The State’s Persecution of The Psychedelic Community

The Psychedelic Community as a New Religious Movement:

The word psychedelic was coined by Humphry Osmond in 1957, its etymological root is meant to indicate the ‘spirit-revealing’ or ‘soul-manifesting’ nature of the chemicals concerned.

We know, beyond all doubt, that many of the users of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, DMT, Mescaline and Psilocin Mushrooms claim that these chemicals cause them to have experiences they describe as spiritually significant: usually in terms of allowing new spiritual insights about the nature of their being and its relationship to experience and the world, or in terms of some kind of spiritual healing effect.

Many, if not most, individuals who repeatedly use psychedelics do so with a primary motivation to explore the spiritual benefits of psychedelics: it is therefore, a part of their spiritual lives. Many of those individuals feel that the drugs themselves are sacred gifts, they use drugs like LSD to bring about experiences and states of being that are somehow “spiritual”,  “mystical” and “divine”.

All around the world, right now, there are individuals who are using psychedelic drugs. Not just individuals though, there is an increasingly cohesive and open community of psychedelic users: all united by the shared belief that they have been benefited by, and will continue to benefit from, psychedelic drugs.

Is it not conceivable that this community of individuals, who use the same sacraments, share similar spiritual motivations, and hold similar core beliefs represent a new religious or spiritual movement? 

Illustrating the unique aesthetic of psychedelic art.

It is, essentially, a ‘New Religious Movement’ (NRM) that is not allowed to become an organised religion. It cannot be given a name, nor can its places of communal gathering be made to explicit. It includes a great variety of belief and practice: but then the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, even Christianity all show a great variety of forms and expressions also. It has it’s own set of texts, but none are adopted as dogma, there is no cannon: but then many of the historical forms of human spirituality did not have a cannon either. It even has its own unique forms of artistic expression and aesthetic style, rife with themes of transcendence and spiritual discovery.

In Europe, especially in the summer, there are certain festivals attended primarily by the psychedelic community. At these festivals, an obvious form of neo-shamanism manifests itself: complete with music, dancing, and mind-altering chemicals, components of many shamanic traditions from all over the world. In fact, these festivals are becoming increasingly popular all over the world.

One of the implications of the continued growth of psychedelic festival culture is that the community of psychedelic users is becoming, with the help of the internet, more organised and more cohesive. Furthermore, now this ‘spiritual movement’ has community meeting spaces, with their own rituals, traditions, codes and conventions. At these gatherings there is a very strong sense of this community – people care for one another and help one another to have an enjoyable time, there is a sense of shared purpose and unity that is enjoyed by many when the psychedelic community meet.

Some might say “this isn’t spirituality, it is just hedonism’. Verily there are some who attend psychedelic festivals ‘just to have fun’, but there are others who feel, nonetheless, that psychedelic chemicals are an important aspect of their spiritual lives. Furthermore, who is to say that spirituality cannot be fun? Mystical texts from all world religions, including the bible, speak of ecstatic and joyous experiences that are encountered on the spiritual path: the Old Testament even describes singing and dancing as a result of spiritual attainment.

The Psychedelic Community has its own Places of Worship

When I walk down the street of Oxford on a Saturday night I see fighting, I see people throwing up, I hear glass smashing: people become rude, inconsiderate, violent. I have never seen a fight at a psychedelic music festival, I don’t see people stumbling around and throwing up, what I do see is people having the time of their lives and forming lasting bonds with people in the process.

Returning to the issue though, the psychedelic community needs to consider how it can go about becoming recognised for the legitimate spiritual movement that it is so that it can enjoy the same acceptance and according protections that are afforded to other religious communities.

In the mean time, psychedelic spiritualists will continue to be a persecuted and oppressed minority religious group. For walking their spiritual path, they face imprisonment, with all the hardships and consequences-on-life that are entailed by it. Let’s have a brief look at how this persecution came about.

Christian Puritanism & Moral Panics: ‘The War on Drugs’ as Hysteria

We must recognise that for the last thousand years (and then some) the population of Europe has had its native religious/spiritual practices oppressed by the ‘dominator religion’ that is Christianity. Wherever Christianity went it systematically destroyed any competing forms of spirituality: often through violence. In the background, that force is still an undercurrent of our society.

