May 3, 2019

"The mushrooms saved my life.... I could see very clearly..."

"... I had people who loved me, which enabled me to see to make a choice — choose to be depressed or realize that there's so much more possibility here," said Kevin Matthews, quoted in "Denver voters might decriminalize 'magic mushrooms'/Veterans are the public face of Tuesday's push to lower the penalties for possession of psilocybin" (UPI).

84 comments:

Darrell said...

Yeah. Our society needs more drugs.
And goofballs.

rcocean said...

Please decriminalize Cocaine and Heroin.

They saved my Life. That and hookers.

rcocean said...

I want to thank everyone for legalizing Marijuana. It saved my life.

I've made a ton of $$$ investing in it! Keep on scarfing down those unhealthy addictive drugs. Baby needs a knew pair of shoes!

stever said...

I am pretty sure we aren't to the point when we can stop giving a shit and just expect someone else to be an adult. I realize that's a popular option and I am guilty myself but there are people who are serious about changing the world we might need to pay attention (Facebook doesn't count)

Anonymous said...

Heck, pretty soon the sober people left in Colorado will be making a kings fortune, as employers will be desperate for soberness on the job.

Of course.... can you be sober in Colorado? What with second hand marijuana smoke and drugs everywhere, getting into the food supply?


--Vance

stever said...

"Of course.... can you be sober in Colorado? What with second hand marijuana smoke and drugs everywhere, getting into the food supply?"

Don't forget the Rocky Mountain High. Its in Colorado don't you know

tam said...

I have to admit that I enjoy watching Jordan Peterson's lectures. One of the interesting points he has made several times is that his patients who have had experience with psilocybin have seen significant life changes as a result. It's made me very curious about just what the effects might be.

Fernandinande said...

Unlike the ludicrous and laughably paranoid comments here so far*, here's an intelligent Quillette article On the Eve of the Great Psychedelic Debate (stupid illustration, though)

*"Humility is the handmaiden to liberty, and some people don’t like to walk in the company of either."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

We have a pot head in the governors mansion. What do you expect?

daskol said...

I’ve heard from a few creative types first hand that microdosing shrooms is great and also helpful with depressive tendencies. Probably less harmful than weed legalization although not as much money to be made so who knows if it will happen.

gspencer said...

Back when SNL was funny, there was a memorable skit on the All-Drug Olympics. Colorado may be leading the way, but the other states are not far behind. Up here in Hard-to-Believe-that-Massachusetts-Was-One-the-Original-Thirteen the place's gone ga-ga for pot. The number of growers and seller - ya gotta be registered and licensed in our Nanny State - has gone sky HIGH.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAdG-iTilWU

Rob said...

Philosophically I'm in favor of legalization of most drugs, though seeing the stoned lost souls on Denver's street corners does give me pause.

JackWayne said...

If you get “cured” by drugs then you could just as easily have gotten cured by love, money, fame, religion or whatever. The question to be asked is: How many have done drugs and experienced nothing more than a temporary high? If that number is 99% then consider that some people should be allowed to use it under some restrictions. Ask also how many have been destroyed by it. That number is probably higher than the “cured”. Freedom is nice but it must always be accompanied by responsibility. NOTHING IS FREE! There is always a price. Notice that drinking ages have gone up. Tobacco the same. Why? Who thinks that freedom of drugs won’t follow the same trajectory? For my money, if you make them legal the corresponding action is to install draconian punishments when the inevitable fuck-ups happen.

wild chicken said...

Pot is too goddam strong now. Give me the ol seeds and stems.

RK said...

They saved my Life. That and hookers.

Mushrooms, weed and prostitution should be decriminalized. Who are the fuckheads who thought they should be criminalized in the first place?

Fen said...

here's an intelligent Quillette article On the Eve of the Great Psychedelic Debate

From the very stupid article:

"most people polled had no idea that these drugs have already been in medical use for decades and therefore can’t be expected to look favorably at the medical use of other drugs. But as the marijuana legalization debate is slowly being fought and won, in its footprints will emerge the great new legalization debate about psychedelics. Already in Oregon and Denver, where marijuana has been legalized for recreational use."

