Summary: The Cracked Podcast explores the role of psychedelics in science, medicine, and culture.
Originally appearing here.
Psychedelics, maaaaan! Gateway to the inside of your miiiiiiiind! Enemy of the maaaaan, maaaaan! Also, a thing that’s been around for so long in human history, we don’t even have an accurate date for when our ancestors started doing them. They’ve just been, for all we know, a common way to explore, escape and seek spiritual oneness for hundreds of thousands of years.
Some great stuff has been conceived of while on psychedelics: while on LSD, Francis Crick conceived of the double-helix shape of DNA, Steve Jobs cites LSD as one of the major influences of his life’s work, and some biblical scholars think the Bible may have been written with the aid of some magic mushrooms. So why does the government hate the stuff? Especially as more research is coming out that says that psilocybin (the active ingredient in mushrooms) does wonders for the terminally ill and MDMA may be the key to curing PTSD.
On this week’s podcast Jack O’Brien enlists the help of comic Shane Mauss and Cracked editor Robert Evans to find out. First Jack and Shane examine some of the medicinal effects of psychedelics, from mushrooms to DMT to MDMA, and talk about how America’s war on drugs is prohibiting important research into these areas. Later, Robert Evans calls in to discuss how some ancient cultures got high and how an individual’s reaction to drugs may not be chemical, but cultural.