Should Psychedelics be Legal?

A trendy topic within a vicious cycle, are drugs a benefit or an inconvenience.

The 1975 American film Flying over a cuckoo’s nest, “Randle Patrick McMurphy” the protagonist of the story gives help for his mentally ill friends and sets them free of the strict hospital regulation in sacrifice of his own health.

Following the UN convention of 1971 on Psychotropic Substances after President Nixon’s “War on drugs” Psychedelic substances have been considered illegal due to its intoxicating substances that affect consciousness, emotions, perspective visualisation, distorting effects as it hacks neurotransmitters by replacing serotonin, creating a detaching effect between the brain and actual flow of information.

However it had been proven that psychedelics might enable us to reach a better state of consciousness and a new state of using our cognitive functions to the fullest.

Recent studies such as University of Toronto’s have proven that psychedelics enhance many forms of the brain’s cognitive functions following each different type of drug. In a study by the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 80% of those who received psilocybin said it was one of the five most meaningful experiences of their lives, 50% said it was the single most meaningful experience.

War on drugs has also proven to be inefficient and no country has managed to truly dismiss narcotic activities. Some suggest that a profit policy should be applied. By taxing drugs, governments can ensure a great source of revenue in the same way as Canada did by gaining 1 billion dollar as Canada did with the legalization of Marijuana as it was a very active market.

According to the Science and Technology Committee, psychedelic drugs had been proven to be far less dangerous than alcohol. Within legalization of such substances people will tend to have a healthier habit by using psychoactive substances than alcohol having a net health benefit in society. According to professor David Nutts it is estimated that within the regulation of such a market we can cut the alcohol consumption rate by 25%.

“There’s not a drug on Earth that can make life meaningful.” Sarah Kan

Why are Psychedelics illegal

Life can certainly have a meaning depending on how you live it, but not with how you consume it, especially when drugs consume your life out of you.

Despite having an effective role in medicine, Psychedelics are classified as schedule 1 with most chemicals having the highest potential of drug abuse and possible negative side effects that can be permanent to the user.

Psychedelics are known to cause harm in the brain cortex replacing serotonin and neurotransmitters in the electric circuit. This causes short-term issues such as bad trips that include terrifying thoughts and feelings of anxiety as well as a feeling of losing control and serious suicidal thoughts. Other short term issues can vary with which drug is consumed such as:

• Profound sweating (peyote)
• Panic, paranoia, or nervousness (psilocybin)
• Sleeplessness and dizziness (LSD)
• Increased heart rate (DMT)

Within a constant consumption addiction takes place resulting in the long-term effects for instance:

• Persistent psychosis: non-ending mental issues including symptoms of mood changes, visual disturbance and paranoia.
• Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD): This results in unexpected flashbacks recurring to the consumption of a specific drug experience of the user. This effect begins with days of consumption or up to a year afterward.

According to a report from the New Yorker Times, drugs are one of the components of high suicide rate being the cause of the death of many people in 2017. Reaching an all time high with over 1000 Americans dying from such substances every two weeks reaching 28,000 for the year.

Following the graph we witness an exponential increase in death due to drug overdose in comparison to other deaths such as car crash , H.I.V or gun deaths depicting drug consumption as the number one factor of death in the U.S . This resulted in a peak of 70,237 in 2017 as the curve is still in an exponential increase. In a similar report the C.D.C reported an increase of 3.7 percent in suicide rate, the increase is particularly noticed in rural America among middle-aged women, however suicidal rate for men remains higher than for women of every age.

The Federal Public Policy responded concerning the opioid epidemic as it focused on opioid prescriptions. However several public health researchers stated that “the rise of fentanyl requires different tools”. Opioid prescriptions have been falling, even as the death rates from overdoses are rising. “Fentanyl deaths are up, a 45 percent increase; that is not a success,” said Dr. Dan Ciccarone, suggesting that drugs have yet ended to consume its masters.

Cover of the successful album "Master Of Puppets” by the group Metallica. A song criticizing drugs, a non living substance that manipulates its users, living beings, leading to the awful fate of death.

Drugs have also been the subject of many critics in various cultures such as music, one of them comes from the famous heavy metal group Metallica. The song, classified as number 1 best of the band, criticizes how naïve a human being can be at consuming a substance that he knows impacts him in the negative way, as he becomes the slave of the drug itself despite the fact that it is only a chemical and not a living creature. As the song presents a paradox between who is really consuming whom especially within the establishment of addiction, we end up being the puppet of a non existing master, enslaved by our own actions.

So whom would you choose, being the master or the puppet ?