Dissertation re-structure

Whilst trying to write and make all the relevant information, research and main points of my dissertation fit, I am really struggling to get my head around the structure and flow of the whole thing.
I have so much triangulation I am worried that the whole essay is seeming disjointed which isn't helping me to overcome the confusion and anxiety about it all.

My current structure is as follows:

Introduction

Chapter 1: 1960's Counterculture Intro
- Psychedelic info & key terminology
- Psychedelic emergence into western culture
  - LSD, Psychotherapy and medicine
- The makings of a counterculture (contextualising and setting the scene)
  - Economic and social issues in 1950's - 60's USA and western world

Chapter 2: 1960's Counterculture - Psychedelics & Liberation
- The New Left movement
   - Marx & Marcuse
VS
- The Hippie movement

- Modern day medicine

Chapter 3: Case studies
- Aldous Huxley - Utopia
- Shamanic ritual and cave paintings - The psychedelic experience and spirituality
- Psychedelic art from the era

Chapter 4: Reflective Practice

Conclusion

------

What I notice from the above structure is how my research and points made in the modern day medicine section don't flow well into the next chapter of case studies. This information about modern day accomplishments is important as it provides an alternative look at the relationship between psychedelics and liberation, challenging the stigmas to arise from the counterculture period, and helps to bring my essay and points into the modern day and the importance of contemporary medicine in society. 

This being said it doesn't seem to fit in chapter 2. When i look at my case studies - I cover nothing which relates to this information and this has got me thinking - where shall I put it and why is this relevant? 

When I think about the modern day psychedelic medicine being carried out - this draws more parallels with my practical solution for the project. For my practical I want to move away from the stereotypes and stigma associated with the counterculture movements of the 1960's and focus on the medical advancements being made in today's society.

With this in mind, I am thinking of including the modern day section within chapter 4. For me this makes sense as I can cover much of the counterculture movement within the first 3 chapters, with case studies which are relevant to the points being made. I can then move on to modern day solidifying the relevance of this research project (outlined in the intro), discuss my points and show my research - which links directly to my practical and what I am attempting to achieve here (which I can then discuss). Within chapter 4 I can also triangulate back to the previous chapters and incorporate the juxtaposition of my practical response with case study 3: 'Psychedelic artwork from the era' (this providing an example of what I don't want my practical work to look like).

New Structure

Introduction

Chapter 1: 1960's Counterculture Intro

- Psychedelic info & key terminology

- Psychedelic emergence into western culture
  - LSD, Psychotherapy and medicine

- The makings of a counterculture (contextualising and setting the scene)
  - Economic and social issues in 1950's - 60's USA and western world
  - (war, civil rights etc)

Chapter 2: 1960's Counterculture - Psychedelics & Liberation

- The New Left movement
   - Marx & Marcuse
   - Activism as a strive for liberation (new consciousness achieved through widespread psychedelic use)

VS

- The Hippie movement
  - Leaving society as a means of liberation
  - spiritual liberation through psychedelic use
  - The psychedelic experience - altered states of consciousness

Chapter 3: Case studies

- Aldous Huxley - Utopia

- Shamanic ritual and cave paintings - The psychedelic experience and spirituality

- Psychedelic art from the era (fight the status quo and spur the counterculture movement on)

Chapter 4: Reflective Practice

- Modern day medicine 
  - triangulates back to chapter 1 and psychotherapy
  - Draws parallels with traditional ancient shamanic uses - medicine

- Discuss my own artwork as a response
  - the importance of seeing psychedelics as medicine NOT recreational use ( as in the 1960's counterculture)
  - moving away from 1960's counterculture stigma
- reaffirms the medical liberation achieved through psychedelics and the importance of their reintegration into  western society (as they have been used in other cultures since the dawn of man)

Conclusion

OUIL601 Dissertation Tutorial 3

Thoughts
A much needed session with Richard, after many weeks feeling lost and putting in all of my effort but not really getting anywhere. This session helped to simplify things a bit for me which has been a relief. Previously, I was considering having my case study analysis running through the dissertation where they appeared most relevant, i.e

Aldous Huxley literature case study to appear in the "Hippie" main body section of my essay (technically within context and themes) before moving on to talk about modern day psychedelic medicine. It does all link writing like this as the flow is continuous and it will have obvious relevance to the points I am making in that section. However, this way of including my case studies throughout instead of dedicating a separate chapter to them (chapter 3) - obviously goes against the dissertation structure we have been given which has been confusing me. 

