The other majorly researched use
of psychedelics is in easing anxiety and depression stemming from terminal
illness and fear of death, especially in end-stage cancer patients. There are many studies currently under way
using LSD or psilocybin pills to treat anxiety and depression in cancer
patients. A study was just
completed by psychiatrist Charles Grob at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center that found
that psilocybin can be administered safely while reducing anxiety and
depression in end-stage cancer patients.
In the study, Grob brought subjects into a hospital room that had been
draped in sheets and with extra furnishings to create a more comfortable
environment, and the subjects brought pictures and other objects with
sentimental value, and the subject would discuss these pictures and objects
with the doctor and assistants while they administered the drug. This created a positive mindset in the
patients, who would then listen to music with a blindfold on while they were
experiencing the psilocybin trip. The
subjects showed significant reduction in depression and anxiety for 6 months
after the drug was administered. The
psilocybin, in 20-30 milligrams doses, gave the subjects mystical insight into
their life position, and caused “sustained positive changes in attitude, mood
and behavior” (Slater). The subjects
reported that they were able to enjoy the time they had left more fully, and
felt grateful for and took advantage of the present, and were more comfortable
with their death. While researchers do
not know how psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs work, it is understood that
ingestion of these substances is "associated with a deactivation of
regions of the brain that integrate our senses and our perception of self"
(Slater). Timothy Leary, one of the
biggest voices for psychedelic research in the 1960's, called this phenomenon
"ego-loss", where the drug user loses his identity and sense of who
he is. Leary said that ego-loss was an
important tool for lasting change because sometimes to change one's identity it
is necessary to lose identity and perceive it from another point of view. This may be the most important
characteristic of psychedelics for the use of therapy and what causes patients given
these drugs to change their outlook on their disease.
Acid M.D.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
LSD and Addiction
The most promising, and the most
studied, use of psychedelics is to treat addiction. These studies focus on alcoholism because of
its legal status, and LSD because of its availability when these studies were
conducted. When LSD was first introduced
into the pharmaceutical community, its most promising use was considered to be
treating alcoholism, and was even endorsed by Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder
Bill Wilson. In a retrospective
analysis of past research, neuroscientist Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist
Pål-Ørjan Johansen found that in randomized studies comparing LSD to a placebo
control, "59% of people receiving LSD reported lower levels of alcohol
misuse, compared to 38% of people who received a placebo".
A single study, published and widely circulated in 1964 by Smart and Storm, found there was no
difference in treating potential for LSD versus a placebo, and that neither
were effective at treating alcoholics.
However, this study administered LSD to patients in a hospital setting,
where the subject lay strapped into a hospital bed and was questioned by
doctors. The problem with this study is
that the subjects did not participate in therapy of any kind. When someone takes LSD and trips, they become
oversensitive to their surroundings and the mindset it gives them, and being
strapped to a bed a questioned by doctors in white coats could easily cause a
very paranoid, fearful trip. While the
conclusion was originally that LSD was ineffective at treating alcoholism, with
a better understanding of psychedelic drugs the study only shows that LSD alone
cannot treat alcoholism, it acts as an aid for therapy.
In contrast, 2 doctors, Dr. Abram Hoffer and
Dr. Humphrey Osmond, ran a continuous, uncontrolled study using LSD on
alcoholics as an aid to therapy and found that about 50% of these alcoholics,
who before had been resistive to Alcoholics Anonymous, were treated of their
disease. In fact, almost all studies
that use this psychedelic therapy method found that LSD was 50% effective at
treating their patients. In
addition, all of these studies were conducted before new and better therapeutic
methodologies like motivational interviewing and cognitive behavior therapy,
and the combination of these new therapies and LSD could yield an even better
success rate.
Both scientists and users agree that LSD is not physically
addictive, despite its Schedule 1 label.
