In Search of Rabbit Holes
Perhaps you’ve grown up with cautionary tales of drug addicts who turn to crime. Those who destroy their bodies and relationships, lose their minds and even their lives due of drugs. I grew up in the clean and orderly country of Singapore, known for enforcing some of the harshest drug laws in the world. There was very little dialogue around drugs — I only ever heard, “If you try, you will die,” either from an overdose, or by the noose.
Singapore also has the dubious honour of having the second highest per-capita execution rate, surpassed only by the tyrannised Turkmenistan.
Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, any person is presumed to be trafficking if found in possession of 2 to 100 grams of certain drugs. The death penalty may be prescribed if the person is found to have more than the following quantities of:
- Heroin — 15 grams or more
- Cocaine — 30 grams or more
- Morphine — 30 grams or more
- Hashish — 200 grams or more
- Methamphetamine — 250 grams or more
- Cannabis — 500 grams or more
- Opium — 1,200 grams or more
70% of hangings in Singapore are for drug-related offences.
The penalties for drug consumption is one year jail for the first offence, three years for the second, and a minimum of five years with three strokes of the cane from the third offence on. With friends who have served jail terms for mere consumption, I’ve cultivated an expected level of fear and paranoia around illicit substances. Just writing about drugs makes my stomach queasy.
In 2000, Portugal received widespread criticism when they decriminalised the possession of all drugs. Instead of becoming a nation of drug addicts, significantly lower rates of new HIV infections and drug overdose deaths were registered after drug law reforms were implemented. Their holistic model is an example for others today, with roughly two dozen countries and many U.S. cities and states taking steps towards decriminalising drug use and possession.
Reports on the astonishing results of psychedelic therapies, natural medicines and other alternative treatments have also been making their way into mainstream media. Where western medicine and pharmaceutical drugs have failed, these radical new treatments have reportedly cured PTSD, depression, addiction and a host of other disorders successfully.
On Publishizer, authors have launched wildly successful campaigns on ayahuasca, an Amazonian plant medicine that appears to be gaining in popularity despite being illegal in most countries. Both Ayahuasca: An Executive’s Enlightenment by Michael Sanders and Pulse of the Jungle: Ayahuasca, Adventures and Social Enterprise in the Amazon by Dan Cleland have been signed with publishers since. The latest winner for Publishizer’s Up the Rabbit Hole book proposal contest is Melissa Stangl with her book Roots of Consciousness: A Modern Skeptic’s Journey into Plant Medicine & Psychedelic Science. The next contest in July is for the Young Adult category.
With an increasing number of people coming out to share their experiences, it’s important to keep an open mind and remember that change is necessary for progress. Francis Crick’s discovery of the DNA double helix is attributed to his use of LSD. Author and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss takes psilocybin mushrooms once a year to “reset”, and even launched a campaign to raise money to fund a pilot study on the use of psilocybin to treat depression last year. Beloved cosmologist Carl Sagan himself was a regular marijuana user, claiming that it increased his creativity and insights. All are motivated, established individuals of society — a far cry from tripped out, dead beat addicts we’ve been taught to revile and shun.
Today, various respectable organisations are campaigning for the legalisation of banned drugs for psychotherapeutic uses and the funding of rigorous scientific studies around them. Scores of online sites and articles are dedicated to psychedelic journalism, and the sharing of resources and information.
While much remains undiscovered due to restrictions and bans, it appears that a Psychedelic Renaissance of sorts is underway, with LSD researcher and neuropsychopharmacologist, Professor David Nutt leading the charge. His insistence on alcohol being more dangerous than certain illegal drugs got him fired from his job as drug advisor to the British government. He now actively campaigns for changes to current drug laws for more research opportunities, and recently published his team’s study on the world’s first brain imaging study of humans on LSD that showed increased brain connectivity.
However, these small shifts in scientific circles, government policy and public perception are not present in other countries. In the Philippines, Duerte’s War on Drugs saw brutal massacres in the past year. Encouraging bloody shoot outs between vigilante death squads, drug dealers and users, thousands have been found dead on bloodstained streets. Back in Singapore, you can be taken into custody without a warrant and be submitted to mandatory drug testing by the authorities. If tested positive, you can be charged — even if the drugs were not consumed in Singapore.
Thankfully, altered states of consciousness can be achieved without the use any drugs at all. Meditation is one such tried and tested path, with science proving that practitioners experience reduced stress levels, increased focus, higher levels of brain activation, and significant changes in brain matter.
Matthieu Ricard is no ordinary monk; he is also a geneticist, a humanitarian, bestselling author of Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill and many other books, a pretty amazing photographer. In addition to all that, he holds the title for being the happiest man in the world. Neuroscientists were shocked to find that his brain produced gamma waves — which are linked to consciousness, attention, learning and memory — in levels that have never been seen before.
Those who wish to delve a little deeper can try Vipassana, an intensive 10 day retreat where one meditates 10 hours a day without reading, writing, exercising, speaking or communicating in any way. They have centres all over the world, and there is no cost to attend their retreats as they are usually run by volunteers and funded by donations.
And lastly, for those who just can’t seem to sit still at all, there are the sensory deprivation tanks (also known as isolation tanks or float tanks). Floating is said to help reduce stress and chronic pain, alleviate PTSD symptoms, enhance creativity and even performance.
The increase in the popularity of float centres all over the world more recently has attracted the attention of scientists. At the very first Float Clinic and Research Center at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, waterproof sensors and devices can measure a floater’s brain waves. Although ongoing research is still in its early stages, preliminary data shows that the amygdala (associated with the fight-or-flight response) shuts down after a float.
Although I keep up a yoga and meditation practice, I am neither religious, superstitious nor ardently spiritual. I have my own bastardized form of spirituality I suppose, a rainbow patchwork of philosophical and spiritual rabbit holes that’s taken its own form over the years. We’re entitled to the opinions we form, but all opinions are shaped by our limited experiences, so I try to keep an open mind.
When the opportunity came up for me to try floating at the wonderful Palm Avenue Float Float Club back home, I went for it. As there are plenty of accounts online about what it is like and what to expect, I won’t bore you with those details. However I will share my personal experience and how unexpectedly intimate, confronting, and thoroughly refreshing it was.
Deprived of the usual physical distractions ‘my nose is itchy, that strand of hair is tickling my face, my knees feel weird, my foot is going to sleep, my butt is numb, what’s that sound,’ my body and mind entered a deep state of relaxation almost instantaneously. Just like in my meditations, I encountered some visual hallucinations and the usual litany of my monkey mind chatter how long has it been, did I forget something, what if I fart, what’s for dinner later, will I ever be good enough, what is enough, who am I, what is life…
But with only my slowing heartbeat and even slower breaths-in-and-out to accompany me, I had no way to measure the passage of time and eventually, everything faded away. I experienced a curious uplifting and the disembodied sensation of dissolving into a void of nothingness, that also had the warm, comfortable familiarity of a mother’s womb.
Under the influence of LSD, increased global connectivity in the human brain can help blur or remove the boundaries of individuality. In meditation and other intense spiritual experiences and practices, feelings of awe and self-transcendence allows one to erase the lines drawn between the ‘Self’ and everything else. In that sensory deprivation tank, I ceased to be ‘ME’ and became pure, unfettered consciousness for… a blissful moment that lasted an eternity.
The dissolution of the ego is so quiet, yet so powerful. It allows for a deep sense of oneness and cosmic connectedness. Losing all sense of self is transcendental. It is all life, it is death, it encompasses all. It is you and me, and everything that ever was, and will ever be.
It is the ultimate freedom.