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This is a fantastic article and I intend to spend more time reading it in detail. Articles about psychedelics tend to be either dismissive or full of woo and t
by empath75 8y ago
This is a fantastic article and I intend to spend more time reading it in detail.
Articles about psychedelics tend to be either dismissive or full of woo and this takes them seriously as tools to better understand the physical basis of human consciousness.
A major thing I took away from my experience with lsd and mdma was how impossible it seemed that such a small amount of material could so utterly transform my experience of the world.
Anything that does that seems like it must be a powerful tool for understanding what the brain does. I’m glad that scientists and the establishment are finally taking it seriously.
I think the first and second waves of scientific research (as he calls them) ran aground after the early pioneers couldn’t resist evangelizing. The current generation seems to have learned the dangers of becoming another Timothy Leary and have remained clinical and detached in their descriptions.
- rootw0rm 8y agoI'm not sure about that (re: evangelizing). Dr. Shulgin was pretty enthusiastic. I have every book of theirs, autographed. Dr. Nichols is fairly clinical though. I don't know who the up and comers are in the field, but they'll have some huge shoes to fill.
- WillReplyfFood 8y agoThats what drugs do, they overwrite the brain patterns to recommend a one size-fits all solution to all problems - more drug - or more drug research. Its called psychological addiction - the you ceases to be, and the it becomes me. Have i told you how great mdma is. Everyone should try it. I never would have expected that overriding my reward system would reveal my normal life to be such a bland mess and ilusion.
- toomanybeersies 8y agoAlcohol is actually quite unique in how it requires such a large dose in order to have an effect. An active dose of ethanol for an average person is somewhere in the realm of 10-50 grams (depending a lot on the size of the person and their tolerance). Most drugs have an active dose in the <100 mg dose, LSD is particularly low, at <100µg.
- blkhp19 8y agoAs someone who recently tried MDMA, I second this. Marijuana gives me intense anxiety, so I was very nervous to take something “hard” like MDMA. I couldn’t be happier that I took the risk and tried it. I suspect that my first time “rolling” permanently changed pathways in my brain in one of the best ways possible; on MDMA, I experienced what it felt like to feel unconditional love for complete strangers around me. I genuinely felt like I cared and wanted to connect with everyone. I saw beauty in people I wouldn’t even notice in my normal, routine life. This, of course, was an artificially created and temporary feeling, but 6 months later, I still feel the affects from that night. After trying MDMA, I’m convinced that the fastest way to change yourself is through drugs. Neuroplasticity goes down as you get older, but it seems like certain drugs can accelerate changes to your brain anyways. I have yet to try psychedelics, but can understand how they would have similar, mind altering affects. I recognize a lot of this is pseudoscience and needs to be better understood, so I’m happy to see research is being done. Drugs can be a very dangerous thing, but they can also have some extremely positive affects. Figuring out how to maximize benefits while reducing risk is something that I believe will benefit many people.