“In 2001, the World Health Organization released an article that stated, ‘One in four people will be affected by mental and neurological disorders at some point in their lives” (Edge). In moderation, there are billions of people who suffer with substance abuse and mental disorders. Addiction and mental illnesses is an epidemic that is constantly growing exponentially each year. Depression and anxiety disorders treatment costs America over one trillion dollars annually (“Investing in Treatment”). In addition, there are many patients who are diagnosed with treatment-resistant mental disorders. For over half a century, psychiatrists, medical doctors, and prestigious medical schools like Yale and Johns Hopkins have been studying and conveying clinical trials on the health benefits of what might cause a revolutionary turn in the medical field, psychedelics. Though psychedelics have carried a poor stigma with them throughout the century thus far, there has been extensive research and numerous clinical studies done beginning in the 1950’s and 1960’s. This extensive research and clinical trials have established medical facts that prove psychedelics’ power, and potential in the medical field; moreover, why medication used today is less effective in treating disorders than psychedelics.
After about fifty years of psychedelics being hidden by government reform and pharmaceutical industries, research on psychedelics is beginning to grow immensely once again. With the innovated medical technology today, recording and observing data on psychedelic clinical studies has never been more transparent (Sessa 58). When psychedelics first became widespread for medical purposes in the nineteen fifties and sixties, psychiatrists had to “take it for granted that psychedelics increased access to repressed emotional memories” (Sessa 58). Sessa makes the valid assertion that advancement in medical technology has allowed for revalidation on the ancient clinical studies performed on psychedelics for medical use. In addition, Sessa explains how psychiatrists had to base their conclusions strictly off what they saw with their eyes when performing psychedelic studies due to the inefficient technology at the time. However, since the nineteen fifties and sixties, there have been many clinical studies done now with the new innovated technology that prove beyond measure that psychedelics have the capability to treat various types of mental disorders.
Many patients who suffer with substance abuse mental disorders such as PTSD, OCD, and chronic depression are prescribed medication that is categorized as placebo, or fake medication. Eliott Edge proves this in his article, “Why Psychedelics Must be Legalized: A
Patients and Human Rights Argument”. Pharmaceutical industries today encourage psychiatrists and many pediatricians to prescribe sugar pills, or placebo medication (Edge). Placebo medication is supposed to manipulate the patient into believing that they are taking Xanax or Zoloft for their depression because that is what the pill capsules are labeled as. However, the patients are ingesting sugar pills, not the actual medication (Edge). Inconsequence, pharmaceutical companies are being sued for billions of dollars (Fig. 1.). This explains why many patients are considered to have “treatment-resistant” disorders; the medication administered to them is nothing more than sugar.
Although psychedelics are classified as schedule one substances, recent analysis shows that psychedelics can help with difficult to treat certain illnesses. According to Garcia-Romeo et al., there was a clinical study done involving 110 cluster headache diagnosed volunteers who were administered small milligram doses of psilocybin mushrooms for ten years, for a total of 227 sessions. Analysis of the outcome showed that ninety percent of volunteers felt “very enriched”, experienced significantly less painful headaches, as well as less frequent headaches (234). The clinical study concluded that psilocybin treats patients diagnosed with cluster headache syndrome. Another noteworthy clinical study regarding psilocybin mushrooms involved twenty voluntary patients consisting of six females who had treatment-resistant depression. The trial lasted 6 months and received favorable opinions from the National Research Ethics Service and adopted by the National Institute of Health Research. Patients were given ten milligrams the first session, and twenty-five milligrams each day after that (Carhart-Harris, et al. 399-401). Each patients’ depression was calculated in units known as BDI; The average reduction after each week was –22.7 BDI units from each patient. Each patient had to be at minimum 64.7 BDI units to participate in the study (403). These two studies alone demonstrate the significant health benefits of just psilocybin mushrooms through supervised clinical studies.
