Hacker News Reader

Comment by roymurdock | Hacker News Reader

Lots of revived interest in psychedelics that is finally coming front and center in no small part due to Michael Pollan's recent book "How to Change Your Mind". Rolland Griffiths plays a pivotal role in the book (and in the real life advocacy and study of psychedelics) and Pollan probably seeded the ideas of psilocybin's potential into the right ears around Berkeley and on his book tour [1]. Think there's a ton of potential here and looking forward to what research comes out of this new group.

[1] The center's operational expenses for the first five years will be covered by private funding from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation and four philanthropists: Tim Ferriss, author and technology investor; Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress; Blake Mycoskie, founder of the shoe and accessory brand TOMS; and investor Craig Nerenberg.

View on HN

Suspect Joe Rogan has also been a fair influence too. His podcast has a massive and varied fan base, and he's a pretty consistent promoter of the benefits of psychedelics.

I think it's just the world. Joe Rogan is popular because currently "Joe Rogan Things" are growing (Weed, fitness, nutrition, MMA, psychadelics). These are all trending.

There's likely a feedback loop involved. Commentators who happen to talk about trending topics become popular; their popular platform can bring those topics to a broader audience; that broader audience stokes the hype around the trend and builds the audience further through (social media-amplified) word of mouth.

It's still rare for a celebrity to be as gung-ho and upfront about drug use, while also being very healthy. Usually drug use and celebrities are mentioned together in tabloids along with calls for them to go to rehab.

For me he definitely made psychedelics from something I vaguely had heard about and only crazy people use into something normal people could use.

Tim Ferris donated a lot of his personal wealth directly to this cause and promoted it on his podcast frequently as well.

Pollan's book pushed something that was obviously growing fast over the edge into a lot of popular awareness.

That awareness is probably what is necessary to really get these things started and accepted socially which translates into regulatory acceptance. Sadly everything is a popularity contest.

For those interested, there is a fantastic documentary called, "The Substance: Albert Hofmann's LSD" which was released in 2011 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2075352/) that covers a lot of the history of how LSD was discovered and then made its way to the US, and then subsequently how the proliferation of the drug shaped a lot of the cultural landscape in the US.

I was very impressed with the info in "Sacred Knowledge: by William A. Richards"

There is so much info about many different issues that can be treated, and the info coming from the doctors / scientists at Johns Hopkins that's in the book, is awesome.

I find it is a great bridge for those who are in the medical community / or lean towards not believing there is therapeutic uses.. scientific proof from JH is proof.

However this book is also extra beneficial to those who already believe or understand some of the 'magical effects' - as it gets into some of the studies and some of the methods - and opens the doors to furthering the use in many ways.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com