The therapeutic effect of psychedelics is not, however, the reserve knowledge of medical science. The programme went on to describe the UK Psychedelic Society, an organisation led by a gentle, unassuming man called Stephen Reid. In an effort to allow people to experience psychedelics legally and relatively inexpensively, he organises small group trips to the Netherlands, where psilocybin containing truffles remain legally obtainable. The programme followed some of the participants of a trip to Appeldoorn, an hour or so west of Amsterdam, where, in bucolic, serene surroundings, 16 people, supervised by 4 sober facilitators, took a dose of psilocybin containing truffles after signing a declaration taking full legal responsibility for their actions.
Here I can add a personal note to this piece. I was there in Appeldoorn too with Jamie. I’m interested in psychedelics and what they represent. I’m interested in the conversations people have with themselves, with others, and with their worlds. Within the detail of these conversations – our conscious experience and what we think about it – lie, in my opinion, both the problems that lead to some mental health difficulties, and the solutions to them.
I’m also interested in what Stephen Reid is trying to do. I have mixed feelings about it, because at one level I admire his aim to bring the beneficial elements of psychedelics legally and relatively safely to those who wish to try them. But at another level I am concerned that the scientific research I conduct with Robin and David, and which I care so much about, may be threatened by a blurring of the boundaries between recreational use and medical use and, critically, a conflation of the risks between the two scenarios. This is what happened before, in Timothy Leary’s time.
