532: Psychedelics as Medicine? with Matt Zemon
Age Less / Live More
Lucas Rockwood
4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 September 2022
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Various psychedelic drugs have been used for thousands of years by people all over the world, primarily in spiritual ceremonies and for medicinal purposes. In 1938 Albert Hoffman discovered LSD, and it served as the Western world’s introduction to this type of drug. Psychedelics came to define the counterculture generation of the 1960s, and there was a parallel movement in research science for their potential use in mental health.
In 1970, President Nixon introduced the Controlled Substances Act, and research came to a grinding halt. Today, there is a push to decriminalize medical and even recreational use for many - if not all - psychedelics, and this is both interesting and terrifying. On this week’s podcast, we’ll explore the modern landscape of psychedelic drugs and mental health.
Listen and learn:
- How ketamine is legally used for clinical depression
- How magic mushrooms and MDMA show promise for treating PTSD
- The risk vs reward of the legalization movement
- Why spirituality and mysticism seem forever coupled to this class of drugs
Links
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Matt is the author of Psychedelics for Everyone. He holds a Master Degree in Psychology and “Neuroscience of Mental Health” from King’s College London.Matt Zemon is the CEO and Co-Founder of HAPPŸŸ, a mental wellness company that specializes in psychedelic-assisted ketamine therapy along with digital therapeutics that promote life-transforming outcomes.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's pretty good evidence to suggest that psychedelic drugs of some type have been |
| 0:07.4 | used for thousands of years by humans, maybe even since the beginning of time. Things like |
| 0:12.0 | psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, ayahuasca, certainly cannabis. But in 1938, Albert Hoffman discovered |
| 0:18.2 | LSD, and it was a big shift because suddenly in alternative western culture, psychedelics |
| 0:24.0 | came to the forefront, not just recreationally, but also clinically. By the 50s and 60s, there were |
| 0:30.0 | pretty serious clinical research, clinical trials going on for mental health conditions and |
| 0:34.8 | the use of psychedelics. But all that came to a halt in 1970, Nixon passed the controlled |
| 0:40.3 | substances act, and most all of these things became illegal and continued to be illegal up until |
| 0:45.6 | today. There has been a grilling movement, the green wave, the decriminalization slash legalization |
| 0:51.4 | of marijuana all around the world, which doesn't really show any signs of slowing down. And there are |
| 0:57.2 | a bunch of drugs that are flying on the coattails. Things like ketamine, things like psilocybin |
| 1:02.4 | mushrooms, things like MDMA, even potentially legalized for clinical work. And this is interesting, |
| 1:10.0 | terrifying, and concerning all these drugs, it lumped into one big category, which is psychedelics. |
| 1:14.5 | But MDMA is a very, very different substance than psilocybin mushrooms and a very different substance |
| 1:20.2 | than LSD. And while I think most people agree that the legalization of cannabis has been a |
| 1:26.9 | net positive thing that doesn't really make up for the fact that there's a whole bunch of people |
| 1:31.8 | driving around stone all the time, including taxi drivers and school bus drivers and Uber drivers. |
| 1:37.7 | And the repercussions of that, the long-term repercussions of that are still to be determined. |
| 1:43.7 | And for all intents and purposes, cannabis is a really gentle substance compared to something like |
| 1:49.0 | MDMA. On this week's podcast, we will dive deep into the ever-changing landscape of psychedelics |
| 1:54.2 | specifically for mental health conditions. Word of warning here, most of these drugs are still |
| 2:00.0 | really, really illegal in most jurisdictions. Illegal like you could end up in jail. There are high |
... |
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