I couldn't see a way past this after being entirely focused for so long on one thing, but Richard quickly cleared this up for me by explaining how I can approach my case studies in keeping with the structure. Instead of talking about the hippie counter culture and embedding my relevant Aldous Huxley case study (for example) within this section to align with the points I have made, I just use the Hippie section to make my points and "lay the ground work" as it were - to then reflect upon these points when I come to do my case study analysis as part of chapter 3.

I don't know why I didn't make sense of this sooner as it feels extremely obvious to me now - but by writing this way, I don't need to make all of my points or include all of my research within the context and themes chapter. I can now spread my research and information out by laying the groundwork in context and themes chapter 2 and picking up / make extra points within my case study analysis in chapter 3. YAY!

Other things to consider:

• Amazing praise for the extent of my contextual knowledge, I just need to find a way to fit it all in coherently and concisely to do it all justice - Richard understands that this will not be easy.
• Case study decisions: 

- Aldous Huxley literature
- Shamanic ancient cave artwork / carvings
- Psychedelic art work

The last case study (psychedelic artwork from the counterculture era) is to the lay the groundwork for chapter 4 - reflective practice. Where I can use this example to contrast with what I am trying to attempt as a practical solution to this research project - in other words this case study provides an example of what i DON'T want to do within my work -
(Stereotypically psychedelic, impersonal etc)

• I am running out of time now therefore I need to have a finalised essay draft for 2 weeks time when we next meet (So much needs to be done and due to my struggling with it all - Richard understands that Sundays interim submission will not be a completed draft)
• We are both still having difficulties with the practical solution. Medical / personal psychedelic experiences and testimonials to respond visually are sparse and extremely difficult to get hold of despite my efforts at primary research - therefore i need to find a practical solution, with or without this testimonial approach.

Case Study / Trip Report / Testimonial Issues

At this stage in my research it is becoming clear that finding relevant examples of peoples personal / medical / spiritual journeys through the use of psychedelic substances is difficult.

The type of case studies and testimonial examples of psychedelic experiences I want are those where the person has achieved something positive from their experience, the most obvious of which is medical benefit - either overcoming depression, PTSD, anxiety, addiction, fear of death and pain relief / cancer tumour treatment.

The reason these types of case studies are beneficial to my research project is that they hold the potential of directly challenging the negative stigmas society has of these substances, challenging the laws in place controlling use, providing a personal insight into someones journey ultimately liberating and re-humanising the beneficial effects of psychedelic drug use as well as the illnesses encountered by many people in society.

I know there are amazing, personal and enlightening stories out there - the medical facts emerging suggest the profound benefits - however much of this is kept confidential due to the medical confidentiality between therapist, doctor and patient.

Many of the reports I have found so far don't necessarily touch on these issues, found through underground psychedelic blogs and forums or sensationalised in the media - many draw more on the recreational use instead of the medical and personal / emotive insight into benefit and lose he personal connection I am looking for.

The controversy is also playing a big part in this struggle - people don't seem as willing to part with personal information on the subject, especially in this country where the law still has a prominent role in the way we value / devalue these substances. Its not like I can go out into the public or hospitals to ask people for their accounts - we don't treat people in hospitals with psychedelics yet and no one speaks openly of treating/self-medicating themselves medically with substances that 1: aren't legal, and 2: have such a stigma still attached.

Potential ways around this:

Instead of branching out publicly in person, i could use the internet and media to my advantage. I have found a few advocates of medical psychedelic use who speak openly to the media about their experience. Instead of using their primarily impersonal accounts - as featured in online news articles or on blogs - I could contact them directly via email and ask for a much more personal, detailed account.

