Psychedelic drugs have been banned for about 50 years now, because it was the preferred drug of the counterculture at the time and it was also classified as a schedule-one drug. According to the DEA, schedule-one drugs are drugs with no medical use and a high potential for abuse. However, that is not completely 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 Ben Sessa, before psychedelic drugs got banned, it was being used in psychotherapy and showed promising results. I have been surrounded by many friends who have first-hand experience with psychedelic drugs and they all use similar explanations to describe their experience. They would say for example, "I feel more connected to other people and the universe", "I have a deeper understanding of the problems I am currently facing in life", and "I feel more spiritual". This made me wonder if these drugs could help people with certain medical conditions. For example, my mother suffered from depression. I noticed when people are depressed they feel as if they do not matter to anyone or that the world is against them. Perhaps if someone with depression took a psychedelic drug it could help them feel more connected to other people. This research question affects my values because I believe that there are things in this world that should be further researched, especially if they show positive results. I have done extensive secondary research on three articles regarding this research topic. 

In the first article Sara Solovitch 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. There are a lot of unmet needs in depression and ketamine is known to touch those unmet needs. The author herself has not conducted any primary research, but this source does have credible secondary researches, which are treatments and studies conducted by psychiatrists. I believe the author has some sort of bias with this topic, due to her not presenting the negative side of ketamine, but only naming the positive aspects of it.

In the second article, Kelly Morris discusses how psychedelic drugs were used in the 50's and 60's for psychotherapy. These drugs were labeled as dangerous and highly abusive as a recreational drug by the general public and it became illegal. Due to the illegalization of psychedelic drugs, it has been extremely damaging for any genuine medical research to be conducted. In general, researchers remain cautious about psychedelics and how they are investigated. According to Ben Sessa, the evidence so far suggests that the anxiety disorders tend to do well with psychedelics, that includes anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder. The author herself has not conducted any primary research, but this source does have credible secondary data, which are from psychiatrists and researches. I believe the author is bias, because most of her evidence and sources were presented by psychiatrists and researchers who do not believe it should be illegal, however she does understand why psychedelics became illegal and she bases her arguments off of a scientific standpoint opposed to an emotional one.

In the third article, Carolyn Gregoire discusses how MDMA, the so called party drug could be legalized in just five years for psychotherapy. In order for that to happen MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) has undertaken an ambitious $21 million plan to fund clinical trials and train psychotherapists. According to Rick Doblin, MDMA stimulates the areas associated with the feelings of love, connection, and empathy. So when patients with PTSD use it, it allows them to explore their traumatic memories in a safe, nonthreatening way. In a clinical trial, 83% of patients who had PTSD no longer showed symptoms of that disorder. For MDMA to actually be legalized by 2021, MAPS have to complete three phases, where they would treat several hundred PTSD patients and if everything goes well MDMA would be approved for treatment. Besides using MDMA for PTSD, MAPS would also want MDMA to be approved for other uses such as, end-of-life-anxiety, social anxiety in adults with autism, and it could be used for couple's therapy. The author herself did not conduct this study, however she did conduct primary research by interviewing Rick Doblin, who is the executive director of MAPS, which makes it credible. I believe the author is bias, because we do not know if she formulated the questions in a way to get the answers she wanted. 

In conclusion, this is a very controversial topic, because drugs are mostly seen as dangerous, addictive and they have a negative image, however it all depends how it is being used. I do agree that psychedelics should only be legalized for psychotherapy. After reading various articles, it has not really changed my perspective on psychedelic drugs, it merely enhanced my interests on how psychedelics could benefit people with certain medical conditions. I do not believe I have to revise my research question, because it is quite specific on what I am going to research.

