[var_cw]

AI's matching hit rates in drug discovery is a game-changer. It's like AlphaFold just gave us the GPS coordinates for the biochemical treasure we've been blindly digging for. LSD's serotonin link and the quest for similar, safer compounds?

[jampekka]

LSD is a pretty darn safe compound. And there are a lot of similarly safe compounds with "smoother" psychological effects.

The War on Drugs is a lot bigger hinderance than technology here. And the patent-driven pharmabusiness too.

[freedomben]

Exactly. If they discovered any new drug that has even a tiny potential for recreational use, it's going to be banned quickly. Hell, we can't even have certain plants that grow entirely in nature. No way they're going to allow new synthetics. Unless our current social Puritan outlook starts to change, it's not gonna happen. And we're headed toward puritanism right now, rather than away from it, so I wouldn't be counting on it during our life times

[ogogmad]

> LSD is a pretty darn safe compound

It can cause permanent damage to vision or sanity. Sure, it's not addictive, and you practically can't overdose -- but it makes you temporarily insane and blind, and both of these can persist without there being a cure. And just, a general point: [CITATION NEEDED]. Unlike you, I'll provide my own citation: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2017.0024...

> And there are a lot of similarly safe compounds with "smoother" psychological effects.

If you mean the party drug 2C-B, it has some similar risks.