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A Strait-Laced Writer Explores Psychedelics, and Leaves the Door of Perception Ajar
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of New York Times
Posted: May 21st, 2018
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/books/review-how-to-ch...
To microdose is to take small amounts of LSD, which generate subperceptual effects that can improve mood, productivity and creativity. Michael Pollans new book, How to Change Your Mind, is not about that. Its about taking enough LSD or psilocybin (mushrooms) to feel the colors and smell the sounds. If Pollans wide-ranging account has a central thesis, its that were still doing the hard work of rescuing the science of psychedelics from the countercultural baggage of the 1960s. In the mid-60s the exuberance surrounding these new drugs gave way to moral panic, and ... the whole project of psychedelic science had collapsed. Before collapsing, though, that project discovered in psychedelics the same potential that scientists are exploring as they reclaim it today: possible help in treating addiction, anxiety and depression, and existential distress common in people confronting a terminal diagnosis, which of course, broadly speaking, is all of us. Pollan doesnt give a lot of prime real estate to psychedelics naysayers. But given that those on LSD can appear to be losing their minds, and that the drug leaves one feeling emotionally undefended (a potential benefit as well as a profound risk), he does strongly recommend having an experienced guide in a proper setting when you trip. With those safeguards in place, he believes usage could be on the verge of more widespread acceptance.
Note: A recent clinical trial found psilocybin to be an extremely effective treatment for anxiety and depression. Articles like this suggest that the healing potentials of mind-altering drugs are gaining mainstream credibility.
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