The word “psychedelic” was coined in 1956 by psychiatric researcher Dr. Humphry Osmond, who combined the Greek word psyche (mind) with delein (to make manifest) to create a new word meaning “mind manifesting.” Dr. Osmond created the word “psychedelic” to describe a class of substances that catalyze the emergence into conscious awareness of previously unconscious, subconscious, repressed or filtered cognitions, perceptions and emotions, in a manner somewhat similar to dream states. Dr. Stanislav Grof, the world’s foremost psychedelic researcher, described LSD as a non-specific amplifier of the unconscious. The effects of psychedelic drugs are distinct pharmacologically and psychologically from stimulants, sedatives, analgesics, inebriants (alcohol), anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs. Other terms that have been used to describe this class of drugs include hallucinogens, delirients, fantasticants, psychotomimetics, and entheogens.

Psychedelic drugs include LSD (d-lysergic acid diethylamide), a synthetic drug modified from compounds present in ergot, psilocybin (extracted from certain mushrooms), mescaline (extracted from the peyote cactus), ibogaine (extracted from the iboga root), MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a synthetic drug modified from compounds present in nutmeg and sassafras), ketamine (a synthetic drug), DMT (dimethyltryptamine, extracted from plants, present in certain toad excretions and the only psychedelic substance that is endogenous to the human brain), and other related substances. Extended back into pre-history, psychedelics have been used by humankind primarily as part of religious/healing rituals in which the participants sought and frequently reported obtaining a direct experience of a mystical/spiritual nature, with associated healing benefits both physical and psychological. Modern scientific research has primarily focused on the use of psychedelics within either a psychotherapeutic context or as tools better to understand the contents and processes of the mind.

Special thanks to Rick Doblin, Ph.D. for granting the Drug Policy Alliance permission to reprint excerpts from his Harvard dissertation titled “Regulation of the Medical Use of Psychedelics and Marijuana.”

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