Can you imagine something which has been negatively portrayed for most of your life can actually be beneficial for some people, most people would not be able to imagine that, because most of them become narrow-minded when something has been negatively portrayed for for several years. When people become narrow-minded on a certain subject, they become unreceptive to new things and suggestions and makes it difficult sometimes to solve an existing problem. The word drug for example, as soon as you hear it people become very hesitant about it. Recently there has been a lot of news going around that certain psychedelic drugs can help people with certain medical conditions. Psychedelic drug, also called psychotomimetic drug or hallucinogen, any of the so-called mind-expanding drugs that are able to induce states of altered perception and thought, frequently with heightened awareness of sensory input but with diminished control over what is being experienced (Jenkins). There's a lot of controversy surrounding drugs in pharmaceutical/therapeutic industry and especially around psychedelic drugs, these psychedelic drugs include, ketamine, MDMA, LSD and psilocybin. There's a lot of controversy around it, because it's a drug and its been accused for mental health problems and it could be abusive and the way that people use it. However, psychedelic drugs have been used for research many years prior before it being banned in the 1960's. According to Shumate, psychedelic drugs was used for clinical application in psychological treatment studies, but quickly fell into recreational use. These psychedelic drugs showed positive result, but due to the usage of these drugs it grew out of control by the general public and soon become illegal, this hindered the process of the treatments at the time for potential cures for certain medical conditions. I believe that psychedelic drugs could be very beneficial in the use of psychotherapy, when treating certain medical conditions. Psychedelic drugs were highly used in the 1960's, especially by the counterculture. The people in the counterculture are known as hippies, these hippies felt isolated from the general culture and they wanted to seek their own culture with its own beliefs, morals and lifestyles. Hippies were very open-minded and were willing to experiment with drugs to experience mystical and religious state of mind, so they experimented with psychedelic drugs and they were astonished with the insights these drugs provided. Psychedelic drugs, an important component of the counterculture, were used in a variety of ways: recreation, self-exploration, or as a method of achieving transcendental experiences. Psychedelic drugs were more than a new class of extremely potent mind-altering drugs; they were symbols of the counterculture both in mainstream culture and within the counter-culture itself (Wesson, 2011). These hippies did not see these psychedelic drugs bad, because unlike the government always trying to change the attitudes, beliefs and behavior of the general culture, they did not try to do that, they just wanted to their own thing. Also when they were doing psychedelic drugs they did not see any negative consequences with it, but more positives ones, so eventually more people started doing it. Psychedelic drugs weren't only used among hippies, but they were also used among researches for many issues, such as, alcoholism, depression and fears associated with terminal illness. The research that were done in the 1960s were more towards alcoholism and the treatment showed promising results (Costandi). The leading researcher is Dr. Hoffer in Canada who has reported as much as 50 percent cures in alcoholics who otherwise have been unresponsive to conventional treatments (Journal of Pyschoactive Drugs, 2007). The popularity of psychedelic drugs increased among the general public even the youths started doing it, there were using for many other reasons, such as, to escape ordinary reality or to dance and have fun. The popularity attracted excessive amount of attention by mainstream media, law enforcement and legislators. The political and prevailing culture of the U.S. became concerned and they were under the impression that psychedelic drugs were primarily abused recreationally instead of medically, so this led the banning of psychedelic drugs and on further research. The DEA classifies psychedelic drugs as schedule-one drugs, according to the DEA, schedule-one drugs are drugs with no medical use and a high potential for abuse. In 1967 psychedelic drugs became illegal, however psychedelics are drugs with no medical use, which is not true about these drugs. The fact that the psychedelic drugs got banned hindered the potential research of its benefits for certain medical conditions. According to Fadiman, Andy Weil said that psychedelic drugs are illegal because authorities sense their power to transform people and to make them question a lot of the limiting beliefs that are prevalent in our society. 

