Psychedelic drugs: a dangerous and illegal scourge; a harmless way to “turn on, tune in, drop out” – or a valuable treatment for mental illness? Research is showing that substances like MDMA and magic mushrooms, long banished to society’s fringes, are proving effective in treating everything from PTSD to nicotine addiction. In this talk, Stephen Bright explores the recent re-emergence of psychedelic science and discusses why this field is absent from the Australian research landscape.

Dr Stephen Bright is a clinically-trained psychologist. He is a Senior Lecturer of Addiction at Edith Cowan University in Perth and a founding board member of PRISM, an Australian not-for-profit set up to advance the cause of psychedelic research.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx.