4 ms·

I think your top comment is being interpreted as "not responsible enough to use [any form of psilocybin]" - that's how I read it until I saw this comment, which

by sjbase 9y ago

I think your top comment is being interpreted as "not responsible enough to use [any form of psilocybin]" - that's how I read it until I saw this comment, which makes me think you were actually referring to dosage safety and presence of toxins. I strongly disagree with the first interpretation: I can't imagine any connection between identifying plants and having the introspection and self-criticality to know if, when and how much of a psychoactive substance to use. But I agree on the dosage/toxicity aspect. Way more stochastic than what your everyday recreational alcohol or marijuana user is probably used to.

Alex3917 9y ago
> I can't imagine any connection between identifying plants and having the introspection and self-criticality to know if, when and how much of a psychoactive substance to use. So the precedent I'd cite is with Hindu ashrams, where they're not going to impart any sort of esoteric spiritual training unless you're already brushing your teeth every day, keeping your room tidy, can hold a job, etc. The connection is that a lot of the higher-level practices can be profoundly destabilizing, so ensuring that people are continually performing the baseline tasks necessary to be a semi-functional adult is a good way to reduce the likelihood of people completely losing their shit. With mushroom identification you need to join a community of likeminded people, put in the time needed to learn, scout the correct terrain, go to the right place during the right weather conditions, etc. It's not super complicated, but it's a good baseline to weed out the sort of people who become statistics after eating a handful of random drugs without knowing what they are, the dosage, the expected effects, etc. Whether it's making people pass a driver's license type test, making them identify the plants or fungi in the wild, making them extract or synthesize the substances themselves, etc., I think the best drug policy is policy that allows anyone to consume any substance but which discourages people from impulsively swallowing handfuls of random stuff.

by sjbase 9y ago

Alex3917 9y ago

> I can't imagine any connection between identifying plants and having the introspection and self-criticality to know if, when and how much of a psychoactive substance to use. So the precedent I'd cite is with Hindu ashrams, where they're not going to impart any sort of esoteric spiritual training unless you're already brushing your teeth every day, keeping your room tidy, can hold a job, etc. The connection is that a lot of the higher-level practices can be profoundly destabilizing, so ensuring that people are continually performing the baseline tasks necessary to be a semi-functional adult is a good way to reduce the likelihood of people completely losing their shit. With mushroom identification you need to join a community of likeminded people, put in the time needed to learn, scout the correct terrain, go to the right place during the right weather conditions, etc. It's not super complicated, but it's a good baseline to weed out the sort of people who become statistics after eating a handful of random drugs without knowing what they are, the dosage, the expected effects, etc. Whether it's making people pass a driver's license type test, making them identify the plants or fungi in the wild, making them extract or synthesize the substances themselves, etc., I think the best drug policy is policy that allows anyone to consume any substance but which discourages people from impulsively swallowing handfuls of random stuff.