Ayelet Waldman: LSD forbidden medicine
Taking the rap for the excesses of 1960s counterculture, psychedelic drugs and their users went underground and the ongoing ‘war on drugs’ has kept them there. So what is a former public defender and law professor doing taking LSD? Ayelet Waldman joined the group of scientists and citizens talking about the therapeutic benefits of LSD when she decided to experiment with microdoses of LSD herself and document the process. She found that for her, it had significant benefits and she asks how we can get drug policy to align with evidence, rather than ideology.
Now, I feel happy... not giddy or out control, just at ease with myself and the world. When I think about my husband and my children, I feel a gentle sense of love and security. I am not anxious for them or annoyed with them. When I think of my work, I feel optimistic, brimming with ideas, yet not spilling over.
Chaired by Natasha Mitchell, journalist and presenter of ABC RN’s Science Friction.
This conversation was recorded live on stage at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2018.
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Ayelet Waldman
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Natasha Mitchell and Ayelet Waldman
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Natasha Mitchell and Ayelet Waldman
Natasha Mitchell
Natasha Mitchell is an award-winning science journalist, radio host and podcaster. She presents ABC Radio National’s science and technology program, Science Friction, and previously hosted Life Matters, and was the founding presenter and producer of the popular science, psychology and culture program, All in the Mind. Mitchell served as Vice President of the World Federation of Science Journalists and is currently a member of the Executive Advisory Board of Women in Science Australia, Mitchell was also the recipient of a prestigious Knight Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University (USA) and a Marine Biological Laboratory Journalism Fellowship at Woods Hole (Massachusetts, USA). Her broadcast work has received accolades internationally, including the overall Grand Prize and four Gold World Medals at the New York Radio Festival, four Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Broadcast Media Awards, the Yooralla Broadcast Media Award, the Public Health Association of Australia Media Award, the Australasian Association of Philosophy Media Professionals' Award, among other awards. She was finalist for two Human Rights Awards.