Aside from psilocybin, the well-known psychoactive substance LSD has been proven to treat severe mental disorders. Humphry Osmund, a psychiatrist and pioneer of psychedelic use for psychiatric purposes experimented with LSD on patients in the Saskatchewan Mental Hospital (Dyck and Farrell 240-243). Trials at the Saskatchewan Mental Hospital indicated that LSD not only had potential to improve patient health, but also had the possibility to induce mystical experiences, or what Osmund called, “Intelligent insights” (243). Furthermore, Osmund began experimenting LSD on patients with schizophrenia and noticed significant relief in patients. In addition, Osmund administered LSD to the caregivers to provide empathy to the schizophrenics themselves (244). Giving both the patient and the caregiver doses of LSD provided the patient with appreciation and empathy rather than pure quietness; it was common for caregivers to ignore their mentally ill patients during this time. Humphry Osmund’s remarkable work is still revisited today to record how LSD affected patients with severe mental disorders like schizophrenia.
MDMA, or ecstasy also shows similar, if not better health benefits than psilocybin, for MDMA provides treatment for more commonly severe mental disorders. A recent study conducted by researchers who were granted governmental permission carried out trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy with psilocybin and MDMA (Byock 418). Psilocybin and MDMA both showed promising signs of efficacy on patients with treatment-resistant depression, demoralization, anxiety, and depression associated with terminal illness. Although psilocybin and MDMA are quite similar in what they treat, MDMA has been proven through clinical studies to improve suffering patients with treatment-resistant PTSD (Byock 418). Because MDMA treats so many mental disorders and PTSD, MDMA is found to be more useful than psilocybin. However, psilocybin is healthier for it is a nontoxic chemical (Sessa 59).
The legal status of psilocybin and LSD are quite unnecessary given their harmless chemical makeup as well as the history of how psilocybin and LSD affected crime rates compared to alcohol. Nutt, et al. from the Independent Science Committee on Drugs evaluated how LSD and psilocybin mushrooms affected crime rates, overdoses, harm to others, and how the drugs impact the health of humans. LSD and psilocybin were being compared to other drugs such as alcohol, crack cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, cannabis, and more (1558). Each drug was scored on a one to one-hundred scale, with one-hundred being the worst. Shockingly, alcohol received the highest overall harmful rating of seventy-two, and followed by crack cocaine and heroin with scores below sixty (1561). Contrary to these harmful stances, LSD was rated only seven and psilocybin mushrooms were at the bottom of the list with a rating of six (1561). Even though alcohol has been around longer and is socially acceptable, Nutt, et al. reveal the reality of how harmful psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD really are through scientific procedures.
With the suicidal rates increasing in society, Canadian researcher Elena Argento was intrigued by the possible health benefits of psychedelics and decided to hold a clinical trial in 2017 involving 800 women to analyze how many women were more likely to experience suicidal thoughts (Gander). Part of the study was a long questionnaire regarding personal traumatic experiences, psychedelic use, and if they ever had suicidal thoughts. Gander revealed that the results showed that women who used psychedelics were sixty percent less likely to experience suicidal thoughts. On the other hand, women who had used methamphetamine or experienced child abuse were shown to be prone to suicidal thoughts. Since this study consisted of so many people and showed such positive results, psychedelics for suicide prevention is rather an attractive approach for decreasing suicide deaths.
With zero deaths resulting with the use of psychedelics, being classified as a schedule one controlled substance is quite irrational (Taub). Robert Gable, who graduated from Claremont University has spent decades studying the effects of psychedelics on the brain state. Gables emphasized that he never came across any cases in which psychedelics were the cause of death (Taub). However, if psychedelics are mixed with other substances like cocaine or heroin, the reaction on the body may be fatal (Taub). This is understandable since there are many heroin, alcohol, cocaine, and methamphetamine addicts who overdose each day without taking psychedelics. Furthermore, Gables revealed that people who take psychedelics build a tolerance extremely quick; therefore, if someone were to take psilocybin or LSD for several days consecutively, they would not feel the effects (Taub). This proves the protective properties of psychedelics. These substances are proven harmless in many aspects by notorious psychiatrists and scientists. Classifying psychedelics as a schedule one substance is not only useless, but it prevents psychiatrists from being able to implement them for medical use.
