[Image source: Lan Truong]
Takeaways
I highly suggest consuming the full piece here (11 min. read time)
“Like many, I was initially skeptical when I first heard of Measure 109…But if we can help people suffering from PTSD, depression, trauma and addiction — including veterans, cancer patients, and others — supervised psilocybin therapy is a treatment worthy of further consideration.” — Kate Brown (Gov. of Oregon)
The politics/history behind psychedelics: “…when psychedelics slipped into the counterculture, where they were used without therapeutic safeguards, and the Nixon administration targeted them as part of its culture war. A remnant of healers who used psychedelics in their work remained, but they were driven underground.” — Ezra Klein
Beyond mental health: “…traits revolving around openness to change and uncertainty seem to loosen, with people questioning their own judgments, holding other viewpoints and tolerating more ambiguity with greater ease. Openness to new experiences tends to diminish as we age, so the potential of psychedelics to unlatch the windows of the mind…” — Ezra Klein
The major warning: “Psilocybin isn’t addictive, and there is no known lethal dose. “If you look at the safety profile of psilocybin, it’s dead last in terms of its risk of harm either to self or others,” Korthuis told me. But these experiences can be psychologically searing, even scarring. There is evidence that terror-filled trips can cause lingering trauma or even trigger psychosis or suicide in rare cases.” — Ezra Klein
My two cents: Like many people, an immediate negative reaction to people who use or is affiliated with psychedelics is pretty common. This is beginning to slowly change, though. I believe a similar life cycle of marijuana is bound to take place with psychedelics, but with the chance that it could get deregulated faster due to its seemingly more legitimate use cases.
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