you can see his exclusive in full about south korea's binge drinking problem on 101 east, on thursday 22.30 g.m. t on al jazeera and also on line at aljazeera.com >> thanks for joining us on "america tonight." i'm joie chen. think psychedelic drugs and you're likely to imagine a turn on tune in, generation. for recreational highs, some researchers continue to believe that these drugs could have great value as penicillin for

the soul, to treat a variety of serious traumas, and other conditions that psychotherapy has failed to manage. still a growing but underground movement is turning patients on to a therapeutic trip. "america tonight's" christof putzel tonight with those healing highs. >> really at the end of the day, the verbal was the worst. i would have taken a beating any day that be be told you're a bunch of (bleep), words don't, words stick with you a long time. >> the childhood physical and emotional abuse that andreas suffered from his father. >> disruptive patterns in drug abuse, i would have violent outbursts, that would happen too. >> years of conventional therapy andreas said, failed to help.

>> my dad was this, my dad was this, that's why i'm like this, that didn't change anything. >> then one of his therapists made a surprising suggestion, perhaps andreas would get more out of therapy if he was under the influence of drugs, specifically, psychedelic drugs, help of drugs like mdma, lsd and silo silen. , andreas agreed to let us film one of these therapy sessions. >> you put the blindfold on. >> it's like a warm feeling. i started going back revisiting my childhood, a lot of feelings that i hadn't experienced in a long time started coming up.

you start seeing things, things open up, ideas open up, anger goes away. >> anger started to flee that first session? >> you realize that the anger you built up as a child, they're useless, you haven't seen your father in 40 years, what are you scared about? >> as life-changing as these sessions have been for andreas, this type of therapy is still illegal. years ago, the fda placed these psych dellics in the same category as heroin and meth. new research is beginning to call the government's lard line into question. >> it's education that's important. nancy reagan famously just said, just say no, n-o. but

know, get knowledge. >> agathering of scientists who are doing research into the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. >> you know in the 1960s, conflict, the hippies said take it take it take it, and the establishment said no no no and you got increasingly colon flict ingly conflict conflictual. >> psych dellics are a way to build a connection with others. to build empathy, to build spiritual experiences. >> rick doblin is the founder of maps, his organization has raised millions of dollars for psychedelic research . recent clinical trials by maps and venerable institutions by

nyu and johns hopkins, reducing anxiety for those with cancer and terminal illness even helping adults with autism. one of the most promising applications is already well-known by people like andreas, the combination of psychotherapy and psych dellics. >> the results have been extremely promising in terms of outcomes and in fact so promising that some of the people that have looked at the data said, it's too good to be true. >> in one study founded by maps, war veterans with treatment resistance ptsd were given psychotherapy together with psych dellics. >> we've since treated over 100 people. >> after just two sessions, 83% of participants no longer fit the criteria for ptsd. and unlike antidepressants, patients don't need to take the

drug for long periods of time. >> it's not meant to be a daily medication, people only get m.d.ma three times ,. >> doblin's ultimate goal is to make physician psychedelic assisted psychotherapy legal. >> should i break the law to administer them mdma, i'm not going to recommend that but i'm not going to condemn it either. i think it's a point of conscience that everybody has to say, the laws are immoral, the laws of wrong. we should have been able to do this research 30 years ago. >> my task is to set it up, make sure the person is comfortable,

feel safe, they trust the situation, they trust myself, they trust the medicine, let the medicine take hold, and a warm friendly helpful process. >> simon says there are over 100 like him, self described healers who are risking arrest in order to bring the healing to his patients. he asked us to alter his voice. >> if m.d.ma was available too me when i was in trouble earlier in my life, my life would have been hugely different. >> simon, who cautions he makes no profit from the psychedelics he gives his patients, says the results are worth the risk.

