Eager to sidestep the strictures of Norway’s intrusive “nanny state,” [Pal-Orjan] Johansen and his supporters tap into a more freewheeling side of this button-down Nordic nation and point to a long tradition of nature-worshiping shamans, particularly among Norway’s indigenous Sami people.Religious freedom. Know it. Live it. Be it.
Also lending a hand are the Vikings, who, at least according to fans of psychedelic drugs, ate hallucinogenic mushrooms to pep them up before battle. Cato Nystad, a 39-year-old drum maker, EmmaSofia supporter and organizer of traditional ceremonies that involve psychedelic potions, said many Norwegians wanted to get in touch with their wilder, more spiritual sides....
May 4, 2015
The argument — in Norway — that LSD is a human right.
"EmmaSofia... whose name derives from street slang for MDMA and the Greek word for wisdom, stands in the vanguard of a global movement...."
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39 comments:
Sounds right.
Sure, and three hots and a warm bed too. And it is a human right for the rest of us to work extra hard to support you.
I agree BTW, that "religious freedom" is one more slippery slope. If only there were a God He could have created a perfect world, or even "the best of all possible worlds," which is an early take on Group Theory, I guess, where these kinds of problems had solutions.
That's why it is so funny to see liberals so earnestly believe that these problems have clear-cut solutions. It's like liberals are creationists.
The whole world is being Californicated.
Eager to sidestep the strictures of Norway’s intrusive “nanny state,”
But not so eager to give up the nanny state (Why the quotation marks, I wonder) entirely.
As long as their Norse freedom of religion doesn't involve slaughtering Saxons & Slavs, we can be cool with it.
I mean, the Frogs already gave them Normandy. This time, the pasty little fuckers will probably want the Cote D'Azur because it doesn't rain all the time.
"Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs."
Lord Napier.
This isn't religious freedom. Its a desire to get high cloaked in the veneer of religious freedom.
But let's all pretend its a serious argument, because gay sex.
@eric
The federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act was inspired by a Supreme Court case that denied a religious group the right to use peyote for religious purposes.
Did you know that?
Pro-choice religion marks the climax of progressive liberalism. With normalized human sacrificial rites, there is nothing that is no longer negotiable.
Pål-Ørjan Johansen sez: One day in 2002, I ate mushrooms containing psilocybin. It was my first psychedelic experience. The experience itself was of Biblical dimensions. Concepts that religious texts only refer to in writing became animated, alive, tangible. I gained a deeper understanding of my connection with others and how my past was effecting my present.
Immediately following my experience, I make a decision to take psilocybin once a week for a whole year. Every Sunday, I woke up before dawn and ate dried mushrooms.
Slowly, I quit using alcohol altogether. I had to take care of myself when I took mushrooms, and being unbalanced was not an option. Psychedelics led me to examine the destructive behavioral patterns that I was unable to face before.
Although frightening and challenging at times, the experiences were always enriching. We are right here, and nowhere else. There is no use trying to escape from this world. Coming to terms with that fact led to my personal freedom.”
++
Also lending a hand are the Vikings, who, at least according to fans of psychedelic drugs, ate hallucinogenic mushrooms to pep them up before battle
Didn't they have a bad season?
re: LSD and human right, what does the UN have to say?
"As noted in the Lancet Psychiatry letter, psychedelic magic mushrooms containing psilocybin are legally sold in shops in the Netherlands. Dutch police report very few public order problems involving magic mushrooms, and Dutch health authorities report that use of magic mushrooms is relatively safe."
Ann,
Yes, I read your website and have seen you post that before.
So what?
Madison Man,
It is a New York Times article. Consider the source.
"Vikings" did not use mushrooms. Berserkers did. The word means "bare shirt" because these idiots would strip off their mail, throw down their shields, and grip their swords with both hands while laying about them like crazies, which, of course, is what they were while under the influence.
"tim in vermont said...
Sure, and three hots and a warm bed too. And it is a human right for the rest of us to work extra hard to support you."
Um.
Not remotely on point.
They're not asking anyone to buy their drugs for them. They're just asking the government not to arrest them for making it or taking it.
This is a libertarian argument, not a socialist one.
Clint,
I have a hard time believing libertarians can be so naive.
They are already requiring free marijuana. Its medicines dont you know?
Step one. Legalize. Step two, require the government to provide it.
I suspect that any mushrooms that Vikings ate were early in the season. When they were more like speed than halucinatory. It may be possible to be a berserker while totally in the grip of a trip but I'm not buying it.
Wikipedia says Joni Mitchell has Norwegian, possibly Sami ancestry.
Wasn't Bernie Sanders just telling us that we need to emulate the Nords? I guess this fits too.
I remember an interview with George Harrison, where he was talking about LSD for some reason.
I was expecting something different, but he told of a time when someone asked him if he ever saw LSD under a microscope. So he looked at it and it was revolting to him.
I can't quote him, but it was something like seeing this stuff moving around in the goo.
Deductively he thought this was not something he wanted swimming around in his brain.
As I understand it though, the thing that killed him was cigarettes.
