A psychedelic drug is a substance with psychoactive properties that targets specific receptors in the brain, altering perception and sometimes causing hallucinations. Most, if not all psychedelic substances are illegal in the United States, and have been presented as dangerous, addictive, and having no medical uses. However, researchers around the world have started studies on the benefits of these drugs in clinical trials. As David Derbyshire says in his article “ Healing Trip,” for people who grew up hearing the post-1960s stigma about psychedelics, “the idea that they [can] actually cure disorders of the brain is mind-blowing.” Although psychedelic drugs populate the DEA’s list of Schedule 1 drugs, the ban on medical research with psychoactive
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In contrast opioids, much more addictive and highly dangerous were classed as schedule 2 because of their pain-killing qualities. The four most popular psychedelic drugs are lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), MDMA (ecstasy), Psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms), and THC/CBD (found in Cannabis). The Drug Enforcement Agency classifies substances as Schedules 1-5 based on the qualities of a drug, with 1 being completely illegal with no medical use. This extremely restrictive category houses all four drugs previously mentioned and makes it almost impossible for researchers to conduct studies on them. However, as discussed in Douglas Main’s article detailing a recent conference in New York focused on Psychedelics, many of the drugs classified as Schedule 1 do in fact possess beneficial uses in the field of medicine. English aristocrat Amanda Feilding stated in “Healing Trip” that by stifling research on this category of substance, we are depriving people in desperate conditions of a treatment that may be the answer to their …show more content…
It has shown promise in studies on post-traumatic stress disorder. It allows subjects to revisit their traumatic experiences in a more positive light and to be able to heal with assistance from a therapist. In a small study done in the U.S. showed that 80% of people with PTSD benefited from the use of MDMA during therapy. MDMA may also benefit anxiety, couple’s therapy, and Parkinson’s disease, but more research needs to be done to assess the risks. It is by far the riskiest of the four drugs listed previously, with 577 deaths attributed to it over the course of 15 years, mainly from heatstroke, heart problems, or excess water
In contrast opioids, much more addictive and highly dangerous were classed as schedule 2 because of their pain-killing qualities. The four most popular psychedelic drugs are lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), MDMA (ecstasy), Psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms), and THC/CBD (found in Cannabis). The Drug Enforcement Agency classifies substances as Schedules 1-5 based on the qualities of a drug, with 1 being completely illegal with no medical use. This extremely restrictive category houses all four drugs previously mentioned and makes it almost impossible for researchers to conduct studies on them. However, as discussed in Douglas Main’s article detailing a recent conference in New York focused on Psychedelics, many of the drugs classified as Schedule 1 do in fact possess beneficial uses in the field of medicine. English aristocrat Amanda Feilding stated in “Healing Trip” that by stifling research on this category of substance, we are depriving people in desperate conditions of a treatment that may be the answer to their …show more content…
It has shown promise in studies on post-traumatic stress disorder. It allows subjects to revisit their traumatic experiences in a more positive light and to be able to heal with assistance from a therapist. In a small study done in the U.S. showed that 80% of people with PTSD benefited from the use of MDMA during therapy. MDMA may also benefit anxiety, couple’s therapy, and Parkinson’s disease, but more research needs to be done to assess the risks. It is by far the riskiest of the four drugs listed previously, with 577 deaths attributed to it over the course of 15 years, mainly from heatstroke, heart problems, or excess water