Mind Over Matter: Psychedelic Drugs Essay

This answers the complicated question, but broken down it is somewhat simple. The “altered perception and thought” side means that the psychedelic drug changes what you are seeing and mangles up what is real and what is not. These types of drugs can cause you to see things that are not there, colors or shapes, make you hear things, like songs or people and overall distorts what is actually happening. The “mind expanding” part mean that the psychedelic broadens your perspective on the world and what you are perceiving at that moment, many people say you are “re-learning” everything you see. When on a psychedelic drug you may feel as if you are able to answer anything, and everything makes sense, but at the same time nothing makes sense at all; every secret in the world has been exposed and only you know the answer but it’s in a foreign language you do not understand. Finally, the “heightened awareness but diminished control” side means that you are extremely aware of what is going on, but you have no control over what is actually happening. There is no specific purpose that a psychedelic drug is meant to fill, they were previously used in therapy sessions for extreme cases of PTSD and MDMA was used in

A new wave study on hallucinogens, and other mind-altering substances, was organized to address whether these

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide or LSD is a hallucinogenic drug that can be taken orally, injected or even absorbed through the skin. Once LSD has entered the body, it starts to take effects on the levels of serotonin in the brain which can cause; hallucinations, mood change, and even sensory distortion. After taking LSD, the effects on the brain usually last from 6 to 9 hours depending on multiple factors; the dosage of LSD taken, the subject taking LSD, and even the user 's mood can affect the duration of LSD use. LSD is a non-lethal, non-addictive, and a non-habit forming drug that has little to no effect on the long-term health of an individual. However, LSD has been illegal since the 1960 's. Not only did availability of LSD become scarce with the criminalization of the substance, but the legislation also put a halt on the research of the chemical as well. Much of the way LSD interacts with the brain has been left unknown. This derivative from the rye fungus Ergot has been the source of controversy that has left many people wondering why LSD has been classified as a drug that is just as dangerous to use as heroin. It becomes difficult for an individual to understand how legislation could criminalize a chemical without completely understanding how it functions and affects people. LSD should be legalized for scientific, medical and recreational usage.

Throughout human history people have sought experiences that somehow transcend every day life. Some sort of wisdom that might progress their knowledge of self and of the world that they live in. For some reason they believed that the tangible world just could not be all there is to life. Some believed in a greater force that controlled them, some believed of invisible beings that influenced their lives, some of an actual other world that paralleled their own. Many of these people also believed that it was possible to catch a glimpse of these forces, beings, or worlds through a variety of means that propel individuals into altered states of consciousness. These techniques include

These substances are in turn broken down in the body into a great many more

Intro: Psilocybin mushrooms are a Schedule 1 drug which means they have high potential for abuse and are not recognized for medicinal use, yet they are not addictive and overdosing directly from the drug is very rare.

The systematic scheduling of drugs in the United States is arbitrary which leads to a discriminative social injustice. Some psychedelic substances such as Psilocybin are schedule 1 drugs, while alcohol and nicotine are legal. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) both alcohol and nicotine are proven to be harmful and addictive (2017). Conversely, Psychedelic substances have not been proven to be addictive. This equates to a social injustice that discriminates over someone who may prefer the effects of psilocybin to nicotine, even under the science that has shown nicotine and alcohol have a higher potential for abuse. Unfortunately, many political factors come into play regarding the legal status of drugs and industries such as the pharmaceutical, tobacco and alcohol industries, who harbor the most money and have an influence in the legality of drugs whether they are safe or not. While legalizing psychedelic substances would most likely cut into profits for these large industries they would bring about economic benefits as well.

I chose psilocybin or hallucinogenic drugs because their strange effects are interesting. Plus I would like to know what I might be doing to my body, if I try it one day. Hallucinogenic drugs have been around since the beginning of time. It’s used in an attempt seek spiritual enlightenment. During modern time hallucinogenic drugs are a scheduled one drug. However, they may improve mental health in several different ways, from people with mental illness to helping people overcome addiction. Also the drug can improve lives of people who suffer from depression. The use of psilocybin can be beneficial to society in a sense. Psilocybin has spiritual, mental, and medical benefits.

There are many substances in this world that are used and abused in order to achieve pleasing psychoactive effects. Two substances of such nature that are abused in today’s society are alcohol and LSD. Alcohol is a liquid that is derived from the fermentation of grains and/or fruit (7). LSD is an ingestible form of lysergic acid which is derived from a fungus called ergot. Both of these drugs are drastically different with minimal similarities, primarily because alcohol is classified as a depressant and LSD is classified as a hallucinogen. Even though these drugs differ in many ways, they are commonly used in unison.

For most people, when the phrase psychedelic mushroom is thrown out, the first thing that comes to mind is hallucination. Some people think of LSD or the 60s, others may think more specifically to personal experiences they have had with the drug. Some may have used them recreationally as a teen, some may have had a single awful experience with them, or some may totally resent the idea of psychedelic mushrooms. No matter what someone may think of them, there is not a stranger thought process than Terence McKenna’s. When psychedelic mushrooms are brought up around him, there are much stranger things than a memory of seeing God or a condescending idea of recreational fun going through his mind. McKenna’s thought process is best explained in his

Does marijuana create an altered state of consciousness, or does it simply allow users to interpret more information at a quicker speed giving us the illusion of being “stoned”? For many years people of all ages have been using marijuana mainly for recreational purposes, not knowing that it increases their senses and perhaps even helps cure or prevent disease. After many carefully constructed experiments, it is now accepted by several scientists around the world that marijuana effects the human body as a whole, thus creating an altered state of consciousness.

For thousands of years people have spoke of all types of visions. Whether the visions were from religious groups, Indian tribes, or self proclaimed prophets; all types of people have seen things. This was more than likely occurring with the help of different types of hallucinogens. Hallucinogens have been around since the beginning of time. Some mushrooms, cactus flowers, and even different types of mold are all able to produce hallucinogenic effects. However, it was only within the last century that man actually started to produce his own. LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide-25, is a relatively new substance in society. All known effects show LSD, or acid, as the harmful drug most people know it as. There are people who believe

There are many issues and complications with the current legal system in place that prevent many substances and their chemical makeup to be considered illegal under the Schedules of Controlled Substance Act. With no known medical use under Schedule One, they cannot be utilized in the medicinal field for treatment of many mental disorders. In specific to psychoactive mushrooms and their active chemicals psilocybin and psilocin, there are many misconceptions about the effects of the drug mostly in part because of the counter-culture of the 1960s and 1970s commonly associated with them. A laboratory produced prescription drug with the intended effect of acting as a serotonin analogue can be mimicked instead with the chemical psilocybin. Psilocybin

A Swiss chemist named Dr. Albert Hoffman first produced lysergic acid Diethylmide –or best known as LSD in 1938 (Dye, 1992, p. 2). Hoffman discovered the drug while trying to synthesize a new drug for the treatment of headaches. He obtained the lysergic acid from the parasitic fungus that grows on rye plants known as ergot. From the lysergic acid, he synthesized the compound LSD. He used the compound to test for its pain killing properties on laboratory animals. Being that appeared totally ineffective, the bottle of LSD was placed on a shelf and remained untouched for five years.

Throughout the history of the human species, we have been always wanted to know three basic questions: why we are here, where did we come from, and where do we go after this life? Whether we were created from an omnipotent being as in many religions, we happened by chance and made it to where we are through evolution, or maybe even something else. Whatever the case may be, humans have always been curious and wondered about our existence and consciousness. Along with these age old questions, also came the use of psychoactive drugs and other mind altering substances. In order to try to understand these questions, humans have experimented with drugs that alter their state of consciousness.