Progress Toward a Safer Psychedelic Drug to Treat Depression and Addiction (opens in new tab)

(npr.org)

65 pointsmarz05y ago6 comments

6 comments

Previously discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25369552

"Olson's team selected ibogaine because it seemed to have the most daunting side effects, including hallucinations and potentially fatal heart problems. It's also increasingly hard to find the plants that naturally contain ibogaine, and synthetic versions of the drug have been difficult to make in large quantities."

"These obstacles make ibogaine "the Mount Everest of psychedelics," Olson says."

Another candidate would have been datura and related plants.

pstuart5y ago

Datura is some scary shit. Way back in the days of "experimentation" jimsonweed was investigated by friends. In 2 of those cases they were literally hallucinating for over 24 hours -- not walls breathing stuff, literally living in a different universe.

Obviously there was recklessness involved, but it certainly made an impression on me.

xyzzy1235y ago

Hallucinations are one thing.

If they took datura your friends most likely experienced delusions (aka distorted perceptions or thinking - and you believe it is real).

It's a really reckless thing to mess around with under almost any circumstances.

1 more reply

jmcgough5y ago

Would love this. Psilocybin is the only thing I've found that knocks me out of my depression for a week or two when I'm too low to function. But I wish I could get those benefits without having to commit a full day to the psychedelic aspects of it (as I've gotten older it can feel less exciting and more like a chore).

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