Think about it. The American political system is still so obviously fixated on the values of Puritanical Christianity: that kind of ‘good christian wholesomeness’ that is expected of any presidential candidate, the obsession with ‘sexual misconduct’ on the part those in the public sphere, and wariness of the many other things deemed viceful within the puritanical Christian tradition. Is it a coincidence that this moral panic, this ‘war on drugs’, has come from a country whose dominant spiritual power is a form Christian puritanism?

Like the witch-trials, the ‘War on Drugs’ is another hysterical moral panic: something is judged as evil, all ‘the good people’ respond with unspeakable inhumanity.

A moral panic, and not the first. Can we think of some other examples from history where the Christian majority have deemed something to be ‘evil’ or ‘morally wrong’ and responded with unspeakable violence? The witch-hunts, for example, which also took on a distinctive ferocity midst the North American puritans. The Inquisition, a few hundred years of torture, persecution, inhumanity: based on a response to what is perceived to be an evil.

Perhaps you think the comparison extreme? It’s not like we’re burning people at the stake or torturing them, right? But we do lock people up: vast swathes of people (usually the most socially disadvantaged) all in response to the supposed ‘evil’ of drug-use. As in the inquisition, we interrogate people, we use fear and intimidation to make them betrays other human beings: is it not torture to go through a judicial system and be locked away for decades of your life?

The ‘War on Drugs’ is just another inquisition. The ‘Holy/Good people’ exercising hegemonic domination over ‘the evil people’, and in the process performing unspeakable evils themselves.

Is it not an evil thing to do this to an individual? It is a harmful action after all, to lock them in a prison for years on end. Is the act of imprisoning some one for using psychedelics not, in fact, more evil than that individuals ‘offence’ of using psychedelics?

When an activity carries risks only to oneself, does that make it unethical? If so, are horse-riding and mountain climbing unethical to? Clearly then the idea that drug use is morally wrong cannot be based on the risks associated with their use. If it is not a moral wrong, then to punish people for it is not just, and is unethical.

The ‘War on Drugs’ will be viewed by historians as just another silly moral panic, a hysteria that got carried away with itself, but a hysteria like never before. A hysteria fueled by new mass-media technologies, a hysteria on an unprecedented scale, and one which does an unprecedented amount of harm.

It is interesting to consider the extent to which Puritanical Christianity has been embraced by, what some might consider to be ‘the new dominator religion’, Capitalism; and the extent to which spiritual movements which are perceived to be a threat to capitalism are marginalised, and in this case, forbidden.

Conclusion:

The psychedelic community, as it stands, is a new religious/spiritual movement. Its members are subject to persecution and oppression, as they have been for the last fifty years.

Much of modern drug culture is simply an extension of much older spiritual traditions. Modern Britain has new sacraments now, and its tribal dances are to dubstep from massive sound-systems

This ‘war on drugs’ is just a part of a millenia-old pattern of ‘organised religion’ dominating more spontaneous & experiential forms of spirituality. It manifests the values of the puritanical religious fanaticism which has come to dominate American political culture.

If our Right to Religious & Spiritual Freedom is to mean anything, then it must accommodate entheogenic  and psychedelic compounds , which are an important component to many forms of spirituality.

One source of hope is the increasing unity of the psychedelic community around the world.

Ibogaine Treatment for Opiate Addiction – Eliminating the Withdrawal

Drug addiction is becoming more prevalent. Where it once was a problem of race or socioeconomic class, it has now moved into every neighborhood without prejudice.

And the most addictive and destructive substances—the opiates like OxyContin, Methadone, and Heroin—have become the most abused. These substances are leaving a substantial mark on our current generation.

And the problem doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

Opiates are Highly Destructive

Opiates are so destructive because they are generously prescribed and very addictive. Long-term opiate addiction happens fast. In one study, half of the patients that were prescribed opiates for one month became hooked for an entire year.

It doesn’t take long to become an addict. And once you are hooked, it’s hard to break free.

