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Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

washingtonpost.com

141–150 of 209 posts

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#141
There are already tons of legal forms of escapism, which is exactly what psychedelics are, so I fail to see why it's so imperative that they become more socially accepted.

I've also tried my fair share of psychedelics and find it completely laughable that people try to raise them up as these spiritual or therapeutic tools. Just because they make you hallucinate does not mean they "open up your mind" or make you think any more critically than alcohol or other drugs.

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#142
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are implying a 1:1 relationship with good experiences and bad experiences. That's not how drugs work. It is important to know the actual reality of this type of ratio so that individuals who are looking to use a drug of this nature can be well informed.

No, I'm positing a 1:1 relationship between "holy shit I am a new person" in a good way and "holy shit I am a new person" in a bad way. That's not the same as good/bad experiences.

I don't think there's nearly enough data available to posit it one way or the other - anything we say is almost certainly going to be purely anecdotal.

My anecdotal experience has been that the vast majority of people who have used DMT have not felt like a "new person", and the few that have, have felt so in a positive way.

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#143

There are already tons of legal forms of escapism, which is exactly what psychedelics are, so I fail to see why it's so imperative that they become more socially accepted. I've also tried my fair share of psychedelics and find it completely laughable that people try to raise them up as these spiritual or therapeutic tools. Just because they make you hallucinate does not mean they "open up your mind" or make you think…

Are there alternate tools that you believe can achieve improved critical thinking or “opening up your mind.”

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#144

About two months ago I was at a festival with friends and a I had a psychedelic experience. What’s funny is earlier that day I had just told my friends “I know this sounds boring but I don’t like dancing that much.” Then while I was tripping I found that I was really enjoying the dancing. I felt like I was tapping in to a part of myself that had been dormant for a long time. I felt really confident and cool and sexy…

It sounds like you were insecure about certain things like dating and got over it via psychedelics I mean if that works, sure. But what happens in the future if you latch onto some other insecurity? Will you just take a psychedelic again? Is that going to actually fix the problem?

>I mean if that works, sure. But what happens in the future if you latch onto some other insecurity? Will you just take a psychedelic again? Is that going to actually fix the problem?

If taking a psychedelic on occasion is effective in combating people's insecurities that is almost certainly one of the most massive wins in the history of mental health.

I don't think it's nearly that simple but I am baffled by the idea of "taking a psychedelic cured you of this issue so what are you gonna do if you have another issue, cure it with another psychedelic, huh?" being some sort of negative thing.

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same way that one weighs LSD that is on paper, unfortunately. Thus a lot of paper with very little LSD on it is worse than a little bit of paper with a lot of LSD on it.

Seems that at least parts of the US government has realised that carrier medium weight should not be used for LSD. > In the case of LSD on a carrier medium (e.g., a sheet of blotter paper), do not use the weight of the LSD/carrier medium. Instead, treat each dose of LSD on the carrier medium as equal to 0.4 mg of LSD for the purposes of the Drug Quantity Table. https://www.ussc.gov/guidelines/amendment/488

huh, ok, it seems like things have changed some time in the last 27 years https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/01/23/s...

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same way that one weighs LSD that is on paper, unfortunately. Thus a lot of paper with very little LSD on it is worse than a little bit of paper with a lot of LSD on it.

Could you elaborate? Why is it so?

Supreme court ruled

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/01/23/s...

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#147

There are already tons of legal forms of escapism, which is exactly what psychedelics are, so I fail to see why it's so imperative that they become more socially accepted. I've also tried my fair share of psychedelics and find it completely laughable that people try to raise them up as these spiritual or therapeutic tools. Just because they make you hallucinate does not mean they "open up your mind" or make you think…

I have never found psychedelics to be more than an enjoyable way to spend an evening or weekend, but a large body of psychiatrists and medical researchers take the potential of psychedelics as a a therapeutic tool quite seriously and there is scientific research to support this position. If you find it completely laughable, I would hope you have some sort of significant scientific evidence to support that position.

As for the spiritual bit, I don't understand how you could begin to argue this point. A spiritual experience is subjective and dependent on the person - if people can find meditation, walks in nature, staring up at the stars, listening to music, reading a book, etc., to be spiritual experiences, why in the world couldn't a trip on LSD do the same?

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#148

There are already tons of legal forms of escapism, which is exactly what psychedelics are, so I fail to see why it's so imperative that they become more socially accepted. I've also tried my fair share of psychedelics and find it completely laughable that people try to raise them up as these spiritual or therapeutic tools. Just because they make you hallucinate does not mean they "open up your mind" or make you think…

They are being raised as therapeutic tools because research shows that empirically, psychedelics do help with some mental issues, and sometimes in better ways than conventional medicine. They need to become more socially accepted because current legislation bans a lot of research on them under cover of the war on drugs, an that legislation can be changed if public sentiment changes. If tobacco was discovered to be good for say, depression, it'd be stupid to ban researchers from acquiring any under the guise of "tobacco cause cancer so nobody should be allowed to buy it ever". On top of that, drugs are absolutely winning the war on drugs, because the current policy of punishing users for either having fun on their own time or being addicts who literally will die if they stop is absurd. There is a middle ground between throwing addicts in prison and selling heroin in cafes, and that comes with mental help and social assistance to those in positions where hard drugs and dependance on them is preferable to experiencing life sober.

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#149

My friend summed it up perfectly - “not exactly what you would call recreational is it?”. At some dose psychedelics reveal a huge amount of why we are the way we are to ourselves and give us more powers to change our reality than we had before. But with great power… people who see reality as very fixed or particularly have very black and white moral codes probably shouldn’t try them.

[flagged]

What are you trying to say? Who is "someone"?

You complain about "this website" while bringing in an irrelevant political argument. Much heat, no light. Who's the problem here?

Re: Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new category for them

#150
post #56

Whatever you do please don't advocate to replace ssri with psychedelics. Listen to a doctor or psychiatrist, just like it was for vaccines. And avoid personal anecdote, they have little value compared to what a doctor says. Thanks in advance.

Counterpoint: I listened to my doctors for 8 years and took the medication they advised, didn't help me one bit.

Getting off SSRIs, changing my work situation and enjoying some LSD made a much bigger positive difference than endless sweaty nights on Prozac ever did.

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