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« "Drug-Induced Impulse Control Disorders: A Prospectus for Neuroethical Analysis" | Main | PEBS Neuroethics Roundup (JHU) »

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Seeing exciting articles like this one in Neuroethics makes me wish I could afford to read it.

The author is absolutely right that drug prohibition has failed. However, I disagree that efforts at reform have "largely failed." 14 states have decriminalized marijuana and 17 states have legalized medical marijuana. The U.S. FDA has approved research on MDMA for treatment of PTSD. Portugal has decriminalized all drug use. I agree that there is a lot of work to be done, but to say efforts have "largely failed" ignores the drastic paradigm shift from when Nixon declared drugs "public enemy #1" 30 years ago.

Also, the author seems to assume psychoactive substances that might prevent addiction or provide pleasure without being addictive need to be created. Natural psychoactive substances such as ayahuasca and iboga have proven to help people overcome addiction. (http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/07/25/psychedelics-for-drug-addiction/)In my opinion, other illicit substances such as MDMA, marijuana, LSD are not addictive. Creating non-addictive designer drugs is a good idea, but we also need to legalize the ones that already exist.

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