To make matters worse, access to prescription opiates can become expensive or hard to find after the addiction sets in. This leads many to start using heroin because it’s cheaper and more available.

As the addiction rates go up from opiates to heroin, overdose rates go up as well, and we are left in an epidemic that continues to get worse.

And when an addict decides to quit, opiate withdrawal kicks in, which is one of the most difficult processes to get through. The challenging nature of getting off these drugs makes opiate addiction even more powerful.

Traditional Rehab and Opiate Addiction

When an opiate addict decides they have a big problem, they often turn to the only place they know—the 12-step program.

Or they go to a traditional rehab center and find themselves undergoing the 12-step program.

Even as an addict may attempt to find recovery at multiple rehab centers, they will find that almost all of them focus on the 12-step program method.

For those it works for, it works well. However, the reality is, AA and the 12-step program have about a 5-10 percent retention and success rate.

This means many addicts are not getting the right treatment. They go through the same process over and over again hoping that the next time will be the last.

They often don’t know there are other options, even if many alternatives exist.

Psychedelic Medicine for Treating Addiction

Some of the most successful alternative treatments for opiate addiction are done with psychedelic medicines.

Psychedelics have been used for decades, and many have shown promise in treating addiction on the psychological level—which has proven to be very effective.

These medicines—including LSD, Ayahuasca, Psilocybin Mushrooms, and Ibogaine—were beginning to gain traction before they were outlawed for personal and scientific use in the 1970s.

During the psychedelic experience that these drugs induce, individuals are able to look at their lives from a different perspective. For addicts, this often means looking at their decisions, and past trauma, in a new light that can offer them clarity and help them come to terms with their past and underlying reasons for their addiction.

This can have a major positive impact on the addict and their recovery.

But one of the drugs on this list, Ibogaine, is a bit different from the others when it comes to addiction treatment.

All psychedelic medicines treat the emotional and psychological aspects of addiction, but Ibogaine is the only medicine that also treats physical withdrawal symptoms—especially for opiate and heroin addicts.

Ibogaine Treatment for Opiate Withdrawal

Ibogaine is the only drug we know of that has been shown to eliminate opioid withdrawal. Usually, Ibogaine is administered to the addict when withdrawals are at their peak, a couple of hours into withdrawal.

After it is administered, Ibogaine resets neurotransmitters in the brain back to their pre-addicted state. Once the Ibogaine experience is over, the addict no longer has severe withdrawal symptoms.

Because of how powerful opiate withdrawal can be, Ibogaine can be an effective alternative for for treating addiction. Those who have tried traditional treatment methods with no success are particularly likely to benefit from the Ibogaine experience.

By eliminating withdrawal, the addict is given a fresh start, a new chance to make the best decisions concerning their addiction, instead of being controlled and enslaved by the drug itself.

No other treatment works like Ibogaine does for the physical brain. Add this to the psychological healing that comes from psychedelic medicine, and Ibogaine becomes an even more powerful treatment for addiction.

And, even though Ibogaine is most effective for opiate and heroin addiction, it has been shown to work for other addictions as well. Studies have demonstrated that Ibogaine can be effective for those struggling with methamphetamine addiction, alcohol abuse, and other strong addictions.

Is Ibogaine Treatment Right for Me?

Ibogaine treatment is not for everyone. However, with proper pre-screening, heart testing, and other medical precautions the risks of Ibogaine treatment can be dramatically reduced.

Because it is illegal in the United States, many Ibogaine clinics offer treatment in Mexico, Canada, and other countries where it is not a controlled substance. Wherever you travel for treatment, Ibogaine should not be taken without medical supervision.

No one treatment is right for everyone. Finding the right treatment that works for you is the most important factor. Before making any decisions, do your own research and find out what treatment will work best. Being an addict can be very dangerous, make the decision to get treatment and change your life today.

Editor’s Note: This article was submitted by Aiden Smith on behalf of experienceibogaine.com, it is not a paid promotion but published due to its relevance.

The Psychedelic Community & The Oppression of a New Religious Movement

The Psychedelic Community as a New Religious Movement:

The word psychedelic was coined by Humphry Osmond in 1957, its etymological root is meant to indicate the ‘spirit-revealing’ or ‘soul-manifesting’ nature of the chemicals concerned.

