Mind‐altering drugs and research: from presumptive prejudice to a Neuroscientific Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment was a philosophical, intellectual and cultural movement of the late 17th century that stressed reason, science and freedom of thought over dogma, blind faith and superstitious deism. One of the driving forces of the Enlightenment was the oppression of research and original thought imposed by the Catholic Church. The most extreme example was when astronomers were told that they could not study the universe in case they challenged conventional wisdom. In 1616, the Church banned the writings of Copernicus who had revealed for the first time that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not the other way round as the Church had been teaching. They also threatened Galileo with death unless he desisted in his research on the same topic and recanted his findings. This ban on knowledge lasted for 150 years, and it is probably the worst example of scientific censorship in history. > … current DEA regulations in the USA make it impossible for federally funded researchers to study medicinal cannabis or even the effects of its liberalisation Over the past 50 years, a similarly far‐reaching censorship has affected neuroscience and clinical research though it is hardly being discussed and indeed may not be known of by most researchers. This particular censorship was enacted by the United Nations (UN) in 1961 and 1971 by putting a range of mind‐altering drugs into Schedule 1 of controlled substances: this is the highest level of control. This decision has efficiently ceased research into these drugs to the detriment of researchers; worse still, many thousands of patients have been denied potential new medicines. The basis for this ban is the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, an international treaty that prohibits the production, trade and use of specific drugs except under a licence. As of 2013, it has 184 state signatories. …