{"id":1552,"date":"2021-10-05T21:34:50","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T21:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=179831"},"modified":"2021-10-05T21:34:50","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T21:34:50","slug":"death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=1552","title":{"rendered":"Death and psychedelics: How science is reviving this ancient connection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <title>Death and psychedelics: How science is reviving this ancient connection &#8211; Leafly<\/title>     <!-- This is Index Exchange, a script\/\/3rd-party integration that interjects GAM. It needs to be 'ahead' of GTM in the DOM, which comes from Cephalopod. GTM loads GAM. This script needs to setup it's interjection stuff before GAM loads. --> <!-- End Index Exchange --> <!-- Quotes = strings--><!-- No quotes = boolean-->\t   <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.1.2 (Yoast SEO v17.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->                  <!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- BEGIN Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END Sailthru Horizon Meta Information -->  <!-- Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- End Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --><br \/>\n <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <title>Leafly<\/title>     <title>Leafly \u00ae<\/title>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              <title>Loading\u2026<\/title>     <\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-white fixed flex hidden inset-0 items-start md:h-auto md:items-center overflow-auto\" id=\"age-gate-container\">\n<div class=\"bg-white md:h-auto mx-auto p-lg text-sm w-full\" id=\"age-gate\">\n<p><label for=\"select-country\">Where are you from?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__info\">\n<p><button class=\"button\" data-testid=\"age-gate-no-button\" id=\"tou-cancel\">no<\/button><button class=\"button ml-md\" data-testid=\"age-gate-yes-button\" id=\"tou-continue\">yes<\/button><\/p>\n<p><label class=\"checkbox__label my-xl\"><span class=\"text-xs\" id=\"remember-user-label\">Remember me for 30 days. <br \/>I confirm that this is not a shared device.<\/span><\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"error error--underage hidden\">Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<h4 id=\"h-mind-matter-is-a-new-monthly-column-by-nick-jikomes-phd-leafly-s-director-of-science-and-innovation\"><em>\u2018Mind &amp; Matter\u2019 is a new monthly column by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nickjikomes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nick Jikomes, PhD<\/a>, Leafly\u2019s Director of Science and Innovation.<\/em><\/h4>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">In November 1963, the writer and psychedelic explorer Aldous Huxley laid in bed, unable to speak. He was dying of cancer. One of his final acts was to pass a handwritten note to his wife Laura.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>His famous last words: \u201cLSD, 100<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Microgram\"> \u00b5<\/a>g, intramuscular.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nickjikomes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img alt class=\"wp-image-180908 has-ll lazyload\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>It was Huxley\u2019s dying wish: a large dose of acid, please. Laura Huxley fulfilled the request twice during her husband\u2019s final hours. <\/p>\n<p>First synthesized 25 years before Huxley\u2019s death, LSD was still legal in 1963. Scientists were studying it as a potential treatment for alcoholism and other ailments, as well as investigating its similarity to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1080\/00332747.1963.11023344\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">other psychedelics<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t until 1968 that the federal government outlawed these drugs due to their association with the cultural turbulence of the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p>Today, several decades later, terminal cancer patients are once again taking psychedelics. This time around the drugs are being administered by doctors and scientists in controlled settings\u2014and they are not microdoses. The<a href=\"https:\/\/nyulangone.org\/news\/single-dose-hallucinogenic-drug-psilocybin-relieves-anxiety-depression-patients-advanced-cancer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> results<\/a> of this research have been nothing short of remarkable.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"829\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"photo-of-laura-and-aldous-huxley-in-1956\" class=\"wp-image-180839 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><figcaption>Laura Archera Huxley, 40-year-old musician and filmmaker, and husband Aldous Huxley, 61-year-old British novelist, pictured at their Hollywood home in Hollywood in 1956. On his deathbed seven years later, Huxley asked his wife for a massive dose of LSD. (AP Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-alleviating-anxiety-and-despair\">Alleviating anxiety and despair<\/h2>\n<p>Terminal patients often suffer from feelings of intense anxiety and despair after receiving their diagnoses. For many, this is just too much to bear. The overall suicide risk for these patients is double or more compared to the general population, with suicide typically occurring in the first year after diagnosis.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\">\n<p>Terminal patients have twice the suicide risk of the general public. Psychedelics may help reduce their fear and suffering. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s where psychedelic therapy may help. After a single large dose of psilocybin, taken in a curated space and supervised by a pair of doctors, many patients report feeling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=am12fHnOhXQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reborn<\/a>. It\u2019s not that the underlying physical disease has been cured. Rather, the drug prompts a shift in the theme of their emotional self-narrative\u2014from anxiety and despair to acceptance and gratitude.<\/p>\n<p>It may seem curious to think about psychedelic drugs, often associated with hippies and the Grateful Dead, as clinical-grade tools for overcoming our primordial aversion to death. But maybe it shouldn\u2019t be. Maybe this is only surprising if your window of historical perspective is too narrow. Maybe these \u201cnovel findings\u201d are, in a sense, a return to somewhere we\u2019ve been before.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-psychedelics-at-the-dawn-of-civilization\">Psychedelics at the dawn of civilization<\/h2>\n<p>In late 2020 I spoke to Brian Muraresku, author of <em>The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion With No Name<\/em>, about the use of psychoactive plant medicine throughout antiquity. