3 ms·
A lot of this, I've observed in myself at least, was caused by heavy-handed anti-drug propaganda I experienced as a kid. "Weed is addictive." "Weed kills all yo
by orthecreedence 3y ago
A lot of this, I've observed in myself at least, was caused by heavy-handed anti-drug propaganda I experienced as a kid. "Weed is addictive." "Weed kills all your motivation." "Weed leads to other much worse drugs." Etc etc. Once you take that first hit and realize none of that trash is true, or is true only in the worst cases, you start to really question everything you were told...not just about weed, but other substances as well. Meanwhile, so many of the people telling you how terrible drugs are drink themselves into a stupor every night. If you want one of the most damaging, addictive substances on the planet, one of the few drugs where withdrawl will kill you, look no further than alcohol. But that one is ok!
Point being, the pendulum always swings. If weed is always terrible and always going to kill you, then when the pendulum swings, it's going to cure cancer and bring back your dead pet bunny. The truth is somewhere in the middle: it can lead to transformative experiences, but mostly just makes you slow, hungry, and often paranoid.
LSD and psilocybin and the like will probably end up being the same. Microdosing works fine for some people, not so much for others. Psychadelic therapy will be great for some and really screw up others. You can have people who get bad reactions to psychadelics, and you can have terrible therapists, and you can have both at the same time.
I definitely feel the need to allow this space to be explored, but with cautions in place, mainly via public education. These substances can open doors to different parts of our psyches and can open our eyes to patterns in the universe we hadn't seen before, and that should be celebrated. But they can also uncover horrors we were not meant to experience, and tear apart our sense of reality in ways that leave us much more damaged than we ever were before. Start small and start slow, and if it gets too much, stop.