Psychedelic drugs such as LSD, MDMA and ketamine show promise in the treatment of mental health problems.
The crossover between illicit drugs and medicines is nothing new. Opiates like heroin and morphine can be our most effective medical painkillers, yet cause immense harm to individuals and society. Some drugs that are currently illicit were originally invented or discovered for use in medicine. Conversely, some medicines have been developed from drugs that have become illegal – cannabis had been used for thousands of years, and made widely illegal, before the medicine Sativex was recently derived from it to treat multiple sclerosis.