On the morning of September 27th, the remnants of Hurricane Helene tore through Asheville and western North Carolina producing flooding that has not been seen in this area in thousands of years. It is no longer being considered a meteorological event but a geological event speaking to the degree of damage sustained by the surface of the earth. This is what happens when a hurricane passes over abnormally warm Gulf of Mexico waters providing harsh reality evidence that climate change is real and not a hoax. Asheville, once thought to be a “climate change refuge,” was utterly devastated in some of the areas of town that contributed to Asheville’s robust creative charm and it remains to be seen what will arise from the rubble. There are towns outside of Asheville that were almost totally obliterated and the scars on the psyches of people in this area are real. We are also going to continue to see various manifestations of this trauma in our friends and neighbors as the weeks continue to unfold. The Pearl has been offering free support services for Helene survivors and we will continue to do so because folks are in need and it’s just the right thing to do.
One of the silver linings of Helene and the devastation was the opportunity to see how people responded once all communications went down. Over in Asheville and the other harder hit areas, thousands of people were meeting their neighbors for the first time. People were seeing what others needed and if they could somehow help whether it was with food or a jug of water or a chainsaw to cut through the innumerable trees that came down everywhere. There were cookouts and kids played with their neighbor kids and for a brief moment, there was a return to a simpler time before we all got sucked into our screens and allowed them to construct our realities including creating and feeding division, encouraging fear and, at times, giving some of us permission to be our worst selves. But for days and even weeks, people were freed from their electronic tether and the Beast was rendered silent and impotent…….and people seemed to wake up. There were no political divisions or culture wars in those days following Helene. It was a welcome reminder that all is not lost and we all have way more in common than we do differences. It was also a reminder that when we work together, we are capable of great accomplishments. Throughout human history, the finest and most impactful accomplishments are when humans band and work together and our region of western North Carolina is the most recent American example of that. Trauma on a massive scale can either tear us apart or bring us together in communal healing.
The decision in August in which the FDA declared that they do not have enough evidence to make a decision about whether to approve or reject the use of MDMA for the treatment of PTSD was another trauma…not only for the researchers who had faithfully executed the research protocols and duly documented the profoundly positive results but for the millions of people in America living with PTSD. MDMA is not some unknown compound that was recently invented in a laboratory. This compound is 112 years old and has been used recreationally and therapeutically for the better part of 40+ years. The formal FDA-approved research has been plugging along for almost 30 years. We know MDMA can be safely administered under clinical supervision in pre-screened individuals and that it can be highly effective for treating PTSD in about 2/3 of sufferers who are willing and able to undergo three MDMA-assisted sessions about a month apart.
In the not-too-distant past, people following the MDMA research were optimistic because the research was well-designed, the treatment was proving to be more effective than current PTSD treatments and the societal need for a healing PTSD modality was and is critical. The fact that this treatment was not approved says a lot more about the powerful systems in place that do not want to see this and other psychedelic-assisted therapies become approved and accessible so the game plan at this point is to delay, delay, delay. Meanwhile people continue to struggle with daily life, families continue to fall prey to intergenerational trauma and people continue to die…….many by suicide both directly and indirectly. And there are some who are pointing fingers at the so-called “psychedelic true believers” as the cause for the FDA’s refusal to approve MDMA but do not fall for that simplistic, over-generalizing explanation. Look no further than the gargantuan profits being made prescribing PTSD medications that, at their best, only mitigate symptoms and allow some degree of functionality to sufferers. Psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted therapies threaten the conventional pharmaceutical industry and we are seeing the inevitable blame-game obfuscations that are meant to keep us divided and angry at each other and to contribute to the prolonging of the wait for their approval. Not only are there millions of veterans who need this treatment for themselves and their families but there are millions more Americans who have survived the trauma of childhood abuse, assaults, accidents, and natural disasters like Helene that would benefit from having access to psychedelic-assisted therapy under clinical supervision.
Do not succumb to the fear and the division and the doubt being sowed about MDMA and other psychedelic-assisted therapies. These medicines have been around for a very long time and we actually know a lot about how to use them safely and effectively. Their approval is coming. It is only a matter of time because in the long run, the truth always wins out. Stay strong WNC and stay strong my fellow psychedelic compatriots.
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