I think this is good:
In a study that could revive interest in researching the effects of psychedelic drugs, scientists said a substance in certain mushrooms induced powerful, mind-altering experiences among a group of well-educated, middle-age men and women.
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions researchers conducted the study following carefully controlled, scientifically rigorous procedures. They said that the episodes generally led to positive changes in attitude and behavior among the 36 volunteer participants and that the changes appeared to last at least two months. Participants cited feelings of intense joy, "distance from ordinary reality," and feelings of peace and harmony after taking the drug. Two-thirds described the effects of the drug, called psilocybin, as among the five most meaningful experiences of their lives.
But in 30% of the cases, the drug provoked harrowing experiences dominated by fear and paranoia. Two participants likened the episodes to being in a war. While these episodes were managed by trained monitors at the sessions where the drugs were taken, researchers cautioned that in less-controlled settings, such responses could trigger panic or other reactions that might put people in danger.
I'm a staunch advocate of the psychedelic experience. It's good shit, and it's given me a lot. I'm glad to see that after 40 years of a misguided government-imposed stasis (both LSD and psilocybin are classified as Schedule 1 drugs: no medical use and a high risk of abuse; same as heroin... yeah right), the scientific community is beginning to look into this again.
I think in a civilization who's current view of mental health and well-being is focused on the maintenance of ever-more-endemic depression through regular doses of Seratonin-re-uptake inhibitors, any research which pushes the boundaries of our understanding of the mind and how to help it out is positive. Hopefully this (and subsequent experiments) will open institutional eyes to the fact that while the watershed "peak experiences" often brought on by psychedelics may not be all that profitable for drug companies they can really help improve one's attitude:
Two months after the sessions, 79% of the participants indicated in questionnaires that their sense of well-being and satisfaction increased after the psilocybin episodes...
It can be good stuff, but it can also be bad stuff too. It's significant that the people in this study were all stable, fully-grown adults with college educations. So is the fact that they were made comfortable, laid down in a living-room situation with music and observers who were experienced. The basic theory of psychedelics that Leary put forth early in his career when he was still at Harvard and not a wannabe-mystic guru still holds: set and setting are the two important variables.
Set refers, essentially, to what you bring to the table as an individual; your mood, your memories, your expectations, and your general outlook on life. Setting is your surroundings. It's a simplistic formulation, but one that works.
In general, I don't think it's a great idea for teenagers to take psychedelic drugs recreationally. The combination of factors -- immature brain chemistry, a shallow pool of life experience, a lack of self-knowledge, a likely setting that's sketchy, a tendency to massively overdose out of bravado or simple inexperience -- don't bode well.
I've had some unpleasant experiences, and dealt with friends who were truly on Bad Trips before. My net assessment is that these were still positive in the long run for me, but I can also see how the fucked-upness got started. For instance: don't let people peer-pressure you into taking acid. It won't be fun. Also, don't go tripping with a group that includes someone you have a large emotional crush on but who may or may not be interested in you. That also will not very likely work out.
That being said, I do think that legal adults should have a legal right to tinker with their own brain chemistry for fun and profit, and it seems clear from my experiences that responsible recreational psychedelic use is completely feasible. I mean, look at Saturday night at Burning Man. Here you have 30,000 people in a harsh desert environment, a great majority of them tripping on one or several powerful psychedelic agents, crowding around a gigantic uncontrolled fire and then running off into the black of night while trucks, busses and other automobiles tear around in no particular pattern, and everyone's fucking fine.
I also think that if we can get our collective heads out of our collective asses and let scientists do some research, it's very likely that psychedelic drugs will yield impressive therapeutic results for people with depression, etc. It's already a well-known fact in the underground that MDMA (aka Ecstasy, which was originally developed as an aid for marriage counseling) is effective at helping solders overcome Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Other drugs used in several different manners were showing promise back in the 1960s when establishment paranoia over youth culture led to their being given the same legal status as heroin.
And ultimately, that's the rub. The drug war is almost entirely cultural, and pretty much always has been. Laws limit your and my ability to regulate our own body chemistry are enacted to enforce cultural norms, not to promote public health or the pursuit of happiness or social well-being.
It wasn't always this way. For some time, states were too weak to effectively regulate chemical use, and for some time they were too enamored with the potential tax revenues to consider anything else. Perhaps this preoccupation with attempting to influencing culture by regulating individual body chemistry is itself a transient phase as well. I certainly hope so.
