Psychedelics Helped This Woman Experience A Painless Death: Could Psychedelics Change The Way We Die?

CollectiveEvolution

Mara Howell was in pain, the type of pain so severe it found her bedridden in a hospital at 33 years old. Cancer was killing her.

Conventional pain killers weren’t providing any relief. She tried them all, opioids, methadone, IV ethanol, and more, but to no avail. On top of the physical pain, Mara was also battling severe depression and anxiety.

Mara’s mother, Marilyn Howell, recalls her daughter’s struggles in a memoir published for MAPS:

“However much courage Mara had, the waves of illness that washed over her were unrelenting. Diligent exercise didn’t make her stronger, an antidepressant didn’t make her happier.”

Cannabis had provided temporary ease for Mara, but nothing substantial enough to make her situation bearable.

Being a mind-body educator, Mara’s mother suspected that her daughter’s pain was perhaps connected to something less tangible than what Western medicine was willing to accept. It was deeper than the physical.

Working with Mara’s nurse, Marilyn eventually discovered an alternative treatment option for her daughter: Psychedelic therapy.

Psychedelics helped Mara find peace in the final days before her death. What happens during the experience that helps people come to terms with their imminent passing?

Mara had heard about the use of psychedelics before from Aldous Huxley’s 1954 book The Doors of Perception, wherein Huxley described using LSD to subdue his own suffering from terminal cancer. In his final moments, Huxley was injected with a strong dose of LSD by his wife, who recorded the experience in her book The Timeless Moment.

Marilyn was aware of the theraputic applications of such drugs as MDMA and LSD from her youth, before the Controlled Substances Act had its strong grasp on psychedelic research decades ago. During the 1980’s, Marilyn recalled how MDMA assisted therapy was a popular treatment for anxiety, depression and PTSD symptoms (In recent years, the FDA has even allowed for a limited amount of research in this field once again).

Thankfully, Mara’s nurse was able to track down a qualified psychiatrist who had just worked on MDMA-assisted therapy research at McLean Hospital. He travelled to Mara’s bedside and administered a controlled dose of MDMA in a guided session. Remarkably, Mara’s pain vanished during the session,

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