Could psychedelics catalyse change?
Could psychedelics catalyse change?
Kary Mullis enjoyed getting down with the molecules. He was the scientist who invented the Polymerase Chain Reaction technique, also known as PCR. You might have heard it mentioned a few times during the pandemic.
PCR was actually invented in 1983 and was revolutionary in the development of genetic testing, leading Mullis to receive the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1993. A few years later, he revealed something intriguing about how he made the discovery. In a 1997 interview for the BBC’s Horizon programme, Mullis talked about the role played by the drug LSD in his discovery:
I was down there with the molecules when I discovered it and I wasn't stoned on LSD, but my mind by then had learned how to get down there. I could sit on a DNA molecule and watch the polymerase go by…
He suggested that if he had not experienced LSD, he would likely never have invented PCR.
Mullis was not the only one who was down there with the molecules. Francis Crick deduced the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. It was one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of the 20th Century and like Mullis, it earned him a Nobel Prize. It was only after Crick’s death in 2004 that a friend and fellow scientist revealed that Crick had told him that he often used small doses of LSD to boost his powers of thought and that it had helped him discover the structure of DNA.
It’s not just geneticists who have made such claims. Steve Jobs said that taking LSD was one of the most important experiences of his life, and Douglas Engelbart who invented the computer mouse was also running experiments with LSD to aid creative discovery. It might not be a coincidence that Palo Alto in the 60’s was simultaneously the birthplace of the modern tech industry and a hot spot in the psychedelic movement.
But this is all anecdotal
Is there any scientific research to suggest that psychedelics help with creative problem solving?
Well yes, despite limitations on psychedelic drug research, there have been several studies showing promise in this area. One of the last studies on psychedelic drugs to be completed before they were criminalised was a 1966 study on Psychedelic Agents in Creative Problem Solving. In the pilot study, twenty-seven professionals were briefed to focus on a problem that they had been struggling to solve and then given a single psychedelic experience using LSD or Mescaline. The results were promising. Six solutions generated during the experiment were accepted for production and they also found that “increased creative ability may continue for at least some weeks subsequent to a psychedelic problem-solving session”. In a later follow up, a further ten partial solutions were in development and twenty new avenues for investigation had been opened as a result.
In a world where we have immense challenges to solve, ranging from mental and physical health crises to rising inequality, wars, and a multifaceted environmental crisis, we desperately need new thinking. As psychedelics such as magic mushrooms and LSD now seem to be going through a renaissance, I can't help but wonder if they are showing themselves to us exactly when we need them.
Nature based solutions
In the context of creating a sustainable society and developing sustainable business models, I think the opportunity could go even further than enhanced creativity and problem solving.
Dr David Luke from the University of Greenwich is one of todays pioneering researchers and has shown that some psychedelics, particularly psilocybin from magic mushrooms, increase people’s sense of connection with nature and increase empathy toward other humans. In his study on nature connection, 67% became more ecologically aware, 58% reported that they had changed their diet and 51% spent more time gardening as a result of their experience. Keep in mind that this research was done in a laboratory environment with no access to nature and limited human contact. Dr David Luke suggests that the results may be even more profound if they were allowed to conduct this research in a more natural setting.
In an earlier post here on Oxymoron, Martin Palethorpe talked about the need for a more conscious approach to leadership. Perhaps psychedelics are a largely untapped opportunity to reach parts of our consciousness that can help us solve the big, and small, problems of our time and help us develop ways of living and working that truly respect our needs as humans and the natural world that we are a part of.
There's just one problem
Psychedelics like magic mushrooms and LSD are illegal. In the UK, they're classified as Class A drugs alongside crack cocaine, heroin and crystal meth. That means that you can be sentenced to up to seven years in prison for possession and life in prison for supply. But psychedelics are not like crack or heroin. They are chemically very safe, non-addictive and in general seem to offer more benefit to mental health than risk.
Professor David Nutt was the UK government's chief drugs adviser and clashed with politicians on a number of occasions. One notable instance was when he reported that MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, is considerably less dangerous than horse riding. Instead of following the science and having an intelligent review of drug classification, the government found this politically embarrassing and fired the messenger. A number of colleagues left the government to join him in forming the independent organisation Drug Science, which published a comparative analysis of harms from twenty commonly used drugs. It reported that alcohol and tobacco are two of the most harmful drugs for the individual and for society while LSD and mushrooms carry very little risk. While David Nutt himself acknowledged that such simple comparisons lack the nuance needed to properly illustrate the various risks, they do give a broad indication that what is socially acceptable is misaligned with reality.
In a banned Ted talk, Graham Hancock talked passionately about the War on Consciousness in our modern society. He says:
In today's society, visionary plants are highly illegal because they promote a state of consciousness that does not agree with the agenda of profit. Substances, like coffee, alcohol, sugar and pharmaceuticals, are forced upon the population, but possession of even small quantities of cannabis, Ayahuasca or psilocybin will land you in jail. If we do not recognize the right of adult sovereignty over consciousness, then we can not claim to be free.
Perhaps the real reason that psychedelics are illegal is because they pose a genuine threat to the status quo - political, economic, and even religious. Perhaps they're illegal precisely because they offer so much potential to help us heal ourselves and our world. Perhaps they pose the risk that we might actually succeed in creating a world where we don't need wars, antidepressants and fossil fuels.
I don't mean to suggest that psychedelics are a panacea. I am simply suggesting that we should open our minds to the possibility that if used wisely, they could be a powerful catalyst for positive change. Imagine what our lives, businesses and society might look like if psychedelics were not just legalised, but accompanied by a culture where we support each other to use them safely for personal healing and growth as well as creative problem solving. This is exactly what many indigenous cultures did, and some still do.
Albert Einstein put it beautifully when he said:
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.