warning: nullius-sized post follows; I tried my best to keep it engagingnullius, all you are doing is highlighting your ignorance of the subject. have a fantastic morning.
No doubt more than a few people would call me “ignorant” of Jesus.
The difference between Jesus and drugs is drugs are real.
The inversion of reality to proclaim inferiority and irrationality as superior knowledge is—typical of a certain type.
Nobody is doing that except for you. Since you're big on editing peoples' quotes to make them say what you want them to say:
Who the fuck would be sufficiently moronic to believe the opinion of somebody who has used hallucinogenic substances been to France, on the subject of hallucinogenic substances visiting France?
You've never tripped on LSD or mushrooms, you've never been to France, so there's no possible way you could know what its about
more than someone who has. All the books in the world - all your personal assessments of friends who have visited France - are no substitute for first-hand, real life experience.
And I should know because I graduated from a fairly prestigious university with a neuroscience degree and worked in a number of laboratories/clinics; specifically relating psychopharmacology and psychiatry. I learned quite a bit about drug toxicity, which drugs effect what categories of neurotransmitters, dosages, psychological effects, etc. But nothing can prepare you for or educate you like the first-hand experience of trying a drug out for yourself.
I also worked with a professor who discovered the part of the brain which was responsible for safeguarding the brain against addiction. Certain types of drugs selectively ate away at this part of the brain (stimulants, MDMA and nicotine mainly) whereas others did not (marijuana, LSD, shrooms and just about everything else). Some drugs simply aren't toxic on the brain, including most hallucinogens. Among those who actually study the issue its been a long settled debate.
And there is a pretty good historical hypothesis that much religiosity has been caused by “naturally occurring” drugs—much more Amanita muscaria than psilocybin. Hmmm.
Funny, I've done both and I'm still not religious. If anything they've opened my mind to the possibility that maybe I don't know everything and I don't have it all figured out.
The problem is you are trying to lump all drugs (illegal drugs apparently) into the same category. It reflects no real desire to understand the differences between drugs, which are quite vast, and that's why you come across as an ignoranus.
Sure, doing too much of anything can be bad -- there's no denying that. But your approach of dismissing all drugs in any amount as bad is extremely narrow-minded and mainly guided by your usual arrogance... It's like what you don't know you think you can compensate for by being arrogant about it.
Alcohol is also a drug and far more toxic to the body and brain than marijuana, shrooms or acid -- that's an indisputable fact. But I suppose you're cool with it because its legal? What else could be your rationalization? People drop dead from alcohol poisoning every hour of every day. You know how many people have been killed by weed or shrooms*, ever? Take a guess.
Several of the world's greatest artists, musicians, authors, playwrights were inspired by psychedelics. I dread the thought of how boring the world would be without them.
As far as other drugs are concerned, some of the world's most famous inhabitants owe their inventions and works to them.
Thomas Edison - cocaine addict
Nietzsche - opium addict
Jean-Paul Sartre - mescaline enthusiast
Churchill / JFK / Ayn Rand - amphetamine users
Kafka and Huxley were both multi-substance abusers, Carl Sagan was a weed smoker; even Steve Jobs was partially fueled by LSD.
So the idea that doing drugs necessarily burns one's brain out is patently false. Can you burn your brain out from doing certain drugs? Certainly. Just like you can become a diabetic from eating too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But we shouldn't castigate people for enjoying a sandwich every now and then.
* I left out LSD from here because indeed one dude overdosed on acid once and died. He found a baggie of it in powder form and thinking it was coke, snorted a line, inhaling 30,000 doses or something. He died of a heart attack an hour or so later. Regardless, more people have died from choking on sardines.
Poll
