reminded me of a thought (covered in a post from earlier on today).
There are two types of drugs for the mind in society and people assume
that there's a clear difference: psychiatric drugs and entheogens.
Psychiatric drugs can be obtained illegally and used for recreational
purposes just as entheogens can be used as psychiatric treatment or self
medication. There are differences and the noteworthy one is the speed of
action. Noteably most entheogens act within an hour. Psychiatric
narcotics such as SSRIs take days to weeks to work as do mood
stabilisers. For antipsychotics rapid delivery is usually through
injection. For rapid self-medication users smoke weed.
The potential for enthogens to be used in mental health is only now
beginning to be re-explored.
Drug stigma created by images of drug misuse from their unregulated
recreational use and historical stigma combine to make this research
very hard to do. In the US there has been progress but the UK government
has a more draconian stance on drugs and doesn't tolerate scientific
arguments.
It's a shame because there seems to be potential in this avenue of
research. Cannabis research in the US has already led to the development
of 3 new FDA-approved medicines to help with treat obesity (Rimonabant),
provide pain relief for multiple sclerosis (Sativex) and increase
appetite in AIDs patients and nausea and vomiting in cancer patients
(Marinol) as well as the discovery of the body's own THC-based system
(endocannabinoid system) which is leading to novel treatments for other
physical illnesses and better medicine's understanding of the human body.
There's a short article from the Society of Neuroscience that covers
some of the medicinial potential of cannabis and has useful references.
http://web.sfn.org/skins/main/pdf/brainbriefings/BrainBriefings_Dec2007.pdf
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