TIM’S NOT DEAD –
Aug. 26, 2024 – David Hellerstein is one of a growing number of clinicians who are investigating a potential answer: the little understood, highly promising, very illegal class of drugs known as psychedelics. These substances, which include psilocybin (a hallucinogenic compound found in more than two hundred species of mushrooms) and LSD (derived from the ergot fungus, which infects grains such as rye). As expectations grow for the medical acceptance of these drugs, Columbians are helping to shape the psychedelic-therapy future. They are conducting clinical trials and studies, synthesizing new compounds, training students in psychedelic-assisted therapy, and insisting that the emergent industry be guided by ethics, sound science, equity, and respect for the wisdom and welfare of Indigenous communities that have used psychotropic plants for millennia.
