Who controls your bloodstream?
You?
Or the politicians?
. . . and when drug use has a legitimate spiritual or "religious" purpose, why doesn't a truly "strict constructionist" reading of The Constitution absolutely protect that activity?
All of the Founding Fathers would agree with that. Why do we stand for a handful of hacks like Scalia telling us otherwise?
AS UNLIKELY as it may sound to some people, the use of certain "illegal" drugs helped to prepare me for the penultimate spiritual experience of my life, which actually occurred while I was totally straight. But I have no doubt that my previous drug experiences, undertaken in a spiritual context, enabled me to make the most of the opportunity I was given to investigate the heights of Divinity that one night, quite long ago now.
(For the tale of that event: http://www.feedbooks.com/... )
TODAY, for reasons of personal freedom, and because the "war on (some) drugs" has done far more harm than good, I am an advocate of the decriminalization of the use of all drugs.
However, I am not an advocate of the legalization of the use and sale of all drugs. Many drugs, such as alcohol, tobacco, crack & powder cocaine, crystal meth, opium and its strongest derivatives, and a number of other problematic substances, are directly implicated in so much illness, death, and mayhem, that they should be intelligently and ethically regulated and monitored to some degree.
There are always going to be some people who need help to handle a problem with some of the hardest, and even the softest drugs. We are all aware of the guy or gal who has been in some trouble because they over–did–it with alcohol, or MaryJane (marijuana), or maybe even caffeine, for God’s sake. We must be reasonable, and look at all sides of these questions.
BECAUSE THEY VALUE their own freedom, people who are really free will not accept that any government is allowed to dictate the chemical composition of the bloodstream of any of its citizens.
But this is what the criminalization of the mere use of certain forbidden, naughty drugs attempts to do. If you can be charged with breaking the law the instant that you modify your own bloodstream, you have lost control of your own body and you are a robot for the state.
Among the many other problems we face, a large number of people here in the USA, and in many other countries, have accepted being placed under this type of 21st century–style slavery.
Free people will not accept such an invasion into their private life by the state, even if they think they are not personally affected at the moment. Free people must be guaranteed that every citizen owns absolute and uncontested control over their own bloodstream.
In contrast, a supposed citizen who would allow any government that kind of control over their most private and sacred possession, their own body, is actually a willing slave of the state.
Surely, every citizen who honestly believes in freedom, must affirm that citizens must own exclusive control over their own bloodstream. Otherwise, I say to anyone who would disagree with this idea, "You are not a real citizen at all." You are either one of the robots who are servants to the "bad guys", or else you are one of them; one of the bad guys. The "bad guys" are the people in positions of power and influence who are working to enslave their fellow humans, and are using drug laws fashioned under hysteria to help effect that vile purpose.
ONCE SANITY REIGNS AGAIN with regard to drugs, and a rational drug policy is adopted, many intelligent and tough changes will need to be made, including changing the way that our currently legal drugs are marketed and sold.
First, any advertising of any drugs to the public in print, on radio, on television, etc, must be appropriately discrete and restrained.
There are hardly any types of drugs, even "medicinal" drugs, that should be advertised at all, while still remaining decriminalized, of course. This is especially true for every recreational and mood altering drug, such as beer, wine, weed, stimulants, etc.. They should only be allowed to be modestly advertised, and then only far outside of the main public media of any kind.
There is no need for such substances to be pitched to the public at the half–time of a national sporting event on TeeVee, or during a re–run of an evening sitcom, or on a morning drive radio time slot.
The outlets for the sale of drugs needs to be re–evaluated too. All drugs, even non–restricted, currently legal drugs require dedicated, single–use retail storefronts, where only drugs of certain types are for sale, and entrance to the establishments may be controlled.
No drug needs to be openly sold in gas stations and grocery stores, next to candy bars and baby formula, like alcohol and tobacco, and over–the–counter medicinal drugs are being sold today in large parts of the USA.
BEFORE ANYONE even thinks about starting to put words in my mouth, although I have experienced the effects of a few drugs in the following list, I’ll mention that I do not believe that the use of any synthesized drug, or product of nature, such as psilocybin mushrooms, the various sources of DMT, LSD, or MaryJane, etc., is essential for anyone. There are prudent legal considerations, and cultural, social, and philosophical complaints that may be associated with their use in our modern culture, even in a spiritual context.
