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Psilocybin Pros And Cons

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Psychologist William Richards has been carrying research into the potential for psychedelic drugs to be used therapeutically, and his findings have promising results when treating anxiety, PTSD, and addiction. His speciality is the psychology of mysticism and religion, and the application of therapy involves preparing patients for a high dose of psilocybin, guiding them as they have a “really transformative experience,” and then helping them integrate that into their lives. Richards and his colleagues have repeated their results so reliably that they can induce specific experiences with certain doses and stimuli, and they claim to have empirically proven Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious. Because psychedelics are classified as schedule I …show more content…

Given that people can and do freely ingest alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine (which are all more toxic and addictive than psilocybin), largely for counterproductive and unhealthy purposes, administering psilocybin in a controlled setting for integrative and productive aims doesn’t sound like an especially bad idea. As far as I’m concerned, the largest obstacle preventing psychedelics from being considering a viable treatment is not that the effects are ambiguous or hazardous, but that the societal connotation of these drugs in the Western world is almost irredeemably negative. It’s been shown repeatedly that the common consensus regarding drugs and medicine is fallible, such as in the examples pf humorism, animal magnetism, and bloodletting. That isn’t to say that modern medicine can’t be trusted, but advancement only comes when researchers and doctors are willing to accept that the truth they know is not absolute, and they’re willing to explore new territory or revisit old practices to come to a greater understanding of how to heal and how to understand human

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Thompson believed that drugs were not for everybody; compare the difference Hunter Thompson made while taking drugs during the sixties and seventies to the holistic change that the LSD counterculture made, and observers can conclude that Thompson’s assessment is correct. It takes a liberal-minded person to open up to the idea of taking drugs and trying new experiences; Thompson had the open-mindedness that was necessary and the initiative to still make a difference. In Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, Thompson once again critiques the LSD Subculture, “The importance of liking yourself is a notion that fell heavily out of favor during the Coptic, anti-ego frenzy of the acid era – but nobody guessed back then that the experiment might churn up this kind of hangover; a whole subculture of frightened illiterates with no faith in anything.” By now it is safe to say that Thompson is definitely an avid liberal but condemns any group, regardless of political ideology, that lacks the purpose or the drive to make a difference. Thompson was a righteous liberal activist that promoted making change where it needed to

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