Is our government purposefully picking and choosing the pieces of information we are allowed that concern our medical welfare in relation to the drugs that are not only available over the counter but on the street. Are they telling us what to believe about these drugs making it so that we have little choice but to accept that these drugs have no medical potential because the government hasn’t allowed access to any other kind of information but this? The answer is clear.

As recently as this past year, a study was completed concerning psychedelic mushrooms and their large potential for medical use with regard to psychiatric patients. But according to the government, this is a drug not worth examining as it has no potential for use, and they’ve been saying that for almost 100 years now. Is the study wrong? No, the facts and conclusions drawn from the data collected are all perfectly reasonable and sound. What isn’t is the propaganda surrounding medical research that the government would allow you to see and read before they ever admit that a drug has been classified incorrectly and that it isn’t a matter of the drug having no potential, but of their own beliefs that the drug is only used and known by addicts and dealers and thus a lower class portion of the population. The government has never had any problem with denying the poor their rights, why should this case be any different?

The truth is that the education about drugs is what needs to change the most. Because so many programs instill in children a belief that all drugs are bad, and they learn through other means than their schools and parents about street drugs many become curious. Changing the societal stigma will in turn grant more support to research and medical use, and by allowing these things to continue with more public support the state of Drug Testing will change significantly. With more people using the drugs that were once considered ‘bad’ by prescription and using them by proper dosage for their needs we can alter the perception of society and employers to allow that perhaps not all drugs are in fact ‘bad’.