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I've never 'done' magic mushrooms, which is something i regret, as i think i would get a lot out of them.
If there is hypocrisy to presenting an image that suggests these, without having used them, it i accept. --- -- The following may put things in context: .I've enjoyed marijuana and used it regularly. .. Some people offered me what i think was heroin once, (smoked). .Enjoyed that too, very much. .Was lucky and couldn't get more. ( One can get a similar slow happy feeling from sustained exercise: .the runner's high. ) .. Someone offered me crack once, and under the circumstances, (dangerous), it was probably best i took it. Again: .Enjoyed it very much. .Again: .Got lucky and didn't get more. .Dangerous drug, much too powerful. .. A very interesting, though intense and at times troubling, experience with a dot of mescaline... I became aware of spirits, my own and those of others, saw them depending from a life force overhead, or sinking into decay below. I could feel the "mass" of the walls around me; .experienced music dimensionally and in great detail. I was frightened of a dog who -- as it watched me -- seemed to embody the Devil. .. Never had any powdered cocaine worth calling that. .Probably just as well. .. Perhaps a few times with some kind of speed, but it didn't make much of an impression. .. Alcohol: .Dumber drunk fast than slow, but allergic to most of it and never really paired up with the bottle. .. Thought i'd take up cigarettes at one point... made me nauseous; .still do. -- __ I think the situation would be better served, nature better observed, and the more people better treated... if all psychoactives were legal for recreational use, up to their natural concentrations. [Unconcentrated] Drug use, whatever else it may be, is not an unnatural situation. Confinement is, prison is -- and should be kept for those who harm others, rather than (in the eyes of some) themselves. -- __
It helps to ask, (and, note to self as well, research), why psychoactive plants in nature would be the way they are. One explanation, please see Wikipedia on Nicotine, and Caffeine, is that these compounds evolved to protect the plant from attack by herbivores in general -- insects in specific. In my opinion the argument becomes less persuasive when applied, in part, to THC : .. ( If the seedling is the most vulnerable to insect or to animal attack, with the male and female equally so, why would concentrations be highest at the peak of a female's sexual cycle? If the stand is collectively more vunerable, as it would attract more animals or give spawn to more insects, why would isolated female plants produce a higher concentration? ) ; .. And it is not made, so far as i read, for Coca, (eaten by a moth's larvae); or Opium. Lastly, their articles for Psilocybin mushrooms, (and Psilocybin itself), (as of 23 Dec 2007), make no mention of insecticidal properties and report toxicity as lower than that of, respectively, aspirin or caffiene. Also worth noting is that toxic to some is not (necessarily) toxic to all. .Chocolate is poisonous to cats, but not humans. .Reason? -- -- It is worth considering whether psychoactive mutation propagated among plants because this would place them in symbiosis with those animals, (humans included), of the area which could spread them. .. 'Thinking animals', [deer have been known to raid cannabis crops, wild turkey are said to develop a taste for ginseng, cats do go wild on catnip, (it's real), and reindeer are said to have a similar time after eating fly-agaric, (which is toxic)], might consume them, on purpose, and without paying much mind pass some of the seed (where applicable) intact with their stool. .. Which landing [or buried, (cats),] in a place not too near or too far, would have fertilizer and moisture wrapped around for a good start. In the case of mushrooms and toadstools, it might be the coat or muzzle of the browsing animal the tiny spore would cling to... to be dropped off in browsings nearby; with more of the manure or symbiont trees the organism would favor likely about. -- -- Here it is useful to recall the 'effort' many plants go to to wrap their seed in food - often sweet food - 'known' to be attractive to animals. The apple which falls and rots is unlikely to produce a new tree ... nor would directly below or beside the parent be its best placement. Plants may have developed 'an understanding' with the animal: .food for fertilizer, (manure), and the dispersion of seed. Mind altering substances, particularly those which induce euphoria, could be seen as a novel strategy to this game - - one requiring less energy, (but more specialization), of the plant - - while allowing it to attract animals whose food needs were already met. This is a context within which one could hypothetically, and perhaps only partially, explain the potency of sinsemilla. As cannabis is wind pollinated, any stand of same - which in the wild should have a roughly equal gender balance - will see pollination fairly early in its cycle and thus not achieve maximum THC content, as this rises until pollination. However, an isolated female plant will, statistically, see pollination later and thus become more potent. It is also this plant which has the stronger reproductive imperative, and whose progeny may have more room to grow. Animals familiar with, and fond of, marijuana's effects will likely visit the stand first, as there is more to consume. In time they will learn that the isolated plant is worth the excursion. -- -- But in pursuing this logic, it is important to pay attention to where these plants grow. Coca for instance, a stimulant, is native to the equatorial Andes - - where its sustainable niche could have been helping people and animals cope with the altitude. Coffee