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First, I’ll share what other people think about psychedelics:
Terence Mckenna
“I think of going to the grave without having a psychedelic experience like going to the grave without ever having sex. It means that you never figured out what it is all about. The mystery is in the body and the way the body works itself into nature.”
Steve Jobs
“Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life. LSD shows you that there’s another side to the coin, and you can’t remember it when it wears off, but you know it. It reinforced my sense of what was important—creating great things instead of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of human consciousness as much as I could.”
Mike Tyson
Everyone thought I was crazy, I bit this guy's ear off … I did all this stuff, and once I got introduced to the shrooms ... my whole life changed.
It's scary to even say that. To think where I was - almost suicidal - to this now. Isn't life a trip, man? It's amazing medicine, and people don't look at it from that perspective.
I am cured.
Joe Rogan
“There is not a therapy in the fucking world that will get a crazy, sociopathic, egomaniacal person to really look at themselves like a bag of mushrooms will.”
I think of Psychedelics as biochemical technology and they’ll help save the world.
I’ll explain…
The first nuclear bomb was detonated in the New Mexican desert on 16th July 1945, by the US military as a test.
As Robert Oppenheimer, one of the lead scientist behind the test, witnessed the explosion, a piece of Hindu scripture ran through his mind:
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”.
The next month—exactly 21 days later, a uranium bomb detonated over Hiroshima, Japan…and the next day Nagasaki.
The bombs killed more than 120,000 people.
And this was at the end of World War Two—the bloodiest war in human history, more than 40 million people had already been killed earlier.
The Holocaust happened during this same period—millions were tortured and killed.
The 1940s was a very devastating time for humanity.
At the point where humans were at their most violent and destructive—when we suddenly had the power to destroy everything on the planet—a new technology appeared.
A technology that suppresses ego, depression, violence—and fosters a deeper connection to nature and others.
The first reported experience of LSD happened on April 19, 1943, when chemist Albert Hofmann testing the potential medical uses of LSD accidentally ingested 250 micrograms of the substance.
In less than an hour, during a bicycle ride home, Hofmann experienced sudden and intense changes in perception. He was scared and thought he was going insane until a doctor reassured him he was physically fine and he began to enjoy his experience.
Hofmann later wrote:
... Little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in colored fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux ...
This accident gave birth to the modern psychedelic revolution and April 19th is celebrated as Bicycle Day by psychedelic enthusiasts around the world.
Throughout the 1950s, mainstream media reported LSD research and its growing use in psychiatry.
After observing mushroom use in a ritual ceremony in Mexico, mycologist Gordon Wasson brought back some to Albert Hofmann, who isolated the active ingredient. He discovered the psychedelic Psilocybin.
During this period, Psychedelics, both new and old entered the mainstream.
But in the late 1960s, psychedelics were declared illegal in the US. The Food and Drug Administration shut down all research, and psychedelic therapy was forced underground.
The reason the government gave for this ban was media reports of 'bad trips', psychosis, accidental deaths, and suicides.
Though if we look at the addiction/harm potential of psychedelics compared to legal drugs we’d question this line of reasoning.
The higher a drug is on the chart below the more addictive it is. And the drugs closer to the right are easier to die from overdosing1:
Heroin is at the top of this chart—very addictive with a high chance of fatal overdose.
LSD is on the opposite end.
A long way behind Alcohol and Nicotine…which are still legal.
Bad trips are one reason for the ban but probably another is that Psychedelics disrupt thought structures.
The 60s was the period of the Vietnam war and a counterculture of mostly young people who opposed the war and other American ideals. They very publicly took and advocated for psychedelic use.
Psychedelics pull you outside of what you’ve been told your entire life and let you see the world with new eyes.
If you want a docile populace, who will simply do whatever the government tells them…then Psychedelics are a threat.
Thankfully things are getting better. A number of countries and some US states have decriminalized them.
Psychedelics are making a come back and after a global pandemic, an escalating war initiated by a world power, and ongoing environmental challenges…we need them now more than ever.
The Universe is a balancing act between creation and destruction. And nature is a self-correcting feedback system.
It seems that Psychedelics are here to prevent human destruction of themselves and the environment.
If we are to survive as a specie as we become more technologically powerful and it gets easier for us to annihilate everything—then these drugs that promote connection and empathy must become mainstream.
With the exception of some people who are more likely to have negative experiences due to existing health issues or age.
Everyone should take psychedelics.
But like everything on this blog, this is my opinion.
Ultimately, you’re responsible for your health so do your own research. Psychedelics are a powerful tool and should be treated with great care and respect.
Please take care of yourself.
To end with Terence Mckenna:
P.S.
I love this Vox video on Psychedelics 🌈
A great source to learn about Psychedelics is Psychonautwiki. They have articles on about every drug, their side effects, bad combinations, and experience reports from other users.
Chart of Drugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin
Great post Lenny 💗
I loved acid, it was awesome...I felt like my spirit was out of my body and I was just moving light
Mushrooms...damn that was a humbling experience lol
I’m scared to do either again bc my shrooms experience was so scary...