Editor’s note: Rob Long is not a medical professional or licensed provider of psychedelics. He may, in fact, be high while writing this column. Nothing herein constitutes pharmaceutical advice or guidance, and should not be used to inform diagnoses or treatment.
In my first column here at the Daily Beast, I asked readers to send me their questions. Anything they wanted to know about recreational or therapeutic psychedelics, I was ready to discuss.
With one big exception.
I got a lot of questions that were essentially looking for a trustworthy source for psychedelic drugs. And I can’t answer that. I mean, I could—I wish I could, even, because these substances can be uplifting, healing and a whole lot of fun.
And I know a lot of places you can get the good, safe stuff! But I won’t, because as much as I want everyone to have the opportunity to investigate their own consciousness, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 makes it impossible. I don’t want it enough to risk jail time.
It’s true that in some states—Colorado and Washington, especially—many psychedelic drugs are being rapidly legalized. But under the CSA, substances such as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline and MDMA are classified as Schedule I drugs.
Despite growing interest in medical and therapeutic uses, that makes them illegal to manufacture, possess or distribute, except for approved research purposes. Which is dumb, of course, but we live in a dumb world.
