Once upon a time, I took a lot of psilocybin that was not real psilocybin. I also ate psilocybin mushrooms that were not the genuine article. The good news is that at least the end result was either a complete burn, or LSD being sold at a markup that otherwise would not have been available. I’ve heard of all kinds of stuff being sold as all kinds of desirable mind altering substances, and some folks getting hurt by the end result. We can only be grateful that “straight” business men didn’t get more involved in the illegal drug trade or it is certain that some of those crooked bastards surely would have messed up a bunch of us. On the other hand, how wonderful would it be to walk into the health food store, the head shop, or whatever and pick up the genuine item off of the shelf, knowing that the government was prepared to take action in the event of counterfeits?
But that’s obviously not how it goes in our country. Alcohol is certainly a mind altering substance with the potential for abuse. However, since most folks don’t harm themselves on cocktails most of the time, we regulate the stuff, not ban it.
And consider motorcycles. Man, talk about something that has real potential to hurt the user, and, in fact, is associated with major carnage on an annual basis. Immeasurable damage would be avoided by making them illegal, but that is just not the way things are done here. Instead, we do things like pass helmet laws, so that we can try to help the motorcycle users keep themselves safe. In the case of club riders, we force them to do what we feel is best for them, but even they are allowed to make the fatal mistake of continuing to ride, if they choose to.
And let’s not even get started on tobacco.
Interestingly, psychedelic mushrooms are considered to be sacred in a number of cultures, and so it has been down through the ages. In fact, at least one book by a noted religious scholar postulates that man may have invented God, or at least our current particular conception of Him, during mushroom rituals. And having been in that kind of place when I did get my hands on the real thing, this is a theory that I would not bet against.
Put that way, I guess that drugs really are too dangerous to be allowed to move about freely in a country that is fast becoming afraid of anything that questions the beliefs of rabid fundamentalist Christians. People who want their kids to live by faith alone will obviously go to any length to enlist the government in helping them to pull off their brainwashing.