271–280 of 406 posts
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I meant more in comparison to other nations in Europe for example. It's difficult to compare individual states within the US because of how guns travel across state lines. https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/state-gun-laws-ma...
Czech Republic has very liberal gun laws, you can get a concealed carry permit with less effort than some US states and the murder rate is 0.72 per 100,000.
Sweet I can't wait until I can get it prescribed online by answering a questionnaire for $25 and have some shady doctor in Florida ship me a gram of molly in the mail. Sorry autocorrect I mean I can't wait for more startup innovation in the telehealth space.
Laws can be fixed to address this. ADHD laws are being changed to address the pop up online mills from during covid.
Right, and harming all sorts of people in the process:
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/the-government-is-maki...
Seriously, why does anyone seriously think "this needs fixing"?
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Druggies who was on high doses of this report about "suicide tuesdays".
You’ve changed the context from medical use to recreational by druggies with irresponsibly high doses feeling like suicide afterwards. I have a sense of the point you’re attempting but it’s murky and isn’t a useful response.
Personally, I left tech in large part to become a therapist doing psychedelic-assisted clinical work when it becomes legal. It really does seem like it can be a potent tool for relieving great suffering. You can read a little about my story here: http://glench.com/WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist/
Nice to read your journey. Glad you found a way through. I had a similar experience to the first half of your story. Was so unfulfilled in tech that I ended up quitting and took time off not working, trying lots of different things, getting very frustrated and depressed along the way. I did try LSD (ok, a lot of LSD) and instead of it helping me process/sort through/integrate some of my troubles it added new ones and…
Based on my experiences I think MDMA likely has much more therapeutic value. To me regular psychedelics merely give the illusion of profoundness rather than actual profoundness, though I’ve heard they are the best treatment for cluster headaches and I’m not against people with treatment resistant depression giving it a shot
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> It is illegal for you to build and detonate a bomb in the city It is illegal to kill someone, even without a gun, under most circumstances. Perhaps we should make it double-illegal? > Far fewer than random gun violence in places you are allowed to carry guns This is false. Most gun violence does not occur from legal gun owners, or in places allowing concealed or overt carry. No, most gun violence occurs with illega…
You really don't seem to be arguing in good faith. If it is already "illegal to kill someone" and we shouldn't "make it double-illegal", then we don't need vehicular manslaughter laws, either. For that matter, why have any of the regulations on safely operating anything. After all, it would be illegal for the worst case already? Why restrict sales of ingredients that can make meth? Why regulate anything? And how is i…
And here's the issue then. What anti-gun advocates argue are weapons not good for hunting is misguided. Additionally, it doesn't matter if a gun was designed to hunt or not - the gun is an inanimate object.
People like to discuss banning AR-15's all day, failing to realize just how many similar-but-not-AR-15's model rifles exist out there, most of which fire the same cartridge too. No, but that one particular model is the problem because it says "AR-15" on the side (most don't even say that btw).
California already tried this and failed. California banned certain model rifles by name. Famously it banned "Colt AR-15" rifles... well guess what, people just bought S&W AR-15's instead. Ban the word "AR-15" and people will just buy "AR-16"s, or "NOT-15"s, or whatever. It's an impossible thing to ban.
It apparently doesn't matter than handguns kill the most people... those scary black AR-15's we see on movies are clearly the problem. After all, the bullet explodes and ruins the meat!
The anti-gun debate is not grounded in facts or reality - which is why anti-gun proponents make no headway (thankfully).
> And how is it false that we have more random gun violence than bombing?
People rarely seek to indiscriminately kill or maim large numbers of people - which is what a bomb does. Your mass shootings are super rare events.
Not long ago, bombs were going off with a near cadence all across the US, mostly from political extremists. Why did the bombing stop? Was it because we made bombs illegal? Of course not, blowing people and buildings up was already illegal.
You should research Weather Underground[1]...
Can someone share any relevant experience with this? Best would be if you did it properly under supervision of clinical professional, or if you are a professional here, by any chance. Doesn’t matter if it’s US or not.
This occurred prior to the official training that's occurring now but after the decriminalization of drugs in Oregon. The guide was not a licensed clinician, but she had guided 100s of clients.
My mother-in-law found it incredibly helpful in processing traumas from childhood and in getting "unstuck" in thinking patterns. She described the experience as a seismic shift.
