Why are hallucinogens illegal?

[Rufus12]

I know the prohibition of other drugs like marijuana has a story behind, but I never really heard a good reason for them to be illegal. LSD has been shown to cure alcoholism, and as long as people are responsible and do it in their own home why should it be illegal? I'm predicting that most of the responses are gonna be against, but I'd really like to know why you guys think so?

 

[CrazyLazy]

LSD can seriously fuck you up if you aren't in the right mindset. Some people just aren't ready for it.

 

[Martin]

I think part of the reason is that they're really the kinds of drugs that society really despises. All the legal/somewhat acceptable ones are stimulants - alcohol is the great "social lubricant", coffee makes you more awake and alert, and things like aderall and ritalin are widely available and accepted.

LSD, shrooms, mescaline are almost the exact opposite of that - people tend to get more introspective, quiet, contemplative and mellow. With these drugs, people can sit around for hours, look at flowers and think how wonderful the world is. They also tend to have deeply spiritual experiences, 'ego death' and all sorts of wonderful stuff.

But read Aldous Huxley's "Doors of Perception" (its only about 50 pages: link) and try reconcile a society where hallucinogens are acceptable with the one you live in and you'll see what I mean. Then you'll know why people were so freaked about by Leary's "Turn on, tune in, drop out".

 

[Throckmorton]

LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

 

[retrospooty]

LSD tends to unlock parts of your brain, and change you... Look what it did int he 60's. It took a whole generation of Wally and the Beav and, suddlenly, the hippie movement. The govt is afraid of that shit happening again. Of course its illegal. The other thing is, as CL mentioned, alot of people cant handle it and freak out, hurting themselves or others.

 

[Muse]

'Cause like Norman Greenbaum sang, "it's a bust."

 

[conehead433]

Such drugs make people think. The government doesn't want people who think. They would no longer be sheeple.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: CrazyLazy
LSD can seriously fuck you up if you aren't in the right mindset. Some people just aren't ready for it.

That's also true of alcohol, sex, love, marraige, guns. However, psychedelics can be curative. The problem is that a lot of people are in no position to use them with appropriate respect.

Originally posted by: conehead433
Such drugs make people think. The government doesn't want people who think. They would no longer be sheeple.

I've always thought that this is a major reason for the propaganda campaign against marijuana, and the laws against it.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

I think this is largely if not entirely BS.

 

[soundforbjt]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

So does alcohol. The brain cells killed when you drink, never grow back.

 

[Ozoned]

Why are hallucinogens illegal?



????????? Shouldn't be as readily available as they are. Case & point;




~OBAMA FOLLOWERS~

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

I think this is largely if not entirely BS.

Flashbacks

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

I think this is largely if not entirely BS.

Flashbacks

Your wording suggests not psychological phenomena so much as physical damage. I don't think anyone has ever proven the latter. Acid flashbacks aren't necessarily bad. Depends on the person. There's no question that hallucinogens are potentially dangerous and that some people have been screwed up using them.

 

[Farang]

Because we accepted that every mind-altering substance but alcohol should be restricted when we outlawed marijuana.

 

[bdude]

Originally posted by: Farang
Because we accepted that every mind-altering substance but alcohol should be restricted when we outlawed marijuana.

You forgot cigs and prozac and ambien.

 

[Farang]

Originally posted by: bdude

Originally posted by: Farang
Because we accepted that every mind-altering substance but alcohol should be restricted when we outlawed marijuana.

You forgot cigs and prozac and ambien.

I wouldn't call cigs mind-altering and prozac and ambien are restricted

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Farang

Originally posted by: bdude

Originally posted by: Farang
Because we accepted that every mind-altering substance but alcohol should be restricted when we outlawed marijuana.

You forgot cigs and prozac and ambien.

I wouldn't call cigs mind-altering and prozac and ambien are restricted

I talk and I talk but you people never learn anything. Now now, don't get excited. I've always known that had to be.

Everybody hates himself and feels he's the worst person in the world. We were made to feel that by being put down as children. The person you think is you isn't you at all, it's a defense against what you really feel, that you are worthless.

When people take LSD sometimes they can fall straight into that feeling and because they are totally ignorant that they hate themselves they freak out. They have no idea that they feel it much less that the feeling is a total lie.

