(revised edition 21/05/2022)
14 minute read
It is not my intention to spread negativity, nor to waste time on the analysis of a planet’s doom story that could soon become ours. The aim of this piece is to spread awareness around some ever-existing tools that could help us face the global challenges ahead. In order to make a real change, it is imperative that we stop distracting ourselves, and start developing answers to overcome them.
Unsettling events are happening all around us at this very moment… changes that are causing irreversible damage and great despair. No, I am not talking about the atrocity of the latest war, but about the unpopular story of ecosystems that are moaning under the pressure of capitalism. With forests literally going up in smoke, and icebergs melting at alarming rates, dramas that are helplessly tangled in a relationship with an overpowering economic system whose tentacles reach every single aspect of our lives. We are faced with a situation so complex that compiling the sum of all its causes and effects would make us so dizzy that only another Hollywood showbiz story could prevent us from fainting. But as mentioned earlier, I won’t waste any more words, these current affairs are not the main topic here.
It’s interesting to witness the wide variety of reactions each person has when confronted with the subjects described above. Just as any good citizen, I too have spent time forming and discussing my opinions, and even sometimes trying to push my viewpoint upon others, often resulting in never-ending debates that lead to nowhere else other than another beer. A very hopeful consideration though, is that I noticed there is at least one belief we can all agree upon: we live in times that crave innovation and out-of-the-box ideas. And this is exactly the common ground I use to deploy my thoughts about a rather controversial subject: Psychedelics. Also known as “entheogens”, psychedelics are a class of medicines -whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness- that have been prohibited since the inception of the war on drugs in the 1970s. I won’t beat around the bush, it is my belief that banning these psychoactive substances is a crime against humanity. A crime? Bear with me…
During the 1950s and ’60s, pioneering researchers showed us the therapeutic possibilities of psychedelics, and their unique ability to help us study something, even today, we know very little about; consciousness. There were many government-funded studies conducted in the west; an estimated 40.000 patients had been prescribed one form of LSD therapy or another as treatment for addiction, neurosis, etc. Although most experiments didn’t comply with modern standards and regulations, they delivered some very promising results. For example, at Weburn (a mental hospital in Saskatchewan), where between the year 1953 and 1960 alcoholics underwent psychedelic-treatment. The results showed that nearly half of the people treated still abstained from alcohol more than a year later, which got Bill Willson (co-founder of AA) even more enthusiastic about the drug. Not to mention the results of the treatment of terminal cancer patients at Spring Grove, demonstrating the effectiveness of LSD and psilocybin in reducing anxiety and depression in a psychotherapy setting and under medical supervision.
Eventually, the drugs leaked from the hospitals and labs, and found their way to the minds, hearts and souls of flower-loving activists. It’s not hard to imagine the sheer power and naivety of the hippie movement; wildly waving imprudent and rebellious anti-war propaganda whilst dragging innocent students far away from their intended career paths through unknown dimensions must have been very worrying for concerned parents, teachers and politicians. Consequently, about 50 years ago, all plants with psychedelic properties were intentionally put forward as a major threat to public health and our civilization in general (quite a different approach than some indigenous tribes, for whom these are sacred medicines). But still, there is no need to try to justify the way our governments misclassified an extremely valuable group of non-addictive compounds as Schedule I (the most restrictive drug classification, the same league as heroin and cocaine), consequently forcing a non-negotiable prohibition upon us 50 years ago and letting all breakthrough psychedelic research grind to a halt. Was this a rational decision to protect us from dangerous use in labs and secret CIA operations, or a strategic move driven by fears of growing antiwar and anticapitalist movements, shamelessly veiled under public health concerns? I guess we’ll never know the absolute truth.
Have you ever wondered why authorities fear and stigmatize plants that inhabited the planet long before us? Why governments ban compounds with the potential to light up paths we couldn't even imagine existed? Is it because they don't want you to experience altered states of consciousness (other than numbing drunkenness or productive alertness), or are they concerned about your sanity? Consider the following:
These potent medicines are known to have the potential to temporarily put a question mark over any internal and external governing system and authority. And that is exactly what is at stake here, not (y)our health, but instead their authority.
Because no matter how contradictory it sounds, your health can strongly benefit from the unusual ways of being that psychedelics tend to induce. Thankfully, in the last few years, science is finally managing to free itself of the prohibition stranglehold. And lo and behold, psychedelics are once again demonstrating their humongous potential in therapeutic settings. Psychedelic-assisted therapy may allows us to see the world in new ways: freeing us from limiting self-beliefs,enabling us to heal from addiction/depression, and cultivating more authentic and deeper relationships with ourselves, others, and nature. Resulting in the enormous potential it holds in dealing with the challenges our society is ignoring today and the threats we must handle tomorrow. This might be inscrutable for some that have chosen not to embark on such a journey thus far, but please understand the immense value it might offer for others, whether it’s those who finally find relief from persistent depression or those who have a healthy hunger to sail the interdimensional oceans. For they are not pirates, but explorers. They have not stolen, it is their freedom of exploring consciousness through interaction with nature that has been taken from them.
