Shrooms. MDMA. Ketamine. They entered our consciousness as party drugs, but there’s increasing evidence that they could be the end of the party for previously untreatable mental illnesses from depression to PTSD. In short, psychedelics have passed the acid test. The Guardian: Will the magic of psychedelics transform psychiatry? “There are now hopes that MDMA therapy could receive approval for certain treatments from US regulators by 2023, or perhaps even earlier – with psilocybin, the active ingredient of magic mushrooms, not far behind in the process. (A small study at Johns Hopkins University, published last year, suggested it could be four times more effective than traditional antidepressants.) You could say interest in psychedelics is mushrooming.” As NextDraft’s resident shrink Dr. Michael Levin explains: “The world’s most successful retreat center would combine serious fitness, diet, great books, seminars, and psychedelics.” (At least I think he said that, I might have been hallucinating.)

+ Stat: Largest psilocybin trial finds the psychedelic is effective in treating serious depression.