Yes, no victim, no crime.
Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
111–120 of 199 posts
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#112The headline's question should really be reframed to question the validity of these restrictions in the first place. I'm not a user of any of these sorts of substances, nor condone them, but there's zero reason for a free country to police personal use of such things. Sure, driving under the influence should be policed as a safety hazard, showing up to work out of your gourd should still get you fired, etc. But there…
"but there's zero reason for a free country to police personal use of such things." There are a lot of reasons. The people on HN and their social circles are waaay on the high end of conscientiousness. They have nary any risk from something like LSD for the most part. But - wide open and fairly unregulated use? Available at the corner store? So many types will try it, more than a few times. Younger kids will definite…
Just curious, how do you know your neighbors are smoking crack?
Is it making a come-back?
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can get certain psychedelics right now with absolutely no regulation, even children can do it: Walmart sells packets of ~60 morning glory seeds, it only takes a few hundred to have a pretty good high with visuals and everything. (use a coffee grinder because they’re hard enough to break your teeth and unlike LSD they will make you very nauseous) No one will stop you from buying these. Also, Mushrooms grow in the…
>Walmart sells packets of ~60 morning glory seeds, it only takes a few hundred to have a pretty good high with visuals and everything. Stop believing the stuff you read online. If they are hallucinating, it's from the pesticides or the methylmercury coating the seeds as a fungicide combined with a heavy dose of placebo.
Morning glory seeds are certainly hallucinogenic.
Not sure if the variety sold at Walmart will produce an effect. Also not sure if they’ve been treated with something to make you ill.
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 'Legalizing hard drugs' is kind of a theoretical issue because I think it's hard for us to contemplate what actual widespread use would look like You're conflating "this is now legal" with "lots of people will start using". Aside from that point, I think we can make an educated guess about what will happen if you extrapolate even a little from countries where they are decriminalized. It obviously doesn't map one to…
>You're conflating "this is now legal" with "lots of people will start using". I always love that argument "but Bobby and Sally Sue are going to start shooting up heroin on the playground at recess if we make it legal!!!" or... "hey they made heroin legal" "Fancy that, so what time did you want to see this movie?"
Exactly.
As far as I know Nickleback is still legal and we don’t see widespread use.
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a correlation between people who develop serious mental illness and people who take LSD. The effect you are describing guarantees this (under very weak and sensible assumptions).
Not really, because if there's no LSD there will be another trigger. People are sane forever or eventually have breakdowns, very very few people live on the edge, that's why it's impossible to draw a correlation out of the data.
Neither people nor LSD is as gentle as you think.
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
You said regulations. Regulations are set after there is a problem. In case of psychedelics, it is a law . If there is a problem, the regulation may be changed, and additional measures taken to get rid of it. The main issue with these laws is that they are speculative. It is actually very likely that nothing would change much if at all, except number of arrests and related costs. Oh and reduced cut for the black mark…
> The main issue with these "laws" is that they are speculative Sorry to pull that quote out of context, but this is just peak HN. It's beautiful. > Psychedelics have been available and used throughout history with few problems in ritual settings So we should only allow them in ritual settings then? > The real reason psychedelics were banned in the US is to have a reason to jail politically inconvenient people in Vie…
and yet we have not eliminated uninsured motorists driving without a license.
And, the onus is on me to have coverage to protect myself from such a situation.
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the parent comment is saying that a person taking legal lsd would spend significantly less money than a person drinking. Lsd and alcohol would compete for recreational time. Lsd would reduce the tax income from alcohol sales, and not be able to replace it with new tax revenue. Governments have a fanical incentive to keep lsd illegal.
>Governments have a fanical incentive to keep lsd illegal. They'd be taxing the sales of everything used to create it, they could require testing for purity, they could create an LSD tax, etc just like with tobacco and alcohol (and if they'd get their head out of their backside, THC containing products).
Take into account that alcohol comes in comparably big bottles and you need quite some of it to get drunk (if you are a professional of course). So, it is easier to control it's traffic than hunting for small pills which can be in everyones pockets.
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anecdotally, I was at a doof (bush rave) a few years ago, where one of the punters decided to go for a stroll in the middle of the night - head full of acid - and got promptly lost. Police search and rescue were called out, big dollar costs to the state, and while the kid turned up fine in that instance, it's statistically more likely you won't turn up fine in the Australian bush. I certainly feel that there's no abs…
I don't want to sound like one of those anti-alcohol, pro-drug people, but to continue with the anecdotes: I've seen people get into far more dangerous situations and states from drinking than I have from use of any recreational drugs. Anytime you hear about somebody being king hit in town, I can guarantee you the perpetrator has had a skin full of piss.
Your username encourages me on the truthfulness of your anecdotes!
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The main issue with these "laws" is that they are speculative Sorry to pull that quote out of context, but this is just peak HN. It's beautiful. > Psychedelics have been available and used throughout history with few problems in ritual settings So we should only allow them in ritual settings then? > The real reason psychedelics were banned in the US is to have a reason to jail politically inconvenient people in Vie…
Of ritual settings, some are allowed already. Perhaps also should be allowed in a medical and research setting which would mean schedule 2 or 3. However, abuse potential or evidence of harm should be first demonstrated before scheduling a substance this high.
So, there is no abuse problem with current Schedule 2 and 3 substances?
Re: Should We Loosen the Restrictions on Psychedelics?
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have plenty of experience with all kinds of psychedelics and don't think they should be available in your local corner store. Hard to explain why. I like to think I have a higher than average understanding about them and they've still dragged me through hell on one or two occasions. Holland already did this experiment since you used to be able to buy mushrooms over the counter. Quite a few tourists lost their minds…
> Anyway everyone knows you don't find acid, acid finds you. What does that mean?
There is a commonly held belief in the Psychedelics community that when you are “ready” the molecule will present itself.
Ie, you decide you’d like to trip at the Phish show and the old man next to you offers you mushrooms, unsolicited, after you haven’t been offered mushrooms for 50 shows.
That type of thing.
Also interesting to note that LSD & MDMA have similar origin stories. They were both previously synthesized and catagorized as unuseful and then interesting characters had a flash of insight to resynthesize them after decades of being dormant.