We know, beyond all doubt, that many of the users of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, DMT, Mescaline and Psilocin Mushrooms claim that these chemicals cause them to have experiences they describe as spiritually significant: usually in terms of allowing new spiritual insights about the nature of their being and its relationship to experience and the world, or in terms of some kind of spiritual healing effect.

Many, if not most, individuals who repeatedly use psychedelics do so with a primary motivation to explore the spiritual benefits of psychedelics: it is therefore, a part of their spiritual lives. Many of those individuals feel that the drugs themselves are sacred gifts, they use drugs like LSD to bring about experiences and states of being that are somehow “spiritual”,  “mystical” and “divine”.

All around the world, right now, there are individuals who are using psychedelic drugs. Not just individuals though, there is an increasingly cohesive and open community of psychedelic users: all united by the shared belief that they have been benefited by, and will continue to benefit from, psychedelic drugs.

Is it not conceivable that this community of individuals, who use the same sacraments, share similar spiritual motivations, and hold similar core beliefs represent a new religious or spiritual movement? 

Illustrating the unique aesthetic of psychedelic art.

It is, essentially, a ‘New Religious Movement’ (NRM) that is not allowed to become an organised religion. It cannot be given a name, nor can its places of communal gathering be made to explicit. It includes a great variety of belief and practice: but then the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, even Christianity all show a great variety of forms and expressions also. It has it’s own set of texts, but none are adopted as dogma, there is no cannon: but then many of the historical forms of human spirituality did not have a cannon either. It even has its own unique forms of artistic expression and aesthetic style, rife with themes of transcendence and spiritual discovery.

In Europe, especially in the summer, there are certain festivals attended primarily by the psychedelic community. At these festivals, an obvious form of neo-shamanism manifests itself: complete with music, dancing, and mind-altering chemicals, components of many shamanic traditions from all over the world. In fact, these festivals are becoming increasingly popular all over the world.

One of the implications of the continued growth of psychedelic festival culture is that the community of psychedelic users is becoming, with the help of the internet, more organised and more cohesive. Furthermore, now this ‘spiritual movement’ has community meeting spaces, with their own rituals, traditions, codes and conventions. At these gatherings there is a very strong sense of this community – people care for one another and help one another to have an enjoyable time, there is a sense of shared purpose and unity that is enjoyed by many when the psychedelic community meet.

Some might say “this isn’t spirituality, it is just hedonism’. Verily there are some who attend psychedelic festivals ‘just to have fun’, but there are others who feel, nonetheless, that psychedelic chemicals are an important aspect of their spiritual lives. Furthermore, who is to say that spirituality cannot be fun? Mystical texts from all world religions, including the bible, speak of ecstatic and joyous experiences that are encountered on the spiritual path: the Old Testament even describes singing and dancing as a result of spiritual attainment.

The Psychedelic Community has its own Places of Worship

When I walk down the street of Oxford on a Saturday night I see fighting, I see people throwing up, I hear glass smashing: people become rude, inconsiderate, violent. I have never seen a fight at a psychedelic music festival, I don’t see people stumbling around and throwing up, what I do see is people having the time of their lives and forming lasting bonds with people in the process.

Returning to the issue though, the psychedelic community needs to consider how it can go about becoming recognised for the legitimate spiritual movement that it is so that it can enjoy the same acceptance and according protections that are afforded to other religious communities.

In the mean time, psychedelic spiritualists will continue to be a persecuted and oppressed minority religious group. For walking their spiritual path, they face imprisonment, with all the hardships and consequences-on-life that are entailed by it. Let’s have a brief look at how this persecution came about.

Christian Puritanism & Moral Panics: ‘The War on Drugs’ as Hysteria

We must recognise that for the last thousand years (and then some) the population of Europe has had its native religious/spiritual practices oppressed by the ‘dominator religion’ that is Christianity. Wherever Christianity went it systematically destroyed any competing forms of spirituality: often through violence. In the background, that force is still an undercurrent of our society.

