Have a Good Trip is a gateway drug to de-stigmatizing psychedelics

These are just a few of the celebrity psychedelic experiences recounted in the entertaining new documentary film, Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics, now streaming on Netflix.(Mild spoilers below.)Psychedelics get their name from the Greek root words for "mind revealing," since they can alter cognition and perception. Then-president Richard Nixon declared Leary "the most dangerous man in America." And ultimately LSD and its fellow psychedelics were classified as Schedule 1 under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act.It's within this historical context that Have a Good Trip director Donick Cary decided, some 11 years ago, that he wanted to film a documentary of famous people telling stories about their experiences with psychedelics. And because the project took so long, public attitudes toward psychedelics began to shift, and the stigma associated with those drugs started to lift, as word about the potential therapeutic benefits began to spread beyond academic circles.The stark honesty and deeply personal nature of these celebrity stories of being under the influence of psychedelics provide a big part of the film's appeal. Michael Pollan wrote an entire book, How to Change Your Mind, about his exploration of psychedelics and the ongoing research renaissance into their properties.) I experienced many of the same things related by the subjects in Cary's film.Boulders seemed to breathe. "That was my impression as a kid growing up, if you take psychedelics, it's 50/50 you're going to jump out a window," Cary said.It might sound like Have a Good Trip is just a random collection of celebrity psychedelic stories, but Cary is too skilled a professional for that. "Let's talk about them and figure out what the good is we can take from them as a society, and remind people that these are powerful tools that can be used in positive ways."Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics is now streaming on Netflix.Listing image by YouTube/NetflixYou must login or create an account to comment.Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox.