Since October 6, 1966, classical psychedelics, like LSD, psilocybin “magic” mushrooms, and DMT have been fighting an uphill battle. That was the day California Governor Pat Brown stood in front of thousands of people in Golden Gate Park and called LSD “a growing threat to society.” But now, nearly half a century later, research published Tuesday in the Journal of Psychopharmacologysuggests the same psychedelics are less of a threat to a society — and might even be a way to improve it. [Read an extended annotated summary of Michael Pollan's book, How to Change Your Mind]

Let’s be clear, psychedelics are still a Schedule One drug in the United States: In some states, possession for personal use can land you up to 15 years in jail and a $3,000 fine. But these hefty penalties haven’t discouraged researchers from — completely legally, by the way — investigating the beneficial effects of classical psychedelics. In the new study, the team of Canadian authors show that, in males, a history of psychedelic drug use was inversely related to instances of physical violence against and intimate partners. “Although use of certain drugs like alcohol, methamphetamine or cocaine is associated with increased aggression and partner violence, use of psychedelics appears to have the opposite effect,” said lead author and UBC Okanagan clinical psychology graduate student Michelle Thiessen in a statement published Tuesday. “We found that among men who have used psychedelics one or more times, the odds of engaging in partner violence was reduced by roughly half. That’s significant.”

LSD is one of the psychedelics classified as a 5-HT receptor agonist, meaning it can bind to certain receptors in the brain

Their work, they write, builds off a small but growing body of previous research showing that psychedelics show promise as “therapeutic adjuncts in the treatment of internalizing disorders (e.g. anxiety and mood problems).” The findings of their survey of 1,266 men and women were consistent with those of a 2016 study showing a similar link between psychedelic use and violence on incarcerated men, but the new research is significant because it’s one of the first to investigate a connection between non-violent tendencies and psychedelics in a general population. The new connection, it’s important to note, can’t be classified as a casual one just yet — but it underscores the need for more research.