Yes, Make Psychedelics Legally Available, but Don’t Forget the Risks

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: John Horgan <jhorgan () stevens edu>
> Date: July 6, 2018 at 9:19:32 PM GMT+9
> To: Dave Farber <farber () gmail com>
> Cc: John Horgan <jhorgan () stevens edu>
> Subject: Yes, Make Psychedelics Legally Available, but Don’t Forget the Risks
>
> Dave, FYI, just posted in Scientific American:
>
> Yes, Make Psychedelics Legally Available, but Don’t Forget the Risks
>
>  
>
> Last spring, I descended into the basement of a suburban home with two-dozen people and swilled fluid from a plastic 
> cup. It was ayahuasca, a tea brewed from two South American plants, which contains the psychedelic compound 
> dimethyltryptamine, DMT.
>
>  
>
> Ayahuasca has the viscosity of spit, it tastes like beer dregs into which someone has dropped a cigar, and it is 
> nauseating, literally. Our guides gave each of us a plastic pail in case we vomited (which I did). The brew induces 
> visions that can be blissful, excruciating, terrifying, sometimes all at once. As our guides played music and sang, 
> we groaned, retched, cried, laughed, stared open-mouthed into space, retched again. A young man beside me oscillated 
> between giggles and sobs. We each paid $200 for this experience, which lasted about five hours.
>
>  
>
> Why, you might ask, would anyone in his right mind want to do this? I tried to answer that question 15 years ago in 
> Rational Mysticism, my investigation of psychedelics, meditation and other mystical technologies (and I’ll tell you 
> my answer below). That same year, 2003, I proposed in Slate that psychedelics be dispensed by “licensed therapists, 
> who can screen clients for mental instability and advise them on how to make their experiences as rewarding as 
> possible.”
>
>  
>
> This scenario seemed far-fetched at the time, but it is looking a lot more likely lately. One reason is that 
> researchers have continued producing evidence of psychedelics’ psychological and spiritual benefits. Perhaps more 
> important, journalist Michael Pollan—author of the bestsellers The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore’s Dilemma--has 
> become an advocate of the drugs.
>
>  
>
> Pollan wrote a surprisingly enthusiastic article about psychedelics for The New Yorker in 2015. That was a preview of 
> his new bestseller How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, 
> Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. I’m a fan of psychedelic literature, including the writings of 
> Aldous Huxley, Terence McKenna and Alexander and Ann Shulgin, but I haven’t read a more eloquent defense of 
> psychedelics than How to Change Your Mind.... 
>
>  
>
> Continue at 
> https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/yes-make-psychedelics-legally-available-but-dont-forget-the-risks/



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