Forum debating LSD, other hallucinogens

BASEL , Switzerland, March 21 (UPI) -- The first World Psychedelic Forum opened Friday in Switzerland to highlight renewed scientific and cultural interest in hallucinogenic drugs.

Fifty experts from around the world are participating in the three-day forum in Basel, Switzerland, to debate "the multi-dimensional psychedelic experience with its tremendous potential for expanding consciousness and for self-awareness," forum officials told Swisinfo.com.

"(There) are very few people who know what psychedelics are about and many people think that LSD, heroin and cocaine are just illegal drugs," forum project manager Lucius Werthmuller told Swissinfo. "We want to let people know that psychedelics like LSD are not toxic, they don't lead to addiction and they are really safe if they are used the right way on a stable personality."

Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann, 102, who discovered the mind-altering LSD -- or lysergic acid diethylamide -- will be honored during the seminar. Doctors originally thought it could be used in psychotherapy but it became popular in the 1960s drug culture.

Last December the Swiss medical authorities said they approved LSD-assisted psychotherapy trials on patients suffering from advanced-stage cancer and other terminal illnesses, the first therapeutic study of its kind on humans in 35 years.