Nearly one of every five adults in America suffers from chronic depression. In 2014, Mental Health America found that 11% of teenagers suffer from depression. Look around at the people sitting next to you because one person in this room likely has or will suffer from some form of depression. What would you think if I told you that the government considers a drug, which is known to help treat depression, harmful and illegal? For years, LSD has been considered a dangerous narcotic by the public, however this perspective is uninformed and based on stereotypes. By first explaining the misguided perception and effects of LSD and then outlining the potential benefits of this drug, I hope to convince you that LSD should be decriminalized and used …show more content…
First and foremost, LSD has the potential to drastically improve doctor’s ability to treat serious mental illness. Talking about current medication for depression, one doctor from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Research states, “What we have are sedatives; we have things that mellow people out or numb them so they don't feel anxiety. But we don't have anything that allows them to explore the issues that have caused them that anxiety in the first place." LSD, in the way it functions in the brain, has the unique opportunity to change how doctors can effectively treat mental disorders. Current research shows how “microdosing,” the process of ingesting small amounts of LSD, can improve mood in patients with depression or help recovering alcoholics stay sober. Having studied the potential uses of microdosing, Dr. Karina Preller from the University of Zurich says, “If you have a depressed patient ruminating about negative thoughts, LSD might facilitate a process where you attribute meaning to other things.” In a 2006 Canadian study of LSD as a medicine for alcoholism, 62% of recovering alcoholics were able to stay sober for more than a year and a half after just one dose. This is more than twice the success rate of traditional group therapy and more than four times as effective as psychotherapy. As more studies of LSD continue to show the medical potential of LSD, this drug clearly has a …show more content…
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