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Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

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Re: Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

#11

Post by GordonS »

oarabbus_ wrote: post #5

The DEA Scheduling system is not fact-based and needs to be completely redone. In fact, the categorizations are provably false e.g. PCP is schedule II, Cocaine is schedule III, Xanax is Schedule IV etc, while Marijuana and Psilocybin (mushrooms) are Schedule I. Yes that's right, according to the federal government, marijuana and mushrooms are more harmful, more addictive, and have less medical use than PCP, Cocaine,…

This is not confined to the DEA, or the USA. Drug policy in many countries is based on fear-mongering and policitcal point-scoring.

Case in point, the tabloid press in the UK brands anyone that uses any illicit drug a "junkie"; another, UK politicians are unlikely to legalise recreational use of anything beyond caffeine, alcohol and nicotine in our lifetimes.

Humans have used psychoactive drugs since the beginning of time, and the long, damaging and fruitless "war on drugs" demonstrates that we still and always will - surely it's time for a different stance on drugs?

Re: Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

#13

Post by hellofunk »

kisna72 wrote: post #12

Can't help but wonder what the unintended consequences of decriminalizing psychedelic plants would be in society? I'm thinking this might create a new market for Shamans (therapists ?) that guide you through psychedelic uses! What else?

They are decriminalized in other parts of the world, including places like the Netherlands, and you wouldn’t know it.

Re: Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

#14

Post by claudiawerner »

loeg wrote: post #9
oarabbus_ wrote: post #5

The DEA Scheduling system is not fact-based and needs to be completely redone. In fact, the categorizations are provably false e.g. PCP is schedule II, Cocaine is schedule III, Xanax is Schedule IV etc, while Marijuana and Psilocybin (mushrooms) are Schedule I. Yes that's right, according to the federal government, marijuana and mushrooms are more harmful, more addictive, and have less medical use than PCP, Cocaine,…

Cocaine is Schedule II, actually. While it can be used as a topical anesthetic, I don't think it is especially common anymore. Xanax has significant medical use supported by actual studies. (Yes, it's kind of a problem that the Federal government essentially blocks studies of many substances.) There's not a lot of real distinction between schedules III-V other than "less potential for abuse than the last one" (per DE…

This makes even less sense to me (as someone who knows only very little about drugs other than trying weed a couple of times), but doesn't cannabis also have medical use, and further have a lower potential for abuse, at least along the addictiveness axis?

Re: Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

#16

Post by robbrown451 »

There are some drugs about which good arguments can be made on both sides of the legality issue. Highly addictive ones do indeed ruin lives, and while there is an argument that that should be the person's choice, the other side can argue that the government is there to better the common good, and that can include protecting people from their own bad decisions. I have mixed feelings about the legality issue when it comes to cocaine, meth, heroin, prescription opioids, etc.

With psilocybin mushrooms, though, I can't imagine any reasonable argument that people need to be protected from themselves. They aren't addictive by any definition of addiction I know of. And they can do some amazingly positive things, especially for those who are facing death due to illness or just old age. I would go so far as to say it is tragic that such people are denied relief from the horrible feeling of impending death that mushrooms can provide.

Not that I am against people just doing them for kicks, either.

Re: Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

#17

Post by i_am_nomad »

sokoloff wrote: post #6
averros wrote: post #2

Why stop at plants? If someone chooses to take whatever substance it's no one else's business (unless others have to pay for the medical treatment afterwards... but that is easily solved by NOT making others pay). The actually dangerous drugs - the ones (SSRIs, notably) which have suicide as a side effect, sometimes resulting in people going on murderous rampages - are quite legal and widely prescribed. Go figure.

How do you stop paying for medical outcomes? And why should we care? As part of insurance pools, today I pay for extreme sports injuries, alcohol and tobacco related chronic problems, outright stupidity, and obesity related issues. No one seems to balk at that; why should THC or magic mushrooms be fundamentally different? Even if they “should” be, how could they be?

I agree with you in the sense that refined sugar in processed foods should be highly regulated, as society pays an enormous cost for it.

Re: Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

#18

Post by newnewpdro »

kisna72 wrote: post #12

Can't help but wonder what the unintended consequences of decriminalizing psychedelic plants would be in society? I'm thinking this might create a new market for Shamans (therapists ?) that guide you through psychedelic uses! What else?

More colorful homes and clothing.

Re: Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

#19

Post by pstuart »

robbrown451 wrote: post #16

There are some drugs about which good arguments can be made on both sides of the legality issue. Highly addictive ones do indeed ruin lives, and while there is an argument that that should be the person's choice, the other side can argue that the government is there to better the common good, and that can include protecting people from their own bad decisions. I have mixed feelings about the legality issue when it co…

Please bear in mind that the origins of drug prohibition had little to do with "protecting" people, and were instead instruments of oppression.

Drug abuse a health problem, not a criminal problem. We spend orders of magnitude on the criminal side and, guess what? It only makes things worse.

Legalize. Regulate. Tax.

It's very simple, and is the only correct answer.

Re: Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants and Fungi in San Francisco

#20

Post by robbrown451 »

journalctl wrote: post #15

Amazing how psychedelics might be legalized before housing in San Francisco.

Housing is far more complicated, obviously. To claim it isn't "legalized" is using a very weird definition of the word.

Luckily, the city of San Francisco can work on multiple problems at once. They don't feel the need to wait for the homeless problem to be solved before they fix a pothole on the street or apply a fresh coat of paint to a piece of playground equipment.

This is a simple issue that can improve lives. Sometimes in dramatic ways, such as for the terminally ill. And it can be changed without a lot of money or effort being spent.

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