I could also contact psychotherapists and advocates of medical psychedelic use in this country and abroad (where it is legal and where studies are being carried out) and *cheekily* ask if they could put me in touch with anyone who wouldn't mind me contacting them to find out more about their journey. Obviously I would need to make clear that I am not a journalist and that keeping their identity anonymous is a priority.

So thats the plan and hopefully in doing this I will eventually find what I am looking for. It may be too late to include these findings in my dissertation, however the main reason for this research is to find detailed, descriptive, personal accounts that I can respond to for the practical part of this project.

If all else fails and too much time ticks on - I may just have to go with what I find online at face value. Less personal overall - but any account of medical psychedelic substance use and what this experience has achieved for the subject is better than nothing at all.

Drowning in research - A little perspective

This post is an attempt to put into perspective the sheer amount of research I have been doing for this project. It would be impossible for me to post on my blog everything I have been reading and taking notes from and I don't want all these hours of effort to be overlooked.

I lost myself somewhere in all of this research, becoming debilitated and confused - unable to write coherently due to the pressure I put on myself and the sea of information in my head. This has of course had adverse effects with me slowly slipping further and further behind while I try my hardest to fight my way through it all. I admit I have been trying to do too much as I cannot include it all in my dissertation, however the feats I have made in an attempt to direct my research project have been huge. The below info doesn't do all my work justice in the slightest or even cover half of what I have been doing, however this brief unloading should hopefully make me feel a little lighter, more positive and help me to reflect.

Note: Instead of it all just sitting on my computer with no one aware of the mammoth task I have undertaken, this is in a way a post for myself - to highlight the achievements I have made and appreciate the amount of hours I have dedicated to this module. 

Books
Having stuck to my initial reading list I made at the beginning of this semester, this stack of books has been a lifeline and I have been dipping in and out of them continuously. (I ran out of sticky notes a long time ago and yes I have read nearly all of these back to back this semester.)

 

My life...




Bookmarks
As I attempt to write my dissertation - my bookmarks list is where I live. I had a list of relevant sources and information for this project that was so long I could no longer add to it, therefore in an effort to get my head around all of this information - I had to sort it and I did this by making folders relevant to the points/sections I wanted to cover in my essay. These folders contain everything from case studies, scientific reports, journals, books, websites, blogs - you name it its there.


 

... There are another 18 bookmark folders...but I think you get the gist and Im tired of screen-shots.

Written Documents
From all of this information, I have been continuously writing - and I mean I have been non stop. I may be struggling to find a way to write concisely and include all of the information I would like, however the following documents cover the work I have put in so far, by way of notes, structure, literature searches, quote collating and important information I want to include. In total - my own writing across these documents cover over 33,000 words...(and this isn't including my many dissertation draft attempts and preliminary work and documents I have already uploaded in previous blog posts)...making it an actual total of nearly 50,000 words...I needed to write that - as it is RIDICULOUS!

I have put all of these documents into one...if ever you have a spare year on your hands - feel free to have a peruse through the 97 pages :)

Final thoughts
I need to remember that this project means something to me. My subject matter is something that I am really interested in and i have learnt so much from all of this therefore I need to understand that it hasn't all been a waste of time. I am proud of myself despite not being where i want to be with it all. It is a really difficult topic and I had to go through all of this as it is the only way I know how. The background knowledge I have gained and my attempts at structuring my essay, as well as the sections and quotes etc - is all helping me do this, no matter how slow writing my final dissertation may be.

Bonobo: Kerala - A visual interpretation of a "Bad Trip"

A new release from British musician, producer and DJ Bonobo "Kerala" cleverly uses cinematography from director Bison in its music video, a visual representation of the struggles undergone during a bad psychedelic induced "trip". What strikes me about this music video is how the visual experience itself for the audience helps to encapsulate the mental difficulties sometimes experienced as a result of taking psychedelic substances - the repetition being a struggle to watch, to make sense of, as well as the difficulty in first spotting the surreal aspects / hallucination elements depicted in the video. The mind really can play tricks on you.

Please watch this!



Below are is a list of the surreal elements as they appear in the video - things to watch out for and get your head around.

