Spring break is coming up! Teens are getting ready to party as if judgment day is nearing. Unfortunately, partying is almost always directly associated with underage drinking, recreational drug use and rigorous reluctance to a sustenance of sufficient health. These actions predispose teens to possible unexpected outcomes such as developing alcoholism, picking up a drug dependency (either mentally or chemically) and debilitation of immunity and ego-which tends to snowball teenagers into severe depression and call for an unconventional, inefficient by-product of synthetic compounds and chemicals commonly deemed antidepressants; although, massive populations have been subject to prescription drugs for years and show a pattern of growing a dependency on the antidepressant itself. This makes it just about impossible to fully overcome drug-dependent disorders like opiate addiction and/or alcoholism without developing a new, more hazardous addiction to the prescription medicine. Quitting prescription drugs cold turkey occasionally results in enervating withdrawals, rapid deterioration of health and sometimes worse-an overdose on the former habit.
The World Health Organization ranks depression as the leading cause of disability among Americans aged 15-44 years (W.H.O, 2014). Coinciding with the likelihood of developing depression is the more devastating probability of becoming a drug and/or alcohol addict. According to statistics from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 45% of teen deaths are due to prescription medicine abuse and 39% are due to street opiates like heroin, crack and methamphetamine. Evidently, contemporary methods of preventing drug addiction and/or usage and alcohol abuse is ineffective and inefficient. This is exemplified through the tendency of Western society to escape daily stresses and struggles through mind altering substances like alcohol and/or opiates, rather than more durable, healthy exercises like meditation or yoga.
During the 1950-1970s, a copious amount of research and experimental studies devoted resources, time and energy to efficiently generate alternate medications instead of over-the-counter prescription pills-that usually come with a risk of side-effects- to safely alleviate psychological and/or physiological disorders such as alcoholism, opiate addiction and/or depression. These issues are amongst the leading problems in modern day Americans. Due to prescriptions that, on average, only last a temporal year until the patient returns to their former habit, a more efficient drug was fabricated to easily administer to virtually anyone without any serious health hazards. Psychedelics are a class of hallucinogens that alter cognition and perception, typically by agonizing serotonin receptors. Examples of psychedelics are mescaline, dimethyltryptamine(dmt), MDMA and psilocybin. Serotonin is a chemical created by the human body that works as a neurotransmitter. It is regarded as a chemical that is responsible for maintaining mood and balance, while a deficit of serotonin may lead to depression. This explains why studies have shown that therapeutic administration of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) usually results in increased overall happiness and a higher level of comfort in one’s own skin. Psychedelics are recognized by the scientific community to obtain profound promise for alleviating common disorders such as alcoholism, opiate addiction and depression.
Ironically, before any solid, long-term conclusions could be formed, the government prohibited psychedelic research and terminated/cancelled all studies underway or planned for initiation. This resulted in a massive misunderstanding pertaining to the use of these hallucinogens and forced many avid psychedelic researchers to continue their life’s work under the radar. Without evidence to prove or disprove the medicinal value of psychoactive substances, the government scheduled all psychedelics under the category of Schedule 1. This category of drugs deems that they lack therapeutic potential and are ultimately, recreational rather than medicinal.
Before the ban on psychedelics, revolutionary research was conducted and analyzed, developing a controversial therapeutic strategy, psychotherapy, to compromise common disorders like the ones initially mentioned in the introduction. Unfortunately, the substantially corrupt and extensive war on drugs taught Western society to frown upon the use of mind-altering drugs, despite the possible benefits they could reap. The introduction of the war on drugs is what caused the complete termination of further psychedelic research. However, over 30 years there has been a gradual change as modern organizations such as the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, reawakened interest in the therapeutic potentiality of psychedelics. The biggest success thus far is the recent discovery and synthesis of Ibogaine, a plant-derived compound that has the potential to cure opiate addiction sporadically without any adverse side effects. Like no other known medication, Ibogaine resets neurochemicals in the brain; this returns an addict’s mentality back to its original state, before it was ever introduced to opiates (without withdrawals). Ibogaine is currently illegal in the United States despite its promise. However in Canada, Ibogaine is clinically administered in a therapeutic setting to participatory addicts. Consistently and astoundingly, the user is shown to overcome drug cravings following the treatment with an absence of withdrawal symptoms. They also exhibit a long-lasting resonance of a healthy, independent conscious.
LSD is also a psychoactive substance that is capable of remarkable transitions in one’s personality, behavior and mentality. LSD psychotherapy was investigated in the 1970s. In several Spring Grove Studies, results suggested that LSD administration in a remedial process could alleviate alcoholism, depression and drug addiction. According to the same studies, there is a tendency among alcoholics and heroin addicts to discontinue their drug use following a single, high-dose LSD session. Results showed that patients who experienced profound sensations of cosmic unity, or an accentuated interconnectedness with the universe, frequently developed a negative attitude toward the states of mind produced by alcohol and narcotics. Additionally, after completely guiding the patient through a journey into their own subconscious, the subject consistently displays a lasting abstinence and deep restructuring of their personality. Following their experience with a dissolved ego, abuse of alcohol and/or narcotics as well as suicidal tendencies were seen as tragic mistakes due to an unrecognized and misunderstood spiritual craving for transcendence.
Conclusively, psychedelic research shows profound promise for medicine and therapy and should definitely be re-evaluated by the government. The psychotherapeutic field could be groundbreaking, holding the potential to completely refine rehabilitative focus and therapeutic methods. Since depression, alcoholism, and opiate addiction is an ongoing epidemic in America, why not legalize the most beneficial, enduring and safe treatment known to efficiently cure America’s addiction to intoxication without any side effects or necessary follow ups? According to Food of the Gods, by Terrence McKenna, psychedelics have been used by natives for thousands of years, until arrogant religious officials and money-hungry industrialists abandoned their connection with Mother Earth to manipulate it. Now, centuries into a developed modern society, psychedelics have re-entered the Western vision with unbelievable potential to cure millions.