When do drugs become natural?

[darkwolfunseen]

Okay, so I could rant about how most of the drugs we see today were in one way another either first synthesized or first tested in a pharmaceutical lab, or I could talk about how most of the pharma drugs we use today are probably just legalized, consumerized versions of street drugs. All of that is obvious here, my question is a bit different:

I've found myself using various natural/synthetic drugs as balancing acts. If I feel sick/bad/tired/inquisitive, I reach into a psychonautic toolkit and pull out my own prescription, and try to fix the situation. I'm not completely against doctors, nor western medicine, I have just noticed that I can be more free to understand my afflictions and diagnose them if I just do it myself (I realize the dangers, and would not directly recommend this to anyone, it's just what I'm comfortable with). All of that being said, when did you first realize that drugs (outside of "prescribed") were a way to deal with issues/explore new worlds/understand things? And also, without making this too long, once you discovered this, did you try to communicate that to friends or family, or did you feel that there were too many external factors pushing against the rationale of using illicit drugs?

Thanks.

 

[Forkbender]

My second trip changed my life. I won't go into the details, but it is when I experienced firsthand the healing powers of entheogens. They have continued to add a few new dimensions to my life, that I didn't even know existed about 6 years ago. I have communicated this with a lot of my friends, who responded diversly to my enthusiasm. About 3 years ago I joined some other students to start a foundation (see sig) aimed at furthering scientific research into (the healing properties of) entheogens. My motivation is to ultimately change laws so that everyone that wants to can benefit from these experiences in a safe environment. I don't think any drug should be illegal, we should rather prevent misuse and possibly treat (1000x more preferable)/fine/punish people that misuse drugs. Openness and knowledge can help us take a look at the facts instead of the fictions.

 

[darkwolfunseen]

Very well put.

 

[Brugmansia]

The mind is the most powerful control panel known to man for 200.000 years, let it make it's most sophisticated antenna's palpable for detecting any possible forthcoming source or cause of a disease.

The doctor's task is to erase what we neglected; the shaman dives deep, perceives, remembers, memorizes and then sets the conditions to prevent that the disease strikes. They are no opponents, especially not if we understand and admit the different roles they're both good for.

Entheogens shatter life perspectives, only for the good if they are used properly with the right intent under the right circumstances. I believe no other path could merge us so much altogether including the same inclination of humanism.

 

[Teonanacapilli]

For me it was when I was new with Shrooms and took 7 grams on one night. It was one of the most traumatizing experiences of my life. I had to no sitter, just myself and my thoughts. I re-experienced the deaths of two of the people who were closest to me in my life. I had also been experiencing extreme social anxiety and depression before this. I cried like never before and was a hair away from suicide more than once that night.

I think that the Shrooms (as it has been experienced by others of you, I'm sure, with other psychedelics as well) brought to the surface these events and memories and feelings (anxiety and depression) that had been bothering me profusely for a long while and were crippling me and my potential. At one point during the trip I hid myself under my blankets, at the apex of my psychological pain, blocking all light and sound. I wanted to recreate the womb, the safest place I'd ever known. I found that after a time, I cast off my sheets and felt truly reborn. I felt whole. I loved myself, everyone, everything. I'm sure this sounds familiar to some of you.

That single trip was infinitely more efficient than any sort of pharmaceutical I'd tried to medicate my anxiety and depression, and took far less time than any therapy could have. This seems to me a much better method of treating those of us who are more sensitive than a constant medicated sedation. One dose, one trip, can be all the medication required. Now certainly, I came close to death and that is serious enough. But not as serious, to me, as continuing to live the way I was, in constant fear, self-hate and hopelessness. I tell you now, you know yourself better than any doctor or family member, or friend ever could. If you are in a state like I was, it is worth risking death to learn how to live.

So that's when i saw drugs as a way to deal with issues and come to understand things. The few people I have tried to communicate this to (the ones who knew what I was going through) were leery of the fact that it was drugs, but were happy to see me healthy for a time. Other psychonauts and recreational drug users understood it all completely.

 

[spice]

To the original poster- At least here in America, the common consensus among 'regular' ('robots' in Tim Learys terms) Americans is that if you went far enough down the rabbit hole to think like that, you went too far....

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I think most illnesses originate in the mind.....that being said, realize that this is why America is one of the sickest countries in the world; we're taught to be sick.

But, I digress. Anyway, the point I am making is that these people (here in America) LOVE DRUGS, they really do, but it's a RECREATIONAL THING.....everyone thinks if drugs catalyze change, then the user went too far....'that acid fucked him up'
they'll say.....ESPECIALLY if your value set was mutated....it never occurred to them that maybe that acid 'set him right'
and he was fucked up before.

You can't communicate a damn thing to most people in this country for this reason; conditioning.

 

[darkwolfunseen]

Word.

And also, for lack of a better way of saying this, the FDA and DEA have created an environment where it's okay for a human being at age 8 to think that too much energy is a bad thing, but to think that at age 30 if you're occasionally sad, you need to be pumped full of every brain chemical known to man.

That's the sad part, is humans were happier when we knew enough to be happy, not when we knew so much, that we didn't have time to be happy.

 

[Brugmansia]

The DEA have a point when it comes to eliminating groups and gangs who make communities stand or fall with the presence of crack, meth and opiates.

But on the other hand they should not stick their nose into the psychedelic culture or oppress individuals who get high with a responsible intent. Such a shame that peyote, mushrooms and cannabis are illegal. Or the worries one has prior before buying a tab of acid, like the supplier being a federal agent and that kind of stuff. :roll:

Their objective attitude towards the population seems to be completely absent looking at their given information regarding specific substances. Which tells me it's more of a lobby than an institution for the public care of it's people.

Oh, and I want to visit North-America anytime soon, do I have to worry after writing such a message? :mrgreen:

 

[Teonanacapilli]

Oh, and I want to visit North-America anytime soon, do I have to worry after writing such a message? :mrgreen:

Come to Canada, where peyote is legal

 

[Brugmansia]

I'm not one of your Southern Neighbours. :mrgreen: I can have peyote legally. Me = Orange.

I'll go to Can though, nice nature and a down to earth population, after all, they liberated us when the Germans took over. :axe: