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Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

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281–290 of 299 posts

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#281
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

were you having break through experiences, or using a lower dose?

I think I broke through. But I haven’t done DMT before or since, so I can’t be sure. I definitely went somewhere far away in my perception, I felt like I had travelled a long distance. I was alone and I didn’t note the time though, so it’s possible it only lasted a few second.

there is no thinking you break through. you either see a portal open and jump through it into another universe, or you don’t.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#282
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s deterrent. All else being equal people will do less of an act if there’s a consequence. Why does it even have to be armed? Why not jail petty theft that furthers a drug habit?

I thought that Freedom was the most important tenet of the USA? If something doesn't harm anyone, should it be deterred just because it has associated behaviors that do? Should going to the shooting range be illegal because it makes people better marksmen therefore increasing fatalities in mass shootings?

Define "harm".

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#283

> New research shows that psilocybin might be an effective treatment for diseases such as depression and addiction. While the work is still in its early stages, there are signs that psilocybin might help addicts shake the habit by causing the brain to talk with itself in different ways. Interesting to see it might also help with depression because antidepressants are sometime prescribed to help quit smoking.

Depression can be seen as protection mechanism that reinforce rigid thought patterns in order to avoid runaway (psychosis, mania). So anything tiping the balance in the other direction allows to deprogram those behaviors.

This is related to the "entropic brain" theory, see https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.0002...

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#284
post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The risk is minimal while the risk of continued smoking isn't. The stories of personality change or risks are so overly reported on you forget that millions of people are using psychedelics daily without losing their personality.

the personality change is touted here constantly as a benefit of using it, and its promoted as a source for personal enlightenment. People here are talking about undergoing personal epiphanies and transformations. i don't think it's smart even granting their argument to have a drug with powerful effects being used to solve problems. And this is assuming it wouldn't also amplify and mental issues a person has or cause…

It's not anyone's decision to tell someone what to do or not do in their life.

The argument about cost on society also doesn't hold up since we seem to be fine with other "risky" behaviors. Such as extreme sports. Heck we actually encourage it.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#285
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The damages from the opioid epidemic are almost entirely due to the unpredictable quality of street drugs and, especially, the resulting fentanyl overdoses. Opioids have some toxic effects even without those overdoses, but the resulting deaths are more than an order of magnitude smaller. (People rarely die from constipation and hearing loss.) If you want to reduce the human cost of the opioid epidemic, you will favor…

>The damages from the opioid epidemic are almost entirely due to the unpredictable quality of street drugs and, especially, the resulting fentanyl overdoses. Wow. I knew the unpredictable quality was bad, but didn't know that the damages were almost entirely due to them. Any chance you have a source there?

I dug around trying to find the link to the study I'd seen, but I haven't been able to. I'd be much obliged if you could share whatever links you dig up.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a lot of words without much analysis. Can you please explain precisely how these studies are bad science?

It would take too long to do the subject justice, but I'll try to sketch it: The idea that psilocybin "cures" smoking addiction is like the "Virtus dormitiua" > I am asked by the learned doctor the cause and reason why opium causes sleep. To which I reply, because it has a dormitive property , whose nature is to lull the senses to sleep. We have no idea why magic mushroom do what they do, nor any solid scientific ide…

Not fully understanding the mechanisms doesn't mean we shouldn't use it. If that was the case, anaesthesia should have already been abandoned quite emphatically.

Of course, caution is certainly warranted with such powerful tools, especially as we try to understand them better. But if they are effective and can be used safely in the right context, then we should use them. And we have indications that this is the case.

So we must proceed carefully forward. I'm so glad that the multi-decade blockade on research is finally lifting.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#287
post #277
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really chewing tobacco, it's moist tobacco that one places between their gums and their lips.

Yeah but it’s _called_ chewing tobacco. Not sure why you corrected the commenter above.

At least in the US, I've never heard dip referred to as chewing tobacco. Only actual chewing tobacco, like the kind that usually comes in pouches.

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#288
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly disagree with the hypothesis that people are not responsible enough to make decisions for themselves.

> I strongly disagree with the hypothesis that people are not responsible enough to make decisions for themselves. Well, with all due respect, you've lived either a short life or a sheltered life. People have weak moments in their life.

You do realize that argument could be taken as far as to completely eradicate the concept of freedom, right?

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#289
post #187

This is the same fundamental dishonesty that pushed for marijuana legalization: the idea that there are "medicinal uses" and the drug should be legalized based on those, pushed by advocates of casual use. Medical use as a trojan horse for recreational/casual. I don't really think using a seriously psychoactive substance for smoking is good at all; it is something that can be done by other means which involve much les…

I don't really think using a seriously psychoactive substance for smoking is good at all

Why?

Re: Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit

#290
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got a habit I'm trying to break as well and I pondered using drugs. But I don't do drugs otherwise. How do you go about finding DMT?

You can buy pre-cursors (or known as analogs) like 4-AcO-DMT online from Lysergi. They are sold as a 'research chemical', however they metabolize into psilocin so it is indistinguishable to psilocybin. Obviously you should take every pre-caution before ingesting any substance by doing your own research, and looking into the authenticity of the supplier.

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