Psychedelics open your brain. You might not like what falls in. - The Atlantic

At their best, psychedelics and other neuroplasticity-enhancing drugs can do some wonderful things, such as speed up the treatment of depression, quell anxiety in terminally ill patients, and alleviate the worst symptoms of PTSD. That's enough reason to research their uses and let patients know psychedelics are an option for psychiatric treatment when the evidence supports it. But limitless drug-induced self-enhancement is simply an illusion...

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/02/psychedelic-drug-therapy-effects-brain-neuroplasticity/672910/

America Goes Psychedelic, Again (Reveal podcast)

For 50 years, the idea of making psychedelic drugs legal again was unthinkable. Now, even conservative lawmakers are supporting efforts to approve psychedelics as a treatment for veterans with PTSD.

Psychedelic drugs have been illegal for 50 years, but they’re trickling back into the mainstream because they show promise in helping treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health challenges.

We begin the hour with reporter Jonathan A. Davis visiting Psychedelic Science 2023, the largest-ever conference on psychedelic drugs. It’s put on by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, an organization dedicated to legalizing MDMA (also known as ecstasy or molly) and other psychedelic drugs. Research shows that MDMA-assisted therapy can help treat depression and PTSD, and it’s moving toward approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Psychedelics were studied in the 1950s and ’60s as mental health treatments, but the war on drugs put a stop to research. Now, these drugs are gaining bipartisan support from politicians looking for solutions to the mental health crisis among veterans.

Then Reveal’s Michael I Schiller visits a group of veterans who are not waiting for psychedelic-assisted therapy to be approved by the federal government. They’ve joined a church founded by an Iraq War veteran who uses psychedelics as religious sacraments. Schiller accompanies them on a retreat in rural Texas, where they share the depths of their post-traumatic stress and the relief they’ve felt after psychedelic treatments. He also explores the risks involved in taking these drugs.

We close with an intimate audio diary from a woman in Oakland, California, who’s going through therapy with the one psychedelic drug that can be legally prescribed currently in the U.S.: ketamine. Ketamine started out as an anesthetic, but researchers found it can help with treatment-resistant depression when used in tandem with talk therapy. Ketamine can be dangerous if abused, but it also has helped people find relief from mental health issues. 

Interview: 

https://revealnews.org/podcast/america-goes-psychedelic-again/

The Black mothers finding freedom in mushrooms: ‘They give us our power back’

"Drugs have been racialized in the US since the early 20th century. Cocaine was an over-the-counter medicine for 50 or 60 years – then it became racialized when Black people started using it," said Dr Jason Ruiz, an American studies associate professor and department chair at the University of Notre Dame. "When white people use drugs, those media forms tend to frame white people as the victims of the drug rather than the perpetrators of the drug. Black and brown people get framed as the villains in how we narrate the war on drugs."…

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/aug/28/mushrooms-psychedelic-black-women-mothers-microdosing

Psychedelics can change humanity for the better. It’s time to unlock their power | Rick Doblin | The Guardian

…Evidence indicates that psychedelic use is associated with pro-social, personal growth benefits including increased nature relatedness, potentiating conflict resolution and sustaining compassion among first responders. Indigenous communities around the globe have used psychedelics in spiritual ceremony and healing for millennia. Conversely, the well-documented devastation of the war on drugs has been responsible for untold trauma. But is the legalization and regulation of all substances – reversing the course on the war on drugs – too dangerous? Simply: No. It's more dangerous not to…

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/26/psychedelics-can-change-humanity-for-the-better-its-time-to-unlock-their-power

Legalize Psychedelics (Intelligence Squared debates podcast)

Psychedelics, in medical terms, is an inexact category of drugs that affect perceptions and cognition. Their proponents say 1960s-era associations have undermined exciting research in the field of neuroscience. Psychedelics should be made much more widely available, they contend, to treat a range of mental and emotional issues, as well as to ascertain a more profound sense of ourselves. People should also be empowered to make their own decisions in its use. Not so fast, say opponents. These are powerful substances. And society does not know enough about the broader consequences of greatly increasing access. Cautionary tales should be heeded. Either way, like cannabis, the movement for wider use is growing. So... here’s our debate: Should society legalize psychedelics?

To kick things off, psychedelics comedian Sarah Rose Siskind offers up her two cents.

Interview: 

https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/legalize-psychedelics

Uncovering the history of psychedelics in Christianity (The Vox Conversations podcast)

Vox's Sean Illing talks about the the little-known history of psychedelics and spirituality in the Western world with Brian Muraresku, author of The Immortality Key. What role did psychedelic drugs play in the rise and spread of Christianity — and could they save the church today?

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-tqdfe-d244d4c