Quote:
|
Originally Posted by wolf
Oh, and most of the stuff on that list of things to try ... very dangerous, some to the point of lethality.
|
According to my research, the only thing on that list with an overdose danger is tobacco, the perfectly legal and socially acceptable one. Of course, with any psychoactive, there is a lot of danger in that they may aggravate any pre-existing neurosis and that too strong of a dose could lead to you doing something stupid (Trip Rule #1: Don't trip alone. Ever. Don't do it. Never, ever do it. Don't trip alone.). The only viable threat is amanita muscaria, which apparently resembles a number of other, significantly more poisonous mushrooms (Trip Rule #2: Unless you are a mycologist, do *not* go mushroom hunting. It is quite easy to fuck up, and fucking up can easily kill you.). Also, long-term, high-dosage use of damiana has been tenuously linked to liver damage. Again, I say, it is worth doing the research. This is why I stay away from things like DXM (found in cough syrups, and has been strongly linked to lesions in the brain due to swelling and decompression), the 2C and 5-MeO offshoots (hard to gauge dosage, very hard to synthesize, even slight overdose could be deadly), and jimson weed (if you need a reason not to smoke jimson weed, you're already fucked up enough that you may as well go ahead and try it). Even kava root, once commonly sold in stores as a relaxant and somnifacient, is something to be avoided (strong link to liver damage, especially with dosages heavy enough to be psychoactive). There are dangers with drug use, as with any chemical (do keep in mind that an overdose of oxygen can prove fatal), and there are benefits. Ketamine (before its significant side-effects were discovered) was used in a psychological setting to induce ego-loss and allow breakthroughs in cases of severe repression, as was LSD. Acid and MDMA (ecstasy), in smaller doses than those found on the street, were used as anti-depressants, and progress is being made as to salvinorin A (the active ingredient in salvia divinorum) as an anti-depressant also. As always, the answer lies in the middle, somewhere between "I won't do any drugs, ever. All drugs are terrible and could never possibly benefit society" and conducting acid tests in the town square. I'm not saying drugs are right for everyone, far from it, but I have had a number of pleasurable and enlightening experiences while on various substances. They help me achieve an alternative viewpoint on situations that trouble me, and I've found that for most of the truly nagging, hard questions, all you need is a new perspective or two to really find an answer that suits you. For a number of people, drugs are a viable route to self-discovery that should be explored.
Just say "Know"