On Using Psychoactive Substances to Treat Mental Illness

By Andrea Watson March 8, 2021

If this title rubs you the wrong way then you may not want to read this blog post. But I encourage you to do so anyway, because it’s something that’s actually already happening. Now before you flip out, I suggest you do some research. Either that, or just read what I have to say today. I know psychoactive substances are illegal in many places, but they are still being used to treat things like depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Drugs such as LSD, marijuana, and psilocybin have been under research for a long time. And science has found some good in their use. Whether or not your medical professional will prescribe you these things depends on the state that you live in.

Unfortunately, I live in Idaho. this is the state that recently passed a bill that we will never ever ever for any reason legalize marijuana regardless of the good it can do or the money it can bring in. For the rest of eternity. This state is so close-minded that the rest of the country looks at us basically like a toddler who throws a fit when they don’t get their way. I hate living here. I can’t have my needs met. and it’s frustrating to me to be going up and down on the roller coaster of medication all the time. Not only is it frustrating, but it makes me physically ill. As you all probably know, I live with a long list of mental disorders. I have written about these before many times. If you are new to the blog, just know that my mental state makes it impossible for me to work or even function around my home on a daily basis.

I get monthly injections of antipsychotics because if I don’t have it in an injection, my inner voices will have me throw them in the garbage or down the drain and I remain psychotic. Not only that, but I have bipolar disorder one, generalized anxiety disorder, severe methamphetamine substance use disorder, OCD, PTSD, and I’m on the autism spectrum. This sure is a lot to handle when you back up and look at the big picture. My med manager prescribes me a whole bunch of meds every month which I have to take twice a day. If I stay on my meds, then the psychosis lessens, and I am able to do a minimal amount of cleaning, cooking and general maintenance around my home. If I for some reason go off my meds, which happens regularly, unfortunately, then I am no longer able to perform tasks like maintaining a regular hygiene schedule, cleaning my home, cooking food for my son and myself, or doing anything else that requires life skills that should be a given for anybody else.

My sister has the same list of mental health disorders that I do. Fortunately for her, she lives in Colorado. They practice adaptive and creative medicine there. She has been prescribed marijuana and also she has been microdosed with psilocybin. Miraculously, these things work for her to calm her anxiety, alleviate depression, regulate her sensory system, and other things. Oregon was the first state to legalize the use of magic mushrooms. The next day after that happened, Johns Hopkins University published the results of a study that found that in treating major depressive disorder with synthetic psilocybin, 71% of patients experienced a four week long improvement that was clinically significant. Furthermore, 54% of patients met the criteria for total remission of depression.

These numbers are particularly amazing, because the numbers for FDA approved psychiatric medications are way lower than these. With these kind of drugs, you usually have to stay on them for the rest of your life. Not only that, but some of them can be addictive, and when you want to go off of the drug you have to taper down so that you don’t crash and burn. Let that sink in for a minute. So what we have here is a discrepancy between the law and science. Unfortunately, this is true for many things. Colorado has been using CBD and marijuana products to treat mental health disorders for a long time, and it has been working. Now, they’ve moved on to using magic mushrooms to treat these disorders and they are having major success. This tells me something about our lawmakers and the BS that is involved in passing bills and creating laws. They would rather have us suffer than benefit from something that has been illegal since forever.

This dichotomy makes me sick to my stomach. While residents of Colorado are free to benefit from medicine based on science, those of us in Idaho are free to take synthetic psychoactive medications until the day we die, with minimal positive results. I absolutely hate the government in Idaho. And if you love it, that’s all you and that’s fine. But for me, I find it ridiculously restrictive and blindly and blatantly ignorant. I am moving out of here as soon as I am able to. But that’s a little tangent that doesn’t have anything to do with the topic today and I digress. The point I’m trying to make here is that because our states are able to operate independently of each other, some of us get effective treatment and others don’t. It all just depends on our geography. I would personally prefer to take these psychoactive substances that don’t really cause any harm to the body as far as science is concerned than sit here barely able to function in my personal life.

Whether or not you agree with the use of psychoactive substances for the treatment of mental health disorders, if you are a rational and grounded person, you cannot deny what scientists put before us. The research is out there free for the taking. All of us are able to view many web pages that are involved with this kind of treatment. All it takes is a little digging to find out the truth. It may be shocking to you the amount of time that has been spent researching these drugs, it was to me. But it also reassured me that the results of these studies are solid and accurate. If you think that you’re not getting the type of mental health treatment that you need, look at your environment, consider where you live. Take into account the government type in your state. Are they ultra conservative, like Idaho is? Or are they more open like Colorado is? If they are more open, then good for you! All you have to do is reach out and ask for the help that you might need. If not, I am sorry for you just as I’m sorry for me. Let’s work to change things in any way we can. Until next time,

Andrea xo