Newly published research suggests common psychedelic drugs like magic mushrooms, LSD and mescaline may reduce criminal offences.
UBCO Associate Professor of Psychology Zach Walsh, who co-authored the study, says research into the benefits of psychedelic drugs actually started decades ago to treat alcoholism and mental illness.
(Image: UBC Okanagan’s Assoc. Prof. Zach Walsh)
"There was a whole lot of interest; they were thought to be the most promising compounds, and then when they became popularized, and they became part of the culture wars of the 1960's, the research was a casuality of that - but in the last decade or so we've seen a real resurgence of interest, and some of those taboos and stigma seem to be falling away and people are examining these (drugs) again as having great therapeutic potential," he says.
Walsh says they found the odds of respondents, who've used psychedelic drugs, committing a theft decreased 27% - and the odds of being arrested for a violent crime dropped 22%.
He says those who've been treated with psychadelics say they experience feelings of unity, positivity and transcendence that may have lasting benefits in curbing anti-social behaviour.
"If you think about how people are treated sometimes in jails - there's a long tradition of people trying to get a religious conversion, or trying to have a religious experience, that helps them focus and gives them meaning in life - so it's not so off the wall to think that a mystical experience would be something that would lead to profound changes; this is just without a specific doctrine," he says.
Lead researcher Professor Peter Hendricks says the positive effects associated with classic psychedelic use appear to be reliable - and given the costs of criminal behaviour, the potential of using psychadelics as a treatment is significant.