Psychedelics To Treat Addictions: 'Patients Arrive Dragging Chains And Leave Making Jokes,' Says This Expert

By Franca Quarneti, via El Planteo

"Latin America is so ready for psychedelics: the fourth country in the world with the most scientific publications on psychedelics, after the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, is Brazil." Thus began Marco Algorta's presentation at Latam Cann.Biz, a conference organized by El Planteo in Panama early in September. Algorta is the CEO of Bienstar Wellness, a company focused on bringing alternative mental health treatments to Latin America, and the first president of the Chamber of Medicinal Cannabis Companies of Uruguay.

In addition, “if we compare its G.D.P., in total, Brazil is the country that devotes the highest percentage of its wealth to learning about psychedelics,” Algorta added.

The Importance Of Guides For Psychedelic Experiences

In tune with the discussions that are taking place on psychedelic therapies worldwide, Algorta stressed the relevance that guides have in these experiences. "Let's remember that for 5,000 years the use of psychedelics (except in the '60s and '70s) has always been with a guide: in pre-Columbian cultures, there was always a shaman, in the Amazon too."

What is this about? According to Algorta, the figure of the guide is related to the idea of ​​"set and setting" proposed from the north in more recent years. The set and setting is the mentality or mood of oneself and the physical and social environment in which you find yourself, considered as the two most important factors when consuming psychedelics.

“To be true, talking about set and setting is like talking about a ritual. We need certain agreements to be able to take advantage of the transformative experience, ” he assured. "There is a scientist who says: 'If MDMA will work for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anyone who has been to an electronic party will have their trauma overcome'".

According to Algorta, understanding the importance of the context and the importance of the guide is a fundamental point: "[it is] not only about the set and setting of the moment, but also the before and after of the experience".

Reforming ‘Autopilots’ With Psychedelics

For patients, it is essential to know what they are going to face and to be prepared to interpret what is going to happen to them during and after their therapy with psychedelics.

“The brain has like automatic pilots. Faced with a stimulus, the brain learns to always react in the same way and automatic routes are generated within it”, explained Algorta.

However, psychedelics have the power to "destroy" this kind of marked pathway, and, during the 45 days after therapy, the brain is in a moment of great neuroplasticity.

“But of course, if we don't work, the roads are going to be reconnected in a very similar way to how they were before,” he added. "On the other hand, if one manages to work with the psychologist, those paths begin to change, and therein lies the true transformative power of psychedelics."

Psychedelics: Its Turning Point

In the last section of his presentation, the expert said that he considers that the world of psychedelics is different from that of cannabis, due to its ancestral tradition.

Likewise, he expressed how moving it is to see the before and after of the patients after their treatment with ibogaine, in Brazil: “We have patients who arrive dragging chains and who leave making jokes. It's exciting, really."

“We are facing the tip of an iceberg. The transforming power of these plants and their effects are just being known”, concluded the CEO of Bienstar Wellness.

Image by El Planteo