. Reports reveal that cheap chemical compounds are used for ripening many fruits including apricots, bananas, papayas, dates, plums, etc. There are a few exceptions like apples, grapes, pomegranates and melons.

Calcium carbide has numerous applications in chemical and steel industries and agriculture. It is popularly known as ‘masala’, and is used as a ripening agent, though banned in many countries. It is colourless when pure, but black to greyish-white in colour otherwise, with slight garlic-like odour. When it reacts with water, CaC2 produces acetylene gas which is an analogue of ethylene and quickens the ripening process. It also contains traces of arsenic and phosphorus hydride. Acetylene prepared from CaC2 also contains phosphine and some arsine up to 95 and 3 ppm respectively. A strong reactive chemical, CaC2 has carcinogenic properties and is used in gas welding. Acetylene gas is flammable and explosive even in a low concentration compared to ethylene.

Besides, indiscriminate use of pesticides on different types of fruits can lead to poisonous effects. Due to lack of awareness and education people consume chemically ripened fruits. Being cheap (1 kg of this chemical costs Rs 25–30, and can ripen 200 kg of mangoes), CaC2 is indiscriminately used in preference to other recommended practices of inducing ripening like dipping fruits in a solution of ethephon/ethrel, or exposure of fruits to ethylene gas.

Considering the possibilities of its hazardous effects,CaC2 is banned in many countries, but it is widely used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and other countries for ripening fruits.

Also read: Evaluation of genetic risks of alkylating agents: Tissue doses in the mouse from air contaminated with ethylene oxide

There are several anti-ethylene chemicals. Silver thiosulfate (STS) is used on flowers. Aminoethoxyvinyl-glycine (AVG, trade name ReTain) blocks ethylene synthesis. It is applied preharvest. The fruit (plant) will not produce much ethylene, so there is not an ethylene response. The ethylene blocker 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP, trade name EthylBloc) blocks ethylene by binding to its receptor. It is applied postharvest. The fruit (plant) may still produce some ethylene, but there is no response to the ethylene. [Source]


A Critical Analysis of Artificial Fruit Ripening: Scientific, Legislative and Socio-Economic Aspects:

 There are few studies reported the presence of chemicals within fruit-flesh and have addressed the changes of biochemical and nutritional properties of fruits because of treating with fruit ripening agents [9, 12, 28]. Wills et al (2007) have reported the ethylene concentration in a wide range of artificially ripened fruits: apple, pear, peach, avocado, banana, lemon, pineapple, orange, and lime [28]. Hakim et al (2012) have collected Pineapple and Banana samples from different Bangladeshi local markets and compared to the naturally ripened and lab treated (using Ethephone) Pineapples and Bananas. They have found that chemically ripened Pineapples and Bananas have higher sugar content than non-treated samples; other fruit nutrition values like Vitamin C and b-carotene are higher in naturally ripened fruits (Table 1). They also have reported the presence of Lead (Pb) in chemically ripened (market and lab treated) pineapples and bananas, and Arsenic (As) in pineapples collected from market) [12]. The daily permissible intakes of Pb and As for adults are 600 ?g/day and 16.7-129 ?g/day, respectively [33, 34]. The average daily consumption of fruits for an adult is in between 100 to 150 gm [35]. Therefore, the possible daily intake of Pb and As from fruits would be 12-50 and 2.5-3.75 ?g/day respectively, which is within the acceptable limit for an adult. Nonetheless, further studies must be conducted regarding the effects of long term consumption of such elements in fruits.

Govt mulls to ban ethylene use for ripening of fruits

"Excessive use of ethylene for artificial ripening is not only harmful for the health of apple trees but its bringing a bad name for Himachal apples, known worldwide for its quality and taste,"horticulture minister Vidya Stokes told Hindustan Times .

"Overdose of chemical on apples and mangoes can have harmful effects on human health,"said Stokes, who is daughter-in-law of Satya Nand Stokes - an American who pioneered apple growing in Kotgarh - now known as the fruit bowl of the state.

"Government is contemplating to bring a law to ban the sale and use of ethylene on apples,"she said, adding that prior to this, the department would also study the legal implications.

Changes of volatile components of tomato fruits during ripening

Volatile components obtained by simultaneous steam distillation-extraction from two varieties of tomato fruits at various ripening stages and their artificially ripened tomato fruits were analyzed by GC and GC-MS using a glass capillary column. One hundred and thirty compounds were identified. Of these, quantitative changes in the major thirty-six compounds were investigated. Hexanal, trans-2-hexenal, 2-iso-butylthiazole, 2-methyl-2-hepten-6-one, geranylacetone and farnesylacetone, which were estimated to be important volatile components of fresh tomato aroma by the GC-Sniff method, increased with natural and artificial ripening. However, many volatile components showed complicated changes in the case of artificially ripened tomato fruits.