0:00 - meteor 1:00 - rock levitating 1:05 - man on bench feeds nonexistent birds 1:50 - building floating, rotating 2:02 - door caves in 2:15 - man in restaurant's eyes glow 2:27 - tv footage shows the video about 30 seconds into the future flipped horizontally 2:42 - man crossing street duplicates 2:50 - restaurant sign foreshadows building fire 3:03 - car gradually changes colour 3:06 - man floating in sky 3:16 - fire in building 3:28 - solar eclipse 3:46 - people standing in a grid pattern, looking up 3:57 - birds take flight (or are they humans?)


This video brings to the audience a sense of the possible psychosis experienced when participating in a psychedelic trip- something which in itself has proved notoriously difficult to explain by the subjects who experience it. Maybe this has a message which coincides with mine - the possible dangers of the psychedelic experience if someone is to ignore the importance of 'set and setting', an unguided experience - something which is key if wanting to gain therapeutic value when experiencing altered states of consciousness and one commonly overlooked during recreational use of psychedelic plant based substances. 

Psychedelic Society: November Update

I recently just received the following email from the Psychedelic Society:

In the name of COP research, I plan on trying to make it to a few of these events listed here, especially the ones in London later this month and into the beginning of December. There haven't been any locally in Leeds or back home in Cambridge for quite some time, therefore I want to make the most of this opportunity and see how the psychedelic renaissance is being communicated and what the "hot topics" of discussion are in these public events. 

I am hoping that these visits (including exhibitions, academic talks and open meet & greet discussions) will help answer questions I have about my research project, open up a useful dialogue between me and leading practitioners / scientists / therapists in the field (which could also feature within my dissertation somehow in the form of interviews / answered surveys, etc) which in turn will help me with both the written and practical elements of this module.

COP3 Practical: Initial Ideas

Aim:
To bring together the natural plant based psychedelic substances and the corresponding psychedelic experience to be had on each. This is to challenge the impersonal, negative and unnatural common "drug" stigma and illegality attached to these substances - by focusing on the beauty of nature in the hope of reconnecting and educating the audience.

Concept:

• A botanical illustration of each of the core psychedelic plants:
• LSD, Cannabis, Psilocybin, Iboga, Ayahuasca, Mescaline
• Each botanical illustration will feature as individual pages within a book publication.
• Each of these botanical illustration pages will be bound as pockets within the book, where a small publication corresponding with each of the botanical illustrations can be housed within.
• These small pull out publications will feature the psychedelic experience to be had on each of the substances / the journey undertaken by the subject.
• Each of these small pull out publications will be conceptual artwork based on case studies sourced through primary research - promoting the personal and real relationship between substance and subject.

Aesthetic:
* Botanical Illustrations:
  - Detailed depiction of what each plant naturally looks like

* Small pull out publication:
  - Psychedelic
  - Personal
  - (this will be difficult to depict)

Additional proposals / further ideas

• Instead of the pocket book (above), a publication could be filled with botanical illustrations of each substance, with a centre spread featuring a pull out larger poster of the psychedelic experience which is initially folded to fit the format of the book, but then could unfold and detach from the publication. This pull out would be a printed poster of the psychedelic experience.

• Selected artworks could be made into screen prints collection

• Botanical artwork prints: Educational
• Psychedelic experience prints: Reportage?
• Key rings for each psychedelic plant: woodcut / laser cut
• Postcards: Min versions of the artwork / prints

Notes

• The problems I am having at this stage:
• I am not sure how to visual portray the psychedelic experience
• Who are my audience?
• Will anyone want this artwork?
• I do not want my artwork to be stereotypically "psychedelic" - but how do I represent a psychedelic experience without this aesthetic (The experience is surreal in nature - branching away from this is not true to what has been experienced -however due to the experience being so far removed from the norm - I am worried the audience will not get it / struggle to relate or understand)

OUIL601 Practical Response Initial Brief #1

OUIL601 Practical Response Initial Proposal #2

COP3 Lecture 3: Resolving Your Research

Notes from the lecture:

