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I would just like to reiterate Liz’s feelings – thanks for a fun and interesting discussion Tuesday night. Psychedelic drugs certainly provide enough controversy; they deal with everything such as their proposed medical benefits/harms, how they should be used, how they affect our bodies, how history has affected our ideas concerning these drugs, and much much more.

I also have some discussion topics that we touched on in class, but may be beneficial to further analyze through this forum. The first general idea concerns patient selection. Informed consent is an ethical standard considered extremely important in our medical environment. It is sometimes defined as “understanding, appreciating, reasoning, and expressing a choice.”

Can it truly be provided by patients suffering from psychiatric illnesses? How about from children or the elderly?

What if there are other options (such as holotropic breathing – basically induced hyperventilation) that could generate similar effects as these drugs? Should these psychedelics only be considered last resort options?

Should parents or family members be able to make decisions for others? Should the courts? Should doctors? If so, in what circumstances?

Phase trials are crucial for obtaining more research and learning how these drugs work in the human body. However, how should patients be selected and the trials be run, especially when we’re not sure how the drugs work and cannot necessarily predict their outcomes?

The second topic deals with the socio-cultural aspect of these drugs – parts of this topic were definitely discussed in class. Some more questions…

How much are our views today concerning these drugs affected by the hippie/techno backlash? Are we ready to change? Should we change? In what ways (e.g. make psychedelics generally legal or restrict them solely to medical settings)?

Are these drugs really much different than, say, morphine? What about as compared to alcohol?

What is the potential/risk for abuse? Is this likely?

How could their use be regulated safely and effectively?

Would allowing these drugs potentially promote other drug use that may not be so beneficial?

I know those are a lot more questions, but just find something that interests you and run with it! Excited to see what others have to say about this broad spectrum of ideas.

Thanks!

- Elliot