You know what’s better for your health than magic mushrooms? Fentanyl.
That’s right: fentanyl, a drug that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and contributed to almost 60,000 deaths last year, is, according to the DEA, less dangerous than psilocybin mushrooms.
Now, anyone who has ever touched grass knows that this is ludicrous. Still, though, the DEA has stubbornly kept drugs like psilocybin and LSD at a Schedule I classification, preventing research and barring sick individuals from trying alternative therapies.
As attitudes about psychedelics change within the general public and scientific communities, the question on everyone’s mind is: how long will the DEA continue to stand in the way of science?
The DEA vs Being Serious
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is a joke, but its continued classification of psilocybin as a Schedule I drug is not funny. A Schedule I drug means something is considered to have no medical benefit and a high potential for abuse. Schedules II and III also carry a high potential for abuse, but allegedly come with medicinal benefits. Some popular Schedule II drugs include the incredibly addictive morphine, literal methamphetamine, and fentanyl. Schedule I, on the other hand, includes peyote, a psychedelic traditionally used by Southwestern indigenous peoples for religious purposes, psilocybin, LSD, and of course, marijuana.
Now, to anyone that has ever encountered a drug, this seems ridiculous. There’s no way magic mushrooms could be more dangerous or addictive than opiates, and the truth is that it’s not. Opiates kill thousands every year. Millions are addicted to prescription pills. Meanwhile, Big Pharma and the politicians in their pockets are rolling in drug money and blocking legislation that would allow the scientific community to fully research psychedelic therapies.
The Politicians Paving The Way For Psychedelics
Cory Booker, a United States Senator from New Jersey, is leading the charge for psychedelics.
The primary purpose of Booker’s “Right to Try” bill is to clarify that RTT policy as signed into law by former President Donald Trump, allowing terminally ill patients access to non-traditional medications that have not yet been approved by the FDA—including Schedule I substances.
Booker believes that psilocybin and other psychedelics have genuine medicinal benefits and can help people with PTSD, trauma, anxiety, and depression. He notes that massive breakthroughs in medical studies with psilocybin and MDMA are showing strong promise for helping with these issues, and he’s not the only politician taking note.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), another proponent of broad drug policy reform, recently spoke at a congressional committee markup about the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. He proposed that psychedelic policy be included in the larger discussion about healthcare reform.
Even two notoriously conservative states, Georgia and Missouri, recently heard testimony from veterans who used psychedelics to treat PTSD. The testimonies were so compelling that they convinced the politicians in those states to introduce bills that would allow for more research into the efficacy of psychedelics as a treatment for PTSD. However, in order for adequate research to take place, however, these substances need to be de-scheduled by the DEA so that researchers can actually do the necessary due diligence.
We need to keep fighting for the de-scheduling of psychedelics. It’s time to end this ridiculous war on drugs and let people make their own choices about what they put in their bodies.
The government has been lying to us for decades about drugs like cannabis and LSD. They’ve convinced us that these substances are dangerous, but the truth is that they’re not. We need to be allowed access to research so we can see how effective psychedelics are at treating mental health issues, addiction, and other conditions.
It’s time for big pharma and corrupt politicians who benefit from keeping people sick and addicted to stop making our lives worse with lies about what’s actually going on with psychedelic drugs.
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