I'm curious if you can spot the fallacy they make. Don't bogart the bong while you ponder.

(paranoid, my ass)

Thanks... where's the fucking lighter?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"Psilocybin, on my shoulder, makes me high"
Denver
the Mile High city

Humperdink said...

"Mushrooms, weed and prostitution should be decriminalized. Who are the fuckheads who thought they should be criminalized in the first place?"

Fellow motorists?

BUMBLE BEE said...

Why do you think people find Cheech and Chong funny?

Anonymous said...

Having consumed both LSD and Psilocybin many times in my much younger and more irresponsible years, I would say that controlled dose LSD is probably the better option. At least in my experience. Neither are addictive or intrinsically damaging to the body or mind, or I wouldn't be here 40 years later to post about it.

--Rt1Rebel

RK said...

I've discovered who lobbied to make mushrooms illegal in the first place: Almira Gulch

rcocean said...

Drug threads always bring out the druggies. And those who profit off the druggies.

Hollywood film/TV producers have been pushing Pot for years, wonder how many of them got in on the ground floor of Legalized "Big MJ" - they're now making a killing! Smart dudes making huge $$$ off dumb addicts. But, wait, its all about FREEDOM. Its why the Continental army and George Washington froze those asses off at Valley Forge - Cocaine and Hookers. LOL!

Sebastian said...

"these drugs have already been in medical use for decades"

With massive, double-blind clinical studies to show effectiveness and long-term safety. Riight.

Quaestor said...

Who are the fuckheads who thought they should be criminalized in the first place?

Probably some ancient fuckheads who having thought what's the harm? paid no attention and saw their societies collapse as a consequence. Fuckheads like that.

Kevin said...

If it helps just one cancer patient or veteran...

Anonymous said...

@rocean

I'm not an advocate of legalizing recreational drugs mostly, despite being a past user of almost all of them.

The "pot" is too goddamn strong now, and it definitely causes brain damage. I'm fine if they want to legalize that weak ass Oaxian I smoked. Cocaine and crack are too addictive and will make anyone that uses them do terrible things, or at the very least, become unemployed. I am fortunate to have never used opioides, even when prescribed to me for surgery pain they didn't affect me a bit, but these are the real killers now.

Hallucinogens like LSD, MDMA, and Psilocybin at least deserve some research. I was too old to experience MDMA, but I feel that everyone deserves a glimpse at what these drugs can do in a consomewhat controlled situation.

--Rt1Rebel

Automatic_Wing said...

Put down the bong, potheads, and prepare to be educated by Sgt Joe Friday.

RK said...

Probably some ancient fuckheads who having thought what's the harm?

The 20th century isn't "ancient", unless you're 14 years old.

Michael K said...

controlled dose LSD is probably the better option. At least in my experience. Neither are addictive or intrinsically damaging to the body or mind,

My senior year of Medical school, 1966, we had half the second year class on LSD. I was student body president, so the Dean called me to talk about what he could do. We had medical students crawling around on all fours in the student dorm barking like dogs.
The Dean said he had talked to one student who told him that he would take LSD and go to the beach and the waves would talk to him. The Dean said he had said something about hallucinations and the kid said, "Oh no. They were really talking to me."

Several of that class dropped out and some others never finished internships.

Don't tell me about the benefits of LSD. Unless you want those people as your doctors.

madAsHell said...

Maybe some of the tents under I-5 in Seattle will migrate to Denver?? One can hope.

RK said...

Google "drunk driver kills family"

The scolds remind me of those who lecture about carbon emissions and climate change, and then hop on a jet to Europe.

effinayright said...

Fernandistein said...
Unlike the ludicrous and laughably paranoid comments here so far*, here's an intelligent Quillette article On the Eve of the Great Psychedelic Debate (stupid illustration, though)

************************

Since you've obviously prejudged the matter, why not tell why those first comments are
"ludicrous and laughably paranoid".

