Tripping might eventually be as easy as taking a trip to the corner drugstore. It's depression mode.

I'm John Moe. I'm glad you're here. If you associate psychedelic drugs with drum circles and grateful dead concerts and tie-dye t-shirts, well, it might be time to get yourself up to date because there is a lot going on right now.

Drugs like psilocybin and ayahuasca, MDMA, are being studied very closely for their potential to treat common mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

At the same time, scientists at biotech companies are busy creating new psychedelic drugs that they can patent and profit from.

Now, a lot of the more familiar older drugs are controlled substances.

When you start talking about drugs that will

expand and also blow your mind, there are safety concerns and there are legal issues. And there's

also the question I sometimes ask, which is, really? After all these years of therapy and SSRIs and

everything, you want me to basically trip out on shrooms for my mental health?

And that will be okay with doctors?

Really?

That's what I ask.

I ask, really?

The guy I knew with the hacky sack in college who swore that tripping out was a way to higher consciousness and a happier, expanded mind, were saying that he was right.

Really?

Like, what's going on?

John Semley is a writer and researcher whose work has appeared in Harper's, The New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and The Guardian.

He covers the psychedelic movement and recently wrote about it in Wired Magazine.

John Semley, welcome to Depression Mode.

Thank you for having me.

I see articles pretty consistently about research going on. John Semley, welcome to Depression Mode. Thank you for having me.

I see articles pretty consistently about research going on about LSD and ecstasy, these other drugs, but it's hard to fit them together into a narrative.

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