March 5, 2015

crowdfunding for LSD

Illegal drugs are gaining increased attention in the research community. A combination of complex regulations, differing requirements for clinical versus scientific research and limited funding opportunities have provided many obstacles for the research community, but some still feel it is worth attempting.

Prof. David Nutt, former Chair of the ACMD, has been one of the most vocal proponents of research with psychedelic drugs. He and his team are now resorting to crowdfunding to get sufficient money to finish their basic research into the impact of LSD.

Two of the team members came to the SMC to discuss issues such as:

• What are they hoping to achieve by studying LSD?
• What does it do to healthy brains and what do we think it will do to damaged ones?
• Why are the regulations so strict and how is basic research different to clinical research?
• Is the rest of the scientific community interested and frustrated by this scenario?
• Why is there a need to use crowdfunding?
• What will be the next steps if it all works as planned?
• What other drugs are of interest and why?

Speakers:

Prof. David Nutt, Collaborating Partner, Beckley Foundation Psychedelics Research Programme and Head of Neuropsychopharmacology, Imperial College London

Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, Fellow of the Beckley Foundation and Post-doctoral Researcher, Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology, Imperial College London