Article - Why Are Psychedelics Illegal?

[Peata]

Seemed interesting. Below is first paragraph of article.

Why Are Psychedelics Illegal?
Article by: Tao Lin

"Terence McKenna viewed cannabis, psilocybin, DMT, LSD, and other psychedelics as “catalysts of intellectual dissent.” He wrote in The Archaic Revival (1991) that his assumption about psychedelics had always been that they were illegal “not because it troubles anyone that you have visions” but because “there is something about them that casts doubts on the validity of reality.” This makes it difficult, McKenna observed, for societies—even democratic and especially “dominator” societies—to accept them, and we happen to live in a global “dominator” society."

 

[Makrosky]

Seemed interesting. Below is first paragraph of article.

Why Are Psychedelics Illegal?
Article by: Tao Lin

"Terence McKenna viewed cannabis, psilocybin, DMT, LSD, and other psychedelics as “catalysts of intellectual dissent.” He wrote in The Archaic Revival (1991) that his assumption about psychedelics had always been that they were illegal “not because it troubles anyone that you have visions” but because “there is something about them that casts doubts on the validity of reality.” This makes it difficult, McKenna observed, for societies—even democratic and especially “dominator” societies—to accept them, and we happen to live in a global “dominator” society."

I totally agree. I think it goes far beyond that but that might be the first reason, yes.

Same thing for opiates... "no pain no gain" society. Same thing for basically every substance that opens up the mind and the body for love and higher conscioussness and *real* pleasure.

I think the problem lies in our jewish-christian roots.

What a wonderful world we could live in if we learnt and applied with care, love and knowledge the psychedelics (they aren't 100% safe).

We'll have to wait decades or a century or two for that to come, but it eventually will. It can't be silenced or ignored. The establishment was just afraid of such a quick change.

 

[CoolTweetPete]

It is definitely a mode of control.

The dissolution of ones "self", and the subsequent feeling of connectivity with everything experienced on a psilocybin mushroom trip, for example, is not particularly compatible with Madison Avenue's portrait of the "self" as the center of the universe.

 

[tara]

post 105114Same thing for opiates... "no pain no gain" society. Same thing for basically every substance that opens up the mind and the body for love and higher conscioussness and *real* pleasure.

I think the problem lies in our jewish-christian roots.

Wrt opiates, I think the Opium Wars were about GB forcing the Chinese to accept opium imports. England wanted China's silver, but didn't have much that China wanted. I suspect opiates are more likely to have the social effect of keeping people quiet and passive, not as catalysts for any great change.

I think psychedelics, esp. in appropriate doses, may be in a different category.

 

[lexis]

Iran has permitted some of them

http://ibogainefoundation.org/grand-ayatollah/

http://realitysandwich.com/219826/ayahu ... ufi-order/

 

[Makrosky]

I suspect opiates are more likely to have the social effect of keeping people quiet and passive, not as catalysts for any great change.

If you remove "opiates" from the sentence I would think you're talking about TV series, MTV, meaningless best seller books, soccer matches, and so on.

Maybe Chinese people just wanted to make their harsh life a bit more bearable.

 

[tara]

post 105245

I suspect opiates are more likely to have the social effect of keeping people quiet and passive, not as catalysts for any great change.

If you remove "opiates" from the sentence I would think you're talking about TV series, MTV, meaningless best seller books, soccer matches, and so on.

Maybe Chinese people just wanted to make their harsh life a bit more bearable.

Maybe.
My first point was that the restriction of opiates was not based solely in the Judaeo Christian cultures. The example was where a heavily Christian regime was trying to impose opiates on a regime that was not based in the Book.

But also, I don't think it was for nothing that Marx talked about religion as the opiate of the masses (and I think religion can and sometimes is more than this) - the metaphor was meaningful because people understood that opiates could have the effect of reinforcing passivity under oppressive regimes.
Of course there is a pull to comfort when life is hard. But just going for comfort can sometimes be at a cost of allowing the intolerable conditions to continue without opposition.
As I understand it, opiates are all about short-term comfort, but with longer term health costs. Like alcohol and some other substances. Those other activities can be some mixture of numbing out and avoiding reality, but also sometimes inspiration, creativity, encouraging thinking and observation. While there may be risks of getting side-tracked from life by them, it is also possible to spend some time regularly watching TV, or playing or watching sport, etc, consistent with a full healthy life. I don't know that the same applies to a significant opiate habit.

