Hey, i'm not sure if anyone will be interested in this, but I shall share it anyway in the hopes that someone is. This is an article I submitted for course work during high school - bear in mind I had to use various literary techniques & etc so it isn't EXACTLY what i'd liked to have written. Anyway, I feel the issues discussed in the article may be of some interest here.. maybe. The article was originally inspired by a TED talk of the same name I believe.
EDIT: I was about 16 at the time; this may be useful in showing that not every teenager using psychedelics is a how many bong ripzz deal ;p
The War on Consciousness
'Potential for abuse and harm' - the reason cited for the global 'war on drugs' being waged; a decision made on our behalf by governments to suppress the use of such drugs - those which have a greater potential for abuse and harm incite increasingly draconian penalties for users... in theory. Substances of greater harm will be scheduled to a higher degree, and thus, incite greater penalties. Generally, the highest class of scheduled drugs includes highly addictive and highly psychotropic substances - however, notable exceptions exist, namely Alcohol and Tobacco; don't forget, these are good drugs. GOOD drugs. Nice taxable drugs. Despite both substances being highly addictive and harmful to a human system, both somehow elude this strict classification of mind-altering substances through a history of customary use and a suspiciously excellent profile for capitalist marketing, yet both are more harmful than cannabis and Psilocybin, for example.
Whilst customary use spanning centuries could be an arguably valid reason to allow regulated legality, this logic would then have to be applied to other substances used throughout human history, no? No. You would think so, right? Well... nope. You may be surprised to hear that a rich selection of human cultures encouraged customary use of psychedelic plants in order to visit 'divine realms' (psychedelic plants which, by the way, have no potential for addiction and an almost non-existent potential for abuse), induce a mystical lucidity or to simply partake in ritualistic bonding with other members of their community. This behaviour is evidenced throughout history; the ancient Egyptians consumed blue water lilies embedded with psychotropic chemicals; Amazonians drank the archaic 'Ayahuasca' brew to visit the spirit world; the Hindu culture revered the legendary 'Soma' (a psychedelic sacrament thought to be the Fly Agaric mushroom); European circular tablets depict mushrooms curiously similar to a well-known 'magic mushroom' species known as Psilocybe Semilanceata; the Liberty cap (ironically also a class A drug). It is clear that ancient cultures considered mind-altering substances important almost to the level of devout deification. Such reverence could not be farther from the often ill-informed pre-existing paradigms present within our westernised society regarding mind-altering substances, most of which are engendered by a heavy bias in the form of anti-drug propaganda.
A steady and calculative state of consciousness is venerated by western industrial societies; such a problem-solving state correlates with the use of heavy machinery, mathematics, performing surgery, the conduct of science, business and war. Yet, the human psyche is capable of embracing other states of consciousness which chime to artistic pursuits, deep exploration of the conscious and unconscious mind and musical creativity, amongst a mountainous myriad marvellous mental planes one may inhabit. It seems an urge to seek out and explore these differing states of consciousness: after all, we are a society based on experience. The experience of companionship with organised societies or groups, the experience of windsurfing, the experience of mothering a child: it all boils down to experience. The psychedelic experience (arguably one of the most unique and revealing experiences a human mind may allow) can be achieved through a surprisingly wide window of opportunity which includes (but is not limited to) yoga, meditation, fasting and breathing exercises - yet, it cannot be denied that using psychedelic 'drugs' is the most efficient and direct method to explore profound states of consciousness and thus, experience - one which, by the way, is seldom forgotten for but a moment: we can see this evidenced in the radical paradigm shift of the 60s; fear was replaced with love: 'Are you experienced? I am. Let me prove it to you' - Jimi Hendrix. Soon after, Jimi moulds magnificent soundscapes of pure fucking genius - did his riffs sound like the musings of a madman? Or did the Beatles' 'experience' create a 'potential for abuse and harm' by spinning inspiration for one of the most influential musical groups in history.
The result of this urge to seek out temporary alterations in consciousness can be observed in the large numbers of people who use legal and extremely harmful substances which undeniably offer small changes in consciousness, i'm talking about cigarettes and booze here. However, for those whose curiosity is not sated by drunken stupor, it is a logical step to seek out other mind altering substances. Ironically, these substances are less harmful than those endorsed by the state, yet, require clandestine methods to obtain and consume, and thus they contribute to the blackest of black markets in which we are all involved, whether we know it or not. Therein lies great harm, for ensuring a criminal underworld is the only source of supply for such drugs grants enormous empowerment to said groups by delivering our youth softly into the hands of violent criminals and greedy sleazebags. If that isn't a writhing mass of 'potential for abuse and harm' then I don't know what is.
Edited by Tombc1 (11/25/13 08:17 AM)
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what remarks did you get? drug war dogma "drugs are bad umkay!" Haha
People never like hearing marijuana and psychedelics are less harmful physically and psychadelics have a very low risk of "abuse". I think there is a general belief that the higher you get the more dangerous it is. In reality we refined and purified already addicting and dangerous drugs, cocain-heroin-meth, so their effects and addiction increased.
Its very hard to be a raging alcoholic on beer alone. Yeah you can drink all day, but a majority of late stage alcoholics move onto distilled drinks.
I also think we have something backwards in drugs and what they do to people. People choose drugs just like anything else. Heroin/pain killer users don't want to be hyped up and crack users don't want to nod off into a opiate dream. All lazy pot smokers I have known were already on the lazy side. The people who like the same drugs as me share more in common with me outside of drug than people with different drug likes. I don't have friends who are drunks, opiate lovers or meth heads. I have friends who drink and get drunk like I do, but no alcoholics. I have no meth heads or vein bangers. I have lots of potheads and psychadelic users. Some haven't used psychedelics in over 20 years.
-------------------- The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but it is not paved with clarity.” -Terence "If you're not peaking what the fuck are you doing?" Dude on facebook
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