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

161–170 of 299 posts

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#161

Post by 9HZZRfNlpR »

UglyToad wrote: post #38
SamBam wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

You might be interested to learn that heroin is actually quite a safe drug and safer to self-administer than paracetamol [0]. While you're right that the state has a duty to protect its citizens the war on drugs, all drugs, has the opposite effect. Drugs are a public health problem not a criminal one. People are taking things like heroin primarily due to other factors in their life, which the state should address. Fo…

The Russian heroin addicts are all on fentanyl by now, it's hard to find heroin nowadays from the streets in many places.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#162

Post by yboris »

ff317 wrote: post #49
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…

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 think you would be persuaded by the book Legalize This!: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs by Doug Husak

The argument is simple: ask "Why am I being put in jail?". As the author points out, no satisfactory answer has been (or likely can be) given in the case of non-violent drug users.

All currently-known drugs should be decriminalized.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#163

Post by magic_beans »

devmunchies wrote: post #132

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 tal…

Kundalini awakenings can be just as harmful (if not MORE) as psychedelics awakenings without proper integration work. It always helps to work with a teacher or guide when traveling through a shadowy psyche.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#164

Post by carapace »

Set and setting. The drug just rattles your cage.

I quoted Leary on 'set and setting' the other day on an LSD history thread and mentioned Leonard Orr used to get great results with nothing more exotic than oxygen, so rather than repeat that ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21264919 ) I'll say this:

If you have a modality of therapy that works, it will work without the drug (which, at best, serves as an amplifier and a "convincer".)

If you don't have a modality of therapy that works reliably, then it's irresponsible to add drugs and hope for the best. You're banging on the side of the box hoping to reseat the vacuum tubes.

The "convincer" effect can be achieved without drugs. Not to be too mysterious but I mean hypnosis. You can e.g. quit smoking using hypnosis. It's not even hard.

I'm not against drugs per se I'm just against using them in therapy. It's irresponsible. It's like advocating zeppelins over bikes for personal transport.

(I'm great friends with Mushroom, and a little 'shroom tea can be great fun. But cramming 'im into a wee lil pill and then claiming "quit smoking" magic is in it... That's bad science and lousy magick.)

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#165

Post by magic_beans »

9HZZRfNlpR wrote: post #157
krsdcbl wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tldr; it quite literally "killed my ego" for a short time and allowed for an unclouded view onto what was going on with me. And that way of reflecting my emotional state stayed with me ever since

A lot of the people using them mention killing the ego, I've never done anything like that and wonder what do you think under the word ego? I know the literal term obviously.

The "ego" comprises of what makes you "you" — or more specifically, what you think makes you "you". Your personality, your likes and dislikes, your memories, your history, your judgements. All the things that create your "identity". The ego is your custom filter through which you experience consciousness.

It's helpful to be able to experience the world without the influence of the ego, because then you are able to experience the world in a completely unfiltered way. You are able to get closer to an experience of objective truth.

Many people who have used psychedelics or work deeply with meditation all come to similar conclusions: the ego is an illusion. All beings are one and the same. Your sense of "separateness" from every living thing on this planet is a function of your ego-filter — and your ego-filter is wrong.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#166

Post by maximente »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #127
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…

I think legalization is good. I also think universal healthcare is good. Unfortunately healthcare is super expensive and enabling certain behaviors increases costs a lot. Different estimates seem to suggest that (back in 2015) the opioid epidemic had had an economic cost somewhere between a half a trillion and a trillion dollars, and it's increasing [0, 1]. Full-on prohibition is bad, but maybe there's still lots of…

that's chump change compared to sugar (=> diabetes at $225bil per YEAR) and alcohol (destruction upon others via accidents as well as chronic health problems).

so what is your take on those? should they be controlled substances? because it certainly seems we need to have a discussion at the level of the nation about how we're going to pay for universal health care consumed by those taking part in these behaviors going forward if this is going to realistically work.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#167

Post by ChefboyOG »

npo9 wrote: post #51
SamBam wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I don’t disagree the state has an interest in the health and well being of its citizens. I think it should promote that health and well being with education, access to healthcare, and other forms of social support. I’d also be okay with limiting the advertising rights for drugs. I do not think prohibition improves the well being of citizens. Heroin is easily available in virtually all major US cities.

I think this is the key point that gets lost in these discussions. Legalization, or decriminalization, does not equal an abdication of responsibility by the state—it can actually mean the opposite.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#169

Post by kragen »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #127
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…

I think legalization is good. I also think universal healthcare is good. Unfortunately healthcare is super expensive and enabling certain behaviors increases costs a lot. Different estimates seem to suggest that (back in 2015) the opioid epidemic had had an economic cost somewhere between a half a trillion and a trillion dollars, and it's increasing [0, 1]. Full-on prohibition is bad, but maybe there's still lots of…

The damages from the opioid epidemic are almost entirely due to the unpredictable quality of street drugs and, especially, the resulting fentanyl overdoses. Opioids have some toxic effects even without those overdoses, but the resulting deaths are more than an order of magnitude smaller. (People rarely die from constipation and hearing loss.) If you want to reduce the human cost of the opioid epidemic, you will favor legalization so that opioid addicts can safely obtain their drugs with known purity, and people who taint the drug supply with unpredictable poisons can be found and brought to justice.

On the other hand, if you want to reduce the economic cost of healthcare by killing opioid addicts with accidental overdoses, you may not be persuaded. But I am not on your side.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#170

Post by Matticus_Rex »

carapace wrote: post #164

Set and setting. The drug just rattles your cage. I quoted Leary on 'set and setting' the other day on an LSD history thread and mentioned Leonard Orr used to get great results with nothing more exotic than oxygen, so rather than repeat that ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21264919 ) I'll say this: If you have a modality of therapy that works, it will work without the drug (which, at best, serves as an amplifi…

Except initial trials of MDMA, LSD, and psilocybin in combination with guided therapy show outcomes that the therapy alone just isn't getting.
Post reply on HN