The major difference is that opioids had been used for pain treatment in modern medicine decades before the war on drugs, so legal prohibitions on recreational opioids didn’t affect basic research nor the development of new treatments, nor did it affect the legitimacy of opioid treatments in the eyes of the US medical establishment. (perhaps it should have!)

By contrast, psychedelics have not been used in medicine and were/are not considered “legitimate” by the medical establishment. So with legal prohibitions on actually obtaining and administering psychedelics, the War on Drugs actually did hinder psychedelics medical research.

You’re correct and parent is correct. War on Drugs started as a combined anti-black anti-counterculture initiative in response to Vietnam War. Psychedelics were threatening the power structure. It was never really about drugs.

Opioid medication isn't psychedelic psychotherapy, nor has it ever had strong associations with anti-establishment movements.

Are opioids psychoactive?

> Are opioids psychoactive?

Yes, obviously.

But the idea that psychoactivity is a (or the?) determining characteristic of a compound in determining whether it is prohibited is silly on its face.

Yes, but not hallucinogenic or psychedelic. (Whichever word you prefer.)

What does that have to do with psychedelic psychotherapy?