The photo above, a detail taken from a photo by journalist Allison Robbert, shows our President with yet another signed Executive Order, but this time, a good one.
This EO will boost federal research into psychedelics, and make drugs like LSD and psilocybin available in controlled therapeutic settings. And if I know anything about therapeutic settings, things can get pretty darn wild.
We can safely assume that our HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, had something to do with this EO. I hear he had some wild times in his younger years. He’s standing right behind the President in the above photo, and to judge by the President’s face, it looks like the signing ceremony itself may have occurred in a therapeutic setting.
“We’re taking this decision, this decisive step, to confront one of the most urgent public health challenges facing our nation, the mental health crisis.”
That’s our President, quoted in an April 18 Washington Post article by journalist Dan Diamond.
One of the psychedelic drugs mentioned in the article was “ibogaine”… a drug reportedly legal in Mexico and elsewhere. I’ve heard about the other drugs mentioned, and have tried a few of them myself, but ibogaine must have been flying under the radar.
The President announced that the federal government had committed $50 million in additional funding for ibogaine research. So, probably worth trying? Personally, I would happy to research it at no cost to the government. Any psychedelic drug good enough for Mexico is good enough for me. But if they really want to pay me, I won’t complain.
Kind of a curious timing on this anouncement? This Executive Order was signed in April 18, the day before ‘Bicycle Day’, April 19, and two days before April 20… better known as ‘420’.
I suspect most of us are familiar with “420”, but for those who haven’t heard of “Bicycle Day”, here’s little psychedelic history.
Chemist Albert Hofmann synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1938, while working at Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland. He was doing research into medicinal plants. A few years later, on April 16, 1943, he accidentally ingested some LSD while continuing his research, and experienced “a dreamlike state.” His curiosity was piqued. (As mine would have been!)
Three days later, on April 19, he intentionally ingested 250 micrograms, thinking this was a small dose. (Actually, it was about 10 times the dose that can produce psychedelic experiences.) As the world became more and more strange, he asked an assistant to help escort him home.
On their bicycles, of course. We’re talking, Switzerland.
Along the way, Dr. Hofmann determined he was going insane, and concluded that the LSD had poisoned him. A doctor was summoned, and found no physical abnormalities or evidence of poisoning. Thus reassured, Dr. Hofmann proceeded to enjoy the rest of his trip.
…Little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in colored fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux…
Thus was born Bicycle Day, the unofficial celebration of the psychedelic revolution, on April 19. (Not to be confused with the less-interesting ‘World Bicycle Day’ promoted by the UN.)
Now, thanks to the President’s Executive Order, Americans can begin celebrating April 18 as “The President Wants Us to Get High Day”.
I see a pattern unfolding. April 18. April 19. April 20.
Can we eventually shoot for the whole goddamn year?
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes…
— Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Lennon/McCartney
From Mr. Diamond’s Washington Post article:
Under the president’s executive order, the Food and Drug Administration will support new clinical trials for ibogaine, psilocybin and other drugs that are known as serotonin agonist receptors, and move swiftly to approve drugs deemed to be safe and effective. The drugs, which also include LSD and MDMA, can cause hallucinogenic effects and are illegal in the United States.
Did we really read those words in a semi-reputable newspaper?
“…deemed to be safe and effective…”
Available without a prescription? Over-the-counter, like NyQuil?
“…move swiftly…”
Someday soon?
Only our President knows for sure.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.