This is the danger and beauty of psychedelics; they can put you in touch with feelings. Now sometime the dose is of sufficient strength or the consciousness of the person sufficiently aware, for example a person who has done a lot of analysis and getting in touch with himself, etc, that the person bounces right over the negatives by experiencing some sort of psychic death. Bamb, there you are, in touch with who you really are, a God surrounded by heaven.

Then comes the return of ordinary consciousness and all the trips people can have in that state, illusions they are a devil or god. The ego turns everything to shit including the brief period in the 60's when the sun shown down on us poor souls for a bit.

Not to worry though. The truth has been known for thousands of years and in secret real humans from real schools reach out to the blind. And nobody can stop somebody who goes straight ahead.

Bottom line is that drugs are illegal because they can open you up to your inner terror and cowards make the law.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

Actually, that's not supported by research. A small percentage (less than half a percent) of users experience chronic psychosis after taking LSD, but it's not clear if LSD is the cause or merely a trigger for an already-existing condition. For the vast majority of users, the effects of the drug end within 12 hours.

 

[Farang]

Moonbeam we never learn anything from you because you're cursed with the two worst traits a person can have--stupidity and narcissism.

 

[rpanic]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: Farang

Originally posted by: bdude

Originally posted by: Farang
Because we accepted that every mind-altering substance but alcohol should be restricted when we outlawed marijuana.

You forgot cigs and prozac and ambien.

I wouldn't call cigs mind-altering and prozac and ambien are restricted

I talk and I talk but you people never learn anything. Now now, don't get excited. I've always known that had to be.

Everybody hates himself and feels he's the worst person in the world. We were made to feel that by being put down as children. The person you think is you isn't you at all, it's a defense against what you really feel, that you are worthless.

When people take LSD sometimes they can fall straight into that feeling and because they are totally ignorant that they hate themselves they freak out. They have no idea that they feel it much less that the feeling is a total lie.

This is the danger and beauty of psychedelics; they can put you in touch with feelings. Now sometime the dose is of sufficient strength or the consciousness of the person sufficiently aware, for example a person who has done a lot of analysis and getting in touch with himself, etc, that the person bounces right over the negatives by experiencing some sort of psychic death. Bamb, there you are, in touch with who you really are, a God surrounded by heaven.

Then comes the return of ordinary consciousness and all the trips people can have in that state, illusions they are a devil or god. The ego turns everything to shit including the brief period in the 60's when the sun shown down on us poor souls for a bit.

Not to worry though. The truth has been known for thousands of years and in secret real humans from real schools reach out to the blind. And nobody can stop somebody who goes straight ahead.

Bottom line is that drugs are illegal because they can open you up to your inner terror and cowards make the law.

I actually agree with you on a lot of this.

Definitely think hallucinogens open the mind to things in the world that might be overlooked they are the great mind opener.

 

[Vic]

Contrary to the Protestant ethic.

 

[Tab]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

So? Everything you do has some kind of affect on yourself.

Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with the legalization of LSD,Mushrooms and the rest but they absolutely need to be much more heavily controlled than pot or booze. Imagine if someone spiked your morning coffee with some shrooms...

 

[alchemize]

I would equate LSD and shrooms to alcohol. Much more likely to do something to hurt yourself/others than "softer" drugs because you are completely out of your mind.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Tab

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

So? Everything you do has some kind of affect on yourself.

Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with the legalization of LSD,Mushrooms and the rest but they absolutely need to be much more heavily controlled than pot or booze. Imagine if someone spiked your morning coffee with some shrooms...

With LSD and it would be no joke. At the time of its discovery, LSD was the most potent drug ever found. A single dose is just 100 micrograms and can last up to 12 hours.
It's completely non-toxic, and the threat of any permanent effects is not really true (for most persons), but it would definitely be a cruel thing to slip to somebody without their knowledge. Particularly as a 'bad trip' can be a truly traumatic experience.
As LSD is derived from a fungus which grows on rye called ergot, there are schools of thought that some medieval panics, like the Salem Witch Trials, were the result of collective 'bad trips,' for lack of a better way to put it.
So even legalized, LSD would still need to be pretty strictly regulated.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
LSD has permanent effects on your brain.

Shall we ban universities then?