Memories of ‘Zonk” posters in my room, Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Karen black in Easy Rider and the slogan “Turn on, tune in, drop out”. It was and is part of life even if you didn’t go far, it was around in the clothes, music and attitude Peaking: Psychedelics and the Pursuit of Happiness, directed by ten-time Emmy Award winner Jordan Kronick is an examination of psychedelic-assisted healing, but it is also an indictment of decades of drug prohibition that helped turn scientific investigation into a political and legal minefield. This isn’t your parents’ version of Roger Corman’s film The Trip.
The film’s most important achievement is that it brings us inside the experience itself. Rather than simply presenting scientists discussing the potential benefits of psychedelics, the picture introduces us to people confronting the consequences of trauma, addiction, depression, and psychological injury. Professional hockey players Daniel Carcillo and Stephen Johns explore psilocybin treatment; American combat veterans travel to the Amazon to experience ayahuasca; survivors of the Nova Music Festival massacre discuss psychedelic experiences; and Amber Hedrick’s struggle with opioid addiction brings the human cost of dependency into sharp focus.
A man wearing an eye mask laughs in bed during a psychedelic session in Peaking: Psychedelics and the Pursuit of Happiness.
“The film’s most important achievement is that it brings us inside the experience itself.”
These are not abstract arguments about drug policy. They are stories about people searching for relief when conventional approaches have failed them or proved insufficient. The emotional force comes from watching individuals attempt to confront experiences that have profoundly altered their lives. Their accounts demand attention, even as individual testimonies must be distinguished from the clinical evidence needed to establish whether a treatment is safe and effective.
But the film’s larger questions reach far beyond the treatment room. For decades, American drug policy has helped determine which substances researchers can investigate, which treatments patients can access, and which avenues of scientific inquiry receive institutional support.
The consequences extend beyond laboratories. People suffering from trauma, addiction, and other serious conditions may hear promising accounts of psychedelic-assisted treatment while finding that legitimate, regulated access remains limited. Meanwhile, the underground does not disappear simply because the law refuses to acknowledge a substance’s potential. Prohibition can displace activity into settings where medical supervision, quality control, and reliable information are harder to guarantee.
Scientific research should not be confused with unrestricted recreational use, and legitimate concerns about adverse reactions deserve serious consideration. But neither should the possibility of harm become a blanket justification for discouraging research.
"…examination of psychedelic-assisted healing, but it is also an indictment of decades of drug prohibition..."