As far as our history reaches, there have always been thriving collaborations between plants and humans. Our most durable achievements have come from symbioses with the natural world, which we are also part of. In fact, some entheogens (psychoactive substances) have played indispensable roles in many different cultures over every part of the world, even here in Europe, from tales of Panoramix’s magic potion to ward off the Romans, to cases of ancient Greek philosophers profoundly inspired by the mind-bending visions and insights caused by the mysterious ‘kykeon’ used in the Eleusinian ceremonies. Even today, our daily consumption of roasted coffee bean brew acts as fuel for the overwhelming glory of capitalism, and don't forget a couple of freshly draught fermented barley juices to mark the end of the workweek, cheers!
5 points regarding the role psychedelics could have in handling global warming and mass extinction:
1. They help us get past the denial phase and face the truths of the mess we’re in.
2. They assist us in overcoming the despair that naturally occurs after having faced this tragic inconvenience.
3. They can drastically improve our mental health care system by better helping to nurse those devastated by climate change (and other crises).
4. With a proven track record, they boost out-of-the-box thinking, they offer what we need to steer us through this storm.
5. They enable feelings of connectedness with nature and others.
That said, it’s easy to slide in the pitfall of the glorification of psychedelics as a wonder cure for all our problems and illnesses, whether personal or societal. Besides the fact that LSD helped Francis Crick deduce the double-helix structure of DNA, assisted in the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and supposedly influenced Jobs’ vision of Apple computers, munching psilocybin mushrooms, sipping a sacred amazonian vine cocktail, or digesting an acid-infused blotter won’t magically turn you into a tree-hugging, eco-warrior overnight. Yet, my personal experiences with psychedelics perfectly resonate with some more recent studies showcasing an increase in feelings of connection with nature after a trip, and after reading many trip reports on various online platforms and Albert Hofmann’s writings, I am convinced that I’m not the only one.
Is this purely an effect of the drug, or is it depending on the intention of the journey, set & setting, or perhaps even the playlist used during the trip?
In any case, like many problems experienced and caused by humans, the ways we treat each other and our planet can often be traced back to personal issues, toxic patterns, and unresolved traumas. Many great thinkers in history came to the conclusion that change can only start within oneself, and what better way to initiate change in oneself than by adopting temporary states of being that allow us to access internal insights and truths that are usually deeply burrowed under our ego. Such confrontations are seldom comfortable, but of great significance to help us grow and heal. Looking at ancient knowledge and modern statistics, I think it’s safe to say that altered states of consciousness are key in helping us resolve traumas and inner conflict, whether they are induced by psychedelics or through other methods like meditation, breathwork or even fasting. What’s more, if we all take better care of ourselves, by giving and taking time to create an open culture where healing wounds and integrating inner conflicts becomes the norm, we might eventually find the courage to zoom out and start facing our communal problems, like climate change.
Paradoxically, the premature melting of icebergs is a good illustration of a civilization deeply frozen in a state of denial. The urgency is as great as the strength of the medicine required to cure the illness itself. And after all, isn’t that what psychedelics are, strong medicines?
Whether entheogens help us temporarily dissolve our egos in order to remove the blindfold that camouflages the harm our lifestyles are inflicting on other lifeforms (and ourselves), make us feel more connected to each other by bringing authentic warmth in our hearts and souls, bring us an eureka! moment to help solve the consequences of the rising temperatures, or even briefly enlighten us with post-capitalist ways of life, I believe the potential greatly exceeds the risks involved with re-introducing them.
Besides all of the potential benefits that are being kept out of our reach, what's very worrying about this situation is that the prohibition is a clear indicator of our policy makers’ morbid addiction to power and their utter stubbornness towards change, which we desperately need. Any structure that fears being challenged has no place in our future. It is not only our right, but our duty to question anything and everything. Our society needs to become more flexible, agile, and adaptable. Any authority that fears being questioned is suspicious in trying to conceal the dubiety of its own purpose, goals, and intentions.
So please, let’s take the leap and un-illegalize* psychedelics!
I am not advocating that any substance should be available to anyone at any given time, that would be dangerously foolish. What’s even more absurd, though, is to keep these potent medicines and technologies out of reach of our medical and scientific institutes. I dare say that for some, and maybe all of us, it is a matter of life and death. Let’s face it, banning naturally occurring psychoactive substances is a major offense towards our ancestral history, and an absolute atrocity against the survival, evolution, and well-being of humankind.
As I said, authorities that fear and stigmatize plants that have the potential to light up paths we couldn't even imagine existed, governments that regulate plants that could make you question their methods illustrate their clinging to old ways and outdated craving to remain in control.
Are these modern guidelines the ones you want to keep following? Are these the rules you believe will get us forward? Are these the laws of a civilization that can make us thrive for longer than four generations? Well, I am sorry to break the narrative here, but critical signs are indicating it is not. On the contrary.
Warning! Psychedelics are extremely powerful tools, please do not use them without proper guidance. Any accident is an accident too much. Remember, 10.000 miracle stories and 1 casualty is just 1 casualty in the eyes of the media and the public opinion, the stigmatization runs deep, and it’s our mutual responsibility to keep building a positive reputation.
*Following logical principles, per the origin of certain compounds, and by making consequent usage of language, I can not agree with the term ‘legalize’ in this context, read more about this in one of my next publications.
An evil man, representing medicine and religion (?), gloats over the death of the freedom of the individual in Switzerland to consume absinthe, represented as a green woman stabbed by a cross. Colour lithograph after A.-H. Gantner, 1910.