 

[Lightbringer]

I love what Peat wrote on this:

If the therapeutic value of LSD and related drugs (e.g., methysergide) with expired patents, used as antiserotonin agents, became widely known, the existing system of power and profit would be threatened. The war on drugs has always had its ulterior motives,including justifying domestic and foreign interventions in issues that have nothing to do with drugs.

Prohibition failed in the past and marijuana is being legalized - gives me hope that someday LSD might be legal.

 

[thebigpeatowski]

https://vimeo.com/56922672

 

[moss]

post 106196 https://vimeo.com/56922672

Thanks BP very interesting.

As Hancock says "the problem is our society hates the idea of exploring altered states of consciousness and use every power structure they have to prevent that from happening."

Peat writes
"Research on LSD and its derivatives led to drugs such as bromocriptine, which oppose the effects of histamine and estrogen. Some of bromocriptine's effects are clearly antagonistic to serotonin, though bromocriptine is usually called a “dopamine agonist”; dopamine is pretty generally a serotonin antagonist. Methysergide, a related drug with antiserotonin activity, is effective in protecting the brain from the effects of strokes. But there is a general disinclination to understand the broad biological meaning of these effects."

"I think the corrupt campaign against LSD played a large role in this: If the therapeutic value of LSD and related drugs (e.g., methysergide) with
expired patents,*note2 used as antiserotonin agents, became widely known, the existing system of power and profit would be threatened. The war on drugs has always had its ulterior motives,including justifying domestic and foreign interventions in issues that have nothing to do with drugs. And in the case of the serotonin/antiserotonin mythology, this “war” has been rewarding to the drug industry--Lilly makes over $2 billion annually on Prozac. Each suicide caused by Prozac would appear to be balanced by several hundred thousand dollars earned by the corporation. If the war on drugs were serious, this would be a good place to start. And in weighing what corporate punishments might be appropriate, this corporation's financial support for universal capital punishment should be taken into account. Many experiments have shown that estrogen is very important for aggressive behavior in animals, and estrogen promotes serotonin's actions. Some research shows that increased serotonin is associated with certain types of increased aggressiveness, and antiserotonin agents decrease aggresiveness (Ieni, et al., 1985; McMillen, et al., 1987) but the clearest research has to do with the crucial role of serotonin in learned helplessness."


Picking up on what Hancock says in the program here, psychedelic experiences do allow fresh dialogues and visuals to come forth and altered states of consciousness require an attempt to decipher or decode their meaning at some level, this can either be a truly frightening or liberating experience. From personal experience (30 odd years ago), this can lead to a brutally honest awareness about yourself or the universe around you, nowhere to hide and can lead to an opening up for some kind of a life audit, a re-positioning or re-orientating of oneself. Provided you are not hurting anyone what does it matter? We live in a very mechanized world. Psychedelics put us in a liminal zone and for many this would be way to confronting. Creative pursuits - playing music, making art, being in nature can offer just as valid and important dialogues and visions with multiple health benefits.

"As long as I had easy access to psychedelics at the government-sponsored research project, most of my energy went into psychedelic sessions." Stanislov Grof

 

[thebigpeatowski]

Hi moss! I also love what Hancock says about human beings becoming more creative (the dawn of art) with the discovery of various plants aiding the achievement of expanded/altered states of consciousness. Human beings ARE Creators.

People who are AWAKE are less inclined to follow mindlessly, more likely to think FREELY for themselves and value the power of their own minds. This is a direct threat to those who deem themselves to be in control....and that is WHY psychedelics are illegal.

It's mushroom season here in the Pacific Northwest

 

[moss]

Dear BP

So true!
Happy mushrooming and lovely to see you around here.

 

[supercoolguy]

post 105116 It is definitely a mode of control.

The dissolution of ones "self", and the subsequent feeling of connectivity with everything experienced on a psilocybin mushroom trip, for example, is not particularly compatible with Madison Avenue's portrait of the "self" as the center of the universe.

Insightful! Hummm...

 

[goodandevil]

post 105320

post 105245

I suspect opiates are more likely to have the social effect of keeping people quiet and passive, not as catalysts for any great change.

If you remove "opiates" from the sentence I would think you're talking about TV series, MTV, meaningless best seller books, soccer matches, and so on.

Maybe Chinese people just wanted to make their harsh life a bit more bearable.

