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 motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
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 Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized
#5922101 - 08/01/06 02:52 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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http://www.thebatt.com/home/index.cfm?ev...6b-e540194c3de7
Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized
Zach Bohannan
Posted: 8/1/06
Aztecs call them "God's flesh," Americans call them "magic" and the government calls them "illegal." Hallucinogens, specifically mushrooms, had been used by native cultures for thousands of years before most governments banned them. New research, however, has shown that these "shrooms" may actually have beneficial effects that must be considered by lawmakers and pundits.
The research, conducted by Roland Griffiths of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, investigated the effect of psilocybin consumption on 36 volunteers. Psilocybin is the main chemical in mushrooms that causes hallucinations. It was investigated extensively in the 1960s and early 1970s, but when drug abuse became a major national issue, most research ended.
In 1999, however, scientists once again began to investigate the effects and possible uses of psilocybin for treating psychological disorders. Griffiths' report indicates that psilocybin is capable of causing "intense spiritual experiences," and that many had visibly altered their lifestyle or outlook after the experiment.
Based on this data, it seems illogical that hallucinogenic mushrooms are illegal. One possible reason "shrooms" are still illegal is that some users, less than a third in Griffiths' study, experienced frightening hallucinations - so called "bad trips." Psilocybin use is not the only activity that can be frightening, however. For instance, automobile drivers often have bad trips if they smash into another car, but driving is certainly not illegal.
If mushroom use enables an individual to explore his spirituality, there is no reason for it to be illegal, especially when drugs like nicotine are still tolerated. Cigarettes and other tobacco products fail to offer comparable experiences, yet they have a higher risk of addiction. In fact, according to the American Heart Association, nicotine addiction is comparable to heroin and cocaine.
Psilocybin prohibition is the result of nothing short of anti-drug hysteria. To the public, the term "hallucinogen" conjures the image of violent criminals assaulting police officers while under the influence of PCP. Not all hallucinogens cause these types of effects and this fact must be recognized.
Another simple reason to legalize psilocybin and its relatives is regulation. Often, the users of illegal hallucinogens are minors who are not responsible enough to consider the drawbacks and safety precautions required for hallucinogen use. If some hallucinogen use is legalized, then it could be regulated, thus protecting children from misusing or abusing the chemicals.
Of course, one common argument against any type of drug legalization is what is often referred to as the "slippery slope." The slippery slope argues that if one drug is legalized, then all drugs will have to be legalized. This is obviously not the case, since in controlled environments, many hallucinogens fail to pose any long-term health risks. In some hallucinogens, such as LSD, there is a risk for hallucinogenic flashbacks, and in other categories of drugs there are a long lists of side effects. These are simple indicators of whether or not a drug could be legalized.
Prohibition of chemicals that can beneficially influence citizens' lives is unacceptable, especially when far more harmful drugs are legal. If a person can have a life-changing event without it being a near-death experience, then the government has no right to ban that. Perhaps when it comes to drug use, emphasis should be on personal responsibility rather than demonization. © Copyright 2006 The Battalion
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http://heffter.org
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BGC
l'amour pour leschampignons
Registered: 07/24/06
Posts: 21
Last seen: 1 year, 10 months
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: motaman]
#5922281 - 08/01/06 03:45 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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hallelujah
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"Education is an admirable thing."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"Behold, the bush burned with fire."
Exodus III. 2.
"Earth laughs in flowers."
Hamatreya
"Necessity hath no law."
Speech 1664
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PSylopHiLe
stoner
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: BGC]
#5922919 - 08/01/06 07:37 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Amen, i don't know why our government keeps things illegal without reason
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"Try not to let your mind wander, it might not come back"
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CoolMojo
Imagination iswhat you make ofit
Registered: 10/26/01
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: PSylopHiLe]
#5923466 - 08/01/06 10:20 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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The reason is simple economics. Over half the prison system is full of drug offenders. Most police organizations have a section specifically for drugs. Not to mention the DEA.
This country spends billions of dollars in payroll and buying nifty gadgets to help them with "the war on drugs". If we legalized drugs, the unemployment would skyrocket as LEO's and companies that manufacture equipment for them have massive layoffs.
In other words our elected officials don't want to legalize drugs because they would be known as the guys/gals that plummeted the US into a horrible recession.