Upon substantial results from clinical studies with psilocybin mushrooms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, or commonly known as the DEA, decided to review psilocybin specifically to possibly reclassify the substance from a schedule one using the eight-factor evaluation process (Johnson, et al. 146). This evaluation process is required under the Controlled Substance Act if a controlled substance such as psilocybin is going to be reviewed and potentially reclassified. The eight-factor evaluation is essentially an analysis on the context of the substance, how likely the substance is to be abused based, what kind of therapeutic properties the substance has, as well as scientific research on the substance (144). The evaluation by the DEA concluded that psilocybin does have potential abuse properties; however, they also indicated that psilocybin is nowhere near addictive as alcohol and other current legal substances (156-161). In addition, authors Johnson, et al. believe that the initial scheduling of psilocybin in the 1960’s received an “overestimation of the risk of harm and abuse potential” (161). This suggests that psilocybin was originally classified as a schedule one substance based off of fear, rather than evidence demonstrating how psilocybin has therapeutic properties.
Not only are many notorious psychiatrists and scientists looking into psychedelic substances to treat common severe mental disorders, but the legal status of psychedelics are upon review to be reclassified such as psilocybin. These substances can transform the medical field for the better, providing treatment for those whose medication is simply sugar pills, decreasing suicide rates, treat veterans who struggle with PTSD, treat patients who battle chronic depression, and the list goes on. More recent research and clinical studies were granted permission by the FDA and DEA; therefore, the federal government now shows interest in the possibility of psychedelics being implemented for medicinal use. Although currently psychedelic substances carry a stigma that has haunted them for half a century and are drugs, technological innovation in the medical field and numerous clinical studies prove that psychedelics do provide amazing health benefits for those in need.
Works Cited
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Carhart-Harris, R. L., et al. “Psilocybin with Psychological Support for Treatment-Resistant Depression: Six-Month Follow-Up.” Psychopharmacology, vol. 235, no. 2, Feb. 2018, pp. 399–408. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s00213-017-4771-x. Accessed 2 June 2019.
Dyck, Erika, and Patrick Farrell. "Psychedelics and Psychotherapy in Canada: Humphry Osmond and Aldous Huxley." History of Psychology, vol. 21, no. 3, 2018, pp. 240-253. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/docview/2092545570?accountid=1169, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/hop0000088. Accessed 5 May 2019.
Edge, Eliott, and Eliott Edge. “Why Psychedelics Must Be Legalized and Normalized: A Patients and Human Rights Argument.” Medium, Medium, 10 Oct. 2018, medium.com/@eliottedge/why-psychedelics-must-be-legalized-and-normalized-a-patients-and-human-rights-argument-ca7225c38649. Accessed 2 June 2019.
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Garcia-Romeu, Albert, Brennan Kersgaard, and Peter H. Addy. "Clinical Applications of Hallucinogens: A Review." Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, vol. 24, no. 4, 2016, pp. 229-268. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1807077696?accountid=1169, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pha0000084. Accessed 2 June 2019.
“Investing in Treatment for Depression and Anxiety Leads to Fourfold Return.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 13 Apr. 2016, www.who.int/news-room/detail/13-04-2016-investing-in-treatment-for-depression-and-anxiety-leads-to-fourfold-return. Accessed 02 June 2019.
Johnson, Matthew W, et al. “The Abuse Potential of Medical Psilocybin According to the 8 Factors of the Controlled Substances Act.” Neuropharmacology, Elsevier, 5 June 2018, reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0028390818302296?token=9C81064DBAD9ECF090F1F9EBF5944CBB97884F6466DF4BCAF4E65A153751CA915F80E8DF1931B55402F46E0FB54E0189.
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Taub, Ben. “Only A Handful Of People In History Have Ever Overdosed On LSD. This Is What Happened To Them.” IFLScience, IFLScience, 11 Apr. 2019, www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/only-a-handful-of-people-in-history-have-ever-overdosed-on-lsd-this-is-what-happened-to-them/.