RELIGION, DRUGS SIMILARLY AFFECT BRAIN

Revelers' beer bingeing episodes on Fat Tuesday and somber Catholic
masses on Ash Wednesday are traditionally viewed as far removed from
each other.

One day is filled with an excess of food, drink and hedonistic
pleasure seeking.

The other is a day when the devout begin to cleanse themselves with
an ashen mark of the cross on the forehead and forego those bad
habits - well at least for 40 days. The mood may be different, but
religion, drugs, drug users and the devout share a kinship in their
experiences, attitudes and behavior.

Religion and drugs are inextricably linked, from spacey cults to
Christianity. Each owes their history and perhaps their ultimate
origin to these ethnogens.

In Exodus 16:14, Moses introduces his followers to what appears to be
Psyclibon Mushrooms, small circular objects sprouting from the moist ground.

They ground up the substance using mortar and pestel, finding
otherwise it would stink and breed worms if left unattended. Moses
implored his followers to preserve this "manna" for future
generations. In the New Testament, Jesus sings the praises of using
wine in moderation for religious ceremonies and celebrations. Native
American religions involve the use of peyote as a means for
self-exploration and tobacco as a means to send prayers to ancestors.

Some squirm at the notion that drug experiences are on the same level
of "true" religious experiences. If manifestations of religious or
spiritual experiences are simply the result of firing synapses in the
brain, it would severely undercut the idea of an objective existence
of "God." Dr. Andrew Newberg, an associate professor at the
University of Pennsylvania, has pioneered neuroimaging techniques of
both believers and non-believers alike.

He found certain areas in the temporal lobe were excited during
prayer or meditation, this is where the brain rates the significance
of events which are then strongly internalized.

Moving from the temporal lobe into the pineal gland of the brain, Dr.
Rick Strassman published his findings on Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in
his book "DMT: The Spirit Molecule." Produced naturally in the brain,
DMT may be responsible for hallucinations involved in "near death
experiences," dreaming and other mystical states, Strassman
speculated. The "trip reports" in the book according to the research
subjects, uniformly reported some kind of "otherworldly" living
entity as a dominant element in their experiences.

Being "high" on Christ and life seems take on a whole new meaning.

What about the devout and other deeply religious people, are they
addicted? It's certainly possible.

John Bradshaw, a former cocaine addict and now self-help guru and
evangelical, equated the two experiences' effect on dopamine levels.

Dopamine, a chemical produced naturally in the body, plays a key role
in pleasure, mood and addiction to other foreign drugs. Cocaine and
nicotine employ it to encourage the user to continue use, and now
prayer and meditation have been found to raise dopamine levels.
Calling out the devout as "addicts" may seem extreme, but when taking
into account their commitment to their faith, reliance on scripture
and a compelling urge to continue to partake in religious ceremonies,
it certainly is not a far leap.

Of course, being "addicted" to religion is not necessarily a bad
thing in itself.

Many use the crutch to avoid other drugs or correct destructive behavior.

Here again, this religious transformation owes itself to what many
experience in taking substances such as the popular lysergic acid
diethylamide (LSD) and Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in
controlled environments. Prior to its criminalization,
psychotherapists used MDMA to treat anxiety disorders and help
patients cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Currently
there is new research involving MDMA and sufferers of PTSD,
especially veterans.

Admittedly, research into these drugs has been ambiguous, given the
unique nature of LSD, MDMA and other psychotropic substances and how
they interact with individual subjects, their environments, current
drug policies and the DEA's apprehension of granting special licenses
to researchers. But they have demonstrated very real life-altering
experiences in their subjects, just more compressed compared to the
traditional religious journey involving prayer and Scripture.

As neuroscience and philosophy plod forward, we can comprehend more
of the human condition and its willingness to accept the spiritual.
Neuroscience may never totally discredit or credit the existence of
God or transcendental experiences. That is outside the scope of
neuroscience and ultimately a small question compared to the
possibilities of drugs and evangelism solving tangible problems today.