and tea are also partial to tropical mountains, with caffeine also a stimulant, (as well as an insecticide). ( Here, one could propose having excise taxes higher for stimulants sold at low altitude. ) But the mutual usefulness of a drug which would encourage animals to defoliate a plant is less clear. Nipping off the top of a stalk or end of a stem encourages the bushing out of a plant... (there's one thing). If it became known to the animal that the best concentrations were in the growing ends, not the established leaf, it would at least be less likely to become fatally stripped; .And the animal would still leave its excrement - - (consider here the habit of territorial urination) - - which may be a welcome thing for plants in thin, possibly nitrogen-poor mountain soil. .. Limited eating of older leaves might, (plausibly), play a role in keeping a plant healthy in environments where the growing season lasts year round. It is said that kept indoors, the coca plant will periodically drop all leaves before flushing out with new growth. It is also said that while coca grows best in steamy environments, the choice leaves come from plants in drier ones. And further, it is said the coca seed is highly vulnerable to dehydration - must be kept moist to remain viable, even for a short time - and when so kept will germinate easily. .It does not seem illogical to suggest that the presence of coca beyond the jungle is testimony to an animal or a human action; And that if it is the former, the method of transport would have been the gut. -- __ .. .. -- --- So there's that. .It's a dream, obviously. .And i don't mean to characterize the natural drug as harmless. A better characterization would be 'commanding of respect'. Something with the potential to modify the working of that thing we call ourselves. With this comes a measure of hazard. .. But to disallow the opportunity by citing the hazard, is akin to rejecting the view by avoiding the cliff. There are times that hazard would better make a person careful, than averse. -- -- The cycle of plants provides some suggestion as to how nature intended them to be used. Drugs involved in flowering and reproduction, such as cannabis and opium -- arguably peyote and mushrooms - - tend to be more powerful, (or more concentrated), than those contained in leaf. Nature seems to have 'in mind' repeatable use during a certain time of year; .followed by withdrawal until it returns. Plants such as coca and tea, containing a resident concentration in their leaf, seem to be intended for regular use - - in the context of where they grow. .Particularly for coca, by those traversing difficult terrain in thin air. It seems to be a part of the 'plan' that absent physical need, sustainable drug use should include long periods without. This gives the brain, (seat of the mind), and body chance to return to, (or close to), and stabilize within or near, previous chemistries. As people with experience will I think commonly attest, one should expect to feel the exact opposite way the drug had one feeling. Happy drugs make a person sad on withdrawal, mellow drugs leave angrily, sharp ones depart in fog. .This is their cycle. By respecting and following the cycle to completion, (difficult in a day of global supply), the user enters the next one best prepared to enjoy. -- -- It should also be noted, though, that some people do not react well to certain substances; and that some, particularly opiates, build up a tolerance in their users which can dangerously mislead the beginner. There is also the possibility of allergic reactions; .e.g. people allergic to poppy seeds should probably avoid opium. Should one find oneself curious, and determined to experiment; .it would be prudent to start with small amounts. Importantly: .Of those concentrations nature itself would provide; .which in some cases are difficult to find. There is always the logic that says, "more of a good thing is a better thing". .But one needs to place this in context. Philosophically, the concentration of drugs is arrogant: .As though mankind -- the product of nature -- would find it inadequate. Physiologically, it's something the body was not evolved to be able to handle; .making a habit difficult to control; .potentially fatal. Lastly, "more of a good thing", assumes the proposition that drugs are as "good" as they are enjoyable. But only when one has been through the full cycle of the drug, including withdrawal, can one say with clarity how good it was. John Lennon, who very much enjoyed his substances, also wrote "Cold Turkey"; .visceral portrayal of coming off heroin (?) hard. -- __ In view of this, one might ask why legitimate society doesn't put all drugs off limits. ( Rattlesnakes being natural ... and not good for you. ) -- __ The counterpoint begins that we, also, are natural ... and not always good for one another. By cutting ourselves off from the psychoactives in the environment, we fail to fully explore our potential. And if living beyond one's indefinitely sustainable means is wrong, what is a vacation? -- __ Several of the Pre-Columbian cultures of America were psychedelic. I see reason to believe that mushrooms were key to the Neolithic culture of the British Isles - - these the people who built Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill; .along with many other, lesser known sites. Perhaps, under the influence of a mind stretching, some say mind snapping, drug, greater things were attempted. .. I like to think that communal drug use was a denominator of the old religious practice. That the Meso & Neolithic eras were a period of flower for humanity, (though not always sweet). There was a blizzard of monument building, bespeaking a profound faith; .by cultures which did not leave the land destroyed. One could argue that they would