Bet you won't.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I did mushrooms in High school once or 2ice.,. Best drug ever. But no thank you now. If I laughed that much now I'd throw something out.

JPS said...

gspencer, 6:34:

Poor Sergei. Thirty years ago last year! Fortunately prosthetics have come a long way, but those early years had to be very difficult for him, especially with the breakup of the Soviet Union and all the turmoil in Russia.

Thanks for that link - great to see it again.

Known Unknown said...

I think the criminalization of drugs does potentially more harm to society than the drugs themselves.

paminwi said...

Yeah let's legalize everything. Then when you get in an accident and need emergency surgery YOU go under the knife of a surgeon who is high! Not eveything leaves your system even when you've been off 16 hours. And don't forget the EMS folks who might be high that came to get you after you hurt someone because you you were stoned and forget about the police officers who also might be high who are supposed divert traffic because you were so fucked. So, who gives a shit if they are high. Everyone will be in a great mood.

As you can see I am disgusted by the downward fall of our society. It's all about me and what makes me feel good! And oh, forget about the children who might need parents who aren't stoned. But, as long as they know how to look for crackers and dry cereal they'll be fine.

Known Unknown said...

"Then when you get in an accident and need emergency surgery YOU go under the knife of a surgeon who is high!"

Alcohol is legal and yet we don't have an epidemic of drunk surgeons do we?

buwaya said...

Mushrooms didn’t hurt me.
However, that we were also rather drunk and shooting off machine guns at the time may have been imprudent.
Still, all’s well that ends well.
Greatest New Years beach party ever.

RK said...

I think a six-pack of Budweiser should be a Schedule 1 drug. C'mon, think of the damage you can do while inebriated. What if everybody drank an six-pack first thing in the morning. Holy fuck! What would happen to society?!?

FullMoon said...

Clinton, Bush, Obama.
All used drugs.

Each survived and became President.

FullMoon said...

RK said...

I think a six-pack of Budweiser should be a Schedule 1 drug. C'mon, think of the damage you can do while inebriated. What if everybody drank an six-pack first thing in the morning. Holy fuck! What would happen to society?!?


Colt 45 or Old English 800, and I agree wit ya.

Anonymous said...

I binge-drank and toked heartily during my second fifteen years on the planet, and I turned out OK.

The search for altered states of consciousness is older, deeper, more profound, and more human than the cultural artifice of prohibition, which some here seem to imagine as ancient wisdom rather than as a branch of 19th-century hubristic scientism along with Freudianism, Marxism, Progressivism, and other ideologies of elite-imposed social hygiene.

Narr
You can see me some night with a soon-legal smile,



alanc709 said...

FullMoon said...
Clinton, Bush, Obama.
All used drugs.

Each survived and became President.

Now name a druggie who became a competent president.

Michael said...

I am reading T C Boyle’s new novel, “Outside Looking In”. About Leary and the LSD and psilocybin experiments beginning at Harvard. Non fiction on topic is “How to Change Your Mind” by Michael Pollan. Have just begun Boyle but finished and recommend the Pollan book. Pollen describes his experiences with the drugs in the very recent past and elaborates on the resurgence of scientific work, approved by the govt, I to the potential benefits of the use of both psychotropics.

Maillard Reactionary said...

We don't really have good treatments for many cases of depression and PTSD. These disorders ruin lives just as much as kidney disease or many cancers.

Anecdotal, and I emphasize anecdotal, evidence suggests that perhaps MDMA or related compounds, or some components of mushrooms, may be very helpful for people with depression or PTSD.

A known problem with natural products is that they are, typically, a stew of many complex molecules that are often hard for us to produce in pure form. They are also highly variable from sample to sample.

I suggest that a prudent approach would be to study these things clinically, like any other candidate pharmaceutical, figure out what the active ingredient(s) are, the correct doses, etc., in the usual fashion. And then make them available--should they prove more useful than harmful--to sufferers in an effort to relieve their misery.