There are many ways that these psychedelic drugs can be incorporated in modern clinical treatments. There are many current treatment nowadays to cure depression, alcoholism, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cluster headaches, and help with anxiety for people that have cancer. In reality these treatments do not cure them, because they cycle through the same medicines, treatments and various therapies for years without seeing life changing results. Basically, these treatments in a way do not cure most patients but puts off their symptoms that they feel in the short run and there are lot of unmet needs in these illnesses. Psychedelic drugs can be a possibility to help these patients, because psychedelic drugs have the potential to touch the unmet needs in these illnesses. In Sara Solovitch's article she discusses how the drug Ketamine has benefits for people suffering of depression. Many treatments and studies have been done on low dosage of ketamine with people that have severe depression. It turned out that ketamine showed positive results on these patients. According to Alison McInnes, a psychiatrist that used ketamine on 58 severely depressed patients, more than half of these patients showed positive results. Those patients convinced the clinic to expand their treatment to other clinics. These patients were ecstatic. This means they will not have to use the same anti-depressants, other medicines and various therapies that they have been cycling through for years. According to Steven Levine, a psychiatrist that has treated about 500 patients with ketamine, after being treated they all said that they feel a sense of connection with other people and they feel more connected to the world. Besides ketamine being used to treat depression, MDMA is known to help with PTSD. According to Tom Schroder, the author of the book Acid Test. MDMA reduces the activity in the amygdala where fear is processed and it increases activity in the frontal cortex where people put things in association in context. So people are able to look at traumatic memories and the fear they once felt would be reduced because they are able to separate out that was happening then and not now and they would not be triggered so much when they have those memories. Its not MDMA itself but MDMA-assisted with psychotherapy that can help patients with PTSD. A recent placebo-controlled study of participants with treatment- resistant PTSD showed that 85% of those in the MDMA group (compared with 15% in the placebo group) no longer had a diagnosis of PTSD after three sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. These results were sustained at 3.5 years long- term follow-up, with no further MDMA interventions required and many patients reducing or stopping their regular psychiatric medications (Sessa and Nutt, 2015). The psychedelic drug LSD could help people with alcoholism. Researchers found out that when you are on LSD the regions that are responsible for constraining consciousness are turned off and you'll experience the overactive imagination that many users report, that is caused by the serotonin receptors. LSD has a chemical that is responsible for the altered sensory and perception, uncontrolled memory retrieval, and other indescribable images and emotions in the brain. According to Time Magazine, Norwegian scientists conducted a meta-analysis combining the results of six randomized trials that tested the effect of a single dose of LSD for alcoholism in 536 adults. Researchers found that 59% of participants who took acid either dramatically cut back their drinking or quit, compared with 38% of controls, who either took a much smaller dose of acid or used another drinking-prevention treatment. Only eight cases of adverse effects or "bad trips" were reported, none of them lasting longer than the high itself. LSD works well with alcoholism, because LSD makes the patient have a remarkable insight into their problems, they feel as if they are given another chance on life, and to make a strong resolution to put an end to their bad drinking habit. Also a lot of patients become more self-accepting, and to adopt a more positive view of their capacity to face future problems. Psilocybin could help with anxiety for patients that has cancer. Psilocybin enhances your mood by shifting attention away from negative towards positive emotional information. Mystical experiences occurring under the influence of it could help ease existential anxiety by changing a person's attitude towards death and dying. In a case study at New York University, patients reported relief symptoms after just one treatment of psilocybin. So as you can see these psychedelic drugs does have beneficial use. According to Kelly Morris, Ben Sessa says "That evidence so far suggests that the anxiety (neurotic) disorders tend to do well with psychedelics that includes anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This is because these drugs are particularly good at allowing the user to access otherwise repressed and painful memories and do some meaningful psychotherapeutic work under the influence of the drug".  