The Great Skin Cancer & Slip, Slop, Slap LIE!!!!

Pineal Gland Detox: Enhance Spiritual, Mental and Physical Well-Being

A tiny gland in the center of the brain named the pineal may have seemed insignificant in the past, but researchers have found it to be vital for physical, mental and, many believe, spiritual health. Through poor diet, exposure to toxins, stress and modern lifestyle choices, the pineal gland becomes hardened, calcified and shuts down. To awaken this gland from its slumber, detoxification is necessary using diet and herbs, sunlight and pure water.

AN IMPORTANT PEA-SIZED GLAND

Pinecone shaped, the size of a pea and resting in the center of the brain, the pineal gland is small but powerful. It secretes melatonin, which regulates sleep/wake cycles, and serotonin, a neurotransmitter that fosters happy and balanced states of mind. Not only crucial for a good night’s rest, melatonin also slows aging and is a potent antioxidant. It helps to protect against electromagnetic pollution as well. Moreover, individuals have reported heightened feelings of empathy while supplementing with melatonin — leading to more harmonious interpersonal relationships.

Scientists suspect that N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is also produced by the pineal gland. This is the substance that gives shamanic botanicals like Psychotria viridis its hallucinatory kick. Dr. Rick Strassman, author of DMT, The Spirit Molecule, believes that the pineal gland produces DMT during mystical experiences as well as at birth and death. DMT is also associated with lucid dreaming, peak experiences, creativity and the ability to visualize.

WHY THE PINEAL GLAND BECOMES SLUGGISH

As a result of the aging process and exposure to toxins, the pineal gland begins to calcify. Sodium fluoride is the number one enemy of a healthy pineal gland. This toxin is lurking in the water supply, conventionally grown food and toothpaste. Dietary hormones, mercury, processed foods, caffeine, tobacco, alcohol and refined sugars cause calcification as well. Radiation fields, like those found with cell phones and wi-fi networks, are damaging too. Avoiding these hazards is the preliminary step to healing this gland. The second course of action involves removing existing calcification.

HOW TO REVIVE OPTIMAL FUNCTION

ccording to the Decalcify Pineal Gland website, the following foods and supplements are helpful for detoxifying the pineal gland and restoring vitality:

Above: The natural root-bark of Iboga has been shown to do wonders
on the pineal gland and overall fluoride and mercury detoxification

1. Organic blue ice skate fish oil
2. MSM
3. Raw chocolate
4. Citric acid
5. Garlic
6. Raw apple cider vinegar
7. Oregano oil and Neem extract
8. Activator X (vitamin K1/K2)
9. Boron
10. Melatonin
11. Iodine
12. Tamarind
13. Distilled water

Holly Paige of Food for Consciousness, also offers a number of suggestions to help jump start the pineal gland. “Happy Tea” is one. A mixture of passion flower and St. John’s wort, the tea contains pinoline — a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). When MAOIs are freely circulating within the system, more naturally occurring DMT is available to the brain — encouraging creative and bright mental states.

Another pineal revitalizing brew is ayahuasca. Small ‘tastes’ of this preparation (one tablespoon per day) will help to elevate mood, creativity and inspiration. Ayahuasca can be made by boiling Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis (chakruna) with orange juice for a few hours. In large doses, it can substantially alter perception and trigger visions. In small amounts, it refreshes the mind. Please note: Extracting DMT from any plant, including Psychotria viridis, is illegal in the United States.

Sunlight is also considered ‘food’ for the pineal gland. At least 10 minutes of sunlight exposure is recommended each day. Meditation, chanting and pranayama breathing practices are beneficial to the pineal gland as well.

[Source: The Mind Unleashed]


Related Articles:

The pineal, electromagnetic fields, ELF and chemistry
How to Detox Your Pineal Gland – Fluoride, Mercury, & Consciousness

98 Million Americans Injected with Vaccines Containing Cancer-causing Virus: CDC Admits, then Retracts Statistics Reporting This

CDC Hiding Crucial Information

Above: Snapshot of this information as it appeared on July 11/13

The Centers for Disease Control published valuable information about polio vaccines on their site, but afterwards retracted the information. Why has that information been taken down?

