Psychedelics are the fear killer
Clinical use of psychedelics is coming. The capitalists are on board. There will be fits and starts along the way, but the data is overwhelming - they are profoundly beneficial in a wide range of mental health disorders. The message of the 60s counterculture has finally rung true - and in this case, weed really was the gateway drug.
The opportunity was delayed because of the short sightedness of the US government. MDMA, Psilocybin, Mescaline, and DMT were all banned in the 1970s and 1980s, shutting down research and patient use. What would the world look like if we had taken a different path and allowed clinical research for the last half century? One can only dream.
The drugs that are likely to get approval in the near term are MDMA, psilocybin, and ibogaine. There are a wealth of others that I hope follow suit like mescaline, LSD, and DMT, but I expect they will come after the first wave of approvals, for additional indications where there is some specific advantage.
Psychedelics in the clinic
This path is well trodden in the pharmaceutical industry. Isolate a natural compound with a known (anecdotal) therapeutic effect. Produce that compound under GMP, do safety and toxicology studies, followed by clinical trials. Protect / patent some aspect of the compound and on approval, sell it for profit. This is happening for psilocybin as we speak.
But clinical practice with psychedelics is different: they have to be administered in a very specific therapeutic setting, and will not be prescribed for home use. MAPS has done a good job of fleshing out what these settings look like. They are multi-hour sessions in a controlled environment, paired with therapy, likely to occur two or more times. We will see clinics popping up around the US - existing psychiatric clinics can be adapted as well.
Approval of the first set of classical psychedelics also opens the door for novel and exotic psychedelics. These derivatives may lend themselves to particular clinical indications, and broad classes of these chemicals are likely to begin the clinical journey in short order.
Pharmaceutical companies are incentivized to pursue novel compounds and derivatives for the sake of patentability - who knows if they will perform better than classical psychedelics.
Psychedelics for EVERYONE
Elective therapeutic use of psychedelics, now we’re talking. After all, life in the 21st century is a well deserving pathological state as it is.
Oregon has already set a precedent - allowing anyone access to a therapeutic regimen as enumerated above, without the need for a diagnosis of any specific indication, by 2022.
Who supplies the drug in these cases? Growers of naturally derived compounds (entheogenic plants and fungi) should be able to attain certification for meeting “medicinal” specifications. This would be an acknowledgement of the wealth of data available on the use of these compounds, and allow for legal and licensed use of products that are already being cultivated. The synthetic compounds like MDMA and LSD will have to be manufactured under GMP, just like any other generic drug or OTC product.
Allowing everyone access to these experiences sets the stage for a massive societal shift, for the betterment of humankind.
Psychedelics and the future of our souls
There are profound lessons that can be rapidly taught through the responsible use of psychedelics. Most can be attained through other means, but these substances act as a chemical catalyst.
Giving all adults access to this experience is fundamentally important - it will reduce the number of “bad trips” by promoting their use in a therapeutic and controlled setting. The indications where they have shown the most promise are things that we all experience, usually without any clinical diagnosis - existential dread, fear of death, anxiety, addiction, and depression.
The most powerful consequence of widespread psychedelic use would be the death of fear. We live in fear of making the wrong move, of saying the wrong thing, fear of what our friends, family, or co-workers will think of us. Fear inhibits growth and innovation - fear holds us back. Most of us are barely conscious of this self censorship and behavioral modification, it is so ingrained in our daily lives.
The psychedelic experience is one of profound unification, of dissolution of the self. In a universe where all is one, what is there to fear? Fearlessness is the ultimate empathy - if you are the other, there is no other to fear.
In a universe ultimately devoid of meaning, we can find the ultimate freedom: freedom from fear.
Fear is the mind killer, but psychedelics are the fear killer.