Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them
About two months ago I was at a festival with friends and a I had a psychedelic experience. What’s funny is earlier that day I had just told my friends “I know this sounds boring but I don’t like dancing that much.” Then while I was tripping I found that I was really enjoying the dancing. I felt like I was tapping in to a part of myself that had been dormant for a long time. I felt really confident and cool and sexy dancing to the music, and had a wonderful time. The thing about this is that in the subsequent weeks and to this day the confidence is still here. I have come to realize that the pandemic messed me up in ways that I hadn’t even realized! I’m pretty in touch with myself - I go to therapy once a week but I’m usually talking about work and relationships. Dating in particular felt hard and I didn’t know why, but since rediscovering my confidence dating has been going very well for me. Now when I talk to people I like I’m finding them asking me for my number or asking me out. I had a cute friend I’ve been crushing on for a while nervously ask me for a kiss!The point is that there are parts of us that are nearly accessible but our brain pathways need a little temporary loosening to strengthen some of those pathways, and psychedelics can do just that. They’re no panacea and it takes some experience to really gain the desired effects. But they can also just be enjoyable and they’re generally harmless, and it’s such a shame that they’re so stigmatized. I live in Oakland where they have decriminalized mushrooms and I’d like to see more decriminalization and ultimately legalization of mushrooms, LSD, and more.I have a friend who has been doing legal ketamine therapy under the care of their therapist and it has helped them realize the ways in which they had been hanging on to old relationships which were holding them back. They’re finding out how to advocate for their own needs and they’re much happier for it.We’ve got a crisis of unhappiness in this country and psychedelic therapies are absolutely a powerful tool we could use to help people find themselves.Though I should say, probably because I just listened to a bunch of Noam Chomsky last night, that allowing broad swaths of the population to become more deeply in touch with their core needs threatens the status quo and current power dynamics. Honestly tho the structures of power are so solidified I’m not sure there’s really much actual risk to them from drug legalization.