A Psychedelic Renaissance: 

Present Reflection on
the Past to Build our Future
Introduction
A milestone and commencement of the rejuvenation of psychedelics science: the
launching of the world's first Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College
London in April 2019 earns the admission ticket for psychedelics research into the
international sphere.[1] Rewinding the prehistory of psychedelics - before all the
rejoicing and recognition today - this type of drugs have already undergone its rise
and fall. During the 60s, LSD - by far the most ubiquitous of all psychedelic
substances - emerged and exploded into a cultural phenomenon.[2]

Drawing a widespread interest from fields including psychiatry and psychotherapy,

LSD and other psychoactive substances became synonymous with counterculture
and anti-authority ideas, fueling negativism that the government upheld through a
reassessment of laws and Congressional regulations.[3] The significance of the
establishment of the world's first psychedelic research center, the FDA approval on
psilocybin therapy[4], and the pioneering projects of psychedelic research[5] cannot
unveil its full manifestation without tracing back at the struggles which psychedelics
once endured.

Driven by this motivation, this paper will examine the history of the Psychedelic
Renaissance and the ensuing interplay between drugs and the government as well as
an exploration into the recent resurgence of psychedelics as a new paradigm for
future medicines.

I. The Early History of Psychedelic Research

Psychoactives play an important role in the development of human society and
archaeological evidence reveal the cultural use of psychedelics as intoxicants and in
magical rites for over the past 5,000 years.[6] The historical urge of humans to
manipulate with mind-altering drugs is inherently imbued in our progression of
modern science as a natural drive.

The medical value of psychedelics was soon re-excavated by Western synthetic

chemists. As early researchers were drawn to the creation of new compounds based
on natural entheogenic plants, they also shared their research samples with their
acquaintances. This practice rendered in a fad of consciousness-experimenting with
psychedelics by anthropologists, botanists, writers, and other amaterur scholars.[6]

Societal interest in psychoactive chemicals received significant scientific attention

near the end of the second millennium. Following the isolation of mescaline in 1897
and the first synthesis of MDMA in1912[6], Albert Hofmann from Sandoz
Laboratories synthesized LSD-25 in 1938. Hoffman's discovery opened up the
gateway for many ensuing medical research which psychiatrist fervently advocated.
[7] Among the cohort, psychiatrist Max Rinkel became the first person to introduce
LSD to the U.S. and pioneered a project to test the hypothetical induction of a model
psychosis by LSD in 1949. [7]

The medicinal aspiration of Rinkel to enable a more controlled and objective study of
mental disorders through LSD was echoed among many other psychiatrists in the
same era. Most notably, Humphrey Osmond and Abram Hoffer's investigation in the
potential use of LSD in treating alcoholism took a large leap in 1951 when the 66% of
LSD patients in the study abstained from alcohol compared to 18% otherwise. [7] On
the heels of the promising results, the treatment of alcoholics involving LSD as an
adjunct to psychotherapy began its march into the market in 1952.

II. The "Problem Child" and the Prohibition Period

A. Dubious Research and Methodological Flaws
At the same time when breakthroughs in treating alcoholism, depression, and
neurosis were constantly stood in the frontiers, the standards and methodologies
adopted in these research were also put on trial. Many LSD experiments failed to
measure up with the newly emerged scientific parameters of clinical trials in the
1950s, which embodied randomized controlled trials in order to eliminate of non-
medical factors.[8] With the shift to stricter research standards, earlier published
research and literature successively lost their value due to the lack of objective
measures, inadequate follow-up and other insufficiencies in experimental control.[8]
In particular, the absence of follow-up as one of the most critical flaws became the
most common criticism.[8] Many attacked the blind optimism of psychedelic
researchers and interrogated the confounding consistency in their replication results,
all of which originated from a public frustration on the loss of promising panacea
effect of psychedelics.[8] In fact, a majority of the reported "miracles" by earlier
studies on psychedelic treatments could now be explained as an aftermath of
experiencing a "honeymoon phase" in taking psychoactive substances.