It would be a merciful thing to do. Let the druggies do as they will with their own lives; others would like to have one.

traditionalguy said...

A mind with a mind of its own painfully out of control can be electroshocked to destroy brain cells or it can be chemically destroyed with various drugs. Both methods ease the pain at a high cost. The people pushing medical doses of peyote should probably not be Big Pharma guys.

Lawrence Person said...

The purpose of government is to protect people from others, via law, police and military.

It is not to protect people from themselves.

Legalize it and track the progress. And states and cities are the perfect "laboratories of democracy" to see what works and what doesn't.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

I think a six-pack of Budweiser should be a Schedule 1 drug. C'mon, think of the damage you can do while inebriated. What if everybody drank an six-pack first thing in the morning. Holy fuck! What would happen to society?!?

Colt 45 or Old English 800, and I agree wit ya.

What's the word?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

wtf is that BK Unhappy Meal real?

PJ said...

I believe Kevin Matthews understands his experience and is telling the truth about it, and I believe the penalties for possession of most drugs should be lowered, but I don’t believe Mr. Matthews’s experience is a particularly compelling reason to lower psilocybin-possession penalties across the board.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"I'll have a McLobemide, and coke, please"

Kelly said...

I have to admit that I enjoy watching Jordan Peterson's lectures. One of the interesting points he has made several times is that his patients who have had experience with psilocybin have seen significant life changes as a result. It's made me very curious about just what the effects might be

I took mushrooms and on a whim decided to join the army soon after (a light bulb went off while watching a be all you can be Army commercial). Peterson may be onto something. I had never given a thought to the military before.

techsan said...

Marijuana...the gateway drug for legalization of the rest. Why not...how can you argue against medical mushrooms..or medical cocaine...or medical heroine? Inch given...miles must be taken.

Yancey Ward said...

Devin Nunes is aiming at the heart of the Russian Hoax. He is directly asking about the evidence that Joseph Mifsud is a Russian agent as asserted in the Mueller Report. If you read the report, Mueller only asserts that he is such- there is no offer of proof, and there doesn't appear to have been any actual investigation into the question either, which is suspicious all on its own.

There is basically no evidence that Mifsud is a Russian agent/operative, and tons of evidence that he works with the FBI and the CIA training agents at a university in Italy. Indeed, Nunes includes a photo array of Mifsud with various well known Western law enforcement/intelligence and government officials.

In short, if Mifsud is working for the FBI and/or the CIA, then the entire origin of Crossfire Hurricane is a flat out lie.

walter said...

"I took mushrooms and on a whim decided to join the army soon after"
Hmm

FullMoon said...

Thunderbird. In a brown paper bag

Fen said...

Google "drunk driver kills family"

Weak argument. You grant that we've legalized one drug already resulting in numerous deaths from abuse... and that justifies legalizing another?

I'm a child of two alcoholics. I'm lucky I made it out of there alive. The sociopathy I exhibit here from time to time? It's a direct result of that.

The scolds remind me of those who lecture about carbon emissions and climate change, and then hop on a jet to Europe.

Why am I being called a scold? I don't claim to be righteous on this, more like: I've done way more hard drugs than you and more often so I have direct experience with illegal drugs. And I'm saying don't touch the stove, it will burn you.

It's not hypocrisy and I'm weary of pro-legalization people acting like they are hip or something and we're Mrs Cleaver.

Ray - SoCal said...

Yancey Ward,

This came to mind, not on drugs, just super tired...

So, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?

The question will the deepstate / Democrats / msm manage to make it so the general public does not realize Spygate is real?

Ray - SoCal said...

I have very mixed feelings on drugs.

In some areas drugs were classified way to harshly, not allowing research into possible positives. And s huge amount of money has been wasted on the failed war on drugs.

In the other hand, a lot of recent mass shooters were pot heads...

And there is a huge issue of drug use among homeless, that costs society a huge amount.

And meth heads cause so much harm, to themselves, and to society.