OUIL601 Dissertation Tutorial 2

Feedback / Considerations / To Do

• Pleased with the progression I have made so far in terms of what I want to specifically cover in my dissertation (Shamanic ritual, psychedelic 60's/70's, present day medicine and therapeutic value)
• Happy with my practical ideas & screenprint
• Good and sensible structure in terms of triangulation
• Case studies: 
1) Oz Magazine cover
2) An example of how the media portrays psychedelics / hippie counterculture
• Finish chapter 2 "Context & Themes" by next tutorial
• Have my case study examples researched, chosen and finalised

Notes
Struggling to decide on most appropriate case studies for my dissertation. To help with this:
- look into examples of how psychedelic substances / attempts of liberation / counterculture / shamanic ritual / present day medical science etc are being portrayed in the media. 
- How these are perceived and released in the media (newspaper articles, reporting, google etc)
- Look at contrasts and/or correlations between examples and what I am trying to say in my dissertation.
- Look at how psychedelics appear in visual culture
- Look into the reception of counterculture in mass media
- Look at artists who have tried to convey liberation
- Find examples of the state 'dehumanising' the culture and gaining control
- My own practical work can then "re-humanise" by employing emotion, sensitivity and positivity

Practical: 
• Find examples of visual language that will help with with mine
• Respond visually to case studies / testimonials

Dissertation notes & initial "flesh-out"

At this stage of the module I am still feeling overwhelmed with my research and sources, mainly because of the sheer amount I have collected, so much so that I don't feel entirely ready to begin writing "properly" per se. Everything is a mess and jumbled up in my head, spread out across 3 notebooks, 7 word documents (dissertation notes, dissertation notes.1, dissertation notes 1a, etc etc), 4 aptly named COP3 internet bookmark folders and of course many blog posts still in draft form. I just haven't a clue what sources/info are best to mention, what best supports my argument, how to argue my point or where it is all supposed to fit in my still very illusive dissertation structure..

Instead of becoming stunted and unmotivated with all this unorganised information, I have reverted to a tried and tested method of mine which I find really useful in getting together my main ideas and putting them into some sort of essay/argument "structure" - to make sense, everything has to start somewhere! I call this method "fleshing out" and what I do is gather the major points I am trying to say along with section/headings I want to cover and literally write as much as I can about each. More points, relevant sources, important people and facts to cover etc. The aim is a bit of a brain dump, but through doing this I often come out of the other end with some sort of epiphany or at least a much clearer head with many useful considerations down on paper.

Dissertation: Notes so far

Important persons of note and related quotes

Understanding the Drugs World - Information is Beautiful

A helpful (and very pretty) infographic and guide to the drugs world and current drug classifications

The Beckley Foundation says
"Stimulants , Downers, Anti-psychotics and hallucinogens have a vast array of different effects, harms, benefits (and absolutely unrelated global legal classifications).

This guide classifies the family relationships and effects of 2CB, Mescaline, LSD, Nicotine, CBD, Opium, Diazepam, Alcohol, MDMA, Cocaine, Caffeine and a host of other licit and illicit substances besides, and can help us make informed decisions about which drugs to take when.

sources: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/drugs-world/

SCONUL - Library Access

Having pretty much exhausted the LCA uni library of the sparse resources to do with my dissertation subject, and currently hogging 12 books as if my life depends on it, a friend on the course pointed me in the direction of signing up for access to library resources across the country in form of SCONUL - FINALLY! 

In particular I want access to the Leeds Uni library, as its obviously close, in this city and I am intrigued as to what is on offer in terms of new helpful sources for my dissertation - available as part of a bigger academic - wider spread in terms of subjects- institution.

So I put in my application via e-studio and tadaaaa its been accepted!

I plan on making a trip to the Leeds Uni library this week after having a look at their online library directory and seeing what they have available.

