Summary: HuffPost Live interviews Brain Games host Jason Silva about why he supports the expansion of scientific research into the risks and benefits of psychedelics. Silva speaks about the various ways that psychedelics can be utilized as tools, and about research into psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy to help people overcome serious medical conditions. "Imagine if you could have the cathartic breakthroughs that 10 years of hard therapy might give you in one afternoon," explains Silva.
Originally appearing here.
Research on psychedelics is making a comeback, and this science-minded TV host says that’s a good thing.
Jason Silva, host of National Geographic Channel’s "Brain Games," is encouraging scientists to explore the medicinal use of psychedelic drugs — saying they can efficiently be used as "tools" to explore the human mind.
On Friday, Silva told HuffPost Live that while you can "abuse any tool just like you can abuse sugar," research has found that using psychedelics in "responsible contexts" may hold promise as therapeutic interventions for a number of medical conditions.
"Some of these things that are coming out about MDMA for people with [post-traumatic stress disorder], psilocybin mushrooms for people who have terminal cancer, apparently it’s like 10 years of psychotherapy compressed into three hours," Silva said in the interview with host Josh Zepps. "I mean, imagine if you could have the cathartic breakthroughs that 10 years of hard therapy might give you in one afternoon."
Of course, government conservatism has discouraged research on medicinal psychedelic drug use for decades, and the FDA currently regulates psychedelic drug research. But now it seems that the use psychedelics in science may be making a comeback.