The saved CDC information comes right out and admits that more than 98 million Americans during a span of eight years were injected with a cancer-causing polyomavirus called SV40. This fact alone should serve as a testament to anyone: always question medical professionals who say that you or your child needs a certain vaccine or prescription. So much “medicine” today is actually poison. Professionals are often duped into believing in the safety of a vaccine or prescription, when all along it may be laced with cancer-causing, health ravaging virus, heavy metals, fungus, formaldehyde, or neurotoxins.

What is SV40?
SV40 stands for Simian vacuolating virus 40 and was found in monkeys in 1960. This polyomavirus existed in contaminated batches of polio vaccinations in the 50s and early 60s. Fragments of this virus have shown up in human brain, bone, and lung cancers. This virus is known for causing cancerous tumors.

Uniquely, humans have built in tumor-suppressing genes. The SV40 virus effectively disables those genes, suppressing them through the SV40 T-antigens. This leads to mutated genes that spawn uncontrollable cellular proliferation, leading to cancer.

Michele Carbone, Assistant Professor of pathology at Loyola University in Chicago, has recently found fragments of the SV40 virus in 40% of human bone cancers and in 60% of mesothelioma cancers. Experts in the field are beginning to conclude that the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines were responsible for injecting cancer-causing viral strains into people, mutating their genes and welcoming epidemics of cancer. The contaminated vaccine has been estimated to have adversely affected 10 to 30 million people.

The Discovery of SV40

SV40 was first found by Dr. Bernice Eddy when she studied the minced kidney cells of rhesus monkeys. “The cells would die without any apparent cause,” she reported. Taking the cells from the monkey’s kidney cultures, Dr. Eddy injected them into hamsters. Merck & Co. soon discovered this virus, which was identified and isolated by Dr. Eddy. It was named Simian Virus 40 because it was the 40th virus found in monkey kidney cells. In 1960, the discovery was complete. Merck scientists Dr. Benjamin Sweet and Dr. Maurice Hillman published the findings. Dr. Eddy went on to publish more information about the SV40 virus. A single dose was injected into 13 newborn hamsters and 10 newborn mice. What followed was cellular neoplasms that developed between 156 and 380 days.
Still though, at the time, medical professionals defended the SV40 tainted polio vaccines, despite the published dangers of the SV40 virus contaminating the vaccines.

A more recent report, published in 2005 by the the National Network for Immunization Information, downplays the situation:

"Although SV40 has biological properties consistent with a cancer-causing virus, it has not been conclusively established whether it has caused cancer in humans,” said the report." Epidemiological studies of groups of people who received polio vaccine during 1955-1963 do not show an increased cancer risk.”

With the CDC coming out and admitting that millions of Americans were exposed to cancer causing SV40 viruses in the polio vaccines between 1955 and 1963, there will be increased scepticism about vaccinations in the years to come.

Article Source: LiveFreeLiveNatural.com

Causes of Fibroids, Cysts, Tumors, and Breast Cancer: Estrogen and Progesterone in Contraceptives, Chemicals, and Food

"Fibroid growth is strongly dependent on estrogen and progesterone. Both estrogen and progesterone are regarded as growth-promoting."

Are the elites of pharmaceutical, food, and chemical industries hiding a dirty little secret?

"The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth-control pill or colloquially as "the Pill", is a birth control method that includes a combination of an estrogen (estradiol) and a progestogen (progestin). When taken by mouth every day, these pills inhibit female fertility"

"It is believed that estrogen promotes growth by up-regulating IGF-1, EGFR, TGF-beta1, TGF-beta3 and PDGF, and promotes aberrant survival of leiomyoma cells by down-regulating p53, increasing expression of the anti-apoptotic factor PCP4 and antagonizing PPAR-gamma signalling. Progesterone is thought to promote the growth of leiomyoma through up-regulating EGF, TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta3, and promotes survival through up-regulating Bcl-2 expression and down-regulating TNF-alpha"

Is it in fact the birth control pills and other dietary factors (hormones, pesticides, etc) in our food that are promoting the growth of uterine fibroids, tumours, and breast cancer in our women? Could this simply be a matter of some simple logic?

Hallucinogens as Medicine

ABSTRACT

The article discusses research on the use of hallucinogens including psilocybin for medical therapies applicable to cancer, drug addiction, and psychological problems. Psilocybin studies being undertaken at Johns Hopkins University are discussed. Psilocybin is referred to as a classic hallucinogen, a category said to include psilocin, mescaline, and LSD. Johns Hopkins' research on psilocybin includes assessment of the drug's psychospiritual effects among healthy volunteers and its use in easing psychiatric and behavioral disorders in those so affected.

