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In keeping with Elliot's post, I think it's important to compare the standards we set for one class of drugs with the standards we set for other classes of drugs. Many people in the forum have addressed the perceived danger of these drugs, which I think ties in nicely with a previous line of discussion we had about culture and science. It seems to me that all objective data suggests that the psychedelics are far less dangerous than people actually think they are. This line of thinking is evidenced by the frequent use of the terms "scary" "hard drugs" etc. I have to admit that I feel similarly... something about these drugs feels dangerous. I think it's precisely that feeling that can be attributed to culture and also all mixed up with observations like what these drugs do, who uses them, why those people use them, etc.

After acknowldeging that this is a cultural thing, it seems important to me to address how this can be changed. For this, I think that the example of cigarettes and nicotine is a great one. In our parent's generation, cigarettes were considered to not have a long-term negative effect on the body, and in some advertising cases, were touted as able to improve health. In one generation, cigarette use went from status quo to stigmatized. It's important to note here that this change happened through research on all levels of organization. Reserach drove this cultural change, even in the face of corruption, concealment, and blatantly unethical decisions on the part of tabacco corportations. This all sounds so similar to the history of psychedelics!

I think that you three did a great job of letting the data speak for itself. Clearly, there is a role for further reserach in this field. If that is ever allowed, overcoming the public stigma associated with this drug class will be a very large challenge, but not an insurmountable one, as the case of cigarettes shows. It seems to me that the really important (maybe overly simplistic or optimistic?) message of this account is simply that scientific research has the ability to not only shape the scientific sphere, but the culture that it operates in.