[tcbawo]

Someone I know was a student athlete, near valedictorian in high school and a fairly talented musician. He went off to college on the West coast nearly twenty years ago. He tried some LSD, which may have either activated and/or exacerbated schizophrenia in his brain. He never made it through college, is unable to hold a stable job, and still lives in his parents' basement. Granted nobody knows for certain whether LSD did this to my friend, but every story I read about psychedelics suggest that their use should be guided and supervised.

[Broken_Hippo]

To be absolutely fair, though: Schizophrenia is commonly known to hit folks when they are in their late teens to early 20's - the time when folks are going to college. Any drug the person does can be seen as bringing it on. Folks suspect that the stress of college/starting life as an adult can trigger it as well.

IIRC, they are pretty sure that schizophrenia is a combination of genetics and situation. I'd not say that we need to be guided and supervised (as this would just keep the black market around), but rather better informed and more research on mental disorders. The vast majority of folks that do LSD don't wind up with schizophrenia, and IIRC you have to be predisposed to schizophrenia to develop it after LSD.

I'll note that it is pretty rare to develop schizophrenia later in life as well.

Source: Ex developed schizo-affective disorder, later being diagnosed as schizophrenia. He was in his early 20's when diagnosed, but showed symptoms well before that I could only recognize in hindsight. I've personally done LSD more than 35 times, but completely unsure of how many times that is and that doesn't include other hallucinogens I've done. I, personally, do not have schizophrenia and am 42.

[quickthrowman]

> He tried some LSD, which may have either activated and/or exacerbated schizophrenia in his brain.

Or perhaps being a latent schizophrenic, he was drawn to LSD/drugs in general. According to a study done in 2006[0] 90% of schizophrenics in the US used tobacco products in 2006, while only 20% of non-schizophrenic people did.

How do you explain this? It’s either “schizophrenic people use drugs at a higher rate” or “tobacco causes schizophrenia”. I’d bet heavily on the former.

[frank2]

Tobacco offers short-term relief for some the negative emotions (anxiety?) caused by schizophrenia. I have heard that it is very effective (and of course fast-acting).

[rthomas6]

Most people don't know that in addition to nicotine, tobacco contains a MAOI, which are a class of drugs used to treat anxiety and depression.

[watersb]

Monoamine anti-oxidase inhibitor (MAOI)

[tcbawo]

I definitely subscribe to the idea of people self-medicating (even subconsciously). I don't have a lot of first-hand knowledge of his drug use post-high school. However, if you believe that psychedelics are powerful enough to permanently change your worldview, then you may have to consider that they can have other permanent side effects.