Psychedelics have been used as healing agents and in religious rituals for thousands of years. From the early 20th century on, they have occupied a place within western culture as a site of inner exploration and a gateway to mystical experiences. Their relationship to mental health research is also longstanding: in the 1950s, psychiatrists would experiment with psychedelics to mimic the effects of illnesses like schizophrenia in the hope of better understanding them. Even though the trials during this period found LSD to be extraordinarily successful in treating patients, these efforts were curtailed as part of the backlash against the permissive counterculture of the subsequent decade. Up until now, if you wanted a shot at achieving hallucinatory enlightenment, you’d have to depend on knowing a guy who knows a guy or possibly the dark web. But in the UK, psychedelic research is experiencing a renaissance. It’s not inconceivable that NHS doctors could be prescribing psilocybin or DMT within the next five years for common mental health problems.
Founded by Sam Lewis, Tom McDonald and Dr Henry Fisher, Clerkenwell Health is a new lab which arranges clinical trials for psychedelic research, which will be the first of its kind in Europe. This is a highly specialised area: to carry out this kind of research, it’s vital to
