When 33-year-old Mara Howell was dying of cancer, the pain she experienced was so severe that even the highest doses of opioids, methadone, IV ethanol and even an intrathecal pump weren’t working. She was bedridden, and depression and anxiety crashed down on top of the pain.
As Mara’s mother Marilyn Howell recalls in her memoir Honor Thy Daughter, published by the nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (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.”
The only thing that helped at all was marijuana, but the help was subtle and less than ideal.
Marilyn, a mind-body educator who developed the first psychophysical curriculum in public education, describes in her book how Mara’s pain didn’t seem to be stemming solely from physical problems. After exhausting every legal option imaginable, Marilyn –– along with Mara’s hospice care worker, Joyce Vassallo –– began to consider alternatives. Eventually they landed on something unusual to help ease Mara’s suffering: psychedelics.
