[pasbesoin]

More anecdote leaning towards truth that my friends were self-medicating and not simply "doing something bad."

I am now, well into middle age, firmly in the camp that I missed out, due to fear, propaganda, and mis-information. And that my life might have been much better if I had not bought so heavily into that message and instead had "experimented". Trust your observations; not blind authority.

Anyway... I'm currently trying to overcome a combination of symptoms, thoughts, and feelings, stemming from years of abuse, PTSD, and eventually significant knock-on physical health effects.

In the past, I've tried SSRI's, NSRI's, Wellbutrin. Immediate, horrible reactions to each. The only thing that helped was a small dose of Adderall -- much lower than standard. And St. John's Wort. Almost impossible in the U.S. to find a doctor who will agree to simultaneous use of both -- unlike in Europe, so I understand. And the doctor I found was a jerk who almost cost me my chance to purchase next year's health insurance, due to his lack of response on paperwork. So, no more Adderall.

I'm ready to try magic mushrooms. Maybe a low, pure dose of ketamin. Or perhaps MDMA. Under supervision -- medical or simply experienced and well-intentioned. But, there is no avenue for this.

And big pharma and the "war on drugs" will do their best to keep it locked down.

I simply have no trust left in the Establishment, in the U.S., with respect to medical practice. Or, very select trust, in individual practitioners. Who are often caught in a system that severely hampers their ability to actually practice effective medicine and treatment.

[darreld]

I agree with you completely. When I was young I smoked a lot of weed but was afraid of LSD and mushrooms. Now that I'm nearing 60 I feel that I definitely missed out. Since dealing with pretty bad anxiety from, I assume, extreme stress at work for decades, I'm ready to try mushrooms and, in the right setting, LSD.

My problem is availability.

[pasbesoin]

Except for one minor contact high at a party, I never even experienced weed.

I have a friend who had strikingly similar experiences as a child. She quit school for a while and got high daily -- mostly weed, as I understand it. About the age of 21 or 22, she got herself back into school and now has a very successful professional career.

Drugs may indeed destroy some people. But, the messaging is far too simple -- and simplistic.

And, those people often are not helped. They are simply castigated and ostracized.

I don't mean, at all, to make light of such circumstances. And, I have currently been helping someone -- help to the tune of dozens of hours per week and hundreds of miles driven, and hundreds of dollars -- who came darned close to being lost, herself.

I'd still trade my life for hers. She's lived hers -- mistakes and all.