Journal #2: Hallucinogens as Medicine
Summary:
As an avid viewer of the YouTube channel SciShow, the video
“Hallucinogens as a Medicine” had captured my attention. As there are different
types of symbiosis between humans and fungi—for example penicillin, another
being athlete’s foot—it was interesting to consider one of the most strictly
controlled substances, psilocybin mushrooms or “shrooms”, a psychedelic fungi could potentially be a medicine.
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Personal Response:
The reason this video intrigued me was because an illegal
substance that is labeled to be dangerous due to its very ability to induce hallucination, could possibly treat depression (and
perhaps many other mental illnesses), as well as help those close to death to
reconcile with the inevitability of it in the same way as it is condemned; what bothered me is how strictly
controlled this potential medicine is, and the fact that many other herbs,
plants or even fungi could possibly be of many use to humans. Nowadays, many
medicines only treat the symptoms—and his also applies to mental disorders,
where the root from where the problems stemmed are ignored in favor of as Hank
had referred to, “mind-numbing drugs”. This video also informed me that not all
fungi are undesirable molds that grows on half-eaten, days-old food; I think
that more of these organisms should be tested and studied for more information,
as the mere concept of a hallucination from ingesting a mushroom helps those
with psychiatry problems is very bizarre, and really quite fascinating.
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