Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 299 posts

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#131

Post by purple_ducks »

npo9 wrote: post #64
ff317 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also for increased drug legalization, but it's important to keep in mind the counter-balancing points as well. Lots of adults will make very poor decisions when presented with the easy opportunity to do so, at least at certain critical times. People fall on bad times routinely (job loss, death in the family, etc) and can quickly find themselves hopeless and/or depressed. In a completely unregulated environment, t…

I strongly disagree with the hypothesis that people are not responsible enough to make decisions for themselves.

> I strongly disagree with the hypothesis that people are not responsible enough to make decisions for themselves.

Well, with all due respect, you've lived either a short life or a sheltered life.

People have weak moments in their life.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#132

Post by devmunchies »

I've been learning more about these psychedelics and they seem to have good medical benefits but if anyone is looking for a psychedelic or spiritual breakthrough, similar breakthroughs have been achieved through things like kundalini yoga. Its the same as weight training vs steroids, but of course you can do both. You might not be ready or even know how to process your experience if you just take a drug. (I'm not talking about for medical purposes)

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#133

Post by semiotagonal »

ergothus wrote: post #103
semiotagonal wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It surely wouldn't be good for American society, but at least it's a choice for those who decide to use those substances. As it stands, the prohibition on drugs has created a business that many find worth resorting to violence over, and it impacts people in Mexico who would never have chosen to get involved. There's no good answer here, but letting addicts drop out of society and damage their health with legal drugs…

You are skipping the audience that ARENT life-destroying addicts, such as the target of the article. The fact that researchers can barely study schedule 1 drugs to determine if they should BE scheduled 1 drugs is a big red flag. The disproportionate response, the people sent to jail for minor offenses, the....well, all the points in the post you are replying to that you didnt address. How can you stick to your claims…

I'm arguing in favor of legalization, not against it. In my estimation legalization means more addicts, a greater burden of addiction for society, fewer people in jail, and fewer bystanders hurt by the business. On balance it's the more moral choice, because for the most part those who end up experiencing the negative effects are doing so by choice, and dealing with legal addicts is preferable to dealing with illegal enterprises.

tl;dr Legalization makes sense, because even though more people end up negatively impacted, they are generally only hurting themselves.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#134

Post by 4ntonius8lock »

smileysteve wrote: post #40
4ntonius8lock wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always had a bit of a paranoid suspicion, and trust me, I know there is no evidence for it, and I wouldn't make it out to be more than just a feeling: That the elites of the world are happy to have drugs being illegal, as it is a way to channel unemployed, violent youth who want to make a quick buck. I mean, think of it this way: If you are a poor, violent and traumatized youth, and drugs were legal and you want…

> That the elites of the world are happy to have drugs being illegal Well, if you start talking about Reagan in the 80s, there's significant evidence. Not as a way to channel unemployed, but to have extra governmental funding for covert operations.

That and to fight hippies and the anti-materialistic movements.

If individuals mostly make decisions based on a number of internal currents, conscious and unconscious, the same must apply to collectives.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#135

Post by fsloth »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #74
fsloth wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most addictions are a social and healthcare problem. Criminalization is the problem because it makes on so many levels so hard for the people suffering from addiction to get proper healthcare. I mean look at the opioid crisis. There is no insurance policy for addiction, plus, you are labeled as a dedbeat by the society. And only because doctor prescribed you something they should not have. Without criminalization of…

> Criminalization is the problem because it makes on so many levels so hard for the people suffering from addiction to get proper healthcare. Can't you argue that by making it illegal, you make it less available, therefore ending up with less people addicted?

If the aim is to reduce the social problems caused by addiction then criminalization is the wrong way to do it.

Now addicts are 'taken care' by the justice system which is less effective and more expensive than social and healthcare programs would be if applied to the same population.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#136

Post by acdanger »

I have a friend who participated in the JHU study. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to quit smoking and is continuing his two-pack-a-day routine. From what I gather though, 3+ years on, the majority of other participants in his study have managed to quit entirely. Shame he wasn't able to do the same.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#137

Post by blackflame »

jasonlfunk wrote: post #107
blackflame wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does one person have the right to define what another does with their body in a country that prides itself on the freedom of the individual? If they commit crimes while on drugs, punish them for that.

I agree with this generally. Though making specific laws can be helpful. For example, drunk driving laws. The only reason drunk driving is illegal is because it causes you to be a reckless driver, which is also already illegal. But the drunk driving laws make explicit the direct link between the alcohol and the recklessness. Maybe there is a similar case to be made for other drugs as well.

That's an interesting point. Frankly, I don't think we should punish DUI drivers if their only infraction is the DUI. Obviously, if they were driving wreaklessly then that is illegal, but I don't like the concept of charging someone for a crime because it COULD have lead to something worse. I think we should just impose extremely harsh penalties if it DOES lead to something worse. Usually, that "something worse" also has worse penalties. People should have the freedom to determine if they are impaired but also not be shielded from the responsibility freedom requires.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#138

Post by zuzuleinen »

7373737373 wrote: post #117
monktastic1 wrote: post #47

Why are they called "magic" mushrooms? Because they remind you that life is, in a sense that we rarely recognize, truly magical. We can adopt the materialist lens and say that they "rewire your brain" -- and in a certain sense, that's of course true. But the crucial point is that experientially, you discover firsthand that life is precious beyond belief -- beyond what the rational mind can contain -- and if cigarette…

After a decade of solitude, they helped me realize that I was living in a machine world. It showed me how to love myself, other people and nature again. Yes, it was like magic, a true perspective change, a reintroduction to the human world. It showed me what supreme contentedness and connectedness is after this long time of seeing the world purely in differences - within myself, without myself and in the relationship…

Thank you for writing this beautiful text :)

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#139

Post by avodonosov »

mikelyons wrote: post #111
avodonosov wrote: post #108

Guillotine is very effective against headache...

Comments like this are effective against growing your understanding of reality. Unless I misunderstood and you were meaning to say that psychedelic experiences can cause you to face your own death and have glimpses of enlightenment, then yes, but the metaphor will be lost on most people.

You should ease up on mushrooms. To come up with such an interpretation...

I mean literally, guillotine heals headache 100%, but that's not a sufficient reason to practice it.

The same with psychedelic mushrooms, even if they work against smoking, it's not necceserily a sufficient reason to use them.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#140

Post by rebuilder »

SamBam wrote: post #26
npo9 wrote: post #20

I think it’s clear that there is a push for magic mushrooms to follow the same path as Cannabis has. It’s very hard to fight the war on drugs (from a personal liberty standpoint) one drug at a time. From my political position it’s personally insulting that institutions such as the DEA and FDA tell me what I can and cannot put into my body. I’m an adult, I can either make those decisions for myself or hire experts for…

> From my political position it’s personally insulting that institutions such as the DEA and FDA tell me what I can and cannot put into my body. I'm of two minds about that. While I agree that I ought to have full autonomy over my own body, at the same time the state has a vested interest in not allowing its population to fall victim to life-destroying drugs, especially when those drugs target the most vulnerable mem…

Thats a fair point. But does prohibition work in terms of reducing negative outcomes?
Post reply on HN