Psychedelics have always been used in traditional societies and cultures as a way of healing and spiritually connecting with the unseen world within. This natural, widely accepted means has slipped into oblivion because of punitive laws that have pushed it underground. Why these laws exist is a piece for another article, but suffice it to know they are not for the greater good of humanity.
Tridib’s own experiments with psychedelia have opened his mind and heart up to possibilities that he has seen and experienced and that he would like to share with the world. Psychedelics for treatment of terminal conditions of mind-body, psychedelics of unleashing the inner potential of a human being and general well-being.
The West is just beginning to rediscover the positive effects of psychedelic treatment for certain conditions like PTSD, and other terminal mental illnesses and conditions. Tridib has been closely involved with organizations like the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies and The John Hopkins Medical Institute’s Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.
Drugs like LSD and MDMA (called lucy and molly on the street) are being used increasingly to treat PTSD, anxiety and depression. Used in small quantities at regular intervals, these have been known to produce relief in patients. So what are psychedelics really? Psychedelics are a class of hallucinogenic compounds whose primary effect is a triggered non-ordinary state of consciousness via serotonin 2A receptor agonism. This causes specific psychological, visual and auditory changes and often a substantially altered state of consciousness.
There are a long list of such substances and this articles will try to touch upon the basic few:
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LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) is a chemically synthesized hallucinogen, developed from ergot, a kind of mold that grows on rye grain. Also known as acid or simply LSD, it was widely used in the 1960s until it was made illegal. Its use has continued though despite being a controlled substance. During LSD intoxication, users may experience visual other sensory distortions, changes to their though processes, and intense euphoric emotions. A few reported experiencing new insights. An acid trip can last up to 12 hours.
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Dimethyl Tryptamine or DMT is a naturally occurring substance found in the barks and nuts of certain trees in Central and South America. The effects of DMT are much shorter than other psychedelics typically lasting one hour. The DMT experience has sometimes been described as a Near Death Experience with features associated with feeling of transcending one’s body and entering an alternate realm, a high pitched whining or whirring sound during the onset of the experience, perceiving and communicating with ‘presences’ or ‘entities’, reflections on death, dying and after-life.
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Ololiuqui in Morning Glory Seeds has a similar effect to LSD, but also has unpleasant side effects like nausea, vomiting, headache, high blood pressure, and drowsiness.
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Psilocybin is naturally occurring in a type of mushroom, often referred to as magic mushrooms. These mushrooms may be cultivated but are found growing in the wild. They can be recognized by their slender stems that are whitish-gray and dark brown caps with light brown or white in the center. They may be consumed directly or cooked with food. The effect takes about 20-40 minutes to begin and may last up to 6 hours. The trip can be described to be a milder version of the acid trip.
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MDMA or ecstasy is a mood altering substance with much less to no hallucinogenic effect. The trip is associated with strong feelings of empathy, compassion, love and a general feel good mood and connection. Negative side effects associated with its use include overheating, dehydration, and water intoxication.
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Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychedelic substance found in a type of cactus called Peyote. Peyote has been traditionally used in native American culture among shamans and people seeking communion with the spirit world and the ancestors and its consumption is a sacred ritual among the native American people and is till this day practiced by the native American Church and although a schedule-I controlled substance, its use is allowed for ritual purposes though suppliers need to be licensed with their license renewed every year.
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Ibogaine or Iboga is found in the bark of a specific tree that grows in the Congo. It is a unique psychedelic that needs to be used in the presence of a trained medium. It puts the user into a deep state of trance. The experience has often been described as enlightening or illuminating. This substance is often used in the treatment of chronic addictive disorders or against substance abuse.
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Ayahuasca is an ancient medicinal plant that has been used by the Amazonian tribes for centuries for spiritual and personal growth. It is also used as a medicine in traditional cultures because of its medicinal and healing properties. Ayahuasca is used as a laxative, hallucinogen, detoxifying agent, and deworming agent. Ayahuasca use is now spreading across the globe and clinical studies are being conducted to understand its role in neurophysiology, psychiatry, and neuropharmacology.
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THC in Marijuana, the substance causing the high of euphoria due to the rush of dopamine in the brain, has been one of the most widespread used substances on the planet. Hemp was the mainstay fiber in the United States before the Nylon industry took over and because of the preponderance and lobbying power that the petroleum and petroleum products industry possessed, it was outlawed. This is currently changing with it being decriminalized and legalized in many jurisdictions in geographies around the world. Tridib’s involvement in this was spoken about in a separate article.
Western science is returning to its traditional roots with an increased and widespread acceptance of using these substances under controlled conditions for the treatment of specific conditions – psychological and physical as the situation demands.
Tridib’s blockchain and crypto projects encompass this particular realm as all of these and related projects will be brought under one umbrella fund possibly the DeFi Bull Fund which will be the one stop fund for all such projects that are slated to change the world.
There is an irrefutable connection of psychedelics with mental health and wellness and a body of scientific research and peer reviewed articles to back up these facts. Is is Tridib’s passion of contributing to world wellness through various means like music, psychedelia, yoga and mindful living, that he is currently lending his efforts to.
In the United States alone, where the general trend has been to prescribe pharmaceutical drugs to manage psychological conditions like depression and other diseases, with a large number of people eventually becoming opioid dependent, the use of psychedelics shows much promise of weaning off such a dependent society from substances that cause more harm than do good and in turn heal them and solve the issue at the root rather than merely treat the symptom. Of course it has been the effort of the powerful pharmaceutical lobbies with big commercial interests and deep pockets to try and ensure its continued survival. Nonetheless, the increased importance of psychedelics cannot be ignored, at least not for long.
Tridib’s Psychedelic research fund under the aegis of the decentralized fund will aim at using blockchain technology with the decentralized approach to bring cures and comfort to people who are eventually desperately in need for such medications, but do not have access or don’t know how. His initiative will aim at popularizing the therapeutic effects of psychedelics in curing hitherto known diseases that the existing system and frameworks have failed to do.
What we have today is an over-drugged pharmaceutical drug dependent population that is crying out for help, not knowing where to turn to. Were they to be introduced to alternate treatment options and experience the relief that it can bring to their situation, they would prefer and opt for that and soon that will drive main stream adoption of psychedelics in the treatment of mind-body. It is heartening though to acknowledge that many well respected and recognized institutions have now started to utilize and encourage these methods with people who so desperately need them.
An abstract from Nature says – “The current wave of interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics is something of a renaissance. In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists published more than 1,000 articles on using psychedelics as a psychiatric treatment; the drugs were tested on around 40,000 people in total4. Then, as recreational use of the drugs spread, they were banned and the FDA constricted supplies for research. Only recently have neuroscientists and psychopharmacologists such as Carhart-Harris had the technology to start unpicking how they work in the brain. That has given them some insights as to how these compounds might help in psychiatric disease.
Researchers started exploring the biological effects of psychedelics in the late 1990s, using neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography before and after volunteers used the drugs, or in conjunction with antagonists that dampen some of their effects. The studies show similarities in how brains respond to psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD, as well as to N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), the active ingredient in ayahuasca, and to mescaline, a psychedelic compound derived from the peyote cactus. They all act on receptors for serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects mood.
Serotonin is also the target of the predominant class of psychiatric drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. It is now thought that these antidepressants work not by flooding the brain with the neurotransmitter, as was initially assumed, but by stimulating neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to forge new neuronal connections. There is some evidence that psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, enhance neuroplasticity in animals, and limited evidence suggests that the same might happen in human brains. Clinical studies also suggest that the biological effects work best in concert with human guidance.”