Hear from Imperial College's Dr. David Nutt – a Neuropsychopharmacologist who has pioneered a renaissance of clinical research into pyscho-active substances and their potential healing effects.

LSD was first synthesised in 1938 by Swiss pharmacologist Albert Hoffman, who was also the person to experience the effect of the chemical a few years later in 1943. The remarkable qualities of his experience sparked an interest in research and in 1947 LSD was introduced as a commercial medication in the United States.

Throughout the 1950's, various scientists, psychologists and intellectuals experimented with the drug - both professionally and recreationally. By the early 1960's, the recreational use of LSD had become widespread, largely due to prominent figures such as Timothy Leary, who endorsed it's use as a powerful catalyst for personal and social transformation.

By the mid 1960's, the radicalisation of a generation through LSD as popularised through Leary's famous slogan 'Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out', began to look to the US government like as a serious threat to the very foundations of society. Use of the drug became illegal and medical research into it's effect on the brain largely ceased until a few years ago.

Dr Nutt is at the helm of a new wave of psychadelic research. His team at Imperial College London are re-discovering the ways in which psychoactive substances such as psilocybin and LSD could be used to cure mental health disorders.

His LSD brain imaging experiment, carried out with the Beckley/Imperial Research Programme, was called the discovery of 2016, more important even than the discovery of gravitational waves.

Join us for what we're sure will be a fascinating discussion with 52 Insights founder and Second Home member Ari Stein.