[HN Gopher] Stanislav Grof Interviews Dr. Albert Hofmann, Big Su...
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Stanislav Grof Interviews Dr. Albert Hofmann, Big Sur, California
(1984)
Author : benbreen
Score : 56 points
Date : 2022-03-27 04:24 UTC (18 hours ago)
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(TXT) w3m dump (maps.org)
| photochemsyn wrote:
| Interesting article, especially Hofmann's description of the
| chemical processes he used and how unusual it was to find a
| complex compound like a lysergide in both a fungi and a
| completely unrelated plant. Note that much has been learned since
| 1984 about the brain receptors (serotonin 5-HT2A receptors)
| involved, however.
|
| As far as the social problems with psychedelics, they're pretty
| minor compared to the effects of alcohol, tobacco, amphetamines
| and opiates (all drugs with various degrees of legality). A lot
| of the problems stem from consumer mentality across the board,
| i.e. advertisers have indoctrinated people with the 'more is
| better' mentality. Probably the most anti-consumerist sentiment
| ever expressed is 'Less is More' but that's then mentality anyone
| contemplating experimentation with psychedelics should adopt. The
| dose-response curve is more exponential than linear or
| logarithmic.
|
| Incidentally, the psychiatric therapy models tend to involve a
| single relatively high dose in a controlled setting. This is
| entirely unlike the current (and much more profitable)
| pharmaceutical regime of daily dosing with antidepressants or
| amphetamine derivatives. Likewise, psychedelics have shown vast
| potential for helping people break free of addictive disorders
| involving alcohol, tobacco and opiates. Again, this is an
| unprofitable model for the pharmaceutical and recreational drug
| industries, who rely on the heavy users for the majority of their
| profits.
|
| Finally, psychedelics have the interesting effect of distorting
| sensory perceptions, and if you can't necessarily trust your
| sensory perceptions, this has a knock-on effect - you might also
| start doubting things like the validity of government propaganda
| or the reliability of media publications or the pronouncements of
| the religious authorities. This can be described as an 'anti-
| brainwashing' effect - and such independent thinking can be a
| threat to established power structures in human societies. People
| who believe that unquestioning faith in authority figures is the
| cornerstone of social cohesion (aka authoritarian control freaks)
| are thus very alarmed by psychedelics.
| mistrial9 wrote:
| it might be useful to distinguish between LSD - the drug and
| journey, and LSD - the social phenomenon via Dr Tim Leary,
| Burning Man, music bands and the like.. Stan Grof from my point
| of view, is solid and responsible.. the other side, outrageous
| and unexpected, with all the ecstasies and injuries associated
| with such chaotic vigor. Detractors and their allies, law
| enforcement, quickly point out the social costs, and after
| decades, I see they are not entirely wrong about that part.
| Enthusiasm and outright dismissal of the negatives, do not
| overcome that, and in fact strengthen it.. since you know, drugs
| have been known to affect a person's judgement over time :-/
|
| (thx for posting "fringe" journey material here on tech-heavy
| YNews)
| throwaway1777 wrote:
| It's hard to untangle the negative aspects from the war on
| drugs itself. If such substances were integrated into the
| community in a healthy way it wouldn't push people into the
| fringe and into prison.
| newbamboo wrote:
| "I have the feeling that the situation has improved, because
| you never read in the newspapers about accidents with LSD any
| more, as it happened in the 1960s practically every day. People
| who use LSD today know how to use it. Therefore, I hope that
| the health authorities will get the insight that LSD, if it is
| used properly, is not a dangerous drug. We actually should not
| refer to it as drug; this word has a very bad connotation. We
| should use another name. Psychedelic substances, if they are
| used in proper ways, are very helpful for mankind."
| kirsebaer wrote:
| There are still accidental injuries with LSD, but they are
| extremely rare, just as they were in the 1960s. What has
| changed is the media is no longer repeating the same scare
| stories over and over.
| copperx wrote:
| Is LSD still easy to source? I had heard that what you buy on the
| streets is never real LSD.
| 88840-8855 wrote:
| You can buy pre-LSD fully legally and easily here in Germany.
| LSD is illegal, but the pre stage of LSD is not. There is a
| shop in Berlin (online + retail). you just go there and buy
| your LSD. the price is fair and the quality is very high as it
| is being produced in a controlled lab.
| azinman2 wrote:
| How do you go from the pre stage to final stage?
| 88840-8855 wrote:
| It happens in your body.
|
| Check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1V-LSD
| azinman2 wrote:
| Unless I'm missing something, it doesn't talk about how
| it occurs in your body. It seems more like an analog?
| gpcr1949 wrote:
| This is a pro-drug, the valeroyl indole amide rapidly
| gets hydrolyzed to LSD in the body. Same thing applies
| for ALD-52,1P,1B,1cP-LSD. This also means that at some
| point, these will be made illegal or will fall under
| blanket "analog" legislation.
| [deleted]
| wombat-man wrote:
| It's been a little while but as of a few years ago it's
| certainly still widely available. It's easy to get a test kit
| if you'd like to verify what you have.
| sydthrowaway wrote:
| After visiting SF it put me off drugs entirely
|
| Even if its a 1% chance of negative permanent effect, its not
| worth it
| Fargoan wrote:
| If you're not mentally ill you should be ok
| sydthrowaway wrote:
| I post on the internet, very high chance I am.
| 01100011 wrote:
| Up til now(47) I've only had one bad experience with
| psychedelics in my life, and it likely came from a research
| chemical masquerading as LSD. That changed a couple months ago
| when I started having uncontrollable tics for several weeks
| after a moderate dose of mushrooms(home grown, so I know what
| they are). I've had tics most of my adult life, and they are
| very sporadic, but after tripping it went from once a week or
| two up to 50-60 a day. Now it's back to a few times a day, but
| I am questioning if I should ever do them again at this point.
| sydthrowaway wrote:
| No. The brain is too precious to forsake under some
| "psychonaut" subculture banner.
| Cannabat wrote:
| While I agree wholeheartedly that our body and mind are too
| precious to risk, the consumption of psychedelics being
| just the raising of a banner is skipping over the potential
| for these chemicals to be effective therapeutic and
| spiritual aids.
| tern wrote:
| It's a lot less than 1%, but best to take psychedelics with (1)
| a deep knowledge of what's actually happening[1] and (2)
| confidence in your support network both during the experience
| and after.
|
| A bad trip is not necessarily bad--it's information about
| further work to do. If you don't already have a handle on how
| to do that kind of work without psychedelics, there's
| definitely a chance you'll end up stuck, possibly with symptoms
| you don't want. But it's not just a dice-roll.
|
| Your calculus may also change if you consider the possibility
| that your life could potentially be 10x or 100x better after
| investigation & development (via psychedelics or other means).
| From that perspective, psychedelics can be seen merely as a
| spiritual power tool. Great for gross cuts, best wielded with
| precautions in place, and not the right tool for finishing
| work.
|
| [1] i.e. https://www.qualiaresearchinstitute.org/blog/neural-
| annealin...
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