Several people I know are on the street due to drug addiction problems. One of them caused a lot of emotional hurt to my family, meth head. What a horrible experience cleaning up that mess. My parents tried to help, and it did not turn out well...

Leland said...

It seems like soon, the purpose of the FDA is to keep heart, diabetes, and allergy medicine expensive, get meat banned, and ignore mind altering drugs. Just ask the guy on the street the trade off on which drugs to take.

FIDO said...

Epiphanies and brilliance on the cheap. Better than religion, EST and meditation.

Quite a great sales pitch. But is it true?

Achilles said...

I don’t understand why people think the government is the right tool to stop drug addiction and abuse.

Normally intelligent people think the solution is to give the government the power to throw people in jail for using or selling drugs.

Gun free zones are about as effective as banning drugs and have the same moral roots.

tim maguire said...

Everybody acting like legalization is a sign of the decline of our society might want to remember that prohibition is a fairly recent thing. And for most of prohibition’s history, we’ve been in that decline you rue so much.

So how about taking a fuller historical perspective, admit that prohibition is a failed experiment in progressive social engineering, and move on.

Fen said...

I don’t understand why people think the government is the right tool to stop drug addiction and abuse.

Prohibiton was started by wives who's husbands became so addicted they completely neglected their families. Spending the check on booze instead of food for the kids. Liquor was not regulated back then, it was their equivalent of Crystal Meth addiction. Study the historical accounts from the perspective of the mothers. I think you'll find it interesting.

Another was opium addiction in China. Ravaged the entire economy. China went so far as to make use punishable by death, that's how much of a threat it became, not only to the nation and government, but to society as a whole.

Fen said...

This was interesting. China and Opium:

"A provincial governor observed that opium, once regarded as a poison, was now treated in the same way as tea or rice. By the 1880s, even governors who had initially suppressed opium smoking and poppy production now depended on opium taxes."

The more things change...

The foundation of conservatism is learning the lessons of history so we stop making the same mistakes every generation.

Gun free zones are about as effective as banning drugs and have the same moral roots.

Gun free zones disarm the innocent and advertise to predators where the prey is.

A more apt comparison would be: What if a significant minority of the population was suiciding by handgun, and accidently taking others with them?

Fen said...

And meth heads cause so much harm, to themselves, and to society.

Several people I know are on the street due to drug addiction problems. One of them caused a lot of emotional hurt to my family, meth head. What a horrible experience cleaning up that mess. My parents tried to help, and it did not turn out well...


I had a similar experience. Friend lost his job, wife and custody of his kid (thankfully). I tried to help him without realizing he was experiencing Meth Psychosis and what that exactly meant. It meant visual and auditory hallucinations. I would leave the room to go talk to the wife, and he would "hear" us "plotting to kill him", and he would react accordingly.

The visual hallucinations consisted of EVERY stranger on the street secretly being an FBI agent, and they were all out to get him. Even the 10 year girl playing frisbee. As we drove by people they would each "talk into their wrist as if communicating his whereabouts to FBI headquarters.

Logic did not work. I tried to explain those must be the worst FBI agents ever, when they should just wait 15 seconds for him to pass by before "speaking into their wrist mics". When I left the room to talk to the wife, I would videotape everything to prove to him we weren't conspiring to murder him. Made no difference. It "must have been doctored" somehow.

He literally saw and heard everything he relayed to me. MONTHS after he stopped using.His brain was fooling him. And everyone was out to harm him. You want to bring that home to your neighborhood?

BUMBLE BEE said...

Drugs kill more people every year than we lost in the entirety of Viet Nam. Let that sink in awhile. Each one takes a family down with them. Come to think of it, maybe you have a point. What business is it of the government to tell ME when to stop my car, when to go, and how fast. See you and yours in the intersection!
Watch Seattle is Dying.

tim maguire said...

Yeah, yeah, yeah...is that before or after the government got involved?

I Callahan said...

Google "drunk driver kills family

You realize this is an argument for making something illegal, not legal. Right?

tim in vermont said...

