The Christian/Muslim view, happiness is impossible on earth. Anointed by God rulers taking 1/10 of your wealth so that the gates of heaven open for you was for ages the only road to happiness in heaven. Today street dealers can open heaven for a few hours.

 Sometime in the 1990s:

Me, “What a beautiful day!” 

Farmer, “Beauty is only in heaven. Accept Jesus as your savior and be in heaven with Christ.”

The religious concept that happiness is impossible on earth began to change in the 17th Century. It’s still in the process of change. 

Criminals understand religious restrictions on happiness create opportunities. Prohibition of alcohol in the United States became a huge opportunity for international organized crime. 

Criminal enterprises now control the market on happiness drugs. Keeping those drugs illegal keeps profits rolling to criminal organizations, You might then think criminal organizations selling illegal drugs pay off politicians. You’re thinking correctly. 

“MDMA is only one of a handful of drugs, especially psychedelic drugs, that the federal government considered to be largely for recreational purposes — and therefore illegal — that are now slowly progressing toward government approval for legal uses. 

The party drug MDMA earned positive results for treating people living with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a new government study that confirmed other findings.

The new study for the MDMA clinical trial program was completed in November and sponsored by a group called the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. The trial is part of an ongoing effort to obtain federal approval for use of MDMA in therapy as the number of people suffering from PTSD, mental illness, and opioid addiction continues to climb.

Prior to federal criminalization of the use and possession of MDMA in 1985, the substance had been legally used in therapy treatments for at least a decade. As part of its decision to criminalize MDMA, the Drug Enforcement Administration said abuse of the substance had “become a nationwide problem” and posed “a serious health threat.”

MDMA is only one of a handful of drugs, especially psychedelic drugs, that the federal government considered to be largely for recreational purposes — and therefore illegal — that are now slowly progressing toward government approval for legal uses. The drugs, among them psilocybin, which is found in “magic mushrooms,” are being studied for therapeutic uses.

The Biden administration has signaled willingness to explore the potential to use criminalized substances to address a growing national mental health crisis, and officials in Congress have undertaken bipartisan efforts to ease access to federally banned substances for therapeutic uses. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies’ latest clinical research on MDMA is a phase three study aimed at eventually winning Food and Drug Administration approval.

The stigma against psychedelic and psychoactive drugs and the residual effects of the “war on drugs” kicked off by President Richard Nixon have stalled progress in one of the few areas of drug policy on which there is substantial bipartisan consensus.”

MORE AT:

Tne Intercept. 

Party Drugs for PTSD: Study Moves Therapeutic Use of MDMA Toward Approval

The drug scored positive results in a clinical trial designed to meet FDA standards.

Akela Lacy

January 14 2023, 6:00 a.m.