FLICKR, L'ORSO SUL MONOCICLOOver the centuries there have been many attempts by various governments and other regulatory bodies to limit research on areas that challenge their beliefs and preconceptions. A recent example is the restrictions placed on embryonic stem cell research in the United States and elsewhere. The stranglehold these regulations put on research in these countries drove many US “stars” to the United Kingdom, where less draconian existed. Recognizing this loss, President Obama and others have fought against these restrictions, with some success. But there are other areas of research that continue to be thwarted by overbearing regulations put forth by closed-minded politicians.
In my 45 years in science, for example, there has been a worldwide ban on the study of psychedelics and other drugs. I would contend has been the most extreme form of scientific censorship since the Catholic Church banned the telescope when in the 17th century because Galileo used it to confirm Copernicus’s theory that the earth circled the sun, not the other way around. Galileo was threatened with death for challenging the teaching of the scriptures, and he eventually retracted his claims. Some of his inquisitors refused even to look down a telescope believing it to be the work of the devil.
The current case of scientific censorship derives from the 1961 and 1971 United Nations conventions on narcotic and psychotropic drugs. These conventions ...
