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Science and Technology LSD Acid tests
科技 麥角酸二乙基酰胺 迷幻藥之考驗
Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo
迷幻藥物的研究開始擺脫幾十年來的禁忌
THE psychedelic era of the 1960s is remembered for its music, its art and, of course, its drugs.
20世紀60年代是一個讓人產生迷幻的年代，這個時代因它的音樂，它的藝術，當然還有它的毒品而被人記得。
Its science is somewhat further down the list.
而那個時候的科學在某種程度上則不太被人們熟知。
But before the rise of the counterculture, researchers had been studying LSD as a treatment for everything from alcoholism to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with promising results.
不過在反傳統文化興趣之前，隨著有價值的研究成果的出現，研究者們則正在研究LSD作為一種治療從酗酒到強迫癥（OCD）的方法。
Timothy Leary, a psychologist at Harvard University, was one of the best-known workers in the field, but it was also he who was widely blamed for discrediting it, by his unconventional research methods and his lax handling of drugs.
哈佛大學的心理學家蒂莫西?利瑞（Timothy Leary）就是該領域最為知名的人士之一，不過他也因為其非傳統的研究方法和他對對藥物不嚴格的處理而讓這個藥物聲名狼藉，進而廣受詬病。
Now, the details of Leary's research will be made public, with the recent purchase of his papers by the New York Public Library.
現在，隨著紐約公共圖書館購買他的論文，利瑞研究的細節部分將公之于眾。
These papers will be interesting not only culturally, but also scientifically, as they reflect what happened between the early medical promise of hallucinogens and their subsequent blacklisting by authorities around the world.
這些論文不僅在文化方面將會很有引人注意，在科學上也同樣如此，它們反應了從早期迷幻劑的醫療承諾到它們隨后進入全球各地政府黑名單的之間的所發生的事情。
American researchers began experimenting with LSD in 1949, at first using it to simulate mental illness.
美國的研究人員研究LSD始于1949年，那時他們第一次用這個化合物來模擬精神病。
Once its psychedelic effects were realised, they then tried it in psychotherapy and as a treatment for alcoholism, for which it became known at the time as a miracle cure.
迷幻效果一被發現，他們接著就在心理治療方面嘗試用它，它也同樣作為一個酗酒的治療方法，因為在當時這個化合物以作為一個奇跡的治愈而得名。
By 1965 over 1,000 papers had been published describing positive results for LSD therapy. It, and its close chemical relative psilocybin, isolated from hallucinogenic mushrooms, were reported as having potential for treating anxiety disorders, OCD, depression, bereavement and even sexual dysfunction.
到1965年時，已經有一千多篇關于LSD治療的積極結果的論文發表。LSD以及與它相關的化合物裸蓋菇素，后者是從迷幻蘑菇中分離出來的一種物質，這二者都被報道有治療焦慮癥，強迫癥，抑郁癥，喪親之痛甚至是性功能障礙的潛質。
Unfortunately, most of the studies that came to these conclusions were flawed: many results were anecdotal, and control groups were not established to take account of the placebo effect.
不幸的是，這些結論大多數都是有缺陷的：許多的結果都是道聽途說的，并沒有設立相應的對照組以用來考慮安慰劑的影響。
Still, the field was ripe for further study.
盡管如此，但這個領域進一步研究的時機已經成熟了。
But alongside growing public fear of LSD, Leary's leadership had become a liability.
不過與之相關的公眾對于LSD的恐懼也在與日俱增，不過利瑞的領軍地位已經成了壞事。
He was seen less and less as a disinterested researcher, and more and more as a propagandist.
他被視為一個越來越缺少公正的研究員，而越多地被人視作是一個宣傳員。
In 1962, amid wide publicity, the Harvard Psilocybin Project was shut down.
1962年，就在其大肆宣揚過程中，哈佛的裸蓋菇素項目被撤銷了。
Leary took his research to an estate in upstate New York, where he also hosted a stream of drug parties.
利瑞帶著他的研究去了紐約北部的一個莊園，在那里他還組織了一系列的毒品聚會。
Eventually both LSD and psilocybin were proscribed.
