I wanted to write this blog today because I found a link and similarity in the way we have talked about Psychedelics as harmful, destructive, substances that can do a huge amount of harm to people personally and the population at large. In a Ted talked that I recently viewed with Rick Doblin, the owner and founder of MAPS (multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) He stated that Psychedelics are actually just tools and how we use them depends on if they will be harmful or beneficial. I thought this was an interesting topic for today given our grievance with gun violence as well as they fight politically for or against gun control. I have heard the argument mentioned about guns. Now I am not going on a spiel about gun control or rights, but I will say that I do think that when it comes to inanimate objects we are certainly the ones who prescribe meaning. When it came to Psychedelics and throwing them in a class of narcotics we created a certain identity that shunned its existence. This left very little room to create more of an intellectual understanding while the heaviness of dramatic ethos responses that created a huge amount of fear. And this is not a post to discredit the fear, I have known she horrific stories that have happened because of the dangerous situations these strong ethnogeons can have on people. The same goes for guns and I’m sure I dont need to draw a picture of the horror they have brought in abundance. However I will not bring more fear but explain why education, research, and the proper set and setting can and has really led us to some very positive and beneficial case studies that have really given us some very positive prospectives that were not seen before.
We have seen how substances like LSD, Ayahuasca, Ketamine, Psilocybin, and others, sincerely help people get in touch with their emotions. Not just acknowledge emotions that have a tendency to take control over us, but rather to see them from a more objective point of view that these hallucinogens help us move to a different perspective by the altered perspective that comes from using other areas of the brain. I read once that a woman in labor thinks from the same part of the brain as an individual under the influence of Psychedelic Mushrooms. Like a woman laboring, it is critically important that therapists are highly trained in creating a safe spot for those in potential unique and at times fragile states.
The most positive case studies have shown that people who are in hospice and are afraid of death tend to find a place of peace and acceptance after undergoing Psychedelic assisted Psychotherapy.
A Desert Psychonaut 