How Psychedelics Are Saving Lives

Terence Mckenna - Interview. Mexico 1996

Paul McCartney on Acid

Philosopher Gerald Heard on LSD

Aldous Huxley on Psychedelics

"This is your brain on drugs" - 1987

Famous negative propogranda:

'Neurons to Nirvana, Understanding Psychedelic Medicines' - Documentary

- A Oliver Hockenhull Documentary
Released: November 1st 2013 (USA)

Plot Summary (imdb):
A stylish, in depth look at the renaissance in psychedelic drug research in light of current scientific, medical and cultural knowledge. The film explores these socially taboo substances as adjuncts to psychotherapy, as crucial but neglected medicines, and as technologies of consciousness. From Neurons to Nirvana: The Great Medicines features interviews with some of the world's foremost researchers, writers, and pioneers in the growing field of psychedelic psychotherapy. These radical healers and dissenters are using everything from ancient concoctions to newly created designer molecules to the once demonised psychedelic drugs of the 1960s. They argue convincingly for the legal right to incorporate these substances into therapeutic practice. - Written by Anonymous

Through interviews with leading psychologists and scientists, Neurons to Nirvana explores the history of four powerful psychedelic substances (LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA and Ayahuasca) and their previously established medicinal potential. Strictly focusing on the science and medicinal properties of these drugs, Neurons to Nirvana looks into why our society has created such a social and political bias against even allowing research to continue the exploration of any possible positive effects they can present in treating some of today's most challenging afflictions. - Written by Anonymous

The Answer to the Question, "Who are we?". This film explores the questions that western society has stopped asking. The possibility that the class of medicines that have been banned by a few biased, frightened and politically motivated people, may show us the Answers to the Questions, is enough reason to watch this film. - Written by RipRap

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

My notes and quotes 

from watching the documentary

LSD
• In popular press - hallucinogens are portrayed as a recreation, an escape or a dangerous invitation for abuse.
• More people die each year from using simple pain relievers than from all illegal substances combined. Of those which are - the vast majority of deaths are caused from street cocaine and heroin - almost no deaths are down to psychedelics.
• 1950's - a great hope that LSD was going to revolutionise psychiatry
• 1960's - LSD had moved out of mainstream medicine into recreational use. Some thought things were beginning to spiral out of control, therefore the efforts began to put the lid back on LSD to try and "restore social control that appeared to be on the verge of breaking down."
• Vietnam war - US government questioned by society in terms of its involvement. 
• Government wanting people to sign up and fight - but LSD and its freedom thinkers wanted no part. - Many protests and reason why government didn't want LSD readily available to the masses. "Make Love Not War"
• You do see out of the box with LSD. You do see past culturally imposed values.
• The whole goal was to crack open the mind and break away from the constraints of a culture that we felt was inhibiting the human potential and that we might embrace a new realm of possibilities.
• In order to ban a drug - you have to paint it as having extreme dangers linked to it - this being addiction.
• FACT: You cannot become physically dependent or addicted to a drug such as LSD
• Difficult to deal with this in a scientific manner really difficult because dealing with irrational fear based reactions instead of what the drugs have done for people in the past and the possibilities for the future.
• LSD put scientists on the path of a new "neurotransmitter" - SEROTONIN
• Psychedelics stimulate our serotonin circuits - ultimately enhancing connections between the emotional brain (middle) and the behaviour/informational brain (lower).
• LSD resembles serotonin on a chemical structure and has very similar effects
• LSD originated and proved to be one of the most important tools for neuroscientists in helping to understand the brain.
• Wise well-crafted insight and knowledge when undergoing a trip - coming from the deep consciousness/unconscious of oneself. Drawn into transcendental, mystical realm of the self beyond the profound unit of states.-the profound awareness at the core of the mystery of what / who we are.
LSD - there is no other - there is only 'one'.

