Return to Heffter NewsLOS ANGELES TIMES: Turn on, tune in and get better?
The Los Angeles Times on November 29, 2011 featured a very positive survey article on the status of hallucinogenic research and the changing perceptions concerning these compounds in the medical community. As the Times states, “Hallucinogens and other street drugs are increasingly being studied for legitimate therapeutic uses, such as helping patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, chronic pain, depression and even terminal illness.” The research of Heffter Board members, Dr. Charles Grob and Dr. Roland Griffiths, is prominently featured including a wonderful photo of Dr. Grob in his perpetually disheveled office. On a side note Times writer, Melissa Healy, needs commending for using “hallucinogens” and not succumbing to the ever so problematic “psychedelic.” While the word is appropriate, it does, regrettably, conjure the stigma that has so effectively shut down this research for thirty years.
Two notes of correction:
Dr. Roland Griffiths is not a “psychopharmacologist” but is Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Michael P. Bogenschutz is not based at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Dr. Bogenschutz is Professor and Vice Chair for Research and Addictions in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Please follow the link for the Los Angeles Times article:
http://www.latimes.com/health/