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California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

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Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#101
post #47

Pretty cool, I think they way we all talk about psychedelics and drugs in general is harmful and misleading. I guess we need baby steps but idk if social sharing is enough. A big problem with the current drug world is not getting clean and pure substances and in predictable doses. I didn't see anything about like lsd labs and stores or mdma production being allowed in the bill. Did i miss something about making highe…

All these drugs should just have their studied side effects listed on the back of the package like all the dangerous and deadly stuff on the shelves

Decriminalizing, to me, is just having an industry tell you they don’t want to be regulated or illegal, and that’s absurd!

A big step for research though!

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#102
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard it has a lot of promise in treating depression, decriminalization would allow for official medical studies.

again, if drugs is what you need to "treat" depression then you probably have a much bigger problem in life that needs to be addressed rather than looking for another band-aid. depression is not some random disease you catch like a bad cold, it stems from personal or systemic issues that will only continue to feed into said depression until fixed.

Perhaps you should bring it up with psychiatrists prescribing people antidepressant drugs then? They will surely benefit of your expertise.

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#103
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time when people call something "degenerate" it seems like they're making an argument based on the idea that progress depends on self-control and personal sovereignty. Everything I see labeled that way, psychedelics included, has a reputation of being either a cause of loss of self-control or a consequence of lacking self-control. If you want to be in the habit of understanding people who use words like t…

You're trying to reframe the problem around the people who call it out. That's a good way to distract from said problem but not a way to address it. That kind of drug usage is a manifestation of degeneracy, itself part of a bigger cultural trend. Fixing the symptoms (or rather, absorbing them into legality so they seem less noteworthy) won't get rid of the root cause. edit: to respond to greyface- below since I am no…

The only fallacy being employed here is your own. You have to provide evidence that psychedelic use is somehow morally wrong, or that it causes a problem. So far you have presented no evidence to that end.

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#104

Doesn't california have a massive drug problem and literal armies of drug addicts shitting in the streets and harassing families and tax-payers? How will this help?

It seems much more likely that the people shitting in the streets are actually people who have nowhere else to shit. That's what happens when you have a lot of homeless people in a very urbanized area and don't do anything to help them except 'kindly' pretend they don't exist.

Unfortunately, they usually have plenty of acceptable places to defecate. The fact that they are not always used is mostly due to the effects of coming down off of opioids. See the Trainspotting toilet scene as an example.

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That last 5% are not going to handle psychedelics well I imagine the ratios are similar for alcohol, cannabis and tobacco. Subjecting the 95% to threats of fines and jail time for the 5% is wrong. But it would make sense to use this new tax base as a platform for addressing our homeless and mental health problems.

Kamala Harris sent Californians away for long haul prison sentences on drug-related infractions. Anyone here who thinks mass incarceration improves society should explain their reasoning, because I really don’t understand. Also the parent commenter on “tax base” is misguided. We’re not talking about legalizing and taxing drugs, just not locking people up for victimless crimes.

> We’re not talking about legalizing and taxing drugs, just not locking people up for victimless crimes

This bill isn’t. I am.

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#106

Whenever I have taken psychedelic drugs (mushrooms), or taken cannabis, it has often made me more paranoid. Has there been any research into how psychedelic drugs may fuel conspiracy theories?

Susceptibility fuels conspiracy theories.

These substances can make you more susceptible.

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the area of the country with the biggest drug problem is Appalachia [1]. California is better than most states in terms of drug overdose deaths. And as others have pointed out, psychedelics aren't really the problematic drugs. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/drug_poisoning_mor...

While true, I'm not certain that drug overdoses directly correlates with homelessness, which is what I think the parent was highlighting.

> I'm not certain that drug overdoses directly correlates with homelessness,

No, but it does correlate with drug addiction.

> which is what I think the parent was highlighting.

They were attempting to insinuate that the homelessness problem.in California was due to “literal armies of drug addicts” and not prosperity combined with economic inequality resulting in housing price out of reach of more of the lower end of the working class than is the case in the country as a whole.

The real nature of California’s homelessness problem makes this law largely irrelevant to it, and vice versa.

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it did. Traffic deaths in Colorado have grown much faster than the population and much more than the national rate, since legalization.

That doesn't mean it made people's opinion of driving high more favorable. It could just mean more people are high period, but the rate of people who drive high remained the same.

Well, okay. I guess we’d have to read their minds to resolve this question. They might be less afraid of consequences for getting caught with weed, or caught while high, it being “just” a DUI.

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#109
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time when people call something "degenerate" it seems like they're making an argument based on the idea that progress depends on self-control and personal sovereignty. Everything I see labeled that way, psychedelics included, has a reputation of being either a cause of loss of self-control or a consequence of lacking self-control. If you want to be in the habit of understanding people who use words like t…

You're trying to reframe the problem around the people who call it out. That's a good way to distract from said problem but not a way to address it. That kind of drug usage is a manifestation of degeneracy, itself part of a bigger cultural trend. Fixing the symptoms (or rather, absorbing them into legality so they seem less noteworthy) won't get rid of the root cause. edit: to respond to greyface- below since I am no…

You've rebutted an unrelated discussion about your motives without backing up your claims. What exactly makes taking psychedelics a degenerate act? What leads you to believe it is a result of degeneracy?

Re: California Bill to Decriminalize Psychedelics Is Approved by Senate

#110
post #48

I strongly support decriminalization, but I'm curious: are people in California getting arrested for the possession of psychedelics for personal use in any real numbers? That is, is this bill going to change anything on the ground, or is it just a step in the right direction?

Any number above 0 is too high. I would bet good money they're still arresting thousands of people a year on psychedelics possession charges.
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