Outlawing
psychoactive drugs amounts to the worst case of scientific censorship in modern
times, leading scientists have argued.
UN
conventions on drugs in the 1960s and 1970s have not only compounded the harms
of drugs but also produced the worst censorship of research for over 300 years.
This has set back research in key areas such as consciousness by decades and
effectively stopped the investigation of promising medical treatments, the
researchers say.
“The
decision to outlaw these drugs was based on their perceived dangers, but in
many cases the harms have been overstated and are actually less than many legal
drugs such as alcohol,” said Professor Nutt, Edmond J Safra Professor of
Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London.
The call
for reform has been endorsed by the British Neuroscience Association and the
British Association for Psychopharmacology, and the researchers are also
seeking support from other academic organizations.
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