have, and did, as the means developed; .the extinction of the megafaunas bearing probable witness... My counter-argument is that we're not by nature innocent; .but as technologies arrived, a perspective of origin was left behind. A degree of holiness in nature; .one's ability to look through it, to look inward, for path of enlightenment; .threat to the faiths of scripture. -- __ Nor are all drugs illegal... and the "War on drugs" is taking, or has taken, an altogether different aspect. In my view, it is a war on personal liberties, on freedom -- a war on alternatives to war. It has become a way for one group of people to assert authority over another through the imposition of moral absolutes. The 'imposition', to my view typically right-wing, is often comfortable with alcohol, gambling, concentrated wealth, and fundamentalist religion -- .. It is telling that a prominent anti-drug crusader was also a gambler who had lost millions of dollars to casinos. The very assertion of power, (whether physical or moral), can be drug-like - - as it taps into the psychology of anger-release-through-violence, (or vindication). .. -- All of these are highly profitable endeavors for some of their organizers, often jealous of competition - - and known or held to exert a powerful, to and past the point of being destructive, hold over some of their followers. -- -- Religion, a human constant and to many, necessity, is at frequent odds with drugs; .for that matter, also with sex. Though a few will attempt celibacy through marriage to belief... most would not, and cannot if a society is to endure. Yet love, and with it the sex drive, exerts a powerful hold of its own;. more so, often, than dogma. It further complicates the issue that some psychoactives enhance the experience of sex, at least for occasional users. In response, religions typically ritualize marriage and idealize gender roles;. indeed, seek to codify behavior in general. Assessing this is tricky, as on the one hand religion has a valuable role as a repository of culture. But on the other, globalized religions tend to become ends in themselves - - known to subsume or suppress local custom; .high among which might be the use of available botanicals. Generational factors also come into play: .Several religions have started with youth and with change; But seemingly and perhaps inevitably become corralled by the tenured and indoctrinated (surviving) elders. Along with this, their idealization of behavior devolves into a system of sanction leaning more heavily on the receptive, (by gender or by disposition). Drugs, being possible reminder of (a more) ancient identity, with their sometime association with difficult to control intimacy and the desire to explore, while not usually necessary for survival -- can be opposed by global religions directly. .. -- "Submitted for your approval..." (Rod Serling) .----What killed the age of Shamanism? .....Writing. -- __ No unkindness meant, but media is drug-like. People dose themselves to sleep with TV, sometimes in combination with alcohol. .. ( I often sleep in the daytime, and once someone nearby had the radio playing. I can't recall ever having drunk Pabst' Blue Ribbon beer - - yet I dreamed i was going into the liquor store for case of the stuff - - fully in the expectation that i was going to have an enriching, rewarding experience. ) The implicit lesson being, intentionally or no, advertizing is more effective on the sleeping subject. .. Like many drugs, media makes people less happy with heavy use. .Their stars live larger, look better. When they're in the ****, they're in deeper, and when they emerge they come out cleaner. One can come to substitute one's celebrities for aspirations in oneself. -- __ New York City graffiti: "Be your own hero". -- __ To return to the subject of alcohol: It is, cumulatively, the most powerful legal drug, and (i think) the most under-estimated of any. The "Social drug", it is too a principal antisocial drug. .Available over-the-counter, it is a potent 'gateway'. [Hard drinkers may develop an appetite for cocaine and amphetamines.] Does this mean it should be illegal? .I would say illegal in its concentrated form. I don't know if one can get as drunk, nor certainly as fast, on beer or wine as on liquor. Yet liquor is heavily advertised in magazines and transit systems. Pitched to some of the same people who are morally opposed to "drugs". .. The broad category of psychoactive fungi would include alcohol, though the genetic trait by which yeast produces it probably survived due to its anti-bacterial effect; (i don't believe yeast cells or spores pass intact through the gut). Alcohol is yeast's broad-spectrum poison. As humans have a tolerance for the poison, and enjoy its effects, humans have selectively bred yeast. ( In fairness, it's used for baking too; .and in Middle-Age Europe, beer and wine were safer to drink than city water. ) -- __ It's difficult to say why other fungi should be: some innocuous, some lethal, and some hallucinogenic. (Warning: .Both Jacquibleu and Autumn's Breast are imaginary mushrooms. Do not use them as guides for wild mushroom hunting. Some mushrooms are deadly poisonous.) That's a real philosophical puzzle, but for what it's worth: Santa Claus may have roots in psychedelic shamanism based on the fly-agaric, a toxic and psychoactive toadstool. -- -- Go figure. -- -- For more on this subject you may wish to visit the following links: -- Wikipedia on: Psilocybe Semilanceata, or the "Liberty Cap" mushroom Wikipedia on: Psychedelic Mushrooms in general Wikipedia on: The Origins of Santa Claus Wikipedia on: The War on Drugs -- Home page of the Drug Policy Alliance Home page of NORML: the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws |
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