Recent studies have shown psychedelics to be extremely effective for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. They have even shown some promising results for the potential treatment of Alzheimer's and dementia.
Just from these studies it seems these substances truly are magical.
Can psychedelics really be used to cure cancer?
Over the years I've heard a few people using Peyote and Ayahuasca for things like cancer. A few people claiming it cured them when they were given a short time to live. Naturally I was curious and did some research and found very little on the subject. I did find an interesting article by Eduardo E Schenberg from the Federal University of Sao Paulo. He believes that Ayahuasca needs to be looked at as a potential treatment for cancer based on the his observations. The key ingredients in the psychedelic brew DMT (N-dimethyltryptamine) and the MAOI (harmine) have and interesting effect on the sigma-1 receptors which has an effect on cancer cell death. https://www.academia.edu/9780425/Ayahuasca_and_cancer_treatment
“There is enough available evidence that ayahuasca’s active principles, especially DMT (N-dimethyltryptamine) and harmine, have positive effects in some cell cultures used to study cancer, and in biochemical processes important in cancer treatment, both in vitro and in vivo, therefore the few available reports of people benefiting from ayahuasca in their cancer treatment experiences should be taken seriously, and the hypothesis presented here, fully testable by rigorous scientific experimentation, helps to understand the available cases paving the way for new experiments.” Schenburg wrote in an article that was published in Sage Open Medicine.
"In summary, it is hypothesized that the combined actions of β-carbolines and DMT present in ayahuasca may diminish tumor blood supply, activate apoptotic pathways, diminish cell proliferation, and change the energetic metabolic imbalance of cancer cells, which is known as the Warburg Effect. Therefore, ayahuasca may act on cancer hallmarks such as angiogenesis, apoptosis, and cell metabolism."
This was an interesting find but I was still not satisfied.
I had given up on finding out it there was really anything to a psychedelic cure for cancer.
I had moved on to my binge watching of Ted Talks when I stumbled onto an interesting talk by Dr. Lissa Rankin(link below) Her talk was about the placebo effect. I was amazed at how frequently this phenomenon occurred. In fact some Doctors claim that its responsible for effective treatment 80% of the time. Placebo effects are well documented in the medical field, some amazing recoveries from things like AIDS and stage 4 cancer can be found here. http://humanmindovermatter.blogspot.com/2011/04/spontaneous-remission.html
Then it hit me!
I had only heard of few people that actually claimed to have cured their cancer from psychedelics. Every claim was from either Ayahuasca or Peyote. From what I understood this was the intention for taking the substances.
But why not stories from of magic mushrooms or LSD? They have similar molecules and effects.
What's different about Ayahuasca and peyote? I put the pieces together right here. Both Ayahuasca and the Peyote were taken in a ceremony aided by a medicine man or a shaman.
This was the key
The medicine man or shaman did the work using psychedelics as the tool. They prepped the set and setting by the rituals and implanting the idea. To a spiritually minded person, cancer is a manifestation of negative energy or an evil spirit within the body. Going through the rituals implants the idea that the person is being healed while the psychedelic experience allows this spiritual battle to play out in a very real way to the person. Psychedelics also breakdown the barrier to allow access to the subconscious mind which is a trigger for the placebo effect.
Can we use this as an effective treatment?
For thousands of years indigenous people have been using psychedelics as powerful medicines. Even today people use these plant medicines (although its not well studied and very little clinical research has been done).
However it is well known that we posses what is needed to heal ourselves and it seems psychedelics might play a role in unlocking this potential. Studies have shown that traditional cancer treatments like radiation treatment and chemotherapy are barely effective in curing cancer and are devastating to the physical and mental health of the person. A recent study using psilocybin containing magic mushrooms have shown to ease the end of life anxiety of cancer patients. https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/12/01/hallucinogen-treats-cancer-depression-anxiety/
I think this deserves some attention and research. It could very well be the most effective treatment for cancer. Placebo effect works even if you know its just placebo.