Psychedelics: majority in the US supports therapeutic use – 24/07/2023 – Virada Psychedelica

The image of psychedelics is changing for the better, at least among American voters. An opinion poll sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley reveals that 61% of them favor regulation of the therapeutic use of drugs such as MDMA (ecstasy) and psilocybin (mushrooms).

Clinical tests have attested to the potential of these two substances to treat, respectively, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, in phase 3) and depression (phase 2, soon to be 3). It is not surprising, therefore, that 78% of the 1,500 interviewed by telephone and internet agreed to facilitate scientific research with them.

“People who heard about it tend to have a positive view. The media, it seems to me, changed the direction of the compass. When they talk about it, they tend to speak more positively than negatively”, says psychiatrist Luís Fernando Tófoli, from Unicamp, after examining the research data.

Tófoli has been academically involved with several surveys on cannabis and psychedelics. For him, these data indicate “the responsibility that the press and journalists now have to inform themselves to give this data in the right measure”.

“No one wants unnecessary stigma to be reinforced, but also not to be an upside-down moral panic. Quality information is essential”.

The psychiatrist and researcher is referring to the negative image created from the prohibition of psychedelics in the 1970s. There was a lot of exaggerated government propaganda about their effects, such as the legend that many people killed themselves after consuming LSD – these are very rare cases, but they mark the imagination even today.

The research initiative came from the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, which counts journalist Michael Pollan among its founders. He is the author of the best seller “How to Change Your Mind”, a work that most contributed to the dissemination of the newest psychedelic science, resurfaced at the turn of the century.

In a video about the results of the survey, Pollan himself regretted that the questionnaire did not include questions about the reliability of the press as a source of information in the story. The champions of trust among Americans are nurses, doctors and psychiatrists.

Perhaps most surprisingly, half (49%) of US voters support decriminalizing the personal use and possession of psychedelics. True, 45% are against it, but it is a clear indication that the winds have changed.

When it comes to applications with which respondents would consider themselves comfortable, the terminally ill come first (80% in favor). Then come medically recommended use (71%), war veterans (read: PTSD, with 69%), anxiety and depression (67%), violence and sexual abuse (60%), mourning the loss of children (56%).

Interestingly, the lowest approved answer is to allow religious and spiritual use. There were 44% in favor and 48% against.

“There is distrust regarding religious use”, says Tófoli. He points out that this becomes clear when asking about reliable sources of information – the lowest rate is for religious people, with 26% approval and 63% disapproval.

There is a majority (52%) even in favor of people who can benefit from psychedelics even without a medical prescription. In this regard, adult (“recreational”) use or with non-therapeutic facilitators, such as those legally authorized in the states of Oregon and Colorado, would fit.

However, support for treating drug addicts was only 44%. While there is strong evidence that psychedelics are very effective, the benefit shown in a recent New York University alcohol study does not seem to be clear to the public, still wary of the notion of treating drug abuse with other drugs.

There are drugs and drugs though. Two little-known characteristics of so-called classic psychedelics (such as mescaline, LSD, psilocybin and DMT from ayahuasca) are their low potential for addiction and their safe toxicological profile when used under supervision.

All is not rosy in Berkeley’s research, however. There is still a lot of prejudice with mind-altering substances: only 32% say they believe they are good for spirituality (contrary to what studies with terminally ill patients show), and a mere 24% that they are safer than alcohol or tobacco.

No less than 58% consider that psychedelics have a negative impact on their health in the long term. Another 59% rate them as dangerous. Even among the 61% who approve of therapeutic use, almost half (47%) say they are not good for society.

In Pollan’s assessment, weaknesses remain in the recent support for such substances. In other words, he, his center and the press still have a lot of work to do, offering balanced coverage to prevent an eventual reversal, if and when opposition arises against them – which it certainly will.

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