So, unless the desire is to promote confrontation, any potential endorsement is best presented with reserve, and made by individuals whose stake in the inevitable arguments is seen as natural and authoritative in some relevant manner. But the days of rabid prohibition have to end, especially regarding the entheogens; the frequently referenced, but rarely accessed, "psychedelic" drugs .
They are not for everyone, but despite the scare tactics, the long and useful history of these exo–psychological drugs cannot truthfully be denied. Psychonauts and shamans have traditions whose roots extend to the origins and earliest mists of human activities that are frequently and appropriately referred to as "religious".
This class of molecules was extremely useful on a number of occasions for me, but I understood, and it must be remembered, that they may easily present problems for dilettantes, the misinformed, the psychologically unprepared, or those who are already too unstable for their own good.
OF COURSE, most people are not involved in the tools and rituals of the proto–priests of our species. The great majority of people have no wish to use the semi–transcendent, animated qualities of certain "sacred" plants, or their synthesized chemical clones and derivatives, as "allies".
This is the shaman’s specialty; the wizard’s technology. Intimate familiarity with altered states of consciousness, hopefully leading to mastery, is one of the most important talents of the successful psychonaut.
It is far beyond the time to respond to our world's vexing drug problems like sensible adults, with respect for all of our fellow citizens, and admit that the simple desire to occasionally "get high" by using drugs seems to be thoroughly ingrained in human nature. And it’s no secret that, if used wisely and within a sympathetic environment, this inherent pattern can be very amusing, and even rewarding.
A DETAILED RULE defining "wise drug use" must continuously evolve and respond to social and technological changes. While only a fool would argue that any particular example of drug use is desirable for everyone, the current blanket prohibition of entheogenic drugs is an intolerable attack on human freedom that only ignorance will enforce, and only the timid or unconcerned will accept.
The so–called "illegal" entheogenic compounds have been used for thousands of years in the most fundamental and genuinely devout ceremonies of most cultures; cultures shared by the ancestors and relatives of the overwhelming majority of our citizens, from the archaic to the modern.
Beyond the public health issue of "quality control", these matters are far too personal, far too subjective, and potentially sacred, to allow politicians, courts, and police any countermanding input.
The use of heavy police action and wildly excessive jail time to absolutely outlaw a proven, high–powered, access–point to a natural and vital part of the spectrum of human consciousness is an insult to human freedom, and to our Constitution here in the USA.
We are facing a growing police state mentality in the USA. All reasonable boundaries have been overstepped in "the war against (some) drugs", and it doesn’t even take a legitimately "strict constructionist" reading of the Constitution to see that.
BECAUSE THERE ARE many misinformed people who might not be aware of how historically mainstream my attitude about freedom from government intrusion in these matters actually is, I have included some interesting quotations from famous Founding Fathers and early Presidents of our nation regarding individual liberty, and the value of certain favored agricultural practices. All of the following quotes can be found in Rowan Robinson's excellent publication, "The Great Book of Hemp".
"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others; or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own." – Thomas Jefferson
"Let particular care be taken of the India Hemp seed, and as much good ground allotted for its reception as is competent to Sow." – George Washington
"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country." – Thomas Jefferson
"Surviving correspondence of the first several presidents of the United States indicates that seven of them smoked cannabis (MaryJane). George Washington allegedly preferred to smoke ‘the leaves of hemp’ rather than to drink alcohol. While campaigning with the Army of the Revolution, General Washington was heard to bemoan that he could not be at home to harvest his hemp crop. James Madison was once heard to say that smoking hemp inspired him to found a new nation on democratic principles. James Monroe, the fifth U.S. president, was introduced to hashish while he was serving as ambassador to France, and he continued to enjoy the smoke until he was seventy–three years old. When Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, and Franklin Pierce served as military commanders, they each smoked hemp with their soldiers. In one letter to his family, Pierce complained that hemp was ‘about the only good thing’ about the Mexican War." – Rowan Robinson from The Great Book of Hemp
IT IS CORRECT that in some of my younger years, I may have been more reckless than the average person with respect to the use of certain drugs, but almost all psychonauts and shamans use drugs of one type or another.