Many people say that these psychedelic drugs have negative side effects and that it could dangerously addictive. They also say that psychedelic drugs are linked to mental health problems. According to CBS news, a 2007 government survey about 1.1 million people aged 12 and older that has experienced the use of psychedelic drugs for the first time one year prior than when the survey was taken. They didn't control the study very well, but some smaller studies said that there could be long-term effects like flashbacks, impaired memory, and risk of psychiatric illness. However, a new study has been conducted where researchers analyzed data on 152,000 randomly chosen Americans, who took a drug survey between 2001 and 2004, including Americans who used psychedelic drugs at least once. In the survey they were asked if they felt any anxiety disorders, mood disorders psychological distress and mental health problems after the usage of psychedelic drugs. Turns out they didn't find any links between the drugs and the given symptoms that were mentioned in the survey. Instead, the researchers found that the use of psychedelic drugs were linked to lower rates if major psychological distress, and were also less likely to receive outpatient mental health treatments. So as you can see the study that was conducted only found links to mental health benefits instead of mental health problems. People who use psychedelic drugs for irresponsibly reasons, under unsupervised conditions, where countermeasures are unavailable, can be dangerous. However, if psychedelic drugs can be used in a proper setting it can be safe. Recently MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) have been doing research on these psychedelic drugs to find more concrete evidence and potential benefits. 

There's a possibility that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy could be legal in five years. During an interview with Rick Doblin, who is the executive director of MAPS, conducted by Carolyne Gregoire, said that "We're on track for MDMA to be approved by the FDA by 2021". In order for that to happen MAPS has undertaken an ambitious $21 million plan to fund clinical trials and train psychotherapists to study the treatment of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. MAPS have to complete three phases and have to be succesful, in order for MDMA psychotherapy to become legalized by 2021. In the first phase they conducted a clinical trail of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for patients with PTSD, 83 percent of these patients no longer showed symptoms of the disorder after two sessions. They are now wrapping up phase 2 series of pilot studies in 2000, in this phase the drug is given to a large group of people to monitor its effectiveness and safety. In phase 3, the trails are used to confirm efficacy, and further evaluate side effects and determine usage guidelines. So the legalization of psychedelic drugs assisted psychotherapy is more realistic than having only psychedelic drugs being legal. Its realistic that psychedelics is completely uncontrollable at the level of the user, or at the level of the dealer to the user. It all keeps boiling down to who controls the raw material and then it also boils down to who control the market and in the world market, money still speaks. So it is very unlikely that the black market is going to come to an end. 

In conclusion, there are millions of people in the world who are diagnosed with mental disorders that require medical treatment or to participate in therapeutic sessions, but none of which have shown promising results or everlasting effects on the patients who were administered these treatments. However, in the 1950s and 1960s there were treatments that did show promising results and everlasting effects, this treatment is called psychedelics-assisted psychotherapy. Unfortunately, the psychedelic drugs that were being used for these psychotherapy and researches became illegal. The idea of psychedelic drugs is categorized as "dangerous drugs" but this appears to be based on rumors, case reports, politics, cultural biases and outdated theories. There is no evidence that psychedelics can cause damage to a person's mental health. There has been thousands of researches conducted on these psychedelic drugs especially in this era, where people are taking another look at these drugs. Why specifically psychedelic drugs? Well these psychedelic drugs work well with psychiatry disorders. Psychedelics have the ability to expand your consciousness. Psychedelics will allow you to have a spiritual experience, which changes your attitude towards things that are troubling you and they help ease people with anxiety disorders, so it allows the person to revisit his or her memories in a peaceful manner. There is evidence that shows these drugs have little to no negative side effects. These drugs work best as assisted in psychotherapy, where psychiatrists help you through the entire experience.  I believe using psychedelics for psychotherapy is important, because these drugs have a huge potential to become a better treatment for these patients. These patients are not only forced to take all these medications and therapies, but are also forced to spend money on them, which in return does not show any promising results. The legalization of psychedelic drugs in psychotherapy is a big deal because the amount of people diagnosed with mental disorders is only increasing, especially with depression. With the legalization of psychedelics for psychotherapy, we will have the potential to make groundbreaking discoveries that would have to ability to treat multiple disorders that have long been effecting our society.

 