I don’t have a problem if you get a tatto saying “I am free to do mind wasting drugs and understand that I am no longer eligible for any govt support of any kind” or something like that.

I Callahan said...

I suggest that a prudent approach would be to study these things clinically, like any other candidate pharmaceutical, figure out what the active ingredient(s) are, the correct doses, etc., in the usual fashion.

Well, that’s the logical way to think. Thanks to the tort bar, that ain’t gonna happen. They used that exact pat to get OxyContin released. Now state governments are going after the pharma companies with both barrels. Which pharma company is going to stick its neck out on LSD research when 1) it’s already been done, and 2) one guy goes berserk and kills someone while under the influence and everyone will be suing them.

Tina Trent said...

There is no real "medical" research on psychedelics. I attended New College in Florida, where all this nonsense started up again after Leary re-surfaced. MAPS founder Rick Doblin was in his tenth or 12th year as an undergraduate then. He brought in sicko child molester Timothy Leary and they partied with the professors who "researched" with them, using college kids as guinea pigs.

I used to clean professors' houses and cater parties to pay for school. Saw a lot of creepy behavior that we were paying for with our tax dollars. State school.

The "research" consisted of handing out free drugs and questionnaires about whether taking the drugs changed one's life positively. Right answer, more free drugs. That model hasn't changed. My friends and I drove more than one person to the local mental institution.

When I was offering local-history internships at the school three decades later, I saw several disturbingly anorexic-looking young men wearing official MAPS shirts wandering around incoherently. Completely out of their minds.

Is this OK with everyone? Good. Hope it's not your kid.

And now MAPS is talking about how their ultimate goal is to have everybody experience psychedelics -- whether you want to or not. If you think this is crazy talk, take a look at their partnerships in the government, their political success, and their funders. And yes, Soros pays for a good bit of this and all drug legalization campaigns. The Kochs are kicking in too. These people have contacts in the highest levels of the military also.

The utopian goal is slavery through addiction, with a smiley face at the door.

tim in vermont said...

I once spent six weeks in the South End of Boston right next to the methadone clinic. Drugs don’t seem all that harmless to me. But I get the attraction, it’s like the old joke about the guy who, on his. death, is asked if he wanted to go to Heaven or Hell, he says “Heaven, of course!”
But Satan says, “Hold on a minute, shouldn’t you check out both places first?”
“I guess so,” he said.
Satan takes him first to heaven, where people are wandering around clouds playing harps and smiling at each other.
“Seems kind of boring, huh? says Satan, “no let me show you Hell.”
So they go to Hell and everybody is partying, there’s loud music playing, beautiful women dancing with all the guys, etc.
“I’ll take Hell!” he says.
In the next instant, he is chained to a large wheel roasting over a pit of fire.
“What the fuck?!” he says, “This is nothing like what you said!”
“That was only the brochure,” said Satan.... “Bwa ha ha ha ha!"

Tina Trent said...

@Tim Maguire: the prohibition that existed before Prohibition was you didn't eat if you didn't work. We don't have that now. Legal drugs in a welfare state means I will be paying for your 'right' to party. No thanks.

Michael said...


Strange to see the '60s returning.

Anonymous said...

The Sixties never left. That's the way major cultural shifts work.

The War on Some Drugs is just a feature of the modern therapeutic state, in which bad drugs are anathematized and good drugs are subsidized--bad and good being determined by bigotry, mythology, anecdote, and the economic interests of governments (especially LE) and corporations.

Drug use, on the other hand, is a historic, worldwide, need and preference masses of people, so my bet is with history.

Narr
After the Brits got the Chinese hooked the old fashioned way,
Mao got rid of Chinese drug addicts the old fashioned way.
Temporarily anyway.

RK said...

Google "drunk driver kills family

You realize this is an argument for making something illegal, not legal. Right?

I stated before that beer should be a Schedule 1 drug. Alcohol is a lot more dangerous than weed or mushrooms. Maybe the difference is that alcohol is more of a social drug - being allowed because of a critical mass of people wanting to use it. At the same time, less harmful drugs, like psylocybin or marijuana, are criminalized.