INTRODUCTION

In a matter of hours, mind-altering substances may induce profound psychological realignments that can take decades to achieve on a therapist's couch. Hundreds of research reports on hallucinogens appeared during the 1950s and 1960s. Illicit use resulted in outlawing of the drugs. Restrictions on research, moreover, brought studies to a halt. Hints from the early set of studies suggesting that these chemicals might help treat patients with various psychiatric disorders were not pursued because of strictures on research. A new wave of studies on hallucinogens, primarily psilocybin, has begun to address whether the drugs can effectively treat the anxiety of cancer patients or help addicts kick their habits. Early results from new trials point to the promise of these therapies, with some patients reporting profound spiritual experiences and, hence, the ability to make important life changes.


STUDIES BEGIN
Andy Lundahl, a 50-year-old health educator, reported to the behavioral biology research center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine one spring morning in 2004. She had volunteered to become a subject in one of the first studies of hallucinogenic drugs in the U.S. in more than three decades. She completed questionnaires, chatted with the two monitors who would be with her throughout the eight hours ahead, and settled herself in the comfortable, living-room-like space where the session would take place. She then swallowed two blue capsules and reclined on a couch. To help her relax and focus inward, she donned eyeshades and headphones, through which a program of specially selected classical music played.

The capsules contained a high dose of psilocybin, the principal constituent of "magic" mushrooms, which, like LSD and mescaline, produces changes in mood and perception yet only very rarely actual hallucinations. At the end of the session, when the psilocybin effects had dissipated, Lundahl, who had never before taken a hallucinogen, completed more questionnaires. Her responses indicated that during the time spent in the session room she had gone through a profound mystical-like experience similar to those reported by spiritual seekers in many cultures and across the ages--one characterized by a sense of interconnectedness with all people and things, accompanied by the feeling of transcending time and space, and of sacredness and joy.

At a follow-up visit more than a year later, she said she continued to think about the experience every day and--most remarkably--that she regarded it as the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant event of her life. She felt it had brought on positive changes in her moods, attitudes and behaviors, as well as a noticeable increase in overall life satisfaction. "It seems like the experience triggered a quickening of my spiritual unfolding or development," she wrote. "Ripples of insight still occur… [I am] much more loving--making up for the past hurts I've inflicted… More and more I'm able to perceive people as having the light of the divine flowing through them."

Lundahl was one of 36 participants in a study conducted by one of us (Griffiths) at Johns Hopkins that began in 2001 and was published in 2006, with a follow-up report published two years later. When the initial paper appeared in the journal Psychopharmacology, many in the scientific community welcomed the revival of a research area that had long been dormant. Psilocybin studies at Johns Hopkins continue along two tracks: One explores the drug's psychospiritual effects in healthy volunteers. The other delves into whether hallucinogen-induced states of altered consciousness--and, in particular, mystical-like experiences--might ease various, psychiatric and behavioral disorders, including some for which current therapies are not very effective. The main drug used in these studies is psilocybin, a so-called classic hallucinogen. As with other drugs in this class--psilocin, mescaline, DMT and LSD--psilocybin acts on brain cell receptors for the signaling molecule serotonin. Confusingly, substances from other drug classes that exert pharmacological effects different from those of the classic hallucinogens also bear the "hallucinogen" label in popular media and epidemiological reports. These compounds, some of which may also offer therapeutic potential, include ketamine, MDMA (which is familiar as "ecstasy"), salvinorin A and ibogaine, among others.

OVERCOMING LEAHY'S LEGACY
Therapeutic research with hallucinogens pursues tantalizing evidence from studies begun in the 1950s that collectively involved thousands of participants. Some of these studies hinted that hallucinogens could help treat substance addiction and relieve the psychological distress of terminal illness. This research came to a halt in the early 1970s, as recreational use of the hallucinogens, mostly LSD, grew and garnered sensationalistic media coverage. The field had also been tainted by the widely publicized dismissal of Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert from Harvard University in 1963 in response to concerns about unconventional research methods using hallucinogens, including, in Alpert's case, giving psilocybin to a student off campus.

The burgeoning and unsupervised use of the little-understood substances, partly a result of Leary's charismatic advocacy, generated a backlash. The 1970 Controlled Substances Act placed common hallucinogens in Schedule I, its most restrictive category. New limitations were placed on human research, federal funding ceased, and investigators involved in this line of research found themselves professionally marginalized.

Decades passed before the anxiety-ridden attitudes that had blocked investigation subsided enough to allow rigorous human studies with these much storied substances. The mystical-like experiences brought about by hallucinogens interest researchers particularly because such experiences have the potential to produce rapid and enduring positive changes in moods and behavior--changes that might take years of effort to achieve with conventional psychological therapy. The Johns Hopkins work is so exciting because it demonstrates that such experiences can be elicited in a lab in most subjects studied. It permits, for the first time, rigorous, prospective scientific investigations that track volunteers before and after taking the drug. This type of study enables researchers to examine the causes and psychological and behavioral effects of these extraordinary experiences.