If my native intellectual and imaginative talents were more sensitive and comprehensive, I might not have felt that I needed the head–morphing jolt that entheogens can provide as an assist to get beyond the framework of ordinary experience, and strongly confront the frontiers of human consciousness. But I wasn’t that lucky.
Instead, as a young adult, I surveyed the anti–drug propaganda in the corporate media, and evaluated feedback from friends, the fringe press, and the hippie media outlets. I soon gravitated to those few chemical compounds that radiated with the aura of psychedelic legitimacy.
I discounted the flashing, hysterical propaganda from police and politicians, and soon became interested in those drugs that evoked condemnation that was far out of proportion to the real, adverse impact they sometimes had upon an unprepared person’s psychological circumstances.
WITH SPORADIC REGULARITY, I tried to intelligently consume restrained quantities of resinous hemp, central nervous system stimulants (caffeine and the more potent pharmaceutical uppers, not cocaine and especially not crack or crystal meth), the occasional challenging dose of an entheogen (and whatever passes for them on the street sometimes), and a tiny sampling of a few other familiar out–caste molecules, as required for my spiritual and physical journey.
According to the criteria of my profession, and according to the protections provided to the citizens of the USA by the Constitution, I do not accept that I’ve "abused" any drugs in my preparations for spiritual exploration. I have always assumed the freedom to live my life as I see necessary.
Godspeed to you and yours.
WITHOUT QUESTION, there are other options for the spiritual seeker. Some options are more traditional, and others carry as radical a reputation as does any drug. In the USA, and throughout the planet, most people feel comfortable with the more sedate techniques available to prepare for spiritual exploration.
Forcing myself to select an example from the numerous possibilities, the life–long commitment of a loving, devoted, mutually reinforcing member of a close extended family, or in an established and familiar tribe, can be excellent preparation for the social conditions of higher dimensions. For many enthusiasts, this could be a very reliable practice, but it’s one of the slower paths. I required quicker results and, soon enough, I felt that I had to look elsewhere.
Lucid dreaming may also be a path to heights, or depths.
I understand that tantric sex has been successful preparation for some proponents, but it has it’s pitfalls too. Two–edged swords seem to be the rule in the "left–handed" side of this field of endeavor.
THE EXO–ORTHODOX PATHS, like using certain drugs, lucid dreaming, or transcendent sex, have acknowledged degrees of additional difficulty associated with them, and they seem suitable for only a minority of people. Their red flags must be presented to the curious novice more forcefully than any possible benefits that may not come until after many years of meticulous attention.
The introductory message must be something like; "You’d better know what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it, or it would be better for you not to start at all."
No matter what techniques are chosen to be utilized, the value of the public path is to provide a "proof of concept". The best of these disciplines are designed to introduce you to, and to verify the existence of, various views of alternate realities. Ultimate success only comes when you finally jump off the established path and take your personal breakthrough. They may serve as springboards, but the real higher dimensional breakthroughs always come when Divinity extends a personal invitation that is recognized and embraced, without constraint.
A legitimate spiritual discipline that is properly performed may act as a mentor, a guru, a guide, as you move toward your optimal destination, which must be some type of direct experience of the Divine.
The discipline may also be thought of as your vehicle, which you control as the driver. Your chosen vehicle may have the reputation of being as slow and safe as a tricycle, or as fast and tricky to control as a jet fighter airplane.
Inevitably, some who start will fall into a rut and forget that the vehicle's purpose is to help them advance toward a destination, and the path becomes their goal, instead of their tool. They may master their chosen vehicle and become a mere performer of stunts, like a jet fighter pilot carving smoke trails in the sky with comrades at faster than the speed of sound. They may never realize that they have become snared by the flypaper of a mastered technique, and buzz in the same spot until time robs them of the opportunity to remember that any path without a higher purpose is just an occupation, and not a means to transcendence.
AS AN UNSHAKABLE BELIEVER in transcendence, and a serious student of the notion of Goddess & God, I flexed my life to probe the world along its most compelling contours. Investigating many paths at least a little, I hoped to get closer to my "Holy Grail", which resided beyond Space–Time.
LIKE YOU, I had little time to waste.
(You are invited to investigate further development of this topic at this URL: http://www.feedbooks.com/... )