Maybe.
My first point was that the restriction of opiates was not based solely in the Judaeo Christian cultures. The example was where a heavily Christian regime was trying to impose opiates on a regime that was not based in the Book.

But also, I don't think it was for nothing that Marx talked about religion as the opiate of the masses (and I think religion can and sometimes is more than this) - the metaphor was meaningful because people understood that opiates could have the effect of reinforcing passivity under oppressive regimes.
Of course there is a pull to comfort when life is hard. But just going for comfort can sometimes be at a cost of allowing the intolerable conditions to continue without opposition.
As I understand it, opiates are all about short-term comfort, but with longer term health costs. Like alcohol and some other substances. Those other activities can be some mixture of numbing out and avoiding reality, but also sometimes inspiration, creativity, encouraging thinking and observation. While there may be risks of getting side-tracked from life by them, it is also possible to spend some time regularly watching TV, or playing or watching sport, etc, consistent with a full healthy life. I don't know that the same applies to a significant opiate habit.

Plus today we have the, more or less, religious war against islam, and american soldiers protect poppy fields and heroin production facilities while using scopes with bible verses. Also the supression of buddhism by the roman catholic and soviet ideologies in vietnam, while protecting the golden triangle region. Obviously, they make more money selling them in unregulated markets

 

[goodandevil]

I watched an excellent documentary called "Gods of the New Age"; it's on youtube

 

[lexis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P3TrGCMHNU

Richard Alpert - The LSD Crisis

 

[jaa]

I don't agree with that even though I do think psychedelics can be beneficial to your brain in those ways and I would prefer to live in a world where they are legal. I think they're illegal for the same reason prohibition was attempted. We live in a society with strong puritan values and many people think if you have too many people altering their consciousness it's going to lead to a society of zombies and drop outs. It is a lot easier to taper alcohol consumption and control it's effects (in theory) and due to how easy it is to make and how ubiquitous it was in society prior to prohibition, prohibition did not work. The same is not true of psychedelics. They lack such societal support and ease of manufacture and thus it is easy to make them illegal. I don't think it's part of a grand conspiracy against opening up your mind and rebelling against authority, regardless of what Tim Leary or Joe Rogan say.

 

[lexis]

I don't agree with that even though I do think psychedelics can be beneficial to your brain in those ways and I would prefer to live in a world where they are legal. I think they're illegal for the same reason prohibition was attempted. We live in a society with strong puritan values and many people think if you have too many people altering their consciousness it's going to lead to a society of zombies and drop outs. It is a lot easier to taper alcohol consumption and control it's effects (in theory) and due to how easy it is to make and how ubiquitous it was in society prior to prohibition, prohibition did not work. The same is not true of psychedelics. They lack such societal support and ease of manufacture and thus it is easy to make them illegal. I don't think it's part of a grand conspiracy against opening up your mind and rebelling against authority, regardless of what Tim Leary or Joe Rogan say.

Why is preg banned in some countries? Why is progesterone considered a cancer causing substance?

 

[jaa]

post 106352

I don't agree with that even though I do think psychedelics can be beneficial to your brain in those ways and I would prefer to live in a world where they are legal. I think they're illegal for the same reason prohibition was attempted. We live in a society with strong puritan values and many people think if you have too many people altering their consciousness it's going to lead to a society of zombies and drop outs. It is a lot easier to taper alcohol consumption and control it's effects (in theory) and due to how easy it is to make and how ubiquitous it was in society prior to prohibition, prohibition did not work. The same is not true of psychedelics. They lack such societal support and ease of manufacture and thus it is easy to make them illegal. I don't think it's part of a grand conspiracy against opening up your mind and rebelling against authority, regardless of what Tim Leary or Joe Rogan say.

Why is preg banned in some countries? Why is progesterone considered a cancer causing substance?

If I had to guess it is because something something steroids and some studies (poorly done?) showing that progesterone causes cancer? That's just a guess though. I think it's very unlikely it has much to do with the illegality of psychedelics.

 

[tara]

post 106352 Why is progesterone considered a cancer causing substance?

In the studies showing cancer, various explanations:
- it wasn't progesterone (it was a progestogen or other artificial molecule)
- it was progesterone, but they didn't deliver it effectively, so the progesterone wasn't doing anything
- it was the solvent
- the progesterone opposed the cancer, but the summary ignored the evidence
- ...
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/pr ... ions.shtml