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SJ5CMN78dCo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Our podcast conversation<\/a> covers this history in more detail, but it\u2019s clear that humanity\u2019s relationship with psychoactive plants extends back at least to ancient Greece\u2014if not further. It\u2019s hard to look at prehistoric cave paintings like the<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tassili_n%27Ajjer#cite_note-39\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Tassili mushroom figure<\/a> and not wonder if psychedelics played a part in their creation.<\/p>\n<p>Western philosophy may have developed with help from psychedelics as well. In Plato\u2019s well-known allegory of the cave, a group of prisoners live chained to a cave wall, seeing nothing but the shadows of objects projected onto it by fire. The shadows are their reality; they know nothing outside of it. Philosophers, Plato states, are like prisoners freed from the cave. They know the shadows are mere reflections, and they aim to understand deeper levels of reality. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"photo-of-greek-statue-of-plato\" class=\"wp-image-180845 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-3.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-3.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-3.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-3.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><figcaption>Plato\u2019s philosophical ideas might have been influenced by psychedelic experiences. (AdobeStock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-was-plato-tripping\">Was Plato tripping?<\/h2>\n<p>If that sounds like someone who\u2019s explored those deeper levels with psychedelic assistance\u2026well, maybe it was. In his book, Brian Muraresku explores the significance of the Eleusinian Mysteries, secret ceremonies that involved death and rebirth. For centuries, philosophers and mystics traveled to the Greek town of Eleusis to partake in a ritual that involved an elixir known as <em>pharmakon athanasias,<\/em> \u201cthe drug of immortality.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cWithin the toolkit of the archaic techniques of ecstasy\u2013plant medicine just being one among many\u2013something you find again and again, in Ancient Greece and other traditional societies, is this sense that to \u2018die\u2019 in this lifetime, or achieve a sense of timelessness in the here and now, is the real trick.\u201d -Brian Muraresku<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Contemporary archaeologists, digging outside Eleusis, have unearthed ancient chalices containing a residue of beer and Ergotized grain. Ergot is a fungus that grows on grain. It produces alkaloids similar to LSD. It\u2019s possible, then, that influential thinkers like Plato were inspired by genuine psychedelic experiences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This connection between psychedelics and death didn\u2019t end with Eleusis. It survived, often repressed and hidden from view, right through the time of Aldous Huxley.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-connection-re-emerges-in-the-1960s\">The connection re-emerges in the 1960s<\/h2>\n<p>In the 1960s, Timothy Leary co-wrote a book called <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Psychedelic_Experience\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span>The Psychedelic Experience: A manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead<\/span><\/a>.<\/em> Leary, the exiled Harvard professor and psychedelic guru, dedicated the book, \u201cwith profound admiration and gratitude,\u201d to Aldous Huxley. It opens with a passage from <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Doors-Perception-Heaven-Hell\/dp\/0061729078\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span>The Doors of Perception,<\/span><\/a><\/em> Huxley\u2019s essay on the psychedelic experience. Huxley is asked if he can fix his attention on what the <em>Tibetan Book of the Dead<\/em> calls the Clear Light. He answers yes, \u201cbut only if there were somebody there to tell me about the Clear Light.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It couldn\u2019t be done alone. That\u2019s the point of the Tibetan ritual, he says: You need \u201csomebody sitting there all the time telling you what\u2019s what.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Huxley was describing a trip sitter, someone who guides a person along their psychedelic journey. Sometimes it\u2019s an ayauasquero in the heart of the Amazon. Sometimes it\u2019s a doctor holding your hand in a hospital.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"738\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"photo-of-timothy-leary-in-1979\" class=\"wp-image-180846 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-4.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-4.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-4.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-4.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><figcaption>Timothy Leary, shown at home in California in 1979, was deeply influenced by Huxley\u2019s work. (AP Photo\/Eve Mortensen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-seeking-rebirth-within-the-mind\">Seeking rebirth within the mind<\/h2>\n<p>In his book, Leary grounded Eastern spiritual concepts in the understanding of neurology we had at the time. The states of consciousness achieved by meditation masters and those induced by three hits of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt5119260\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Orange Sunshine<\/a>, he wrote, may actually be the same. Both involve dissolving the ego (\u201cdeath\u201d) and allowing it to recrystallize as the default mode of consciousness returns (\u201crebirth\u201d).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Leary wasn\u2019t talking about magic. Scientists know these as \u201cnon-ordinary brain states,\u201d inducible by rigorous attentional practice (meditation), pharmacological intervention (psychedelics), and organic decay (dying).<\/p>\n<p>The ability of psychedelics to induce these remarkable brain states may also be why they\u2019re showing such promise in alleviating the very ordinary fear of death.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-today-s-psychedelic-treatments-coping-with-death\">Today\u2019s psychedelic treatments: Coping with death<\/h2>\n<p>So what, exactly, has recent research on psilocybin as an end-of-life anxiety treatment involved?