Why Mushrooms, Part 5: They really are THAT safe.
Newsflash: Nixon's drug policies were aimed at institutionalizing racism.
What qualifies as a psychoactive or psychedelic is actually incredibly broad and ranges from cacao and coffee to lab-synthesized compounds without user-friendly names.
While many on the latter end of the spectrum are working through FDA approval and will ultimately be managed by licensed healthcare professionals, there’s simply no reason for all that rigmarole when it comes to psilocybin.
According to the NIH, psilocybin has an “unattainable lethal dose,” with a therapeutic index of 1:1000. This means that the dose that is effective for 50% of the population would still be safe for 50% of the population at 1000x.
To break that down, most folks consider 3-5g of non-hybrid magic mushrooms to be a therapeutic dose. To get to 1000x, someone would have to consume between 6.5 and 11 POUNDS of mushrooms at once, so it turns out your stomach would likely give up before your brain or your heart did.
Even at that outrageous dosage, chances are you’d be fine. I mean, your body would be fine, aside from some pretty terrible nausea. YOU would probably be changed forever, whenever your consciousness decided to return to this plane of existence.
If there is (and always was) evidence that magic mushrooms are both safe AND useful, then why were all us Gen Xers raised to believe that mushrooms (also LSD, marijuana, peyote, etc.) were super scary and dangerous?
I’m sorry to say, friends, the answer is quite simple: White patriarchal power and control.
“Whoa, Linds!” you’re saying, “I know you’ve got some very strong opinions and values when it comes to access and equity, but that feels like a really extreme position to take. Surely there were some good intentions behind the War on Drugs and the 1970 Controlled Substances Act?”
Oh, sweet summer child. Sometimes I claim patriarchy or racism because if it walks like a duck, then it’s delicious with orange sauce. In this case, however, I can prove it.
John Erlichman, President Nixon’s former domestic policy advisor, gave an interview in 1994 where he said:
“We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities... Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
Because of the role and visibility of psychedelics in the anti-war hippie culture, lawmakers entirely disregarded existing data about the safety and utility of psychedelics, and instead lumped them in with a bunch of unrelated substances, all in an effort to oppress and control.
Coooooooooool.
Quick recap of actual facts that can be supported by actual data done by actual scientists:
- Psilocybin mushrooms are non-addictive.
- Psilocybin mushrooms are safe to consume, even up to several pounds.
- Psilocybin mushrooms, with clinical support, have been proven to reduce or cure:
- Anxiety, especially end-of-life anxiety in terminally ill individuals
- Treatment resistant depression
- Substance use disorders
- PTSD and impacts of trauma
And all of the clinical research that was already beginning to prove this fifty years ago was brought to a screeching halt when mushrooms were classified as Schedule 1 and given their place in the DARE program curriculum.
Now you know. Mushrooms are safe, the War on Drugs was always a lie, and Dick and all his goons owe a lot of people a lot of apologies.
That’s what really gets me fired up. I think about the many folks who were demonized, vilified, and genuinely victimized by this “policy,” but I also feel for countless others who were denied access to potentially life changing medicine.
So here I am, trying to remedy that in my own little way. If you'd like to learn more, here's an overview of our upcoming retreat.
Full Retreat Access: $2,975 for TWO
Because of the nature of the event, we are very limited as to the number of attendees. Single occupancy room: $2,475
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