MIAMI — The gurus of the psychedelic era of American pop culture extolled the experience of the “acid trip.” But the U.S. government and much of the public remained leery of LSD, with President Richard Nixon declaring it and assorted other drugs “public enemy No. 1.”
Now, half a century after Nixon launched the War on Drugs, a Miami-area private research clinic has kicked off a federally approved clinical trial to test LSD as a possible treatment for generalized anxiety disorder.
The milestone trial — billed by the drug developer as the largest study of LSD for potential commercial use ever conducted in the United States — reflects a growing body of research that suggests those hippies were maybe on to something: That the mind-altering power of LSD, mushrooms and a host of other hallucinogens — if administered in controlled amounts under medical supervision — might have some beneficial properties, particularly in treating psychological problems.
