Times have changed radically when it comes to the perception of street drugs, which were previously seen as destructive, immoral, and illegal. A new day has dawned, thanks to investigative research in the area of psychiatric disorders and their treatment regimes. When Timothy Leary, the Harvard psychologist, and psychedelic researcher, told people to, "Tune in, turn on, drop out," he began a movement that was not stopped by Nancy Reagan's, "Just say no." Today, that simplistic call to action may be all but erased in the interest of improving people's lives when relief from current medications was nearly impossible.

All over America, states are beginning to re-evaluate the utility of new, formerly illegal, substances such as psychedelic street drugs. Heroin, which is still not seen as useful, did have a prominent place in the pain-related treatment of cancer patients in the 1970s in Great Britain. A preparation known as Brompton's Mixture combined heroin, cherry syrup, distilled water, and a few other items into an elixir that relieved pain and helped with anxiety at the same time. The new medication, formulated in hospital pharmacies, wasn't freely available and manufacturers of pharmaceuticals did not show any interest because heroin is still a Schedule One drug. Being on schedule one indicates there is no medical use for this material.

Today, PTSD, a serious, lingering, and life-disrupting psychiatric disorder, is rampant both in the United States and around the world. Persons can develop this disorder not, as previously from Vietnam War interactions, but from things that happen in their everyday life such as domestic violence, natural disasters, tragic car accidents, and incidents at work, to name a few.

Even the club drug, Special K, has found a new place in potential medical treatment of specific psychiatric disorders which have not responded adequately to current medications. Marijuana, has been found to be useful in a number of physical and mental disorders, had entered the area of acceptable medical treatments several years ago. In China, it was a soup base. Now, in addition to medical marijuana dispensaries, retail shops are beginning to open across the United States

Growing marijuana has become an industry for entrepreneurs who can raise the plants anywhere from gardens to warehouses or grow houses.

Despite the effects of these street drugs in combating psychological and medical disorders symptoms, there remains a reluctance to free them to the public. One aspect of this reluctance is that the new recreational marijuana shops are not permitted to use any type of digital transaction for payment. Cash is required. Obviously, carrying several hundred dollars of cash with you has its dangers. The shops themselves have instituted as many safeguards as possible.

But we have to ask the question: If these drugs are safe and effective, what is the reason they are not freely available to everyone? We'll have to tackle this thorny question now and in the future and, hopefully, to the benefit of patients in need.