Two new stories on psychedelic science: OCD treatment with psilocybin for Project CBD & semantics of "psychedelic" vs "hallucinogen" for Pyschedelic Science Review

What a cool day: two stories on psychedelic science!

The first, for Project CBD, covers three groundbreaking new studies into treating obsessive compulsive disorder with psilocybin and explores the question of the therapeutic value of the psychedelic trip. I interviewed three leading psychedelic researchers about their ongoing work, including David Nutt of Imperial College London, Francisco Moreno of the University of Arizona, and Benjamin Kelmendi of Yale University. I also spoke with comedian/performer Adam Strauss, whose show The Mushroom Cure about treating his own OCD with psychedelics has received rave reviews and been performed across the country. Read the story here.

The second, for Psychedelic Science Review, is about semantics. In it I look at the two most commonly used terms to describe mind-altering, vision-inducing compounds: "psychedelic" and "hallucinogen." I evaluate their relative usage over time in different contexts, including recent trends, and present possible reasons and explanations for this using insights from Terence McKenna and Professor David Nichols. Good story idea from my editor; it was a lot of fun to put together. Read the story here.