Protecting the human rights of people who use psychedelics
Authors: Teri Suzanne Krebs
Journal: The Lancet Psychiatry (2015)

In a recent Comment Ben Sessa1Sessa B Turn on and tune in to evidence-based psychedelic research.Lancet Psychiatry. 2015; 2: 10-12Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (10) Google Scholar explained how the War on the Drugs worldwide has impeded development of psychiatric treatment with psychedelics such as LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms). Prohibition also had negative outcomes for the millions of individuals who find it worthwhile to use psychedelics in various cultural settings outside of those in the clinic. People have used psychedelics in spiritual practice for at least 5700 years, pre-dating all major organised religions.2Krebs TS Johansen PØ Mental health and suicidal behavior in psychedelic users: A population study.J Psychopharmacol. 2015; 29: 270-279Crossref PubMed Scopus (191) Google Scholar 100 years ago, members of rival religious groups campaigned against Native American use of psychedelic peyote cactus.2Krebs TS Johansen PØ Mental health and suicidal behavior in psychedelic users: A population study.J Psychopharmacol. 2015; 29: 270-279Crossref PubMed Scopus (191) Google Scholar However in the 1950s, concerned scientists used evidence and human rights arguments to defend peyote users, leading to legal exemptions for specific groups.2Krebs TS Johansen PØ Mental health and suicidal behavior in psychedelic users: A population study.J Psychopharmacol. 2015; 29: 270-279Crossref PubMed Scopus (191) Google Scholar When psychedelics spread to the wider society in the 1960s, this was also acknowledged by religious scholars and governments as a spiritual movement (eg, the UK Home Office3Home Office, Department of Health and Social SecurityThe amphetamines and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Report by the Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London1970: 29-36Google Scholar). Under the UN 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, WHO has responsibility to evaluate international policy for psychedelic substances. The original WHO assessment said that psychedelics "are usually taken in the hope of inducing a mystical experience leading to a greater understanding of the users' personal problems and of the universe".4Isbell H Chrusciel TL Dependence liability of "non-narcotic" drugs.Bull World Health Organ. 1970; 43: 5-111PubMed Google Scholar The WHO assessment did not cite a single example of harm from naturally-occurring psychedelics such as psilocybin or peyote, and cited only a handful of anecdotes related to LSD.4Isbell H Chrusciel TL Dependence liability of "non-narcotic" drugs.Bull World Health Organ. 1970; 43: 5-111PubMed Google Scholar This was in no way an evidence-based harm assessment. In the past 50 years, people are thought to have used at least half a billion doses of psychedelic drugs. Psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelics are legally sold in The Netherlands. Based on extensive human experience, it is generally acknowledged that psychedelics do not elicit addiction or compulsive use and that there is little evidence for an association between psychedelic use and birth defects, chromosome damage, lasting mental illness, or toxic effects to the brain or other body organs.2Krebs TS Johansen PØ Mental health and suicidal behavior in psychedelic users: A population study.J Psychopharmacol. 2015; 29: 270-279Crossref PubMed Scopus (191) Google Scholar Although psychedelics can induce temporary confusion and emotional turmoil, hospitalisations and serious injuries are extremely rare.2Krebs TS Johansen PØ Mental health and suicidal behavior in psychedelic users: A population study.J Psychopharmacol. 2015; 29: 270-279Crossref PubMed Scopus (191) Google Scholar Overall psychedelics are not particularly dangerous when compared with other common activities.2Krebs TS Johansen PØ Mental health and suicidal behavior in psychedelic users: A population study.J Psychopharmacol. 2015; 29: 270-279Crossref PubMed Scopus (191) Google Scholar In 2016 the UN will have a special meeting in New York to set the future for international drug policy. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Global Commission on Drug Policy say that we must "Ensure that the international conventions are interpreted and/or revised to accommodate…decriminalisation and legal regulatory policies."5Global Commission on Drug PolicyReport of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/themes/gcdp_v1/pdf/Global_Commission_Report_English.pdfDate: 2011Google Scholar National and international policies should respect the human rights of individuals who chose to use psychedelics as a spiritual, personal development, or cultural activity. I am board leader of EmmaSofia, a non-profit organisation based in Oslo, Norway, working to increase access to quality-controlled MDMA (4-methylenedioxymethamphetamin) and psychedelics. I have received funding from the Research Council of Norway (grant 185924). Turn on and tune in to evidence-based psychedelic researchFor many people, words such as psychedelic and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) refer only to dangerous drugs of abuse. Less well known is that tens of thousands of patients were treated effectively with psychedelic drugs in the 1950s and 1960s,1 and that these drugs had almost become part of mainstream medicine by the time they became demonised and research was halted for 40 years. Full-Text PDF