Magic Mushrooms - Psilocybin
• A way to explore a continent that no-one new existed
• A psychiatric assisted trip is like an expedition - a chance to experience somewhere new and come back to reality and speak to others about your journey with those who may also be able to provide insight into where you have been.
• Provides a short term and long term alleviation of anxiety - associated with the fear of dying. - Cancer patients
• The Good Friday experiment? Using science by taking a look into whether psilocybin can catalyse a religious "mystical experience"?
• MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE: A subjective experience in which an individual reports contact with a transcendent reality, arriving at some knowledge or insight previously unavailable
• The coming together of science and spirituality

1960's Cultural Revolution - a result of the 'psychedelic experience'
•People became motivated to become a part of world movements (anti-war, environmental, civil rights, animal rights, etc)
• No racial barriers in hippie counterculture - Cultural barriers gone because he/she is "just like me". 
• Unitive mystical experience - everyone comes together as a part of a deeper sense of self. A core element that binds us together. The interconnectedness of all people and things. Everything is all one and psychedelics help us to identify with people we may not usually.
• The experience at its core is more real and more true than every day waking consciousness.
• Lucid dreaming - Awareness that when you are dreaming you know you are dreaming. Psychedelics have a similar effect.
• We still don't know and these drugs provide us with the tool and experience to find out
a sense of being more at one with the universe
• Psilocybin tuns off blood flow in key parts of the brain. These part control and integrate the way in which the brain processes information - nodes with regulate what you do and how you feel. By switching these areas off - this liberates the rest of the brain so it can do other things - this leading to the expansion of consciousness.
• Core of John Hopkins Research finds that there is this quantum change of perception of life itself, attitudes, moods and behaviour.
• Most people are endorsing that this experience is the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experience of their entire life.
• We are just relearning to let it be ok to call these things real again

MDMA
• Illegal substances in a therapeutic setting are completely safe - it is the recreational use that gives the substance a bad name.
• MDMA is not a hallucinogen - floods the brain with serotonin. Acts as an immediate acting/ instant anti-anxiety or anti-depressant - non sedating.
• Enhances memory in terms of the experience, early traumas and current repressed issues
• PTSD: The need is growing for treatments that current psychotherapies and medications only work partially and in certain subjects. The need is growing for psychedelic medicines,
• PTSD - problems in treatment because too much anxiety and emotional numbing in order to revisit the trauma in a therapeutic way.
• MDMA allows people to face fears without being overwhelmed and hang on to the emotional connection.
• It induces a heart opening and empathy with other people.
• It allows access to an experience that people need to have as part of being human - empathy.
• Psychedelics are there to open the door as long as you are ready to accept that the substance and experience are not the solution.

Cannabis
• Has been around for 4000 years - understandably widely experienced and tested with a broad range of actions
• In ancient times (with no understanding of the chemical effects on the brain) the experience to be had on substances such as cannabis where thought to be magical and provided by the gods.
• Popular with Queen Victoria in 1800's used cannabis as a relaxant and to treat period pain, child birth.
• Cave paintings provide us with a visual insight in to altered states of consciousness and awareness.
• Legal medicine in Britain until 1971. 
• Banned when young people started using it.
• Prohibition is doing the exact opposite of what the war on drugs is saying its benefitting
• No research because the government wont allow it - then say there is no medical value due to research.
• Less harmful to health than alcohol or nicotine
• Ultimate threat of these substances in modern society is their ability to break consensus trends and cause people to look at things in a brand new way
people rose up and started protesting - specifically against wars such as the Vietnam war. 
• The government drew parallels between this antisocial anti-system activity and drug use - particularly cannabis.
• Ronald Reagan - "Drugs are menacing our society. They are threatening our values and undercutting our institutions"
• Ronald Reagan Jr when questioned about his mother Nancy's "Just Say No" campaign:
"Its not marijuana the mind altering substance, its marijuana the anti-thesis of the state"
• A lot of learnt knowledge that can be more easily passed on in a better regulated system.
• Instead of dealing with behaviour and mental issues, people are medicated pharmaceutically. The problem with this is people see the benefits of prohibited drugs as having more of a positive effect than that of the legal pharmaceuticals available. So one can see no reason not to use these substances.
• Not all the rules are here to protect us. Sometimes we have to cross lines and search passed those boundaries in order to find what we are entitled to have.
• We fund studies on harm in the US - we don't fund studies on benefit 

