Most troubling is the link between psychotropic drugs and mental illness--keeping in mind I'm referring to the existing literature base that is most prevalent on topics like cannabis and LSD, but of course to a lesser extent other drugs.
Additionally we have the fact that government was pushing these exact same drugs in the 60's (CIA, et al) for some reason. I wonder why?
These drugs are undergoing a renaissance when it comes to media coverage and indeed MSM is painting them with a positive brush, especially their therapeutic benefits, which is not a problem at all if the evidence is there for their efficacy.
Tobacco has seen widespread demonization, and now in the midst of the ecig craze, we're seeing it with nicotine of all substances. In fact, it's not much different from caffeine. Although in the past, no doubt research about effects of tobacco was suppressed. Alcohol too. Just looking at the destructiveness of alcohol on families, users, partners, crime, etc, we can see how bad it can be. SSRIs, etc are potent substances, no doubt about it, and here in the US, and the west to a lesser extent, we are way to heavy on handing out drugs to individuals whom have legitimate problems, but we opt for the easy solutions. To me, some of the most dangerous drugs now are media, social media, cell phones etc. Simply for the fact that they are designed to mimic drugs in their functionality.
I'm not interested, I'm for complete legalization of all substances though... Whatever floats your boat. But if they have document-able therapeutic benefits or even spiritual or holistic benefits, I'm in favor of them. They may also have some utility in treating drug abuse. We are now seeing emerging research on ecstasy, LSD, Ketamine, cannabis, etc, on the benefits these drugs can provide.
Related: good book on the covert war against rock n roll and counter-cultural figures in the 60's; there is much speculation, but basically the thought is that many of the big rock n roll figures were being killed for being too edgy, synopsis of the book follows: The Covert War Against Rock: What You Don't Know About the Deaths of Jim Morrison, Tupac Shakur, Michael Hutchence, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Phil Ochs, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, John Lennon... (author: Alex Constantine):
Quote:Quote:
Constantine's paranoid romp through rock history explores Brian Jones' demise at Winnie the Pooh's house, Peter Tosh's death during a home invasion, Bob Marley's fatal cancer, and the terminations of other, somehow subversive rock stars, and vets the conspiracy theories about them. Was Marley given cancer by means of a booby-trapped cowboy boot from the CIA? If so, was that part of the same CIA-Jamaican government campaign that rubbed out Tosh? What of alleged foul play in the death of Tupac Shakur, not by rival gangsta rap crews, but by a "COINTELPRO-type operation" ? According to Constantine, the mainstream media have produced books "libelling the deceased and misleading the reader on the circumstances." The scary suppositions are only slightly undercut by Constantine's occasional fudging of known, if ungermane, facts, as when he says that the Mick Jagger^-Keith Richards bust occurred at a hotel rather than Richards' Redlands estate. Less scurrilous than the Weekly World News, less reliable than Kenneth Anger's Tinseltown expose, Hollywood Babylon, this is still fascinating conspiracy mongering.