Leave it to the US military to provide the ultimate buzzkill.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the US military\u2019s high-tech research arm, announced<\/u><\/a> that it was launching a new project. The project, called Focused Pharma, would investigate how to keep the psychologically beneficial effects of psychedelic drugs without any of the \u201cundesirable side effects,\u201d like hallucinating. <\/p>\n Many currently outlawed drugs are showing medicinal promise in clinical trials today. MDMA<\/u><\/a> (the active component of ecstasy<\/em> or molly<\/em>), LSD<\/u><\/a> (otherwise known as acid<\/em>), and psilocybin<\/u><\/a> found in magic mushrooms <\/em>could all potentially treat difficult ailments such as chronic depression, PTSD, anxiety, and even a fear of death. The US government has already admitted that psychedelics could become the next generation<\/u><\/a> of psychiatric drugs, but it sounds like the military is more interested in the final outcomes offered by psychedelics rather than the experiences themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cDARPA examined evidence from privately-funded human clinical studies demonstrating that certain Schedule 1 controlled drugs that engage serotonin receptors show promise of rapid and long-lasting therapeutic effect in treating neuropsychiatric conditions such as chronic alcohol dependence, post-traumatic stress, and treatment-resistant depression following only limited doses,\u201d read<\/u><\/a> the DARPA website. But tripping balls on the battlefield is not conducive to effective military strategy. \u201cThese [side] effects, coupled with their unpredictable consequences, render the drugs unusable in a military healthcare setting.\u201d<\/p>\n The solution then, according to DARPA, is to develop new drugs that work on the same neurochemical channels as LSD, MDMA, or psilocybin, but won\u2019t create visual, auditory, or otherwise delusional hallucinations. <\/p>\n Gallery \u2014 Bitchin’ Blotter Papers: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n