Revisiting LSD as a Treatment for Alcoholism

Several decades ago, a number of clinics used LSD to treat alcoholism with some success. But until now, no research has pulled together the results of these trials to document exactly how effective LSD was. Now a new meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of the drug, available in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE, provides evidence for a clear and consistent beneficial effect of LSD for treating alcohol dependency.


Teri Krebs and Pål-Ørjan Johansen are both affiliated with the Department of Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. During research fellowships at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, they spotted a gap in the understanding of lysergic acid diethylamide's (LSD's) potential for alcoholism treatment. No researcher had ever performed a quantitative meta-analysis of previous clinical trials using the drug.

Krebs and Johansen set out to independently extract data from previous randomized, controlled clinical trials, pooling their results. They identified six eligible trials, all carried out in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These included 536 participants, the vast majority of whom were male in-patients enrolled in alcohol-focused treatment programs. Individuals with a history of schizophrenia or psychosis were excluded from the original trials. The control conditions included low-dose LSD, stimulants, or non-drug control conditions. Each trial used clearly defined treatment-independent and standardized methods to assess outcomes on alcohol misuse.

While the experiments varied in the dosage used and the type of placebo physicians administered to patients, LSD had a beneficial effect on alcohol misuse in every trial. On average, 59 percent of LSD patients and 38 percent of control patients were improved at follow-up using standardized assessment of problem alcohol use. There was also a similar beneficial effect on maintained abstinence from alcohol. The positive effects of a single LSD dose -- reported both in these and in other, non-randomized trials -- lasts at least six months and appears to fade by 12 months.

Regarding the lasting effects of the LSD experience in alcoholics, investigators of one trial noted, "It was rather common for patients to claim significant insights into their problems, to feel that they had been given a new lease on life, and to make a strong resolution to discontinue their drinking." And investigators of another trial noted, "It was not unusual for patients following their LSD experience to become much more self-accepting, to show greater openness and accessibility, and to adopt a more positive, optimistic view of their capacities to face future problems."

LSD interacts with a specific type of serotonin receptors in the brain, which may stimulate to new connections and open the mind for new perspectives and possibilities, Krebs explains. LSD is not known to be addictive or toxic to the body, but the LSD has striking effects on imagination, perception, and memories and can elicit periods of intense anxiety and confusion.

"Given the evidence for a beneficial effect of LSD on alcoholism, it is puzzling why this treatment approach has been largely overlooked," says Johansen. The authors suggest a number of reasons for this: many of the individual trials did not have enough patients to confidently conclude that there was a beneficial effect of LSD, but when pooled together the trials shows a clear and consistent effect; trial authors expected unrealistic results from a single dose of LSD and tended to discount moderate or short-term effects and; earlier non-randomized clinical trials reporting promising results but had methodological problems, creating the misunderstanding that well-designed studies did not exist or failed to find a beneficial effect. Finally, the complicated social and political history of LSD meant that obtaining regulatory approval for clinical trials became laborious, although national and international drug control measures have never banned treatment development or medical use of LSD.

Its unusual for a psychiatric medication to have a positive treatment effect lasting for several months after a single dose. Krebs and Johansen suggest that repeated doses of LSD coupled with modern, evidence-based alcohol relapse prevention treatments might provide more sustained results. They also note that plantbased psychedelics such as mescaline and ayahuasca which are used by Native Americans to promote mental health and sustained sobriety, merit further investigation for alcoholism treatment.

Source: Science Daily & SAGE Publications.

Illustration © by SpUtNik 23 -RUR und MKZ

Boris Lurie and NO!art By Max Liljefors

Max Liljefors: NO!art is often described as an art movement active between 1958 and 1964. Do you agree about these years as the beginning and end of NO!art? If NO!art has continued after 1964, has it been in less organized, more individual forms?

Boris Lurie: NO!art has continued way beyond 1964 and also prior to 1958. The "cutting-off" date 1964, as espoused by the art historian Estera Milman is, in my opinion, entirely artificial, and I have argued about it with her. Such cutting-off dates are common to art historians, done for cataloguing purposes, and what is more, for accreditation of monetary value in the art market. The cutting-off dates also have a devastating effect on the production of artists, who are, by those means, being convinced that what they produce after a cutting-off date is secondary in importance, and do not belong any longer to the "new times". An example would be the Italian painter De Chirico, who dated his late paintings with early years, on the basis that the idea had come to him at that early date, but he got around to executing it only at the later date - quite valid, in my opinion - yet the art market hated it, for practical reasons of creating confusion about monetary value. That is, in my opinion, the main and real reason for art historians and critics insisting on this untrue measure.

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Source: Boris Lurie and NO!art By Max Liljefors

So much music, so little time...

We live in an era of information technology; an unrivalled age where music, mail and much, much more, is now accessible at the click of a button. Yet the fundamental role of the Dj has barely shifted throughout the years. Yes, technology has played its part (and while modern day effects can add some gloss to the modern set), it's still the track selection that remains most pivotal; the primary factor under which we judge a Dj's merits.

These days however, the discerning jock is having to dig deeper and deeper for music to captivate, (or very occasionally), surprise their audience. It's an admittedly strange phenomenon: In an age where music and information is more accessible than ever before, how can finding what suits prove so difficult? The answer is half attributable to the sheer volume of releases on offer - the other half attributable to the mostly appalling – and vast - palette of music that's served up to us all with increasing regularity.

Hard as it is to believe now, there was a time when searching for new records was considered a pleasure as opposed to a chore. In contemporary times though, the best, (or at least), the 'freshest' Dj's, are the ones that do their homework properly: the ones who constantly plough through the rough in the vain hope they'll discover a diamond. Professional Djs aside , few others have the time to scour the net (or, in increasingly rare instances), a record shop in such fashion, and the labels aren't helping matters: releasing records every fortnight and playing musical roulette in their quest for a hit.

We're embroiled then, in a period of instant gratification, a time when the slow-burning, initially difficult-to-appreciate track is relegated to the obscurity of an unloved hard drive if it doesn't instantly appease. The age of information has also prompted the age of information overload, a culture that obsesses over the latest, one that appeals to short attention spans. Is it really any wonder then, that new tracks are often handed a life span of a month at best?

And what facilitates all this? Well, technology itself. So while the likes of Ableton, Cubase and Logic are used to devastating effect by some, they've become so accessible and easy to use that they've also facilitated and ushered in an era of mediocrity music wise. Technology has become the double edged sword of the electronic music world: without it, networking with like-minded individuals from far afield would be nigh on impossible, but with it, an age of piracy and substandard music has become the norm. At the epicentre of the whole debate are the so-called 'Online electronic music websites' with many - while not without merit - also in ways, the very antithesis of dance music culture. Finding a relatively undiscovered gem on the sites has become a task of gargantuan proportions: one made no easier by the slew of monotonous, unmastered drivel that courses throughout. It's worth noting that such issues aren't consigned to the mainstream either - as anyone who's read the latest 'tech-house' charts on the most infamous of these websites can attest.

So despite living during a time when even the most basic laptop comes ready armed with an array of musical tools, the fact that many Dj's and producers are looking to the past for inspiration is especially symbolic. How ironic too, that this is happening in a genre that prides itself on its futuristic sensibilities. The era of technology has moved too fast, and electronic music's all-encompassing nature has ensured its swallowed up much of its own character in its wake.

Source: Ibiza Voice