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eludes us. THE FUTURES OF PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH + 333 the studies I will suggest are ones that I conceived some years before actually performing the research. Now that this stage of my involvement with psychedelics is over, I don't necessarily feel they are as important as I once did, nor that I would want to do them myself. Let's examine the range of research studies possible with these drugs, and their potential benefits, limitations, and drawbacks. Mechanisms-of-action projects will provide increasingly refined de- termination of the types of neurotransmitter receptors involved in psychedelic effects. Modern brain-imaging technologies also will allow us to localize brain sites affected by these drugs. However, while it may be possible to relate specific changes in brain physiology to certain subjective effects, we are far from knowing how one translates into the other. This, of course, is the holy grail of clinical neu- roscience, but it may be an unattainable goal, similar to finding the center of an onion: we can pull back deeper and deeper layers, but the center Nevertheless, we will discover theoretically and clinically important information. A more sophisticated understanding of thinking, perception, and emotion may lead to new treatments for patients for whom brain dam- age or psychotic illness limits their ability to process information. It's also important to be able to reverse acute negative effects of psychedelics in an emergency setting. Finally, we may be able to develop new psyche- delic compounds with unique properties. This type of research is heavily dependent upon animal studies. We should balance our "need to know" with basic tenets of compassion for non-human animals. This pertains even more to those interested in psychedelics for therapeutic and spiritual purposes. Is it "spiritual" to kill countless laboratory animals so as to enhance our religious ecstasy or creative process? We already know a great deal about how these drugs work. Primarily focusing on mechanism of action or new drug development may lull us into believing that we are studying psychedelics in the best or most im- portant manner. Perhaps we can spend as much time and energy learning