B. Reported Risks
What is more concerning than the poorly conducted research is the issue of safety. In
1962, Cohen et al. became the first to systematically investigated potential adverse
effects of psychedelic therapy. The researchers specifically warned the increasing
potential of abusive and antisocial behavior as a result of euphoria.[9] Following
Cohen's direction, more researchers devoted their studies to the negative effects of
psychedelics, a phenomenon that played the prelude of prohibition later on.
C. Counterculture Movement
The growing complacency in the control of supplies of psychedelics from therapists
and researchers accelerated their fall into the pitfall of illegitimate practices. Many
psychiatrists, who obtained high access to psychedelics, were often the leading
characters in illicit distribution as well as in hosting LSD "parties."[8] When writers like
Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard emerged as founding figures of the 60s
Counterculture Movement, promotion on psychedelia as a "magic pill" for a
renascent spiritual experience anchored a fundamental change in the nature of using
psychedelic substances. Gaining the reputation as a magic pill for a renascent
spiritual experience, LSD was abused to dovetail with the radical interrogation of
government and social norms that prevailed throughout the 1960s. [9]

Popularity of psychoactive substances was further propelled by psychedelics

passionists such as Harvard professors Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, who
encouraged taking LSD and other psychedelics to their students and the community.
[7] In an attempt to increase awareness of hallucinogens, Leary and Alpert started a
group called the International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF).[10] They
encouraged Harvard undergraduates to join and form research cells which would
enable them to obtain hallucinogens. After publishing The Psychedelic Review , the
IFIF escalated their effort by organizing a commune in Newton, Massachusetts.[10]
The commune soon became a seedbed for hallucinogens dealings, where more
students were acquiring hallucinogens through mail order and from a black market
near Harvard [10].

D. Legal Actions against Psychedelics

As LSD became synonymous with the upheaval of student riots and anti-war
demonstrations, the legal status of psychedelic drugs arose as a fervently debated
topic. Government interventions were soon enacted. With new power and authority
granted to Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the direct distribution of
psychedelics to physicians was terminated.[11] The sharp shift in attitudes of the
government could be further revealed through the passage of the Drug Abuse
Control Amendment(1965), which "established special controls for depressant and
stimulant drugs."[11] Before psychedelics encounter the harshest strike—the
Controlled Substances Act of 1970—the United Nations Economic and Social Council
in 1968 passed a resolution claiming that psychedelics presented "an increasingly
serious problem that could have very dangerous consequences."[8] The direct result,
in combination to other regulatory framework, research permits for psychedelics
were evoked and nullified, underpinning the overturn of the "Golden Age" of
psychedelics.[8]

III. Psychedelic Revival

A. Rediscovery and Renewed Research
Despite the climate of the Drug War and its suppression and distortion of
psychedelics, a renewal of research on these substances were surfaced. Since the ban
in the 1960s, the first legal psychedelic study using human subjects, which focused
on DMT to "minimize sensationalism" received its approval at the University of New
Mexico in 1990.[12] Ensued by this little-noted research was a landmark clinical trial
at the University of South Carolina in 2002.[12] Its ability to garner support from the
National Institute of Health and other federal agencies to investigate in MDMA as a
treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder [12] shed light on the launching of more
succeeding research. Among them, there are studies conducted on psilocybin for
treating death anxiety at UCLA, on MDMA for treating obsessive compulsive disorder
at University of Arizona, and on LSD for treating cluster headaches at Harvard.[12]
This reemergence of psychedelics studies is indeed an insinuation of the arrival of a
new era.

B. Continuum of Cultural Influence

As scientific interest in psychedelics resurged, exploration of their therapeutic
potential in the treatment of depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress
disorder is also underway. Back in the 1960s, researchers had already recognized the
introduction of music in psychedelic psychotherapy sessions enabled easing patients'
emotions and became more therapeutically meaningful.[13] Mendel Kaelen and his
team deciphered the mechanisms of music and LSD. From their study, the team
constructed a playlist for generating different "timbre" that can evoke a particular
region of the brain, such as the Broca area, to match patients' therapeutic needs and
moods.

Conclusion
In examining the complex path psychedelics have taken from being a spiritual
mysticism to a countercultural symbol, and from a political stigma to a medical
avant-garde, it is manifesting that akin to the art of psychedelia, the nature of
psychedelics is malleable upon the perception of the society. History is evolving, and
it is not the purpose of the paper to deny nor accept any presuppositions of the
usage of psychedelics. In fact, the first step to explore the role of psychedelic drugs
and to exploit it to the best potential for our future is to unleash ourselves from an
historically proven overenthusiasm and underestimation of their true value.

References
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