Are Psychedelics the “New Cannabis” for the Alternative Medicine Industry?

February 23, 2021 126

Huge demand for research treatment methods

The novel coronavirus and its consequential lockdowns have caused a huge spike in mental illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), this past summer, nearly 40% of Americans admitted to struggling with mental health concerns or substance abuse issues. Not to mention, 11% had considered suicide at one point or another during the pandemic. ¹

With this increase in mental illness, there’s been a huge demand for further research for treatment methods. One route that’s been garnering a lot of attention is psychedelic substances, such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).

Since it’s likely that, here in the states, cannabis is going to be legalized nationwide (hopefully) within the next ten years, many are concerning themselves with other substances that have been outlawed, yet, hold medicinal value. For this reason, the emerging psychedelic industry has been coined the “new cannabis.”

Throughout this article, we’re going to explore the potential of psychedelics, how they may be able to help people during these unprecedented times, and what legalization currently looks like.

Researching for Forbidden

Under the United States and the United Nations (UN) standards, psychedelic drugs are considered Schedule I substances. In accordance with this category, they have a high potential for abuse and absolutely no medicinal value.

This bias of psychedelics was brought to light back in 1971 when President Nixon launched his war on drugs. In many regards, the attack was a direct response to the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s that embraced all kinds of uppers, downers, and - most notably - psychedelics. ²

Unfortunately, this stigma against psychedelics led to restricted research concerning the positive effects they may have on individuals. Luckily, many scientists are starting to realize the potential and are developing clinical trials of their own.

A New York-based biotech startup, MindMed (MMEDF), is currently looking into how psychedelics may be able to help individuals struggling with mental health conditions. Their current trials seek out the effects of psilocybin and LSD on individuals with anxiety, depression, and opioid addiction.

“I think that psychedelic medicines offer a new paradigm in mental health,” JR Rahn, co-founder and co-CEO of MindMed, told Yahoo Finance Live. “Traditional medicines that are treating things like depression, addiction, and anxiety really are seeking to numb and mask the issues that surround these illnesses. So, things like Xanax, while they might make you feel better, they can also be highly addictive and are not dealing with the underlying problem.” ³

The goal of Rahn’s research is to see if whether or not psychedelics can deal with that underlying issue. To investigate whether or not the psychedelic experience can provide users with an innovative solution.

If you’ve done psychedelics yourself, it’s likely you’ll back up the claims made by many within the psychedelic community. That these are very powerful, therapeutic drugs which can give us insight into our lives and what we need to change.

While this is a great pitch for those slinging these drugs on the streets, it’s not enough to push for legalization. Even more so, it’ll make little difference in changing the stigma that’s plagued psychedelics from receiving the research they deserve.

This is the importance of Rahn’s work. He’s breaking the barriers of “normality” and discovering the truth behind these substances. More importantly, how they impact the brain both short-term and long-term.

“What we’re interested in with NYU is to start training the next generation of psychiatrists on how we can start implementing psychedelic medicines into practices across America in order to, eventually, scale these medicines,” Rahn mentions. “Once and if they are approved by the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], we’re going to need a network of psychiatrists and therapists that are able to administer them to patients.”

Rahn’s words may sound a lot like wishful thinking. But as we mentioned earlier, psychedelic substances have seen an uptick in interest over the last few years. Especially, within the last few months with the pandemic. And, with that said, the change in perspective and development of research is starting to look a lot like cannabis’s evolution from the “devil’s lettuce” to the miracle medication.

Does Mental Health Need Psychedelics?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 4 people will struggle with a mental or neurological disorder at some point in their lifetime. 1 in 20 of these cases will be severe. ⁴

When something develops a high potency of interest, it doesn’t appear out of nowhere. The interest in psychedelic drugs is, in many regards, recognition of the failures of modern medicine and therapies for treating mental health. As Rahn mentioned, current prescriptions for mental illness often put a mask on the serious problems - they don’t address the true issues. And this is where the interest in psychedelics began.

“Psychedelics have robut and long-lasting anti-depressant effects,” Shlomi Raz, co-founder and chairman of Eleusis, told Pharmaceutical Technology. “”Psychedelics are bringing these long-term benefits and essentially no side effects; that’s the promise.” ⁵

Since most research concerning mental health and psychedelics remains in the preliminary trials, scientists still aren’t 100% sure exactly how these substances effect our brain. What they do understand is through observation of participants who’ve struggled with mental health conditions and taken these drugs.

Within the same Pharmaceutical Technology article, Ronan Levy, Field Trip Psychedelics founder, notes, “Psychedelics have an immediate antidepressant effect, so you get a lift that helps people break out of their mental health conditions on a neurbiological experience. But they also seem to open up a period of neuroplasticity where the parts of the brain that tend to resist ideas are subdued, which really opens people up to being more responsive to the effects of psychotherapy.”

This willingness to “open up” to new ideas may be the key to breaking the negative cycle of mental disorders. Certain psychologists, like Jordan Peterson, have observed that conditions like anxiety often involve a negative feedback loop - when an individual participates in the same activities over and over again and, in turn, fuels their mental illness.

For example, if going into public gives you major anxiety, you may find yourself self-isolating simply to avoid this anxiety. The more you avoid it, the more you’re fueling the idea that going out in public is dangerous. The purpose of psychedelics - at least in these early phases of research - is to see whether or not they can break this loop. And the results of these preliminary studies is quite positive.

The Hault of legalization - Optimisn for the future

As it has been for over half a century, the biggest thing holding researchers back from investigating psychedelics is their legal status. Without government support of these substances, it’s unlikely such research is going to be funded. Not to mention, even if a group of scientists can get ahold of the money they need, it’s quite difficult to legally obtain psychedelic drugs.

Luckily, changes are being made within the United States. Just this past election season, Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin mushrooms. With that, a number of other states and cities have decriminalized the substance. ⁶

These changes in law are bound to open the doors for further research - just as we’ve seen with cannabis. While public opinion will likely not be in favor of psychedelics for years to come, the fact that these opportunities are being made available now gives us a reason to be optimistic.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that it took cannabis nearly two decades to go from medicinally legalized in California to being recreationally legalized in 15 states and medicinally legalized in over 30. Progress takes time and, if cannabis has taught us anything, the overall opinion on certain drugs is shifting.

This is why psychedelics are being coined the “new cannabis.” Give it ten years and it’s likely cannabis will be a common household item like a bottle of wine or a case of beers. Those who believe in the earth’s ability to provide organic medicine will naturally seek out new avenues to explore. And psychedelics - with their emerging evidence to be therapeutic alternatives for mental health - are becoming that avenue.