Ayahuasca - Yaje
• Vine of the soul
• Amazonian Indians - human rights - ecological destruction
- Origin of their knowledge about the plants they are trying to protect came from the hallucinations of their shamans
• Television of the forest - can see images and learn things
• Its not such a radical proposition to see plants as teachers. 
• Its only the alienation of western science that creates that apparent split.
• For thousands of years around the world medicine was based on plants
• A coevolutionary mechanism
• Famous botanist said "Plants have substituted biosynthesis for behaviour"
• Plants medicate relationships with the rest of nature and environment through chemistry
• The plant has an incentive to form a relationship with human beings
• Shamans and the "out of body" experience: The capability to look at the world in a way that is more than just the body-based limitations that we originally evolved to use to understand the physical world.
• You can drink this stuff and it shows you this spectacular images that teach you things.
it shows you exactly what you need to know in that exact moment to mature and develop ones own psyche.
• Shamanism - always been a form of psychotherapy with the use of these substances which is now coming together with clinical psychiatry and neuroscience.
• Forces us to acknowledge the mind spirit and soul
• Wouldn't drink this out of ceremony - not a party drug. Causes people to purge not enjoyable. Its not anything you do lightly and want people helping you through it.
• The ideas it shows you rips through the placenta of ordinary consciousness to achieve some kind of illumination - but nobody said the journey was meant to be pleasant
• Afterwards o feeling of clarity and lightness which is powerful
• Purge of the psychic contents that weighs on you
• Shamanism - the survival of a tradition almost as old as man himself

Certain drugs are powerful devices for expanding this awareness toward its real possibilities.

SSRI's
• Medicating ourself into a state of happiness with pharmaceuticals promotes drug dependancy
• Companies are not interested in hearing about a treatment that a patient need take once or twice that can make a huge difference to people.
• Its not that they don't want you to be on drugs - they want you to be on drugs...on corporate drugs
• All psychoactive substances are in the public domain. 
• If a government / pharmaceutical company cant patent it - they want to prohibit it which creates a black market, creates crime etc.

No theory of the brain or how its related to consciousness will ever be complete if it doesn't take these phenomena into account.

For various complicated and miss-placed reasons, these substances, which historically have always been totally scared at the centre of the cultural evolution of man, they have been shoved in the bag of illegality.

It would be interesting to use these substances - not just for medicines and disease states but to also enhance human and spiritual growth - more empathic and overall better human beings.

The psychedelic experience is transformation at every level, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual.

Psychedelics have catalysed in many people a creative process that has lead them to make major profound discoveries which have changed the face of the world.

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List of scientists, psychologists, theorists, ethnobotanists, etc 

that feature in this film and worth looking at in terms of opinions, sources and info

Amanda Fielding - Founder, The Beckley Foundation
Dr Charles S. Grob, M.D - Prof. of Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine
Chris Bennett - Author, On the Role of Cannabis & Religion
Dr. David Healy - Director, Dept. of Psychological Medicine, University of Cardiff
David E. Nichols, PH.D - University of North Carolina, Medicinal Chemistry
David Nutt - Neuropsychopharmacologist, Imperial College, London
Dennis McKenna, PH.D - Stanford University School of Medicine, Heffter Research
Dr. Gabor Mate, PH.D - Addiction and ADD Expert, Best selling author
Gillian Maxwell - Project Director, "Keeping The Door Open: Dialogues On Drug Use"
Dr. Ingrid Pacey, M.D. - Psychiatrist, MDMA Medical Researcher
Jeremy Narby, PH.D - Anthropologist & Author
Dr. Julie Holland, M.D. - Psychiatrist and Editor, Ecstasy the Complete Guide
Kathleen Harrison - Ethnobotanist 
Michael Winkelman, PH.D - Arizona University, Co-Editor "Psychedelic Medicine"
Dr. Michael Mithoefer, M.D - Clinical Investigator for MDMA/PTSD Studies
Rick Doblin, PH.D - Director, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
Roland Griffiths, PH.D - Prof. of Behavioural Biology, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Stephen Ross, M.D - NYU Psilocybin Cancer Project
Wade Davis, PH.D - National Geographic Society
William Richards PH.D - Lead Researcher, Johns Hopkins Medical School