Altered states: Is it time to change our mind about psychedelics?

Neil Bramwell
Mushroom

It was suggested reading for her neuroscience degree, Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, that first opened Melissa Warner’s mind to the potential of psychedelics in medicine.

“Being a nerdy girl, I wasn’t even aware that psychedelics were illicit drugs when I read it. But I then found modern research echoed Huxley’s words,” says Ms Warner, who is the education officer for Mind Medicine Australia, a registered charity set up to facilitate the development of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.