<\/p>\n<p>A few small studies have seen psilocybin administered to dozens of cancer patients. They\u2019ve been conducted in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled fashion. In general, a large majority of patients showed sustained, clinically significant reductions in measures of psychosocial stress and increased levels of overall well-being. <\/p>\n<p>For example, in <a href=\"https:\/\/nyulangone.org\/news\/single-dose-hallucinogenic-drug-psilocybin-relieves-anxiety-depression-patients-advanced-cancer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one study<\/a>, 80% of the patients found that a single dose of psilocybin quickly relieved their distress. Remarkably, in some patients that positive effect lasted for more than six months.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"photo-of-an-elderly-woman's-hands\" class=\"wp-image-180848 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-5.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-5.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-5.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection-5.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><figcaption>Research is finding that a dose of psychedelic medicine can alleviate fear and distress in patients facing the end of life. (AdobeStock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-sprouting-new-physical-connections\">Sprouting new physical connections<\/h2>\n<p>What\u2019s going on at the neuronal level to produce those changes? We don\u2019t know for sure, but some <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1021\/acschemneuro.9b00493\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">preclinical research<\/a> has given us a hint. Both psilocybin and LSD have been shown to induce rapid and lasting antidepressant effects in lab animals. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-left\">\n<p>Early studies hint at how psychedelics may produce positive changes in the brain. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Early indications are that psychedelics may allow brain circuits to rapidly sprout new physical connections.&nbsp;This is exciting, but again: These are non-human studies, and it\u2019s early.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s gratifying to see any of these studies happening, frankly. This is research that\u2019s been stalled by the Schedule I status of psychedelics for half a century. Much of this work requires obtaining a special federal waiver to study banned substances, which slows progress. <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-potential-help-for-end-of-life-patients\">Potential help for end-of-life patients<\/h2>\n<p>Fortunately, the FDA recently designated psilocybin therapy as a \u201cbreakthrough therapy\u201d and the DEA has proposed increasing the supply of psilocybin for research. This should speed up the rate at which we understand the clinical efficacy of psilocybin and related psychedelics.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s more good news: In terms of psilocybin\u2019s efficacy as a treatment for end-of-life anxiety, larger human trials are already underway. <\/p>\n<p>Dr. Stephen Ross, one of the field\u2019s leading researchers, has <a href=\"https:\/\/nyulangone.org\/news\/single-dose-hallucinogenic-drug-psilocybin-relieves-anxiety-depression-patients-advanced-cancer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described<\/a> the significance of this work: \u201cIf larger clinical trials prove successful, then we could ultimately have available a safe, effective, and inexpensive medication\u2014dispensed under strict control\u2014to alleviate the distress that increases suicide rates among cancer patients.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-huxley-ahead-of-his-time\">Huxley: Ahead of his time<\/h2>\n<p>In one sense, Aldous Huxley was ahead of his time. More than a half-century before today\u2019s renaissance in psychedelic research, his own experiences had evidently brought him to the conclusion that the best way to experience death was in a psychedelic trance.<\/p>\n<p>In another sense, though, Huxley was one in a long line of creators stretching back to ancient Greek philosophers and perhaps even to prehistoric cave artists. They may all have used psychedelics to catalyze their outward creativity and comfort their inner distress.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Huxley titled his famous introspective essay, <em>The Doors of Perception<\/em>, after a quote from the English poet, William Blake: \u201cIf the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to [us] as it is, infinite.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We will never know what he experienced in the final hours before his death, after handing that note to his wife. I like to think that for him, the last breath seemed to last forever.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<p><em>To learn more about Mind &amp; Matter and listen to the podcast that inspired this article, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nickjikomes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>THIS<\/strong><\/a> link.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"my-xxl wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-related-articles\">\n<p><h2>Related articles<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"author-box\" class=\"p-lg my-xxl bg-white rounded border border-light-grey elevation-low\">\n<div class=\"mb-lg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection.jpg\" alt=\"Nick Jikomes's Bio Image\" class=\"lazyload inline-block mr-md rounded-full border border-light-grey\"> <\/p>\n<p>Nick Jikomes<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"text-sm\">Nick is Leafly&#8217;s Director of Science &amp; Innovation and holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Harvard University and a B.S. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the host of a popular science podcast, which you can listen to for free at: www.nickjikomes.com<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"text-sm font-bold underline text-green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/author\/nick-jikomes\">View Nick Jikomes&#8217;s articles<\/a> <\/div>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat -->  <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https:\/\/www.boldgrid.com\/w3-total-cache\/ Served from: _ @ 2021-10-05 18:38:09 by W3 Total Cache\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Death and psychedelics: How science is reviving this ancient connection &#8211; Leafly Leafly Leafly \u00ae Loading\u2026 Where are you from? noyes Remember me for 30 days. I confirm that this is not a shared device. Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly. Redirecting you to By accessing this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. \u2018Mind &amp; Matter\u2019 is a new monthly column by Nick Jikomes, PhD, Leafly\u2019s Director of Science and Innovation. In November 1963, the writer and psychedelic explorer Aldous Huxley laid in bed, unable to speak. He was dying of cancer. One of&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/death-and-psychedelics-how-science-is-reviving-this-ancient-connection.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}