Psychedelics as medicine
Psychedelics have long been known by practitioners to have a wide range of health benefits, but medical science is only just starting to catch up. In the sixties, as governments around the world started to crack down on drug use, most research ground to a halt or was driven underground. Now, though, new studies from all over the world are indicating what psychedelic aficionados have known for a long time- psychedelics can be extremely beneficial to people with all manners of mental health disorders.
The so-called “microdosing” of LSD is also becoming more and more fashionable, particularly in Silicon Valley, as a way of increasing concentration and focus, without the full-blown effects of an acid trip.
Ketamine, which many people have only heard of because of those who use it in large doses, is in fact an effective antidepressant when taken in small doses.
Psilocybin or Magic Mushrooms as they are so lovingly called have been shown to offer real promise in treating cluster headaches as well as remitting the digestive upset of Crohns disease. It seems with the Crohns that it really shows us the direct connection between auto-immune inflammatory conditions and the nervous system. Psychedelics are helping us reconnect with the original ways in which we treated health, when we originally viewed it as an entire system that was working together, back in the initial times of plant alchemy and the creation of medicines, way before big pharma got its pocket book involved, and we started to separate things, knowingly hurting one bodily system while treating another. An example of this would be anti-depressant and there most common side effect of destroying sex drive, why was this ever considered acceptable? Or Chemo killing and destroying our bodies while in the attempt to eradicate cancer. We just headed the wrong direction with medicine, healing was never good for the pocketbooks, so they went the direction of keeping people sick, they had to make money somehow right? Yeah Fuck that.
As you can see, then, it’s all about responsible and intentional usage- those who take them for their beneficial effects are usually the people who have taken the time to research these psychedelics properly.
Ayahuasca, a shamanic brew with powerful psychedelic properties, has recently been tested as an antidepressant. It is traditionally brewed using the bark from jungle vines, along with a mixture of other ingredients, many of which are illegal in most countries. However, researchers in Brazil have suggested that the brew could help to alleviate the effects of depression in just hours- a far cry from the weeks or months that pharmaceutical antidepressants can take to start having a positive effect. It's still early days- the test in question was only small-scale, and there’s a lot more to be done- but nevertheless, this points to exciting developments towards even greater discoveries.
Perhaps it’s all down to our cultural preconceptions that we’ve rejected psychedelics as a positive force for so long. The Amazonian tribes that created Ayahuasca have a more liberal approach to plant-based medicine, and it plays an important part in many different areas of life there. Mental health issues are rarely an issue there, unlike Western society where there is a worrying rise in these types of disorders. Although we might think of ourselves as much more advanced than them, there’s actually a lot we can learn, and it’s great that researchers are trying to do so at last.
We are in the constant state of re- evolution, I think psychedelics as well as consciousness will play a primary role in that awakening.
With the re emergence of all these amazing indigenous technologies we are definitely on our way.
