Why Psychedelics, Big in 1960s, Draw New Interest Now: QuickTake

People have been blowing their minds with hallucinatory substances for millennia -- at least since the ancient Greeks drank a psychoactive brew thought to contain a barley fungus, ergot, in one of their sacred rituals. Today, many researchers are convinced that trippers are onto something good -- that the alteration of consciousness induced by psychedelics can be a tonic for mental health. Though these substances are largely outlawed, dozens of startups betting on legal changes are seeking to develop treatments based on them for illnesses like depression and anxiety. Not everyone is sold on the idea, and there are risks ...