> Sixteen healthy subjects<p>> Six participants had previously used LSD<p>> The sessions were conducted in a calm hospital room.<p>> Standardized lunches and dinners were served at 1:30 p.m.
and 6:00 p.m<p>> The subjects were never alone during the first 16 h after drug administration<p>> The study included a screening visit, six 25 h test sessions (each separated by at least 10 days)<p>I understand the concept of informed consent, but the study design sounds bad to me, to be honest. According to S1, seven of the subjects had never taken <i>any</i> psychedelic (LSD/psilocybin/MDMA). The study confined them for their first LSD experience, and likely multiple followups, in a hospital room, with a stranger who was not on LSD. And six sessions? LSD should <i>not</i> be used multiple times within 1 year, in my opinion, let alone 2 weeks apart, I think multiple rapid use unnecessarily increases the low-ish risk of psychosis. No matter how nice the room, this seems unethical to me for a few reasons. People shouldn't be experiencing their first psychedelics in a hospital room unless they can't physically leave a hospital bed. I just don't think the basic dose-response curve gains us much new science, this is exactly what most people would draw who have experimented with LSD doses between 25-200ug (though the BDNF effects are interesting as another commenter mentioned).<p>I guess this is a general problem for all psychedelic studies, though. There's no way to place all the necessary controls around the subject, without keeping them indoors and making them feel like a trapped mouse. The inability to change your own setting during a significant psychedelic trip can definitely induce or prolong major anxiety, much more for someone experiencing novel effects for the first time.