Psychiatric Experimentation With LSD

From the Canadian Psych Association, no less…
CJP – June 2005 – Flashback: Psychiatric Experimentation With LSD in Historical Perspective
In the popular mind, d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) research in psychiatry has long been associated with the CIA-funded experiments conducted by Ewen Cameron at the Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal, Quebec. Despite this reputation, a host of medical researchers in the post�€“World War II era explored LSD for its potential therapeutic value. Some of the most widespread trials in the Western world occurred in Saskatchewan, under the direction of psychiatrists Humphry Osmond (in Weyburn) and Abram Hoffer (in Saskatoon). These medical researchers were first drawn to LSD because of its ability to produce a �€œmodel psychosis.�€� Their experiments with the drug that Osmond was to famously describe as a �€œpsychedelic�€� led them to hypothesize and promote the biochemical nature of schizophrenia.

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