In its recent study the Johns Hopkins investigators used questionnaires originally designed to assess mystical experiences that occurred on their own without drugs. They also looked at overall psychological states at two and 14 months after the psilocybin session. The data showed that participants experienced increased self-confidence, a greater sense of inner contentment, a better ability to tolerate frustration, decreased nervousness and an increase in overall well-being. Ratings of their behavior by friends, family members and work colleagues uninformed about the drug experience were consistent with the participants' self-ratings. One typical comment from a subject: "The sense that all is One, that I experienced the essence of the universe and the knowing that God asks nothing of us except to receive love. I am not alone. I do not fear death. I am more patient with myself." Another participant was so inspired that she wrote an entire book about her experiences.

RELIEF OF SUFFERING

When research into hallucinogen-based therapy stalled some 40 years ago, it left a to-do list that included the treatment of alcoholism and other drug addictions, anxiety associated with cancer, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosomatic disorder, severe character pathology and autism. Back then, most published reports were anecdotal accounts of treatments with hallucinogens, furnishing much weaker evidence than that from controlled clinical trials. Even the best studies of the era did not incorporate the stringent control conditions and methodologies that have become standard in modern clinical psychopharmacology research.

With cancer, patients frequently confront severe anxiety and depression, and antidepressants and anxiety-reducing drugs may be of limited help. In the 1960s and early 1970s more than 200 cancer patients received classic hallucinogens in a series of clinical studies. In 1964 Eric Kast of Chicago Medical School, who administered LSD to terminal patients with severe pain, reported that the patients developed "a peculiar disregard for the gravity of their situations and talked freely about their impending death with an affect considered inappropriate in our Western civilization but most beneficial to their psychic states." Subsequent studies by Stanislav Grof, William Richards and their colleagues at Spring Grove State Hospital near Baltimore (and later at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center) used LSD and another classic hallucinogen DPT (dipropyltryptamine). The trials showed decreases in depression, anxiety and fear of death, and patients who had a mystical-type experience had the most improvements in psychological measures of well-being.

One of us (Grob) has updated this work. In September a paper in the Archives of General Psychiatry reported on a 2004-2008 pilot study at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center to assess whether psilocybin sessions reduced anxiety in 12 terminal cancer patients. Although the study was too small to yield definitive conclusions, it was encouraging: the patients showed diminished anxiety and improved mood, even several months after the psilocybin session. As with studies conducted years ago, participants also reported less fear of impending death. Johns Hopkins and New York University have now undertaken studies with cancer patients using higher doses of psilocybin--ones more likely to induce the mystical-like experiences that earlier investigations indicated were pivotal to lasting therapeutic benefits. In Switzerland a similar pilot study has begun using LSD instead of psilocybin.

Alcoholics, cigarette smokers and other substance abusers sometimes report beating their addictions after a deeply affecting mystical experience that occurred spontaneously without drugs. The first wave of clinical hallucinogen research recognized the potential therapeutic power of these transformative experiences. More than 1,300 patients participated in addiction studies that yielded more than two dozen publications decades ago. Some of those studies administered high doses to minimally prepared patients with little psychological support, a few of whom were even physically strapped to their beds. Researchers who appreciated the importance of "set and setting" and who provided better support to patients tended to see better results. This earlier work yielded promising but inconclusive results.

The new generation of hallucinogen research, with its better methodologies, should be able to determine whether these drugs can in fact help people overcome their addictions. At Johns Hopkins, Griffiths, Matthew Johnson and their colleagues have begun a smoking cessation pilot study using psilocybin sessions to supplement cognitive-behavioral therapy, a form of treatment that teaches patients how to change their thoughts and behaviors to quit and remain abstinent.

Beyond treating addictions, studies have recently started to test whether psilocybin can help allay the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Other controlled substances with different mechanisms of action are also showing therapeutic potential. Recent investigations demonstrated that ketamine, given in low doses (it is normally used as an anesthetic), could provide more rapid relief from depression than traditional antidepressants such as Prozac. A recent trial in South Carolina used MDMA to successfully treat post-traumatic stress disorder in patients whom conventional therapies had failed to help. Similar MDMA trials are under way in Switzerland and Israel.



Source:
Griffiths Roland, Grob Charles S. 2010 Dec. Hallucinogens as Medicine. Scientific American. 303(6): 76-79.