Thursday, October 12, 2006

Acid and Alcohol Don't Mix

Nick Johnstone speaks for me on this topic:

"It should be obvious: giving LSD to an alcoholic in the hope of curing them is a very, very bad idea. But various newspapers this week appear not to agree. For instance, we've got the Independent claiming "LSD helps alcoholics put down the bottle" and Metro stating, "LSD can help alcoholics quit drink".

"They're alluding to the just-released findings of Erika Dyck, a professor of the history of medicine at the University of Alberta, who recently revisited the subject (and subjects) of a four decades old research study by British psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond, who experimented with giving alcoholics a single dose of LSD in a bid to cure their illness.

"Although Osmond's study was dismissed with skepticism, Dyck has now presented her findings in an academic journal, Social History of Medicine, claiming that "the LSD experience appeared to allow the patients to go through a spiritual journey that ultimately empowered them to heal themselves".

"On the eve of being twelve years sober, reading this dangerous drivel makes me shake my head in disbelief. ... " Read Nick's whole article.

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