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Psychedelic Drugs: A Brief History
It is assumed that the use of plants and mushrooms, and possibly animals too, to create psychedelic effects pre-dates written history; the practice of imbibing various hallucinogenic substances may even reach further back into history than the homo sapiens species. The earliest solid archaeological evidence of human culture is also more concretely pointing to the theory that psychedelics were in use as the homo sapiens species evolved. Furthermore, this evidence is not local and can be found in both Africa and Northern Europe. Theorists go so far as to suggest that it was early experiences of altered states of consciousness that led to the formation of religion. Shamans in particular were heavy users of psychedelics to explore consciousness and gain help and insight from beneficent spirits. As Christianity spread users and the plants and mushrooms were vilified. Fortunately the shamanic tradition has managed to survive in Latin America and a growing tourist trade sprung up towards the close of the twentieth century where curious individuals could experience "trips" using drugs that were illegal in their own countries.
Science predominantly bases its knowledge of psychedelics from the investigation of chemicals found in the Western hemisphere; specifically DMT, psilocybin, mescaline and different LSD-like compounds. The first significant breakthrough came with the discovery of mescaline in peyote, a New World cactus. Mescaline was isolated from peyote in the 1890s by German chemists. It was immediately known among those open to exploring its effects as a way of entering an "artificial paradise". However, not a whole lot had been done by the end of the 1930s. Freudian psychoanalysis was in its ascendency and though Freud himself was open to experimentation with cocaine and tobacco, many of his followers were not. Outside of the realm of psychology there otherwise seemed to be no medical application for psychedelics.
This changed when LSD appeared. Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) was first experimented with in 1938 by the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman. Initially he was hoping to find a drug that would aid in stopping uterine bleeding after childbirth. He returned to LSD five years later and accidentally discovered its psychedelic properties. LSD was almost infinitely more powerful than mescaline without the unpleasantness that went with the latter substance. The first papers appeared in the 1940s and scientists recognized its "psychosis mimicking" properties.
Following the Second World War, thanks in part to the psychedelic properties of LSD, enormous gains were made in the field of psychiatry. During those years the field of "biological psychiatry" was founded. This area of research explores the relationship between the human mind and its brain chemistry. In 1948 researchers found that serotonin was responsible for contracting the muscles lining veins and arteries and this was important for understanding how to control the bleeding process. In the mid-1950s scientists found serotonin in the brains of laboratory animals. Surgery or drugs that modified serotonin-containing areas of an animal brain profoundly altered sexual and aggressive behavior as well as sleep and wakefulness. Thus serotonin was identified as the first neurotransmitter.
Scientists were also finding out that LSD and serotonin molecules looked very much alike. Both were in competition for many of the same brain sites. LSD could block the effects of serotonin at times, while it would mimic serotonin in other cases. Thus LSD became recognized as the most powerful tool for learning about the brain-mind relationship. For the next two decades research progressed in the area of psychedelics with full government support and backing. Rapid breakthroughs followed using "psychedelic psychotherapy". Terminally ill patients were next exposed to LSD with the result that their depression lifted and they were more ready to accept their fate.
What also emerged was the insight that altered states of consciousness induced by LSD closely matched the experiences of those engaged in Eastern meditation. Scientists however were uneasy with the apparent meshing of science and religion. People such as the English novelist and philosopher Aldous Huxley became interested for this reason and thus, through his writings, a massive sub-culture emerged intent on experimenting with psychedelic drugs. With greater (and unsupervised) usage came reports of a darker side to the various drugs. Purity was compromised and cocktails of various drugs and alcohol overwhelmed people who were not in a fit state to be taking anything in the first place. The public began to suspect that the scientists had lost control of the situation. In 1970 the United States Congress passed a law making LSD and other psychedelic drugs illegal. Research grants began to disappear immediately and interest died off. A few academic papers followed and then nothing. Since then psychedelic drugs have been driven underground and users risk long periods of incarceration if caught.
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