An interesting article- another call for research, problems with patents

[null24]

From the article:here. (TheWeek.com)

A ...problem is when a potential medical use for a substance is found, but its patent has already lapsed. Any public-domain compound still has to undergo the studies to get FDA approval; but without the monopoly profits, no drug company will bother doing that science.

Psychedelics, such as psilocybin (one of the active ingredients in magic mushrooms) and LSD, are currently stuck in this limbo. As Michael Pollan details in a riveting and brilliant piece for The New Yorker, the science on psychedelics is making a comeback. After the 1960s, there was a decades-long crackdown on such research, sparked by irresponsible grandstanding by clowns like Timothy Leary(edit:italics mine):lol: on the one hand, and a far worse overreaction and backlash in mainstream society on the other. But in recent years, a dedicated group of researchers has been producing some solid research on various psychedelic compounds.

Though still preliminary, the results are nothing short of astounding... studies employing ordinary, conservative scientific techniques are finding hugely positive results.

The problem is that large-scale studies are needed to obtain final FDA approval, which makes them very expensive...No drug company would waste money on those studies. It would be financially irresponsible.

So what is to be done? First, direct government funding is and always has been an important part of scientific funding. In a sane world, with substances as promising as the above psychedelics, the government would simply fund the research itself and be done with it.Only an increasingly anachronistic brand of drug warrior politics stands in the way. But with something like 22 veterans per day committing suicide, any treatment with a potential 60+ percent long-tem cure rate for PTSD ought to be jammed through mass trials at the highest possible speed.

Im not familiar with this news source, this appeared in my gmail inbox. I thought it brings up some good valid points I had never considered. It is unfortunate that no matter how far we go with changing the mass consciousness in a positive way, directed towards using psychedelics in a healing fashion, the potential for profit will be what motivates the medical/pharma industries to research and produce them.

:thumb_up: Oh and PS, Thanks Trav, for the welcome baque! I really appreciate the help. I hate it when I lose my house key.:thumb_up:

 

[GOD]

" After the 1960s, there was a decades-long crackdown on such research, sparked by irresponsible grandstanding by clowns like Timothy Leary . Laughing on the one hand, and a far worse overreaction and backlash in mainstream society on the other. But in recent years, a dedicated group of researchers has been producing some solid research on various psychedelic compounds. "

OK so he wasnt very smart but to call him a clown is to much . Thats often been described as critic from vain scientists .

He got shot at by the scientific comunity because he took their toy and played with it in public . BUT ....... if it hadnt have been for him would the general public even know about it now ?

The BIGGEST joke there from people like hofmann was that leary got the acid and the psilocybin in kilos legaly from ...... SANDOZ = The firm that hofmann worked for .

The other big joke is that mr hofmann himself later gave people LSD for recreational use .

 

[jamie]

Ahh well, I am sure leary was called worse things by better people.

Everyone needs a scapegoat so they can feel superior.

 

[null24]

I agree the term is a stretch and you cant blame Leary for not being blessed with the ability to see clearly into the future. He took it upon himself, or was saddled by his karmic place in history, to open the pandora's box of modern human consciousness in the form of a drug. LSD in the sixties was the equivalent of the atom bomb to society and culture in the west, and handling it like Leary did was taking a huge step into the unknown and incredibly huge risks that go along with such an endeavor. He was pioneering a new American culture. And I guess he did pretty damn well, considering.

Some of Leary's actions could be called grandstanding, some heroic, and some could be called downright irresponsible. But of course, when you write out the whole formula- the weight of his actions upon culture, along with the combined benefits and failures of his actions, the sum would more than likely be positive.(and strange)

I really didnt want to ruffle feathers, nor is it the focus of the OP, but I'll admit to having a touch of resentment towards him for what Ive seen as being damaging to the "movement", for some of his actions were doubtlessly responsible for helping to make the prohibition on psychedelics go down. But he was also held up as a scapegoat in those proceedings in the media, popular representations, and probably even in the legal proceedings for all Id care to guess. I thought the italicized quote illustrates what Ive perceived as a shift in the popular attitude towards these drugs though, or more so a shift in the people who are calling for an end to their prohibition. I'm seeing more and more conservative voices calling for a new look at them, and I think that's a good thing, since it represents a wider segment or portion of the public interested in them. The fact that we have a generation of young men returning to the U.S. from a vicious, bloody, brutal and all but invisible overseas war who are suffering from PTSD and who as the write up states, are taking their own lives at a staggering rate combined with the overwhelmingly positive results of the few studies that have been performed using psychedelics to treat them demands a closer look at these substances, and the military isn't the traditional bastion of liberal thinking you may think it is. The military, or VA, may end up being a primary funding source for the legitimization of psychedelics for therapy.