She had been in therapy for her entire life. I suspect that her prior therapy had laid the groundwork for understanding the thinking patterns that weren't serving her.
My wife and I have noticed a subtle personality change. She seems happier and more open to new ideas. This personality change seems to have faded slightly with time. These are of course just our observations, which could be completely off.
Psilocybin mushrooms grow everywhere here in the Pacific Northwest-- I see them all of the time in mulch around our city. I've had many friends take them recreationally, and none of these friends have had such an impactful experience. All of this is anecdotal of course, but it leads me to believe that working with a therapist might be essential for efficacy of the therapy.
I'm a neuroscience researcher, and I'm hopeful that these treatments will be helpful for many people. It is tragic that there haven't been more clinical trials. I'm hesitant to try them myself until there's more data. If I was suffering from intractable depression or anxiety, I'd feel differently.
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I am fairly skeptical of the claim that banning guns would significantly reduce gun violence. People who commit the most gun violence crimes (criminals) will find a way to get guns regardless of the laws. I live in a country where it's very hard to get weapons legally, yet almost every drug bust in the news also contains a significant amount of confiscated firearms.
The more barriers to entry the less likely someone is to buy a gun on impulse or "just to have." When they're not common on the street it's not needed to carry one for defence either. You say that drugs busts etc. outside the US will often have guns involved. Yes, criminals can still find ways to get them but ordinary people won't be bothered with this. The Netherlands for example has Europe's biggest port in Rotterd…
My high-school friend was killed on holiday shortly after takeoff when a Buk 9M38 surface-to-air missile shot the plane down, killing 196 Dutch civilians.
A famous crime reporter got shot in the street for covering a story about a high ranking drug lord.
A news outlet got shot with a bazooka.
So lets do some statistics:
How many American civilians in the past 10 years have been killed with a surface-to-air-missle, adjusted for population? Zero. 196 for The Netherlands.
How many crime reporters got killed in that period? Five for the US, two for The Netherlands.
How many news outlets got shot with a bazooka? I can't find any, but please correct me. One in The Netherlands.
The thing with statistics is. You can make up anything you want to frame a certain view.
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I'm not a psychologist, but intuitively, most trauma seem to have an element of helplessness in them. Being able to defend yourself and your loved ones with guns would therefore cause less trauma than having to wait for police to come, or just being hurt/seeing a loved one hurt/murdered in front of you. Still, we're stepping deep into the speculation area here, so I won't stand behind this argument very strongly.
The act of committing violence against another person with a weapon itself is traumatic. Most people can't simply turn off their instinct for empathy and kill another person in cold blood simply because the other is an "enemy," and not suffer psychological consequences, possibly even PTSD. Even police officers, professional killers that they are, have to go through mandatory counseling and assessment after a shooting…
No, actually, my argument is that killing or injuring a person in self-defense is less traumatic than being helpless while getting assaulted.
Besides, trauma is relative - "normalizing" trauma is another way of saying "being desensitised" - which is exactly the process therapy itself employs to help people relieve the effects of it.
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By fixing the underlying conditions that lead to the behaviour classified as ADHD rather than depending on stimulants as a(n admittedly very effective) crutch to power through them.
From what I understand, ADHD is typically thought to be the result of an inefficient (outside of an accepted typical range) reward/reinforcement system in the brain - whether due to not producing enough of the relevant neurotransmitters, or not being "sensitive" enough to them (yes, this is oversimplified). How would MDMA (or any drug) alter this? Stimulants used to treat ADHD typically work by either getting you to…
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Nice to read your journey. Glad you found a way through. I had a similar experience to the first half of your story. Was so unfulfilled in tech that I ended up quitting and took time off not working, trying lots of different things, getting very frustrated and depressed along the way. I did try LSD (ok, a lot of LSD) and instead of it helping me process/sort through/integrate some of my troubles it added new ones and…
LSD also gave me recurring intrusive thoughts for about 5 years after taking it. I’m better now but I wish more people knew about the potential risks because it wasn’t worth feeling “enlightened” for a few hours while on the drug Based on my experiences I think MDMA likely has much more therapeutic value. To me regular psychedelics merely give the illusion of profoundness rather than actual profoundness, though I’ve…