Hallucinogens are a class of psychoactive drugs that produce temporary mental changes that include distorted sensory perception and dreamlike states of consciousness. For thousands of years, hallucinogenic substances have been linked with profound mystical experience; the Rigveda mentions a plant substance known as Soma, which, when ingested, produced brilliant visions of paradise. Most scholars believe the drug was a hallucinogen, although the exact plant is unidentified in modern times. The Eleusinian Mysteries, an ancient Greek ritual that persisted for nearly 2,000 years, were likewise centered on a beverage, known as kykeon, that was capable of producing altered states of consciousness. In the Americas, the Aztecs used a variety of hallucinogenic substances in religious and social rituals.
In the 1950s and ’60s, hallucinogens were the subject of serious scientific study. One of the most-famous studies was the so-called Good Friday Experiment, in which 20 theology students were given the hallucinogen psilocybin or a placebo during a Good Friday church service. The students who received psilocybin reported having intense religious experiences. The apparent link between hallucinogen use and spiritual experience led some researchers to investigate the possible uses of hallucinogens as a treatment for psychiatric problems such as addiction, anxiety, and depression.
The use of hallucinogens in scientific research was paralleled by their proliferation in the counterculture as recreational drugs. The widespread recreational use of hallucinogens in “hippie” culture provoked a cultural and political backlash that ultimately led to the criminalization of such drugs under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970; this legislation also had the effect of suppressing most scientific research concerning hallucinogens.
After a long absence, hallucinogens began to reappear in scientific research in the late 1990s. The new studies, which have investigated the therapeutic applications of hallucinogens for a variety of conditions, have been conducted with greater methodological rigor and attention to patient safety than their predecessors in the 1960s. Most of the studies have been small, since hallucinogens are still tightly controlled, and the U.S. government does not recognize any legitimate medical uses and thus does not offer any funding for research. But researchers have generally characterized their initial results as very promising. For example, studies on patients with terminal illnesses found that the mystical experiences induced by psilocybin produced stronger and longer-lasting improvements in patients’ symptoms of depression and anxiety than conventional treatments.