 

[Chan]

Either way, great posts and links, I've been thinking about the patent-bind a lot lately. IMO, there needs to be a legitimate space for plant medicine (all of it!), alongside of big pharma. Some things will be treated better with plants, some things with synthetics: we find out.

The "scientific" focus on the "single active constituent" is also deeply flawed. It's why single-component pharmaceuticals tend to induce debilitating side-effects, and plants don't.

 

[jamie]

"I really didnt want to ruffle feathers, nor is it the focus of the OP, but I'll admit to having a touch of resentment towards him for what Ive seen as being damaging to the "movement" "

I think he played the Prometheus card rather well. Movements tend to degrade into nicely packaged bs rather quick anyway.

 

[jamie]

"The fact that we have a generation of young men returning to the U.S. from a vicious, bloody, brutal and all but invisible overseas war who are suffering from PTSD and who as the write up states, are taking their own lives at a staggering rate combined with the overwhelmingly positive results of the few studies that have been performed using psychedelics to treat them demands a closer look at these substances, and the military isn't the traditional bastion of liberal thinking you may think it is. The military, or VA, may end up being a primary funding source for the legitimization of psychedelics for therapy."

The idea of military funded psychedelic therapy is interesting, and perhaps likely, due to it's implications. How convenient...now they can send more people off to die in dishonest wars, and simply wipe clean the slate of trauma which plagues those the military industrial complex pawns away to do it's (dirty) bidding.

Yeah, I'm sure some people are going to take issue with me saying that.

 

[urtica]

Yeah the idea of the military funding psychedelic studies is pretty scary to me, especially considering how much research was done by the military already on using psychedelics as mind control agents/brain washing tools. Project BLUEBIRD I think?

Although I could also see veterans taking psychedelic medicines to work with PTSD and really seeing how evil the military complex is, which might lead to a larger segment of people in the society who do not encourage future generations to join the military.

 

[null24]

The idea of military funded psychedelic therapy is interesting, and perhaps likely, due to it's implications. How convenient...now they can send more people off to die in dishonest wars, and simply wipe clean the slate of trauma which plagues those the military industrial complex pawns away to do it's (dirty) bidding.

Yeah, I'm sure some people are going to take issue with me saying that.

I'm not one of them. I had thought the same thing.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Interesting thread.

The inability of big pharma to profit from psychedelics is a strange echo of the 'no selling' rule!

The possible implication that this could place research in the hands of the state and the military - as if it isn't already - leads me to consider the possibility that at some point in the future, by signing up to the military the person concerned would be giving their implied consent to psychedelic/empathogenic treatment of PTSD.

OK so he wasnt very smart but to call him a clown is to[o] much[...]
The other big joke is that mr hofmann himself later gave people LSD for recreational use .

I think Leary was very much a clown, but that's not to denigrate his intelligence.

The comedy that clowns perform is usually in the role of a fool whose everyday actions and tasks become extraordinary—and for whom the ridiculous, for a short while, becomes ordinary. This style of comedy has a long history in many countries and cultures across the world. Some writers have argued that due to the widespread use of such comedy and its long history it is a need that is part of the human condition.

Here.

The most ancient clowns have been found in the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, around 2400 BC. Unlike court jesters, clowns have traditionally served a socio-religious and psychological role, and traditionally the roles of priest and clown have been held by the same persons.

Peter Berger writes that "It seems plausible that folly and fools, like religion and magic, meet some deeply rooted needs in human society". For this reason, clowning is often considered an important part of training as a physical performance discipline, partly because tricky subject matter can be dealt with, but also because it requires a high level of risk and play in the performer.

^I find this to be particularly relevant.

GOD, I've tried looking for the source of your assertion that Hofmann gave LSD for recreational use - where did you get that from?

you cant blame Leary for not being blessed with the ability to see clearly into the future

Despite his use of LSD!

single-component pharmaceuticals tend to induce debilitating side-effects, and plants don't.

The short term side-effects of ayahuasca (for example) could be considered rather debilitating on occasion... And once I accidentally overdosed on Devils Claw, and was shitting rusty water for a week. At least that distracted from my backache, I suppose.

"I really didnt want to ruffle feathers, nor is it the focus of the OP, but I'll admit to having a touch of resentment towards him for what Ive seen as being damaging to the "movement" "

I think he played the Prometheus card rather well. Movements tend to degrade into nicely packaged bs rather quick anyway.

:thumb_up: