In the 1950s when psychedelics were beginning to be introduced to the scientific community, the scientists who studied them took two different approaches. Some of them took the drug themselves because they considered it unethical to use it on test subjects without understanding its powerful effects. They became very enthusiastic about the drug and touted it as a miracle cure. Other scientists never took them because they thought it was unscientific to do psychedelic drugs like a subject rather than just observe their affects objectively. As a result, the attitude towards psychedelics was divided between scientists who thought psychedelics were amazing, and scientists who thought they were just a kooky drug.
Nevertheless, over the next decade, psychedelics were used in experimental trials to help people suffering from alcoholism, depression and trauma. The results were astounding. One researcher named Humphrey Osmond administered LSD to over 700 people struggling with alcoholism over a period of several years. For roughly half of his subjects, one trip on LSD cured their alcoholism for several months. Unlike other drugs, it was shown to be not only non-addictive but “anti-addictive.” This is because it gave people hallucinations that were so profound that they could safely process the trauma and root problems that were causing their addictions in the first place. It was also shown to cure many people of their fear of death.
Today, the science still shows this. In 2006, a corporate executive named Todd was suffering from violent night terrors and anxiety about death after an MRI revealed that he had malignant tumors throughout his spine and brain. He was suffering from PTSD and couldn’t cope with his pain or the prospect of dying. He began taking massive doses of Xanax and Valium but it did nothing but numb his pain temporarily. When his psychiatrist suggested psychedelic treatment, Todd laughed it off. Much like the scientists in the 1950s who never took psychedelics, he thought they were some strange drug that crazy hippies took so he was hesitant to try. However, once he began taking psilocybin mushrooms to treat his anxiety, he reported having zero episodes of PTSD or anxiety attacks when confronted with his own mortality. One study showed that 80% of people like Todd suffering from fear of death reported a reduced rate of fear after a single psilocybin trip.
Cases like Todd’s were very common in the 1950s before psychedelics became popular for recreational use. Many scientists who studied them believed they had discovered a wonderful new set of drugs that could help people in inconceivable ways. However, in many cases both scientific and recreational, psychedelics induced psychotic breakdowns and ruined people’s sense of reality for long periods of time. Once the drugs became available for the public people began taking them without guides or knowledge of how powerful these drugs were. Without proper guidance, much more people were hurt by the drugs and this hurt the reputation of psychedelics. Stories of people jumping out of windows and staring at the sun began to affect people’s attitudes towards the drug as did a fear of the counter culture taking over.
This fear of psychedelics began to influence people’s experiences with mushrooms. Reportings of so called “bad trips” spiked in the 1960s after these scare stories were told to teenagers and young adults who were curious about psychedelics. Their fears about the drug manifested in their trips and incidents of people having horrific experiences while tripping increased. This has fueled the stigma that we have in our culture about psychedelics today and is what led them to be classified by the U.S. and Canadian governments as a schedule one drug with no medical use and “a high risk of abuse.” The decade of promising medical research was buried and scientists were no longer allowed to study the effects or potential of psychedelics.
However, this is now beginning to turn around as evidenced by Canada’s decision to exempt four terminally ill patients from the “Controlled Drug and Substances Act.” These patients have been suffering from severe end-of-life anxiety that legal medication did little for. They are going to be given magic mushrooms in a safe environment with a guide who will ensure they are taken care of and able to overcome any fear that may arise.
One of the patients is a woman named Laurie Brooks who said “The acknowledgement of the pain and anxiety that I have been suffering with means a lot to me and I am feeling quite emotional today as a result.”
Her doctor who has seen many patients like Laurie said about the treatment “I hope this is just the beginning and that soon all Canadians will be able to access psilocybin for therapeutic use, to help with the pain they are experiencing, without having to petition the government for months to gain permission.” If these four patients have experiences that are as meaningful and healing as most people, it could mark a real turning point for the status of psychedelics in science.
We may now be seeing psychedelics not as a miracle drug with no risks to it or as a dangerous drug with incredible potential for harm. Rather we are starting to look at it like a very powerful drug, which has too much potential to help people suffering for us to ignore.
Bibliography
Bradford, Chris. “Terminally Ill Can Take Magic Mushrooms in Canada, New Law Rules.” The Sun, The Sun, 6 Aug. 2020, www.thesun.co.uk/news/12328722/magic-mushrooms-canada-terminally-ill/.
“Chapter 3 .” How to Change Your Mind, by Michael Pollan, Penguin Books, 2018, pp. 138–185 .
Farah, Troy. “The Push to Legalize Magic Mushrooms for Depression and PTSD.” Wired, Conde Nast, 2019, www.wired.com/story/inside-the-push-to-legalize-magic-mushrooms-for-depression-and-ptsd/.
First-of-Its Kind Psychedelic Research Center Debuts at Johns Hopkins, 30 Jan. 2020, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/first-of-its-kind-psychedelic-research-center-debuts-at-johns-hopkins.
Leamon, Sarah. “Is Canada Ready to Legalize Magic Mushrooms (Psilocybin)?” Latest Cannabis News Today - Headlines, Videos & Stocks, 10 Aug. 2020, cannabislifenetwork.com/is-canada-ready-to-legalize-magic-mushrooms-psilocybin/.
