Public interest in the science of powerful psychoactive drugs is at an-all-time, er, high. Evidence for the therapeutic benefits of marijuana, MDMA, psilocybin and more is growing, based on a resurgence of scientific interest in studying these compounds.
But many of these drugs are strictly banned by the federal government, and those caught with them on the street can face steep fine and felony prison time. So where are researchers getting the drugs for their studies?
The short answer is, in many cases, the federal government. The National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has an extensive catalog of drugs that researchers can order from, including heroin, cannabis, ibogaine and even carfentanil, a drug often used to sedate elephants.
Getting to the point where you can place an order for heroin to Uncle Sam is difficult, though, and it involves spools of red tape, background checks and rigorous protocols. But a small cohort of researchers remains dedicated to exploring the healing potential of currently illegal drugs, despite the often daunting bureaucratic hoops.
“It is likely that several drugs currently classified under Schedule I have important therapeutic potential,” a group of New York doctors wrote in the American Journal of Bioethics in 2016. “The Catch 22 … is that the classification of drugs as Schedule I amounts to an unsurmountable barrier to research.”
