Washington: New research on the use of psychedelic drugs as treatment for a range of mental disorders appears to be throwing open doors of perception long closed within the medical community, says a new analysis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

For several decades, the North American medical establishment has classified psychedelic drugs-including lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, psilocybin and methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA , also known as ecstasy – as drugs of abuse with little to no medical purpose or means of safe use.

Psychedelics may be on their way back in if some researchers have their way. Illustration: Michael Mucci

That, four researchers argue, is changing.

In Switzerland, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Mexico and the United States, researchers with no evident countercultural tendencies are conducting research that is finding psychedelic drugs a valuable adjunct to psychotherapy in treating addiction, post-traumatic stress and the depression or anxiety that often comes with terminal illness.