If I had any advice for future generations, it would be: find any drug that you like, just so you will stay away from cigarettes (any tobacco).
I quit after 20 years (1985), and 20 years later I still want a cigarette when I see someone taking a long drag and going ahhhhhhh.
"eric said...
Clint,
I have a hard time believing libertarians can be so naive.
They are already requiring free marijuana. Its medicines dont you know?
Step one. Legalize. Step two, require the government to provide it."
Doesn't matter what they might ask for next.
There's a 180-degree difference between asking the government to leave you alone and demanding that others pay to support you.
They're *not* the same thing. And there's no slippery slope -- especially in a religious freedom argument. The government (at least in the U.S.) isn't supposed to be funding anyone's religious practices.
"Eager to sidestep the strictures of Norway’s intrusive “nanny state”"
Sure. I'll believe it when they call for lower taxes and welfare benefits. And no more oil freebies.
Norway gov expenditure as % of GDP: 43.3. Gov revenue as % of GDP: 57.2.
Is referencing berserkers really the right way to make your case that hallucinogens should be freely available?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker
Is this a joke? Exactly one thousand years ago, King Eric I of Norway (Eirik) outlawed berserkers for obvious reasons:
http://www.therianthropes.com/berserker_history.htm
The young guy who went berserk in Madison and got himself shot is an example of why these drugs were originally outlawed, or used only in very controlled settings.
I have no problems whatsoever with exemptions from drug laws for legitimate religious reasons.
However, do keep in mind that that drug dealers have tried to use religious freedom as a shield against purely commercial transactions.
"It's against my religion" is both a very sincere expression of belief and a cheap excuse. What this involves I wouldn't hazard to guess. I'm not crazy enough to understand Norwegians.
Norway’s indigenous Sami people.
What does that mean? As opposed to who? The Turkish guest workers?
So... why does the NYT want to legalize hallucinogenics? They keep running stories about them.
clint wrote;
Doesn't matter what they might ask for next
This reminds me of Reagan and his amnesty in the 80's. Republicans were dumb then, because they believed they could get stronger border security if they just gave up amnesty.
Libertarians haven't grown up yet. Even though they see that Marijuana has become legal and after becoming legal, it's given away for free by the State, well, that's not going to happen with other drugs! There's no slippery slope!
I wonder what life must be like wearing rose colored glasses.
Give us legal drugs and we promise we won't use the socialist system already in place to demand it for free.
Next you'll be telling us frogs it's ok to give the scorpion a ride across the pond, because otherwise we'd both drown.
Lets summarize the Althousian teabagger chickenhawk reactionary christian philosophy most recently ejaculated by eric.
Freedom of religion is only OK if leads to oppression, hate and guilt.
Free markets are only appropriate for multinational corporations that can buy the government approvals.
Immigrants of color should stay illegal, in the shadow of organized crime, in sub-standard housing and work hard, dangerous jobs for dirt wages.
I've lived many years in Norway and I've never heard of this movement. Looks like the NYT is propping up a marginally group to manufacture what they think is a colorful story.
Howard, all immigrants should enter the country through legal channels and the government should enforce immigration laws and prosecute any human trafficking and exploitation. By not enforcing said laws and encouraging more lawlessness, obama is creating more shadowy exploitation you refer to. Not to mention the burden of millions on our already cash-strapped, bankrupt, country.
I suppose as a Christian I'm supposed to yell "oh nose! not the drugs!" and take to a fainting couch.
However, I am well aware of the case that led to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as were the conservative Christians whose support was instrumental in getting that law passed.
As a Christian I have no problem supporting other peoples religious freedoms, even those who follow another religion. As for the idiotic drug laws, in the US they are being used as an excuse to erode basic constitutional rights.
So the story that Vikings ingested magic mushrooms before raping, killing and pillaging is s'posed to be a positive selling point for psychedelic drugs in what way?
Religious rights are not guaranteed even with an RFRA. Govt can determine if there is a compelling state interest in proscribing the behavior. And if so, have to find least restrictive means to do so.
There is a compelling state interest in keeping lsd illegal.
Hard to imagine shroons being helpful on the battlefield.
Maybe the battle of the bands?
Now, coke, that's a fine battlefield drug. Speed maybe, if you have to stay up.
But shroonies? No.
I've lived many years in Norway and I've never heard of this movement
Well, obviously there isn't a Newspaper in Oslo printing all the News that's fit to Print!
Is anyone watching the dramatic series "Vikings" on the History Channel? They get into the Norsk religion, but I don't recall the series writers exploring psychadelics. I think back in those times if you were into getting high, you would be at terrible risk. They weren't nice people.
But I think if Ragnar ran for President, I would vote for him.
Next you'll be telling us frogs it's ok to give the scorpion a ride across the pond, because otherwise we'd both drown.
That's a good one. I am not a libertarian, but you guys make some good points.
Wait, wait. Isn't Norway where they have outlawed kosher and halal slaughter? Halal I can understand as it is patently inhumane, but shechita was specifically designed to be as painless as possible.
So LSD yes, BBQ brisket no?
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