Drugs
Why do we, as children, want to spin in circles until we’re so dizzy we puke? Or push on our eyelids until we see colors and images? Or choke ourselves until we lose consciousness? Or take extra huffs off of our inhaler, or extra doses of medications? This is not the result of peer pressure, or outside influences, but virtually all children do at least some of these things.
Consciousness Freedom and the Right to Get High
Psilocybin and Personality
Psilocybe mexicana, a source of psilocybin Recent research suggests fascinating connections between the effects of the psychedelic drug psilocybin and personality traits related to inner experience. Personality appears to influence response to psilocybin and psilocybin can promote changes in personality , suggesting a reciprocal relationship. Further research in this area could lead to new insights into the basis of human personality and creativity .
When acclaimed novelist and philosopher Aldous Huxley was dying, his final words were: “LSD, 100 micrograms I.M.” Huxley’s wife Laura complied with his wishes, and the celebrated author of Brave New World crossed over the post-biological threshold into the White Light with Albert Hofmann’s magic molecules nestled in the synapses of his brain. The inspiration for this final journey was based upon the work that early LSD researchers had done with terminally ill patients; however, the relationship between the psychedelic experience and the experience of dying, death, and rebirth is ancient, and likely began in prehistory. Modern cultural links in art and music abound, and it’s no accident that the most celebrated psychedelic rock band of all-time is known as The Grateful Dead. Some of the most valuable and promising research that’s been conducted with psychedelics has been in the area of treating the terminally ill.
Can Psychedelic Drugs Help Us to Die Gratefully?
Follow Bob on Tapiture View As Slideshow Artist Bryan Lewis Saunders conducted a bizarre experiment.
Self-portraits done to a different drug every day
Gabriel Mizrahi: Straight Trippin'
In his 1968 novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test , Tom Wolfe proclaimed that researchers conducting experiments with LSD ("those big fat letters") were living in a "fantasy," and that: [The] fantasy was that the volunteers were laboratory animals that had to be dealt with objectively, quantitatively ... But the doctors were so out of it. They never took LSD themselves and they had absolutely no comprehension, and it couldn't be put into words anyway. The concern would not last long. The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 divided drugs into "schedules," or classes, on the basis of their potential for abuse, accepted medical use, and accepted safety under medical supervision.
Prehistoric Drug Use
Posted by Ryan Hurd on October 27, 2008 I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to discuss the recent discovery of “prehistoric drug paraphernalia” found in a Caribbean island archaeological site dated to @ 400 BC. Bone tubes and ceramic bowls were found in a human occupation site, suggesting the use of a sniffed substance, most likely cohoba , a hallucinogen made from the beans of a mimosa species. “Drug use in the Stoned age!” That’s been the rallying cry of the mainstream media, including this article here , which actually reproduced an image of a early hominid to depict islanders who lived during the same time as the Golden Age of Greece.
Scientists believe "magic" mushrooms could effectively treat depression
After a brief spurt of interest in the late '60s, scientists in the drug development field abandoned research work on illicit drugs like LSD and "magic" mushrooms. But over the past few years a few bold investigators have been stepping back up to the plate, convinced that some outlawed active ingredients could offer new pathways to treating some common ailments. Enter Professor David Nutt, a prominent and controversial researcher in the U.K. who has just published a new paper asserting that psilocybin--the active ingredient in magic mushrooms--could help treat major depression.
A wonderfully written book by the Father of Ethnobotany The plant kingdom and hallucinogens (part I) Ph.D., F.L.S. Richard Evans SCHULTES Curator of Economic Botany and Executive Director, Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. "These substances have formed a bond of union between men of opposite hemispheres, the uncivilized and the civilized; they have forced passages which, once open, proved of use for other purposes; they have produced in ancient races characteristics which have endured to the present day, evidencing the marvellous degree of intercourse that existed between different peoples just as certainly and exactly as a chemist can judge the relations of two substances by the reactions." Lewin
Leda > The Plant Kingdom and Hallucinogens by Richard Evans Schultes
How Hallucinogens Play Their Mind-Bending Games: Scientific American - (Build 20100722150226)
Mind & Brain :: News :: January 31, 2007 :: :: Email :: Print Researchers isolate cells affected by LSD and mescaline, potentially leading to more treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders By Nikhil Swaminathan
the Lycaeum - Entheogen Definition
Definition of "Entheogenic" Quick Definition: mind altering, psychedelic, spirit inducing, shamanistic substance Some of you who stumble upon this website may be slightly puzzled by a word in our header that is probably unfamiliar to many: Entheogenic. Converted into a noun, the word becomes Entheogen, and the two terms have recently become quite popular among aficionados of botanically and chemically fueled visionary experiences.Ampakines are a class of compounds known to enhance attention span and alertness, and facilitate learning and memory . The ampakines take their name from the glutamatergic AMPA receptor with which they strongly interact. The AMPA receptor, in turn, gets its name from AMPA , which selectively binds to it. Ampakines have been investigated by DARPA for potential use in increasing military effectiveness. [ 1 ]
Ampakine
Why Intelligent People Use More Drugs
The human consumption of psychoactive drugs , such as marijuana , cocaine , and heroin, is of even more recent historical origin than the human consumption of alcohol or tobacco, so the Hypothesis would predict that more intelligent people use more drugs more frequently than less intelligent individuals. The use of opium dates back to about 5,000 years ago, and the earliest reference to the pharmacological use of cannabis is in a book written in 2737 BC by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung. Opium and cannabis are the only “natural” (agricultural) psychoactive drugs. Other psychoactive drugs are “chemical” (pharmacological); they require modern chemistry to manufacture, and are therefore of much more recent origin. Morphine was isolated from opium in 1806, cocaine was first manufactured in 1860, and heroin was discovered in 1874.List of drug films
Drug films are films that depict either drug distribution or drug use, whether as a major theme or in a few memorable scenes. Drug cinema ranges from the ultra-realistic to the utterly surreal; some films are unabashedly pro- or anti-drug, while others are less judgmental. The drugs most commonly shown in films are cocaine , heroin , LSD , cannabis (see Stoner film ) and methamphetamine . There is extensive overlap with crime films, which are more likely to treat drugs as plot devices to keep the action moving. The following is a partial list of drug films and the substance involved.Entheogenesis, Shamanism, and Psychonautics
Meth Addict
Citation: Hydrogenator. "The Perfect Addiction: experience with Methamphetamine (ID 43655)". Erowid.org . Jun 20, 2006. erowid.org/exp/43655Nine drawings These 9 drawings were done by an artist under the influence of LSD -- part of a test conducted by the US government during it's dalliance with psychotomimetic drugs in the late 1950's. The artist was given a dose of LSD 25 and free access to an activity box full of crayons and pencils. His subject is the medico that jabbed him. First drawing is done 20 minutes after the first dose (50ug) An attending doctor observes - Patient chooses to start drawing with charcoal. The subject of the experiment reports - 'Condition normal... no effect from the drug yet'. next drawing <p style="text-align:right;color:#A8A8A8"></p>