RK said...

It's not hypocrisy and I'm weary of pro-legalization people acting like they are hip or something and we're Mrs Cleaver.

It's not about being hip. It's about wondering why people are in favor of criminalizing anything they don't understand. It does seem very June Cleaverish.


BTW, psilocybin is legal in many countries. So why is it illegal here?

Annie said...

I'm sort of on the same page as Fen, though, I've never done drugs. For two reasons...

1. A remark from a highschool teacher always stuck with me - "Everyone reacts differently to different drugs, legal or otherwise. One person can take/try something and nothing happens. You, on the other hand, could take something and die on the first dose."

2. Observing others who get high or drunk, starting in grade school. I grew up in an inner city. There were/are a lot more negatives for them, their families, life trajectories, and effects on others (those they stole/robbed/mugged/killed). Then as I grew older, those who were regular users or came to work high, made my job that much harder. I worked, they mostly took up space when they weren't making mistakes I and others had to fix.

Recently, I've seen reports from AAA and various newspapers in various cities that have legalized weed, that driving under the influence is skyrocketing, along with it's fallout - 'accidents', etc.

Now let's focus in on Seattle. Did you see the documentary, Seattle is Dying? I recommend it. Legalizing drugs creates worse problems than them being criminalized.

Regarding the above mention of China resorting to the death penalty during their opium problem, I have no problem with that. At the very least, we should deny drug users any welfare benefits.

Achilles said...

Fen said...


Another was opium addiction in China. Ravaged the entire economy. China went so far as to make use punishable by death, that's how much of a threat it became, not only to the nation and government, but to society as a whole.

That worked for China because China is a country of serfs.

The reason our country and our society is better is because we are founded on the primacy of the individual.

We are Citizens. The inherent virtue of a Citizen is they will mostly do the right thing when there are no police around. The virtue of the Citizen is the primary requisite to having a free society.

Throwing people in jail for drugs is completely contrary to the basic foundational principle or our country.

Joe said...

People need to understand the confirmation bias in this. Someone takes drugs, is okay and perhaps even successful and sometimes creates a causative arrow in their mind. They see other people who are fine and it confirms in their mind that it's all okay. The cold reality is most psychotropic drugs cause physiological changes to which a large percentage of the population react negatively. But they aren't around to claim how good they are (being either dead, strung out or just trying to survive.)

Gospace said...

Blogger RK said...

BTW, psilocybin is legal in many countries. So why is it illegal here?


It's legal to purchase antibiotics OTC in many countries. So why is it illegal here?

Same answer. Because here isn't there.

It's legal for me, an individual consumer, to walk into labs in many states and order up routine blood work on my own body to monitor my health and we'll being. My son does it in CO. It's unlawful for me to do so here in NY. Only trained medical professionals licensed by the state can monitor my health and well being. I'm apparently too stupid in NY to understand what they mean

Meanwhile a nurse practitioner handing me lab results that said right on them that my A1C level was high enough to be considered pre-diabetic wasn't going to refill my metformin prescription because I have never had a blood test that shows I'm pre-diabetic, and don't have any risk factors. Well, aside from four listed on the government website. With 3 being enough to mandate treatment and monitoring. BTW, you will be happy to hear that not being able to read lab results is not a violation of professional ethics or standards in NY for nurse practitioners. Yes, I actually filed a complaint.

I also found a new health professional who takes diabetes seriously.

Remember- big government is only looking out for our best interests.

Known Unknown said...

"I think a six-pack of Budweiser should be a Schedule 1 drug. C'mon, think of the damage you can do while inebriated. What if everybody drank an six-pack first thing in the morning. Holy fuck! What would happen to society?!?"

You want a lot of people imprisoned.

Known Unknown said...

"Legalizing drugs creates worse problems than them being criminalized. "

I would argue it's not the drugs that are the big problem in Seattle but the laissez-faire approach to street living and petty crime.