Why psychedelics are popular now
Turn on, tune in, drop out.
Has anyone else noticed that health and wellness has become hip? Instead of the old tropes such as football players not trying in school and partying until you are sick made someone popular, now environmental awareness, treating your body as a temple and expanding your consciousness and intelligence is what makes you cool. *cue the clip of 21 Jump Street where the cops are undercover in high school and figure out what makes people popular nowadays*
And the statistics don’t lie. Gen Z is drinking 20% less alcohol and favoring drink brands such as Kin Euphorics instead, made popular by its brand owner Bella Hadid. With this sobreity from more harmful substances, the youth are turning to psychedelics for inward expansion and growth.
We are in a psychedelic renaissance right now. Liberal western states are legalizing plant medicine. Psilocybin and cannabis are sold in shops. Mud/Wtr became famous for encouraging their employees to regularly micro-dose. Michael Pollan wrote a best selling book called How to Change your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics, which was also released as a Netflix documentary. And, let’s not forget Will Smith going on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman to talk about his ayahuasca experiences (of course this was before he slapped Chris Rock and potentially ruined his career).
It seems like everyone wants to know more about psychedelics. It’s a booming subject. And, people now want to dip their toes into this forbidden fruit that has been demonized for generations.
But the funny question is…
Why were these health-giving substances and plants that are now being widely accepted made illegal so long ago?
To sum up why psychedelics have had a general stigma dates back over 70 years. To make a long story short, throughout the 1950s and 60s, amazing psychedelic research was being done. Scientists were discovering groundbreaking results in mental health. But, then Timothy Leary ruined it.
A fired Harvard professor, he wanted to introduce these substances to the world prematurely. Although scientists warned that the public was not ready, Leary introduced, specifically LSD, to the youth culture in the late 1960s. As young people were protesting the Vietnam War and taking on hippy ideals, this was where the government came in and started spreading the propaganda that psychedelics were killers and classified as scheduled drugs.
In 1966, President Johnson signed the Drug Abuse Control Act into law, making the possession of psychedelics a crime. But then, President Nixon took it further, and in 1970, he passed the more comprehensive Controlled Substances Act. I mean, the United States does operate and profit from a drug war economy. So, they outlawed chemical psychedelics AND entheogenic medicine.
Trust me, it took years for me to convince my Baby Boomer parents and my Gen X English godmother to believe me when I said psychedelic medicine was healthy. And, it’s not their fault. They were part of an entire generation who were brainwashed to believe in the War on Drugs propaganda shoved into their faces from politicians like Nixon. And yes, we could go deep into a rabbit hole about the US government’s involvement, in fact, leadership in the drug epidemic, but let’s stay track…
PSYCHEDELICS ARE NOT DRUGS.
They are classified as such because they induce higher consciousness, which upsets the system. They make you question authority and the safe rules and restrictions you were brought up to think were correct. They can disrupt order…I mean what government wants revolution on their hands? There is not one government you can find that doesn’t want you to be subservient. And, as I learned in one of my ayahuasca experiences, most of the world is living with NOISE.
Media. Government. Politics. War. Entertainment. It’s all noise to drown out human consciousness and keep people in a negative spiral of complacency. It’s used to actually brainwash and control the human race, instilling fear and anger over love and positivity.
Now, I know that all sounded intense and almost like a conspiracy theory, but I really do believe that if you live in a positive higher vibration, you can avoid this noise. And psychedelics can help.
So, why now? Why are people using psychedelics in 2023?
Well, mental health is at an all time low across the globe. What frustrated me most about the pandemic was that governments were focusing on the wrong issue…on purpose it seemed like. Isolating people actually created illness. Suicide percentages became unbearable. Loneliness, anxiety and depression became normal household issues.
Social, emotional and mental health have become such a huge problem, especially among youth. And the youth are tired of it. They want solutions. They want to feel a part of something. They want to dive deeper into why they have these issues and solve them. Decades of people have tried conventional methods that just don’t work.
So, with the advent of the internet, youth culture was able to spread knowledge like wildfire. People found solutions, practitioners and suppliers for this type of medicine. Because the truth is, taking a psychedelic is like 10 years of therapy rolled into one trip.
I personally can attest that if not for psychedelic medicine, I would not have overcome some of the major issues in my life. I have been able to process grief, overcome social anxiety, forgive my past traumas, and find meaning and depth to my career path. I try to journey and go inward at least once a season, but everyone is different. However, I would recommend removing the stigma and doing the research before writing off psychedelics in your life.
Have you tried psychedelics? Or are you afraid to dive in? What do you want to know more about? Do you have any stories to share?
Comment below all your thoughts, apprehensions, positive vibrations, you name it!