The promise of psychedelics – Investors’ Chronicle – Investors Chronicle

For all the medical advances made over recent times, there is one area of healthcare where scientists are still struggling: mental health. Closely linked is the rise in substance abuse particularly in the US, whereannual deaths by this metric havemore than doubled since 1990to just over 2,000 per 100,000, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. In the same period, the rate of cancer deaths has stayed flat around 5,000 per 100,000, despite ageing populations making cancer more prevalent.

Deteriorating mental health is not the only factor behind this acceleration.Butthe Covid-19 pandemic has had a particular impact.In April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 78,021 people died from drug overdoses in the US during the previous 12 months. By December 2021, it forecast this number had risen to 107,622, a 38 per cent rise in 20 months. The effects of lockdowns on mental health is still being debated, but what is clear is that during the pandemic, for whatever reason, Americans became a lot less hopeful.

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The promise of psychedelics - Investors' Chronicle - Investors Chronicle