>> four sessions now i thefer heard froneverheard from him age he's going to the mets game with his son. i don't use the word miracle because it's so loaded but it is close. >> reporter: the instay of new clients he says is relentless. >> how many inclines have you seen? >> several hundred, i don't know how many. >> several hundred? >> yeah yeah yeah. >> it's a lot. >> it's a lot. >> but what you're doing is illegal. >> yep. bothers the hell out of me. >> why would you do it? >> because sometimes the law is an ass, i'm not clean. i mean i am breaking the law i totally understand that. but it does seem to me with the greatest respect that there are some laws that are so foolish, and so misguided and so based on out of date information, that's the tragedy. >> reporter: it could be years before the government decides whether to make psychedelic

assisted psychotherapy legal. for andreas, he hopes his speaking about it will help speed the process. >> it will keep growing and growing. unless you stop it. i have a possibility to stop it from spreading to a thousand people in say five generations. the ripple effect is quite huge. >> what would you say to somebody watching this that says you sound like the 1960s hippy dippy who just did acid for the first time and we're past that generation? >> because i'm not out there doing it because it's part of something else, or anything like that, i'm doing this to make myself better, i have to do this to make myself live, and live well. >> christof putzel, al jazeera. >> next, is nothing sacred, the

brokering of bodies, a follow up to an "america tonight" investigation. and the next chapter, the voice from another america and why it's so hard to make it. and hot on "america tonight's" website, the doctor who beat ebola but now discovers it's hiding in his eye. on aljazeera.com/americatonight.

and now, a follow-up to an "america tonight" investigation into the business of body brokers. those who donate their remains to science expect that gift will be respected. but we found that for-profit body brokers have become a lucrative and largely unregulated industry. in

michigan, two people have been indicted, charged with body parts for medical training one of the companies investigated by the fbi. "america tonight" "america tonight's" lori jane gliha first investigated last spring. >> by the time her husband died in 2013, he had had two kidney transplants. >> he was 56 when he died. he always said when he died he wanted to donate his body to science. because of his health issues, he thought you know i've gone through this, this and this. they could probably learn a lot from my body. >> linda donated tom's body to biological research center of illinois. unbeknowns to linda her husband and body was about to become a part of a very lucrative industry. the trade in cadaver parts, a

single body can bring in as much as $10,000. >> what specifically did you think would happen when he donatehis body to science? >> i owners -- donated his body to science diswhrm i thought when he was picked up, they would take him to their facility, and determine who was looking for a certain thing, i didn't think we'll send tom's hid here, his arm here, sell his skin here. i did not think that would happen. >> the investigation appears to involve human bodies donated for medical research. >> reporter: linda's alarm began when she saw a clip on the news. the company that took tom's body, biological research center of illinois was at the center of an investigation that included raids in illinois and phoenix.

prosecuted at least half a dozen so-called body brokers, at biological research center of illinois company leaders are accused of cutting up the donated bodies and sepg selling thselling theparts to a middle . the company received $500 for a head and $750 for a pair of arms. representatives of biological research center of illinois would not appear on camera but told us they have done nothing wrong. they have since ceased operations. >> how well did the company you believe communicated with you? >> not at all, not at all. >> do you think there are problems with groups that are making profit on this type of a donation? >> i think it's a problem if they're not informing their donors. >> reporter: paul dudak runs the anatomical gift association of illinois. >> so how many bodies do you have in this room? >> currently we have about 230, 235.

we need to get about up to about 370, 375 to meet the demand for all of our schools. >> unlike the biological resource center of illinois his is a nonprofit program that mostly supplies embalmed cadavers to medical schools. >> we've probably trained about 40,000 physicians and allied health care professionals. >> are people naive to believe that their body would remain intact when necessitating? >> i think they are, but the majorities of us the bodies are going for anatomic dissection and study. >> what does it mean to have your body dissected? >> it is not a hack and cut sort of process. when we part a body we'll maybe send the legs to rush orthopedics. we'll send the torso to northwestern for their breast reconstruction training program.

we may send the brain to the alzheimer's training program in loyola. >> he transparent to donors about how the organs and tissue are used. dudak told us there is very little oversight when it comes to the body parts not intended for reuse in another human. >> how easy would it be for a person to use body parts for an unethical reason? >> it would be fairly easy, fairly easy. >> reporter: in fact in a search warrant affidavit, the fbi allegation biological research center of illinois and an earlier company owned 50 same family, called anatomical services company, both run by

donald green, the companies are accused of taking body parts from people who did not want their body parts donated and selling body parts infected with hiv, hepatitis, and sepsis and other diseases for use. the company maintained it did nothing illegal. lori jane gliha, al jazeera, chicago. >> now after lori jane's story first aired, the company at the center of her report biological research company of illinois, ceased its business.

