Daily BrewLSD alcoholism treatment may work, study suggests
LSD, that symbol of the psychedelic '60s, could make a legitimate comeback if the medical community accepts a new report about the drug's potential benefits.
Still found as an underground hallucinogen, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) was used as early as the 1940s to help treat psychiatric conditions before the counterculture adopted it as a DIY mind-expander which derailed mainstream research.
Now a group of researchers at Norway's University of Science and Technology is suggesting it might be a viable tool in treating alcoholism. Postmedia News reports the scientists reviewed data from a number of experiments conducted in the 1960s and 1970s that suggested subjects given LSD were more likely to make headway in dealing with their alcohol addictions.
The findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology. The study looked at six LSD trials involving 536 participants, including one experiment done in Canada.
"A single dose of LSD, in the context of various alcoholism treatment programs, is associated with a decrease in alcohol misuse," the researchers concluded.
The survey of experiments found 59 per cent of subjects showed improvements in their alcohol habits in followup assessments, compared with 38 per cent of test subjects who did not take LSD.
Researcher Pal-Orjan Johansen of the university's department of neuroscience said it's not clear how LSD may have helped, Postmedia reported.
"Many patients claim that they get significant insights into their problems, that they get a new perspective on their problems and motivation to solve them," Johansen said.
"It also seems that some people are prepared to be more self-accepting and able to see negative consequences and happenings in their own lives."
The apparent positive benefits of LSD persisted for people out of treatment as long as six months but not on those who'd been away from the treatment program for a year. Johansen said LSD might help in treating other addictions but more research is needed.
His colleague Teri Krebs added their study was not designed to discover whether using a mind-altering drug such as LSD could have long-term psychological effects. And of course, there are bad trips, but Johansen was not very concerned.
"Anxiety is not dangerous in itself," he said. "None of the studies reported lasting psychological problems in any of the LSD patients."
One thing is known: using LSD does not replace one drug dependency with another. Health Canada's web page on the drug lists a number of potentially harmful effects but says it does not cause physical dependence. However, it warns there is a risk of psychological dependence.
A Canadian addiction expert said the study's results ought to be considered.
"We think there should be more research happening in that area," Donald MacPherson, director of the Drug Policy Coalition, told Postmedia. "The drug laws have [created] barriers to doing that kind of research [in Canada]."
