All In The Mind

Advances in neuroscience and AI could revolutionise medicine but they also pose significant ethical and social challenges. If a brain computer interface can allow a blind person to see, or restore speech to those who’ve lost the ability to communicate, what does this mean for a person’s sense of self, personal responsibility, or privacy?

Kathleen Harrison is an ethnobotanist studying the relationship between plants, people, and culture. She's worked throughout Latin America since the 1960s and informed by long relationships with indigenous healers, naturalists, and her own decades of psychedelic curiosity. She co-founded the organisation Botanical Dimensions with Terence McKenna in 1985.

In 1966, as a reaction to disturbing reports of people having bad trips, the Psychedelic drug LSD was banned in the U.S. But now some scientists are seeing promising results from studies into the therapeutic benefits of using psychedelic drugs to treat mental illness.

The not-for-profit association Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine Incorporated (PRISM) was set up over 7 years ago to initiate and progress psychedelic medical research in Australia. PRISM is currently collaborating with the USA-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

Some exciting news was published earlier this year in the Psychiatric Journal JAMA, about the potential mental health benefits of psychedelic drug research. It’s likely that within the next 5 years researchers will know whether the psychoactive drug commonly known as ecstasy—methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA—can be used to treat psychiatric disorders.