>> we end this hour on a look back and the road ahead. in the ups and downs of the economy many of us have learned how quickly a dream job can simply disappear. but in the other america we found inspiration from a man who won't let his set backs steal away his determination to build a future. >> i was always interested in karate or those kind of martial arts, i liked it. so when i was kid, when i saw a movie, rocky, first time, i was so inspired by that movie. i started boxing in the high school, i joined the team. and my boxing life started. i got a scholarship from the university in japan.

and i joined them started focusing on going to olympic games. but i couldn't be national champion in japan. i started thinking, so now, what am i going to do? inspire people like movie rocky did to me? it's my turn to inspire others. i'm dreaming to come to the united states to be an actor. i thought you know, movies, hollywood, it's in california. maybe i can start from there. i decided to come to los angeles. when i came here, i was 27. of course, i was nobody. and i needed to have another job. you know, started looking for a job, classified paper and i phoned one company, one gentleman,

he had his own hat company. before then, i didn't know anything about hats. but i learned. >> we adjusted height of the crown, lower, higher, and also length of the brim. >> we are looking for some assistant for exporting company. i liked fashion so, you know, that's how i looked up with the hat business, fashion.and two years later, they opened up a business. my company started growing. and i started exhibiting at the big convention trade show. and then first customer i got was the big nationwide chain store, from urban outfitters, they really liked our hats. i see people on the street working and wearing our hats.

and i feel like oh that's great! because we made it! >> they started you know sending me orders. and we started working closer, you know, order was starting get bigger and bigger. i did yeah over $1 million annual sales. and five employees. but recession hit. everywhere. i was trying my best. i pushed myself to the edge. my buying prices getting higher but my selling prices getting lower. so my profit is shrinking, shrinking, shrinking, finally we were forced to close the company. i had to file bankruptcy. ordinary people work 40 hours a week.

me, now you know, i have two job, daytime at restaurant in the evening driving taxi. so like about 85 to 90 hours a week. work at the japanese sushi restaurant. i feel like i'm just starting a new page of my life. this page is over now but next page. i'm opening my next page of my life. >> sushi bar recommendations please. >> working for the restaurant, let's big benefit is you know, we get free meal. free lunch. so i can save you know lunch money. came back home around

4:00, take a short break, have a cup of clean something and go to next work driving taxi. >> so now we are ready to go. let's go get some passengers. okay now we are on melrose avenue. i had a customer on the street selling products, showing samples, and i sometimes miss those like sales. it was fun. talking to customers. and selling products. i don't want to see like my old customers when i drive a taxi. that's kind of like -- kind of weird. and of course , they are going to well maybe not ask they are

going to think, well, why he is driving taxi? and this is why i was hang out. almost every week. my dinner, i don't even remember now when was the last time i went there? i walked by there you know, a lot. or driving by. but haven't been inside of the restaurant for a long time. i mean since i started facing this financial difficulty. one day, you know, i'm going to be a customer again, i go back there. but not now. okay, i have to figure out this paperwork.

i walk in, almost feel like i work 24 hours. i mean at the restaurant, five days a week, taxi, every day. every night. i drive taxi. monthly, usually, i make from restaurant about $900, and from driving taxicab, $4367. but rent, 780, utility bills, $50, car loan, $250. medical insurance, $200, home phone and cell phone, internet, $220. and my taxi lease is cost $2080 a month. wire money to japan, supporting my parents, $500 a month. after i deduct all those

expense, $120 left. $120 divided four weeks, $30 a week. $30 a week wided divided by 7, $429 a day. day -- 4.29 a day for in the morning, exhausted and ready to go to bed. out there, there are so many people they are facing financial difficulties, i can you know have compassion for them. yes, makes me better person. >> a struggle and a spirit that continue. that's "america tonight." tell us what you think, at aljazeera.com/americatonight.

you can talk to us on twitter or facebook and come back. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >> even though we're in here, we're still human. >> how harsh conditions affect people on both sides of the bars. >> why did scott take his own life? >> the jail. >> some people might be scared to speak out but i'm not. i'm telling the truth. >> i'm ali velshi. "on target" tonight. addicted in america this cou