最終LSD和裸蓋菇素都被禁止了。
Which was a pity because, like many other drugs the authorities have taken against as a result of their recreational uses, hallucinogens have medical applications as well.
這就是一個遺憾，因為與其他官方反對藥物的娛樂用途一樣，迷幻劑也有同樣的醫療應用。
But time heals all wounds and now, cautiously, study of the medical use of hallucinogens is returning.
不過時間已經撫平了所有的創傷，現在對于迷幻劑的醫療研究應還是謹慎地歸來了。
Psilocybin has shown promise in treating forms of OCD that are resistant to other therapies, in relieving cluster headaches (a common form of chronic headache) and in alleviating the anxiety experienced by terminally ill cancer patients.
在對其他治療方案都有抵觸的強迫癥形式，緩解頭痛（一種常見的慢性頭痛花形式）以及減輕晚期癌癥病人所歷經的焦慮方面，裸蓋菇素顯示出了希望的苗頭。
The first clinical study of LSD in over 35 years, also on terminally ill patients, is expected to finish this summer.
LSD的第一個臨床研究和在身患絕癥的病人方面的研究超過了35年了，預計會在這個夏季結束。
Peter Gasser, the Swiss doctor leading the experiment, says that a combination of LSD and psychotherapy reduced anxiety levels of all 12 participants in the study, though the statistical significance of the data has yet to be analysed.
領導這個實驗的瑞士醫生彼得?加塞（Peter Gasser）說LSD和心理治療的結合緩解了12名參與者的焦慮程度，雖然該實驗的統計意義還有待于分析。
Research into LSD is not confined to medicine.
對于LSD的研究并不局限于藥物方面。
Franz Vollenweider, of the Heffter Research Institute in Zurich, for example, is scanning people's brains to try to understand how hallucinogenic drugs cause changes in consciousness.
例如，海弗特研究學會（Heffter Research Institute）的弗朗茨?沃爾溫德（Franz Vollenweider）正在掃描人的大腦，試圖搞清楚迷幻藥如何引起意識的變化。
And biotechnology may lead to a new generation of hallucinogenic drugs.
生物技術也可能會導致新一代迷幻藥物的出現。
Edwin Wintermute and his colleagues at Harvard have engineered yeast cells to carry out two of six steps in the pathway needed to make lysergic acid, the precursor of LSD.
埃德溫?溫特姆特（Edwin Wintermute）和他在哈佛的同事已經通過基因工程改造了酵母細胞，在產生麥角酸——LSD的前體——的六步反應路徑中已經實現了其中的兩步。
They hope to add the other four shortly.
他們希望通過在短期內加入其他的四步反應。
Once the pathway has been created, it can be tweaked.
一旦這個路徑打通，酵母就可以得到改良。
That might result in LSD-like drugs that are better than the original.
這或許就會產生類似于LSD藥物并且比原來更好迷幻劑。
Even if that does not happen, making lysergic acid in yeast is still a good idea.
即便這種情況沒有出現，不過在酵母中合成麥角酸依然是一個不錯的構想。
The chemical is used as the starting point for other drugs, including nicergoline, a treatment for senile dementia.
這種化合物可以用于包括麥角溴煙酯（用于治療老年性癡呆的治療藥物）在內其他藥物的起點。
The current process for manufacturing it is a rather messy one involving ergot, a parasite of rye.
目前制造麥角溴煙酯的工藝仍然相當復雜，它要用到麥角菌——一種寄生在黑麥中細菌。
It may, of course, be that LSD has no clinical uses.
當然，LSD或許沒有臨床用途。
Even when no stigma attaches to the drugs involved, most clinical trials end in failure.
即使這種藥物沒有任何不光彩的地陷，那么大多數的臨床實驗還將會以失敗告終。
But it is worth seeing whether LSD might fulfil its early promise.
此外，對于LSD能否履行其早期的承諾還值得一看。
And if the publication of Leary's archive speeds that process up by exorcising a ghost that still haunts LSD research, then the New York Public Library will have done the world a service.
如果利瑞的檔案能夠加速驅除困擾著LSD研究的鬼魂，那么紐約公共圖書館將是服務了整個世界。