Its far from the only situation like this in the US, the oil industry is the most well known "necessary" economic evil.
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makaveli8x8
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: CoolMojo]
#5923551 - 08/01/06 10:39 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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BUT, legalizeing these drugs will also create a MASSIVE amount of jobs as well...and people in the gov are smart enough to know this....there is always 2 sides to a coin and expesially in our society.....we have a gift of being able to profit from just about anything.....jobs have nothing to do with it....maybe if anything the lose of gov. jobs is whats most disturbing....they like having a cop on every corner to keep us from demolishing a gov we don't want anymore.
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  We were sent to hell for eternity  Ř h®
We play on earth to pass the time 
Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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CoolMojo
Imagination iswhat you make ofit
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: makaveli8x8]
#5923765 - 08/01/06 11:30 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Yes it could create new jobs but its not an instant transition. There would still be a transitional period of about a decade while new regulatory agencies are created and established. Its still the elected officials that pass decriminalizing regulation that get the blame for the economic hardship. Also bear in mind that regulating something takes alot less manpower. Case in point is the relative size of the DEA/prison system/LEO's compared to th e ATF.
Also I disagree with the cop on every corner statement, thats what the FBI/CIA are for lol.
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Cubenisseur
Mad Props
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: CoolMojo]
#5923922 - 08/02/06 12:16 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
The reason is simple economics.
Not really. Thats a by-product.
Cigarettes and alcohol are legal while pot, mushrooms, lsd, etc. are not, for reasons beyond economics.
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"The Budha Fa is most profound; among all the theories in the world, it is the
most intricate and extraordinary science.
In order to explore this domain, humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking. Otherwise, the truth of the universe will forever remain a mystery to humankind, and everyday people will forever crawl within the boundary delimited by their own ignorance."
-- Master Li Hongzhi, from "Lunyu,"
the introduction to Zhuan Falun
* The Buddha Fa--
the universal principles and law;
the way of the universe.
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CoolMojo
Imagination iswhat you make ofit
Registered: 10/26/01
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: Cubenisseur]
#5924012 - 08/02/06 12:39 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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The question was why they KEEP things illegal, not why they where made that way to begin with
But if that was the question, I'd have to say the main reason was ignorance, fear, and a dash of misplaced sense of morality.
Edited by CoolMojo (08/02/06 12:42 AM)
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makaveli8x8
Stranger
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: CoolMojo]
#5924121 - 08/02/06 01:07 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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i dunno but apparently mushrooms are hitting the fan....lots of papers in news.
so it won't be long now.....stock up on your slides or your microscope will be feeling pretty lonely.
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We were sent to hell for eternity Řh®
We play on earth to pass the time
Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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makaveli8x8
Stranger
Registered: 02/28/06
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: makaveli8x8]
#5924123 - 08/02/06 01:08 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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once bush reads that people are starting to realize that they arn't all the bad for people he will outlaw research on them to stop that kind of "negitive" thoughts from happening.
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We were sent to hell for eternity Řh®
We play on earth to pass the time
Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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Microcosmatrix
Spiral staircasetechnician
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: makaveli8x8]
#5924127 - 08/02/06 01:09 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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If all goes well the dems will get the congress back and impeach him next year
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makaveli8x8
Stranger
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: Microcosmatrix]
#5924136 - 08/02/06 01:13 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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*laughs* nobody is going to impeach him...they have been given every possable reason to impeach him and havn't acted on it.
but its not bush...its the gov. bush is just a pawn...for everyone to blame. i mean something goes wrong...we impeach the prez....but what this BLINDS us from is the fact that we need to IMPEACH THE FUCKIN GOV AS A WHOLE. we need king and queen...me being king of course...
but what im really scared of is next elections....a women is going to be prez....and that is gunna cause quite the shakeup.
but my feelings have been all this time that women have been influencing all these men in the gov on there desions anyways....now that one is prez its like there goals have been completed and these alien fuckers are going to close there legs, break out the whips and throw us all into the coal mines.
edited;
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We were sent to hell for eternity Řh®
We play on earth to pass the time
Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
Edited by makaveli8x8 (08/02/06 01:15 AM)
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ExplosiveMango
HallucinogenusDigitallus
Registered: 07/12/05
Posts: 2,330
Last seen: 2 hours, 17 minutes
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: makaveli8x8]
#5924857 - 08/02/06 09:44 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Of course, one common argument against any type of drug legalization is what is often referred to as the "slippery slope." The slippery slope argues that if one drug is legalized, then all drugs will have to be legalized. This is obviously not the case, since in controlled environments, many hallucinogens fail to pose any long-term health risks. In some hallucinogens, such as LSD, there is a risk for hallucinogenic flashbacks, and in other categories of drugs there are a long lists of side effects. These are simple indicators of whether or not a drug could be legalized.