Think about it. The American political system is still so obviously fixated on the values of Puritanical Christianity: that kind of ‘good christian wholesomeness’ that is expected of any presidential candidate, the obsession with ‘sexual misconduct’ on the part those in the public sphere, and wariness of the many other things deemed viceful within the puritanical Christian tradition. Is it a coincidence that this moral panic, this ‘war on drugs’, has come from a country whose dominant spiritual power is a form Christian puritanism?

Like the witch-trials, the ‘War on Drugs’ is another hysterical moral panic: something is judged as evil, all ‘the good people’ respond with unspeakable inhumanity.

A moral panic, and not the first. Can we think of some other examples from history where the Christian majority have deemed something to be ‘evil’ or ‘morally wrong’ and responded with unspeakable violence? The witch-hunts, for example, which also took on a distinctive ferocity midst the North American puritans. The Inquisition, a few hundred years of torture, persecution, inhumanity: based on a response to what is perceived to be an evil.

Perhaps you think the comparison extreme? It’s not like we’re burning people at the stake or torturing them, right? But we do lock people up: vast swathes of people (usually the most socially disadvantaged) all in response to the supposed ‘evil’ of drug-use. As in the inquisition, we interrogate people, we use fear and intimidation to make them betrays other human beings: is it not torture to go through a judicial system and be locked away for decades of your life?

The ‘War on Drugs’ is just another inquisition. The ‘Holy/Good people’ exercising hegemonic domination over ‘the evil people’, and in the process performing unspeakable evils themselves.

Is it not an evil thing to do this to an individual? It is a harmful action after all, to lock them in a prison for years on end. Is the act of imprisoning some one for using psychedelics not, in fact, more evil than that individuals ‘offence’ of using psychedelics?

When an activity carries risks only to oneself, does that make it unethical? If so, are horse-riding and mountain climbing unethical to? Clearly then the idea that drug use is morally wrong cannot be based on the risks associated with their use. If it is not a moral wrong, then to punish people for it is not just, and is unethical.

The ‘War on Drugs’ will be viewed by historians as just another silly moral panic, a hysteria that got carried away with itself, but a hysteria like never before. A hysteria fueled by new mass-media technologies, a hysteria on an unprecedented scale, and one which does an unprecedented amount of harm.

It is interesting to consider the extent to which Puritanical Christianity has been embraced by, what some might consider to be ‘the new dominator religion’, Capitalism; and the extent to which spiritual movements which are perceived to be a threat to capitalism are marginalised, and in this case, forbidden.

Conclusion:

The psychedelic community, as it stands, is a new religious/spiritual movement. Its members are subject to persecution and oppression, as they have been for the last fifty years.

Much of modern drug culture is simply an extension of much older spiritual traditions. Modern Britain has new sacraments now, and its tribal dances are to dubstep from massive sound-systems

This ‘war on drugs’ is just a part of a millenia-old pattern of ‘organised religion’ dominating more spontaneous & experiential forms of spirituality. It manifests the values of the puritanical religious fanaticism which has come to dominate American political culture.

If our Right to Religious & Spiritual Freedom is to mean anything, then it must accommodate entheogenic  and psychedelic compounds , which are an important component to many forms of spirituality.

One source of hope is the increasing unity of the psychedelic community around the world.

Cognitive Fascism & The British Government

On the 26th of May Great Britain will become one of those most cognitively restrictive nations on the planet: the new ‘Psychoactive Substances Bill’ is coming into effect.

For the first time in human history a state has presumed not simply to prohibit mind-altering substances but to draw up a nice little list of the prescribed ‘officially sanctioned’ states of mind you are allowed access to. I contains a feeble selection of”permitted” drugs: tobacco (kills about 100k Brits per year), alcohol (also great), caffeine and a few others.

Apparently it’s okay to consume alcohol until it kills you but to possess anything else is a crime: it might be a rare ethnobotanical that has been used by shamans for tens of thousands of years, it might be a plant used as a sedative by the ancient Egyptians for thousands of years, or it might be the next breakthrough in neuropharmacology. “Whatever it is” it’s a criminal offense to sell it, or to own enough that you can be accused of selling it. Jail time?

