Recently I've been consuming a lot of content that features James Fadiman, author of The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide. In several of the interviews I've found and listened to, he refer's to a friend / colleague who refers to the impact of the US government's ban on all research into a number of psychedelic compounds as "a 40 year lull in research". Being in the tail end of my 50's now, with the information I've found recently, I'm a little bit miffed that due to US government stupidity in the 1960's I've missed out on the positive aspects of psychedelic agents. It wasn't until quite late in my life that I started to become aware of the possible positive outcomes that could be derived from taking psychedelic agents.
In 2012 I was boarding in Sydney in a house where one of the other members of the household was a criminal defense barrister. Over dinner one night she mentioned a case that she was aware of involving an overseas student who had been apprehended with a tab of LSD and how a conviction would cruel that student's life when he returned to his homeland. I mentioned that I was aware that Steve Jobs had passed a comment along the lines that taking LSD had been one of the 2 or 3 most important events in his life. This comment excited her as she could see the possibility of using such a comment from a leading business identity in the defense of the student. I became intrigued at why Jobs may have made a comment and took some time to look into whether LSD may be beneficial in any way. Up to that point in time I'd never had the opportunity or inclination to take LSD. With the benefit of hindsight, my world view on LSD at that point in time was towards the negative. There had never been anyone in my social circles who had admitted to taking LSD or who spoke of it in a positive light. And what information I'd taken in had been towards the negative, with a vague idea that there was a real possibility of having bad trips and flash backs.
To my surprise at the time I found much in the way of positive information. And while some of the research was from the 1960's, and held the possibility of being from trials that were less well designed than trials would be today, there was some tantalising tidbits of information. Such as the trials with alcoholic patients that saw the patients staying off alcohol for six months. Or the trial with advanced cancer patients that saw their requirement for pain medications decrease post LSD treatment.
Or the anecdcote by a 77 year old bhuddist who took LSD every so often as an antidote to the tiredness and aches and pains of old age.
My attitude to taking LSD changed. But there was still several factors that held me back from taking LSD.
- procuring LSD for personal use is a hard task for a guy in his 50's who does not move in the circles where LSD is regularly used
- the concern that acquiring a substance that was reputedly LSD may or may not be LSD. And given the nature of the transaction there was little chance of being able to get your money back.
In the meantime my bucket list idea of taking LSD had been modified to that of taking LSD on the ninth day of a ten day Vipassana course. (Ten day Vipassana courses being ten day meditation courses that are, by design, silent meditation "boot camp" courses where the students sign up to Noble Silence from the evening intake on Day 0 through to 10:00 am on day 10. Noble Silence being defined as no talking to other students and to only talk if being interviewed by the teachers, or if you had to ask a question about the technique at defined times to the teachers, or if you had an administrative issue that you needed to communicate with the management. So by and large, no talking for the majority of the course.
Why the ninth day of a ten day Vipassana course? Well, I'd gained an idea that "Set" and "Setting" was important for the purposes of having a good psychedelic experience. And, without having any social contacts with people who could act as a guide for my trip, I envisaged that the way to get myself into the best possible mind"Set" was to be most of the way through a Vipassana course. By way of context my first Vipassana course as a student was in November 2006 and I've now sat around six ten day courses and served on four ten day courses so I had some idea that I would be in a good place after nine days as a student on a ten day course. And with respect to Setting, while taking a trip on a Vipassana course would be breaking one of the precepts you sign up to when entering the course, having a trip while on a Vipassana course would, in my view, be in one of the better settings you could have the trip. The only caveat being that you should be sure you don't take a heroic dose trip otherwise you will surely be sprung.
Anyhoo. That was all idle bucket list ideation.
There is a recent article from the New Yorker that covers research in which psilocybin—the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms—was being administered to cancer patients in an effort to relieve their anxiety and “existential distress.”. And that article has firmed up my bucket list ideation. Particularly if I get into an end of life scenario. Andrew Denton's excellent podcast series, "Better off Dead", examines the question of "Why are so many Australians dying bad deaths?" and draws attention to a phenomenon known as "Existential Angst". It seems a single dose of psilocybin in a supported setting has the potential to alleviate much of the existential distress that terminal cancer patients suffer
Time to publish this meandering post.
Additional links re psilocybin that I enjoyed during my procrastination away from poker and poker study.
Interview with Dr James Fadiman by Matt Dwyer
Tim Ferris interview with Dr James Fadiman
Ted Talk by psilocybin researcher Roland Griffiths - 2015
Ted Talk by psilocybin researcher Roland Griffiths - 2009
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