Although it is possible to become addicted to anything from heroin to
internet porn to pudding cups, LSD doesn't hook it's users like nicotine or
crack does. This is a contrast to the
last drug cure for alcoholism, which led to an epidemic of morphine addicts.
aPOThecary
With the
legalization of marijuana for medical (and recreational) use on the rise in the
U.S., specialty pot shops are becoming a legal, profitable business. Providing medical grade bud to those with a
prescription (or anyone over the age of 21 in Colorado and Washington), these
dispensaries sell a huge selection of custom-made strains, tinctures, and
edibles.
With an
increase in research towards the positive benefits of psychedelic drugs, their
legalization could mimic that of marijuana. In the Netherlands, "smart
shops" sell a selection of mind-altering substances including psilocybin
and other psychedelics. One day, you
neighborhood dispensary could carry a selection of designer drugs (like the new
25i) and special preparations of natural psychedelics.
For more information, here's a link to the wiki article on smart shops: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_shop
Fresh mushrooms for sale at an Amsterdam smart shop |
Drug Factsheet
LSD:
an lsd tab |
LSD, or "acid", was
created by accident in a pharmaceutical lab by chemist Albert Hofmann. It is usually taken as a tab, which is a
piece of paper with a dose of LSD blotted on to it. The common street dosage for a tab was
originally 250 mcg when it first hit the streets in the 1960's. Now a more common dose is 100 to 150 mcg.
Acid trips last around 9 hours, and tolerance to acid builds and diminishes quickly, making it hard to abuse.
Psilocybin
Mushrooms:
a bag of shrooms |
Shrooms, or psilocybin
mushrooms, are mushrooms that grow on all continents except Antarctica. They are eaten fresh or dried,
and a trip lasts around 4 hours.
Although they are a Schedule 1 controlled substance, they are legal to grow
in New Mexico for personal use.
DMT:
DMT as crystals |
DMT, short for Dimethyltryptamine,
is famous for being the most intense psychedelic. Found naturally in the
ayahuasca plant, the pure chemical DMT can be smoked, injected, or inhaled, and
gives an almost instant trip that lasts 30 minutes to an hour, most of which is
spent in a dream-like state.
Mescaline/Peyote:
a peyote cactus button |
mescaline powder |
The peyote cactus has been eaten
by native American tribes for centuries.
Mescaline, the active chemical in peyote, can also be taken as a
pill. The average dose of mescaline is
300 mg, and when used in religious ceremonies American tribe members eat 2-24
cactus buttons. A trip usually lasts between 10 and 12 hours.
Why It Is The Way It Is
So why are psychedelic drugs grouped as Schedule 1 controlled substances, along with heroin, and above meth (which is Schedule 2)? When the Controlled Substance Act was written, LSD and the hippie lifestyle were viewed as the biggest danger to America, and represented the largest threat to the politicians currently in power, who had approved the Vietnam War and the draft, and were ignoring civil rights issues. So despite evidence that LSD was not dangerous and a plethora of research touting its medical benefits, it got banned along with all of its cousins, like psilocybin and mescaline.
Introduction
Most American's image of psychedelic drugs stems from the
hippie counterculture, where these relatively unknown drugs became a new
phenomenon that encouraged the new generation to rebel. These drugs, especially LSD, but including
psilocybin mushrooms, DMT, mescaline, and more, became notorious for their use
by hippies, who disregarded conventional wisdom and adopted new cultural
practices and ideologies. But these
substances' origins were much different, coming from the labs of pharmaceutical
companies, where researchers hoped to use them medicinally, and from ceremonial
and religious use in ancient cultures across the globe. After the 60's, these drugs were quickly outlawed
in the U.S., stopping almost all legitimate research aimed at developing
psychedelics into usable treatments for a variety of ailments. However, there has been a small modern
resurgence in research, with promising results.
Despite the bad image psychedelic drugs have been given, they are important
chemical tools that assist in therapy for alcoholism, drug addiction, and
mental illnesses.
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