The history of psychedelics and why psychedelic stories matter

Summary

Erika Dyck discusses the significance of how people learn about psychedelics today, emphasizing their complex history and clinical applications. While these substances have garnered interest across various fields since the 1950s, attitudes towards them have often been negative. Despite this, there is a growing trend of public discourse advocating for the benefits of psychedelics, which sometimes disconnects current views from historical context and mainstream institutions that are more conservative.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The history of psychedelics and why psychedelic stories matter Erika Dyck argues that how people learn about psychedelics today matters, based on the histories of these drugs and how they have been and should be used in clinical medicine. While these substances have piqued the interest and influenced the attitudes of individuals across academia, culture, and medicine, expanding before and well after the 1950's, Dr. Dyck notes that psychedelic drugs have had a long and colourful history. However, their history has not come without polarising opinions, as until recently, trends in cultural attitudes towards non-medical drug use in general and the role of consciousness-altering substances in clinical medicine have often been negative. Despite this writing tradition, more and more public conversations on psychedelics are coming from people with enthusiastic claims about the benefits of psychedelic drug use that rely on severing the current culture of psychedelics from the past, and some might even suggest severing psychedelics from mainstream institutions which tend to be more conservative – like universities or food and drug administrations, or even healthcare systems.