For years, the discussion around using psychedelics in the art of drug treatment has been seen as counter-productive. When you have a drug dependency, how can getting high and engaging in mind-altering treatments help you? Well, it turns out, it can help you. A lot. That’s why you should definitely take the time to go and see DOSED. This is a new docufilm that looks further into how using psychedelic treatments can be a most effective means of helping someone overcome and end their drug addictions.
This has been the subject of much discussion in medical fields for a long time, and it’s easy to see why. The topic itself has long been derided by skeptics as hopeful at best, foolish at worst. However, in DOSED, we follow the story of 34-year-old Adrianna, a Vancouver resident. She tries to end a 10-year addiction to opiates, and by the time cameras start rolling she’s already a long-term user who is in need of immediate help. Remarking that by age 15 she was already involved in drugs via alcohol, she ended up becoming involved in substances such as heroin and cocaine.
Despite being raised in a ‘loving, caring family’, Adrianna fell down the route of meeting drug dealers in dangerous places for a 3AM fix of powerful, A-class drugs. She also notes how little there is in terms of difference to her or a drug addict you find scattered in an alleyway. Despite having always had friends and family to lean on, too, including the DOSED director, Tyler Chandler. It’s at this point that Chandler raised the idea of trying psychedelics to see if it could help her out.
Knowing his friend had tried every conventional route, it seemed the only logical next step for someone who was in desperate need. Having read into treatments being used by the John Hopkins Medical Center, testing the use of psilocybin (part of ‘magic mushrooms’) to see if it could help those with addictive issues. It seemed like an idea worth trying – and DOSED fills us in on the results.
With the treatment not working out as planned due to how long it takes for the treatment program to become realistically accessible, Adrianna decides to try out some magic mushrooms on her own. Throughout her journey, we see her fall in and out of regular use of opiates and then back into using plant-based solutions, including iboga.
It’s a detailed watch that does little to try and force you into one train of thought. Instead, it leaves enough evidence both for and against such treatment to make it a viable discussion once having. However, we get to see Adrianne go from being someone who has a hopeless future to one who has a deep sense of self-discovery and personal development. Truly, it’s a remarkable watch – and one that shows us that there should never a be generic treatment for addiction.
Try and make time to see DOSED if you wish to see the reality behind links using psychedelics to combat addiction. It might just open up your mind to a whole new way of thinking about the situation at hand.
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