How risky is it?
It’s a question I often hear as I share my experiences with plant medicines.
Perhaps you’re someone who has entertained the idea of taking a consciousness-expanding substance, like Psylocibin or MDMA, but then swiftly shut down the thought with worry about the risks.
How risky something is should be of concern – definitely.
When the NYTimes recently headlined that alcohol is “riskier than previously thought,” I scoured the article anxiously to find out exactly how risky. After all, a glass of Sauvignon Blanc is a lovely fixture with my dinner. And I admit that during summer weekends, that glass can become two.
Alcohol, drugs, and pharmaceuticals all come with risks. And let’s be real: we often ignore these risks!
In the last leg of my mother’s life, she swallowed a pile of spelling-bee-worthy pills daily: pantoprazole, lisinopril, mirtazapine, prednisone, atorvastatin…to name just a few.
The risks that come along with these meds, in small print, include (again, to name just a few!): pneumonia, abdominal pain, toxic epidermal necrolysis, osteoporosis, interstitial nephritis, low blood pressure, hyperkalemia, angioedema, mania, low white blood cell count, depression, anxiety, Cushing’s syndrome, steroid dementia syndrome, leukocytosis, diabetes, liver problems, rhabdomyolysis. These risks were neither actively discussed nor fretted over.
The risks of many over-the-counter drugs can be similarly alarming. They too are easily dismissed. Take humdrum Advil. Did you know that Advil can increase your risk of fatal heart attack or stroke and can cause intestinal bleeding?
As individuals, we each have a different capacity for evaluating – and tolerating – risk. But collectively, our choices are often unreasoned, biased, and emotionally-based.
Are psychedelics, plant medicines, entheogens – the host of consciousness-expanding substances – risky? Of course they are! Most everything is risky to some degree: plastic bottles, mobile phone emissions, baby walkers, sugar (too much), sleep (too little), skipping your colonoscopy, packaged romaine lettuce, and the Hasbro Easy-Bake Oven that burned 77 kids’ hands before it got recalled.
So, my big question is: how should we evaluate the risk factor for consciousness-expanding substances that are widely known across cultures for both healing and growth? I suggest with deliberate openness, ongoing research, ethical consideration, safe facilitation, and expert integration support.
And circling back to the question of…How risky is my own alcohol consumption? I read the entire NYTimes article to the end, concerned that a terrible fate awaits me. I learned that if I consume seven alcoholic beverages a week, my life expectancy could decline by 2.5 months. Not so bad. I can live with that. Or rather, I can die with that!
Addendum: After posting this blog, I read Eric Asimov’s column: In Defense of Wine. In this lovely reflection, he says: “I have never consumed wine because I imagined it was healthy. But I don’t fear it in moderation, just as I continue to do other things that are not without risk, like drive, fly, eat meat and train in martial arts.”
