Then (1979), LSD: My Problem Child
LSD in Switzerland 2026: The Country That Never Stopped
Hofmann spent his career in Basel, Switzerland, where LSD had been developed. Switzerland's regulatory framework was never as restrictive as the US, LSD research continued under Swiss pharmaceutical law after 1968. Swiss researchers maintained a thread of clinical work through the prohibition era. Hofmann himself remained in Switzerland and continued to advocate for research from within the country where LSD was discovered.
confirmed
Switzerland is the global leader in clinical LSD research in 2026. The University of Basel (Peter Gasser, Matthias Liechti) has conducted the most rigorous LSD trials since the 1960s: Gasser et al. (Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 2014), LSD for anxiety in terminal illness, Phase 2; Holze et al. (Biological Psychiatry, 2023): a Phase 2 randomized trial in 42 people with anxiety, with and without a life-threatening illness, found LSD-assisted therapy reduced anxiety at 16 weeks. Switzerland allows limited compassionate use of MDMA and LSD in therapy under special permits. Ketamine is routinely prescribed. Psilocybin trials are ongoing at Basel under Swiss exemption. The country where Hofmann discovered LSD is where LSD clinical research is most advanced, precisely because Switzerland maintained regulatory frameworks that the US eliminated in 1968.
Sources
- Gasser et al., J Nervous and Mental Disease (2014)
- Holze et al., Biological Psychiatry (2023)
- Swiss Federal Office of Public Health psychedelic research framework