How Cannabis Became the Gateway Drug for Psychedelic Drug Normalization – The Marijuana Times

What a long, strange trip its been. The Grateful Dead, 1970

The rock and roll band, The Grateful Dead once said, What a long, strange trip its been. And nothing could explain the normalization of psychedelics more perfectly.At around the same time that the lyric above was written, Western governments were in theprocess of heavily criminalizing all psychedelic drugs.

What has followed is a half-century of horribly misguided drug Prohibition. Outside of a handful of smaller jurisdictions, it was not until 2020 that drug normalization pressures have resulted in the first serious moves toward the decriminalization and (eventual) legalization of psychedelic drugs.

Its now being called the Psychedelics Revolution. But to understand it, you first have to learn about the Cannabis Revolution.

The Cannabis Revolution

Cannabis wasnt heavily criminalized until after psychedelics Prohibition was well underway. This process was part of the (now infamous) U.S.-driven War on Drugs.

Along with the criminalization of cannabis came an intense anti-cannabis propaganda campaign. It was initiated by the government and parroted by the mainstream media.

A long list of supposed dangers was associated with cannabis use. All of which have now been debunked by real science.

In fact, via the approximate 100 cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, cannabis is (by far) the most benign of all recreational drugs.

It is non-toxic. It is not physically addictive. It has much milder psychoactive properties than other criminalized recreational drugs. Cannabis is successfully used medicinally to treat hundreds of different medical conditions.

The endocannabinoid system of the human body is essential for maintaining and regulating our health. The cannabinoids in cannabis (along with its terpenes and flavonoids) support this essential system. For this reason, cannabis also has numerous health-and-wellness benefits. None of the dangers associated with cannabis use have been able to withstandserious scientific scrutiny.Cannabis was also labeled a Gateway Drug, meaning that it supposedly led to people using even more addictive substances.

Out of all the governments anti-cannabis propaganda, this (ironically) had an element of truth to it. People would try cannabis. They would quickly discover that all the supposed dangers associated with its use were unfounded.

They would then assume (quite reasonably) that if everything they had been told about cannabis was a lie, then the dangers associated with hard drugs were also lying.Based on theliesthey had been fed about cannabis, people experimented with harder drugsa Gateway Drug.

Flash forward to the Cannabis Revolution.

Starting in the U.S. in the 1990s (and around 2000 in Canada), the war to end cannabis Prohibition has raged. Via ballot referendums in the U.S. and court challenges in Canada, people won the right to access the cannabis plants medicinal benefits.

For Canadians at the national level and for about one-third of the U.S. population, the recreational use of cannabis is now legal. A small number of dinosaur states in the U.S. continue to prohibit even the medicinal use of cannabis.

It has not been an easy war. The Corporate Media has largely continued its anti-cannabis propaganda campaign, undeterred by small details like truth and science. While the media (and many government officials) continue to fabricate cannabis health risks, they have added a new branch of propaganda. We have now been told that cannabislegalizationpresents all sorts of dangers to society.

More crime. Lower property values. Increased teenage drug use. These are among the supposed dangers associated with cannabis legalization. As jurisdictions have legalized cannabis for recreational use, we have seenlesscrime andlowerrates of teenage drug use. Most Americans consider cannabis legalization to be anamenity,if anything, it tends to promotehigherproperty values.

The People have seen how all the dangers they were warned about concerning cannabisusehave proven to be fiction. The People have seen how all the dangers they were warned about concerning cannabislegalizationarealso fiction.

Enter psychedelic drugs.

The Psychedelics Revolution

Roughly a quarter-century after the beginning of the Cannabis Revolution came the Psychedelics Revolution. Where the Cannabis Revolution has been a war, the Psychedelics Revolution has been more like the 60s love in.

While cannabis science still has to compete with cannabis pseudo-science, scientific research on psychedelics is unopposed by such disinformation. Thesamemultinational media corporations that continue to unapologetically spew anti-cannabis information cant find enough nice things to say about psychedelic drugs and their medicinal potential.

Such news stories like these highlight that point:

Psilocybin Sessions: Psychedelics could help people with addiction and anxiety(CBS News, August 2020)

We can no longer ignore the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat depression(The Guardian, June 2020)

Psychedelic Drugs Like LSD and Magic Mushrooms Linked to Transformative Experiences, Feeling Connected With Others(Newsweek, January 2020)

AMental Health Crisisrages around us, greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.Over 1 billion peopleworldwide are afflicted with stress-related disorders like depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD.

Clinical research is consistently showing that psychedelic drugs can not merely improve the standard of care for these conditions they canrevolutionizethese treatment markets.

Psychedelic Drugs: Powerful Medicine, Life-Changing Results

Where conventional medicine struggles to even adequately treat the symptoms of these conditions, psychedelics-assisted therapy is producing cures. From this we saw positive media coverage, exciting science research, and none of it was obscured by anti-drug propaganda.

Not surprisingly, while companies in the legal cannabis industry have generally struggled to get traction, new pubcos in the psychedelics space have thrived.

In the first year of trading for these public companies, most psychedelic stocks could deliver multi-bagger returns for their investors.

The Year in Review For Psychedelic Drug Stocks: 2020

Supported by exciting science and friendly media, this fledgling industry has been increasingly successful in raising the large sums of capital necessary to drive formal pharmaceutical research. In justthe last 3 months of 2020,the industry raised over $500 millionvia public placements and private financing rounds. Not bad for Year 1.

Cannabis: The Gateway Drug to Psychedelic Drug Normalization

Cannabis legalization advocates and legal cannabis companies have fought a war to get cannabis legalized and normalized across North America.

They have the scars to prove it. And that war is not over.

In contrast, the road to the normalization of psychedelic drugs is proceeding more like a coronation. The outcome (psychedelics legalization) seems almost preordained.

This can be explained as the cannabis industry has already fought the battles for the emerging psychedelics drug industry. The medical community is even more receptive to psychedelics-based medicine. The media is providing friendly, fact-based reporting. The People seem even more receptive to psychedelics.

Weve all seen the Cannabis Revolution. Weve seen the positive benefits that have flowed from it. As a result, the psychedelic drug industry is facing far less resistance. But is there more to it? Psychedelic drugs are much more amenable to a drug patent system than cannabis. Multinational drug companies will have the potential to generatefar more profitsfrom psychedelics than cannabis.

Then we have the U.S. military. The Department of Defense is dealing withan even worse Mental Health Crisis. Along with depression, anxiety, addiction (and suicide), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is at epidemic levels among military personnel.

Coupled with this, a recent article bluntly stated that 70% of Young Americans aretoo fat or dumbto qualify for military service.

The DoD cant afford a high attrition rate among those who qualify for service due to mental health disorders. Yet, the DoD currently has an abysmal track record in providing PTSD treatment (two-thirds of veteransexpress dissatisfaction with their treatment). The Department of Defense is also now one of the mostenthusiastic backers of psychedelic medicine, contributing$10s of millions for research.

Cannabisisa Gateway Drug. The Cannabis Revolution has done much of the heavy-lifting in public opinion and reducing the taboos in the corporate world toward these previously demonized drugs. This has paved the way for the Psychedelic Drug Revolution that is now unfolding. Would the psychedelic drug industry have been able to get off the ground without this cannabis-assist? Well never know.

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How Cannabis Became the Gateway Drug for Psychedelic Drug Normalization - The Marijuana Times