Turn on, tune in and get better? (Psychedelics)

[Bennyboy]

y Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times
Tue Nov 29 2011 6:24 PM
Janeen Delany describes herself as an "old hippie" who's smoked plenty of marijuana. But she never really dabbled in hallucinogens — until two years ago, at the age of 59.

A diagnosis of incurable leukemia had knocked the optimism out of the retired plant nurserywoman living in Phoenix. So she signed up for a clinical trial to test whether psilocybin — the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms" — could help with depression or anxiety following a grim diagnosis.

Delaney swallowed a blue capsule of psilocybin in a cozy office at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She donned a blindfold, a blood pressure cuff and a headset playing classical music. With two researchers at her side, she embarked on a six-hour journey into altered consciousness that she calls "the single most life-changing experience I've ever had."

What a long, strange trip it's been. In the 1960s and '70s, a rebellious generation embraced hallucinogens and a wide array of street drugs to "turn on, tune in and drop out." Almost half a century later, magic mushrooms, LSD, Ecstasy and ketamine are being studied for legitimate therapeutic uses. Scientists believe these agents have the potential to help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, drug or alcohol addiction, unremitting pain or depression and the existential anxiety of terminal illness.

"Scientifically, these compounds are way too important not to study," said Johns Hopkins psychopharmacologist Roland Griffiths, who conducted the psilocybin trial.

In their next incarnation, these drugs may help the psychologically wounded tune in to their darkest feelings and memories and turn therapy sessions into heightened opportunities to learn and heal.

"We're trying to break a social mind-set saying these are strictly drugs of abuse," said Rick Doblin, a public policy expert who founded the Multidisciplinary Assn. for Psychedelic Studies in 1986 to encourage research on therapeutic uses for medical marijuana and hallucinogens. "It's not the drug but how the drug is used that matters."

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[AndyTiedye]

1. Massively Kicked and Recommended

[Mnemosyne]

2. What he said. ^^^^^^

[azul]

3. "It's not the drug but how the drug is used that matters."

Imagine if people went to war blasting each other with psychedelic (mind-expanding "smart") bombs. Trying to kill the hatred and fear that makes us murderous fools by opening up empathy and understanding in the heart. Imagine love and compassion the winner when no one loses their lives.

Peace

[babydollhead]

17. well said. I wish it too.

[cliffordu]

4. K&R.

[dhill926]

5. + infinity...........

[saras]

6. At their best, they are astonishingly effective

Don't forget to support the research. http://www.maps.org/">MAPS.org shepherds psychedelic research through the permit and funding process.

[Liquorice]

7. Ectasy cured me of something years ago. It was like a miracle. I am very thankful for it. nt

[Dragonbreathp9d]

8. Mushrooms helped me through the worst times in my life-

Got me over my roommate's death, over a girl, kicked a coke habit and averted suicide/self mutilation. Made me find peace with myself and "god.".

[enough]

9. Absolutely. (nt)

[redqueen]

10. K&R

[piratefish08]

11. +100000

[Motown_Johnny]

12. I doubt if it is even possible to be depressed while on psilocybin

at the very least it will provide a temporary relief from symptoms. I have taken small amounts of mushrooms when arriving at the airport and I can attest that those flights were stress free.


I'm not sure about the blindfold and 6 hours of classical music though. 6 hours of classic cartoons would be my approach, or maybe a Marx Brothers marathon. It has been said that laughter is the best medicine and if used properly psilocybin can induce laughter for extended periods of time.

[annabanana]

13. A whole bunch of us "old hippies" have always suspected as much. . .n/t

[Karenina]

14. Or experienced as much!

;-) :smoke:

[librechik]

15. of course.

But the authoritarians in power are dead set against happiness, fun and contentment. They won't get the nuance about some drugs are bad and others are helpful. They hate anything that's truly good for society.

[livetohike]

16. Everything old is new again....

:toast: Timothy Leary.

[GliderGuider]

18. K&R for sanity and healing.

From another old hippie who knows truth when he sees it dripping down the walls in columns of ancient Elven runes glowing laser-carved into the fabric of the Universe...

Fuck, did you see that too? Wow.

:hippie: :fistbump: :hippie:

[socialindependocrat]

19. Illegal - just because it makes you laugh!! Idiots!!

There seems to be something Calvinist about the people who
want to ban drugs when the main point is to laugh and let loose.

I picture this skinny guy with short hair in a suit
with an angry look on his face.

He's angry because he's scared...

He's scared that someone may have a good time

and

he is too scared to try it himself and see what it's like. So, he's mad?

How can people be so angry and against something that they've never tried?

Why don't we pass a law that says people can do drugs after they retire.
Look at the money they will save their ex-employer if they O.D.
The government wants to get us off the books, right?

OH NO, they say they are saving us from hurting ourselves!!!

Whateverrrrrrrrrr....

[GliderGuider]

21. It's illegal because it makes you laugh AT THEM.

They really can't deal with that...

[piratefish08]

22. +1

[scarletwoman]

26. TPTB can only survive as long as people's minds are chained. (nt)

[Blue Owl]

20. Long Live the War on Some Drugs

:sarcasm:

[RueVoltaire]

23. Sounds a lot more fun than taking zoloft every day for PTSD! Rec

[snot]

24. Drugs that shut your mind & feelings down are legal; drugs that open your mind, illegal.

[scarletwoman]

25. And THAT is exactly the deal. Spot on and well said!

TPTB would not survive if the masses were to shed their illusions and delusions and achieved bliss and empathy and got in touch with Universal Consciousness.

That is why consciousness expanding substances are deemed "dangerous" - it is the one and only real reason.

sw

[duhneece]

27. Heard a woman tell of her adult daughter's diagnois of fatal disease, Ecstasy

She told how her daughter had a therapist/counselor who would use Ecstasy in helping her deal with her death and how it helped her daughter have a 'good death.' Ibocaine research indicates it may be useful in dealing with alcoholics and other addicts. No research should be outlawed unless it's been shown overwhelmingly to be unhealthy.

[scarletwoman]

28. Rec'd. Thank you for posting this.

I did plenty of psychedelics in my younger days (I'm now 62 years old). My "doors of perception" were opened wide by those experiences, and they remain open to this day.

I will remain grateful for those psychedelic adventures until I die.

sw

[russspeakeasy]

29. KKKK & RRRR

[Dutchmaster]

30. My sister has used this to treat her cluster headaches.

[Tsiyu]

31. Just don't get caught with any near the University of the South

The Sewanee cops and their resident Franklin County DA will make you a felon - and your life a living hell - if you get caught with even $60 worth of shrooms.

Those "educated" 1% will use your possession of said mushrooms to destroy your life. So much for the "educated" having open minds. So much for Episcopalian "forgiveness" and "tolerance."

Trust me. Be careful if you do try mushrooms. They are classified as more dangerous than heroin in most states.

And yes, they will open your mind and heal trauma - they worked for me. But we live in a nightmare nation when it comes to alternative therapies.

[DissedByBush]

32. It showed great promise in psychiatric treatment

Until it was declared Schedule III, no redeeming value, in 1970.

Psychiatrists described it as cracking open the subject's psyche to be able to fix things, just as a heart surgeon cuts open a person's chest to fix his heart.

Then people started having fun with it, and the government just couldn't have that.

[scarletwoman]

33. Kick for the blessing of psychedelics. (nt)