Great article, this is a bit of a slip up IMO.
The writer drastically oversimplifies the lines dividing different types of drugs. This situation is a 'slippery slope'.
But at the bottom we don't have to have guns, we could just have rehab centers... why are you a criminal even if you ARE the victim of a drug?
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Know your self.
Know your substance.
Know your source.
Stop knowing what you are and realize what you could be.
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Dinkytowner
Ghost
Registered: 08/02/06
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: ExplosiveMango]
#5925114 - 08/02/06 11:32 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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There was a simalar artical in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press a few weeks ago. FRONT PAGE! let me find it... well here is part of it. I need an account to get the whole thing..
'MAGIC MUSHROOM' CHEMICAL SHOWN TO ALTER CONSCIOUSNESS
FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND STUDY UNCOVERS BENEFITS OF MYSTERIOUS PSILOCYBIN
Source: DAVID BROWN, Washington Post
Psilocybin, the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms," expands the mind. After a thousand years of use, that's now scientifically official..The chemical promoted a mystical experience in two-thirds of people who took it for the first time, according to a new study. One-third rated a session with psilocybin as the "single most spiritually significant" experience of their lives. Another third put it in the top five. The study,
Published on July 11, 2006, Page A1, St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
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MysticalMattH
Everchanging
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Loc: California
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: Dinkytowner]
#5926100 - 08/02/06 05:10 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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i agree that mushrooms should be legalized, but we all know that won't happen. the first thing that needs to be legalized in order for any drug to be legalized is marijuana. and thats gonna take quite awhile until that happens. so we shouldn't get our hopes up.
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~Mystical~Matt~H~
What we hear and see on television and the radio and any other form of popular media is a lie. Question authority and form your own opinions. Be sure to be able to back them up.
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BobDole
Stranger
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: MysticalMattH]
#5927233 - 08/02/06 10:38 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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theres gonna be a woman as president? We're gonna be going to war every month
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76degrees
Apprentice
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: Microcosmatrix]
#5929242 - 08/03/06 05:38 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Microcosmatrix said:
If all goes well the dems will get the congress back and impeach him next year
I'll second that. I've been calling for impeachment for over 3 years now. If the Dems get congress back, there is a real possibility of impeachment. He has done many unsavory things during his term. He has flown above the law for too long. I still believe impeachment is probable, but only if the Dems take Congress by storm.
As far as this article is concerned. AMEN! 
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The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.
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CoolMojo
Imagination iswhat you make ofit
Registered: 10/26/01
Posts: 319
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: 76degrees]
#5929319 - 08/03/06 06:10 PM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Oh man. Ok guys impeachment doesn't mean congress just boots somebody out of the presidency. It means that charges are braught against the person in office. Impeachment is just like being indited on charges. Unless i've been out of the loop, bush hasn't done (by this ofcourse I mean been caught doing, since its a safe bet every president has done things on the shady side) anything that would mean impeachment. You have todo something illegal. After your impeached it has to be proven that you did something illegal and THEN your booted out of office.
Impeachment is a very rare thing, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a president to be booted out of office, no matter who has the majority in congress. Its not that this or any other president hasn't done illegal things, its just alot easier to cover them up when you have money and power.
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debianlinux
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: CoolMojo]
#5940668 - 08/07/06 12:23 PM (2 years, 29 days ago) |
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I'll get this thread a little more on topic and up top again with a relevant link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/07/10/psychedelic.research.ap/index.html
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 Dark_Star
child ofboundless seas
Registered: 08/20/04
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Loc: A transitive nightfall of...
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Re: Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have benefits, should be legalized [Re: motaman]
#5940923 - 08/07/06 02:07 PM (2 years, 29 days ago) |
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This post made my day. WOOT!
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"That was some of the sorriest shit I've ever been around." - Miles Davis on Washington, after going to an awards show thrown for Ray Charles by the Reagan administration.
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