The cognitive fascists. Not only are they content to systematically ban various potentials of human experience, now they seek to set up walls that limit the mind so obviously: “nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care…”. The citizens are so well socialised they know not how narrow their consciousness has become: work, money, buying, planning. Taking care of “the world of the five senses”, meanwhile propaganda has convinced them that the greatest gifts this species has in its possession are evil and dangerous.

The cognitive fascists. They are the witch-hunters of our age: followed in our time, they will be ridiculed by our descendants, seen for the con-artists they are. If you dare to use substances not owned by alcohol and tobacco companies (so that they can tax the people that facilitate your suicide) they will take you, they will arrest you,they will shut you away in a little box they call prison. That’s the kind of people who are running our country: those who want to put more of us in prison for daring to explore and expand our minds with psychedelics.

Nothing should remind the people of Britain of the extent to which they are objectified property of the state by the flagrant limiting of sovereignty over their very conscious minds. Are they your masters? To tell you what you can and can’t do with your own mind?

I think it’s incredibly revealing: how such ministers must see the power dynamic between themselves and the people of this country. Any politician who supports this bill is asserting their right to control your mind, even though many themselves have used the newly censored drugs themselves.

What democratic people would ever sanction such ludicrous impositions on their own freedom?
We are so obsessed with the sovereignty of this nation and so blinded to the metaphysical “land-grab” that is going to occur on the 26th of May, 2016.

On the 26th of March 2016 hundreds of mind-altering substances policy makers know little-to-nothing about will be made illegal. Many are not just drugs but keys to doors of experience that can transform and benefit this species and the people of this nation: doors the government wants firmly closed. Many such substances have been used by your ancestors for countless generations. Many are tools for the expansion of an ever shrinking human consciousness: psychologically programmed and genetically manipulated only to work, consume, and not kick up too much of a fuss.

“Nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care…”

L.E.A.P. – ‘Why Legalise Drugs?’

“We believe that drug prohibition is the true cause of much of the social and personal  damage that has historically been attributed to drug use. It is prohibition that makes these drugs so valuable –  while giving criminals a monopoly over their supply. Driven by the huge profits from this monopoly, criminal gangs bribe and kill each other, law enforcers, and children. Their trade is unregulated and they are, therefore, beyond our control.

History has shown that drug prohibition reduces neither use nor abuse. After a rapist is arrested, there are fewer rapes. After a drug dealer is arrested, however, neither the supply nor the demand for drugs is seriously changed. The arrest merely creates a job opening for an endless stream of drug entrepreneurs who will take huge risks for the sake of the enormous profits created by prohibition. Prohibition costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars every year, yet 40 years and some 40 million arrests later, drugs are cheaper, more potent and far more widely used than at the beginning of this futile crusade.

We believe that by eliminating prohibition of all drugs for adults and establishing appropriate regulation and standards for distribution and use, law enforcement could  focus  more on crimes of violence, such as rape, aggravated assault, child abuse and murder, making our communities much safer. We believe that sending parents to prison for non-violent personal drug use destroys families. We believe that in a regulated and controlled environment, drugs will be safer for adult use and less accessible to our children. And we believe that by placing drug abuse in the hands of medical professionals instead of the criminal justice system, we will reduce rates of addiction and overdose deaths.”

http://www.leap.cc/about/why-legalize-drugs/

DMT and Ayahuasca

New Petition: MPs Should Face Drug-Tests to End Hypocrisy.

Please sign and share the following petition (UK Citizens only)

In light of the recent scandal, and in light of the fact that (as a matter of public record) the following MPs have all admitted to using illegal recreation drugs…

…it’s time to either end the war on drugs or end the hypocrisy that goes with it. Members of parliament, many of whom have enjoyed the pleasures of altered states of consciousness themselves, preside over laws that penalalise others for doing exactly as they did (or do!). It is hypocrisy, pure and simple.

They procrastinate, worrying about their popularity contest, while innocent people are going to prison or having their futures destroyed over these ridiculous laws, laws that many of them have broken or are breaking: one rule for them, one rule for the rest of us; it’s time for change.

Thank you for signing and sharing the petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/105487