THE DRUG WAR

Most of the drugs listed in the Schedule 1 hallucinogens, are synthetic laboratory drugs. But some of them are the plants (although the alkaloid hallucinogenic molecules can be synthesized in the lab also).

THE SACRED CACTUS (mescaline)

OKLAHOMA DAILY Nation/World

Peyote may have medicinal benefits

- Experts are debating the benefits, risks of hallucinogenic drugs.

Faye Flam - Knight-Ridder Tribune - December 04, 2003

(I got this report off the net and edited it down to the pertinent information).

PHILADELPHIA -- Long before Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey and the counterculture generation discovered hallucinogenic drugs, the Indians of western Mexico were using peyote to commune with their gods.

Anthropologist Peter T. Furst, who spent 30 years among the Huichol people, says that Indian shamans have been using hallucinogenic plants as a doorway to the divine for thousands of years, likely following a tradition carried by their ancestors over the Bering Strait.

And now, some U.S. scientists are exploring how these substances might be used by doctors to battle anxiety, mental illness and alcoholism.

"These compounds hold tremendous potential for helping us understand how the brain functions, and they have untapped potential for healing," said Charles Grob, a psychiatry professor at UCLA Medical School.

Some early studies suggest that LSD can ease the sense of dread that people feel when they are dying. "There were some very interesting and promising results," said Grob. He recently secured approval from the Food and Drug Administration to continue this line of inquiry using the milder drug psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms. (my comment - not true. Psilocybin is many times more potent than peyote by weight, and to trip heavy, far less shrooms in weight are taken in comparison to the peyote. The magic shroom trip is every bit as powerful as the mescaline containing peyote. In fact, peyote people think that magic shroom shamans are witch doctors. Peyote shamans don't employ the mushrooms, which to me, is very odd. The shrooms could be used just like the Peyote and also, with the PF TEK, their shroom supply would never run out, like peyote can since it has to be hunted for in the desert, harvested and brought out). end comment

Archaeological finds in Texas show remnants of peyote that date back around 7,000 years. Even earlier finds show a hallucinogenic seed associated with remains of giant mastodons and other Pleistocene animals that go back at least 10,000 years.

Furst said he believed it was likely the Huichol and other tribes brought a tradition of hallucinogen use from Siberia before they entered the Americas more than 15,000 years ago.

Others see evidence for shamanism in early Europe. "Shamanism emerged at least 40,000 years ago and is reflected in Paleolithic rock art," said Michael Winkelman, an anthropologist from Arizona State University. "Not all societies depended on hallucinogenic plants but where they found them, people built up institutions around these substances," he said. "They are seen as a source of divine inspiration".

When the Spanish invaded Mexico, they labeled peyote the "diabolic root," Furst said, and tried to stamp out its use. In the 1960s, peyote achieved a cult following. After a long legal battle, Furst said, peyote was legalized in 1994 in the United States for members of certain American Indian religions.

Arizona's Winkelman said he believes there is something in human biology that makes us want to reach for such altered states.

People use the term hallucinogen loosely to apply to many mind-altering drugs, but peyote belongs to a small family that shares similar modes of action on the brain. They include psilocybin, LSD and morning glory seeds.

Studies like the Good Friday Experiment ended after psilocybin and other hallucinogens were made illegal in the late 1960s and early '70s, but a handful of scientists today are looking at ways these types of drugs might help people.

John Halpern, associate director of substance abuse research at Harvard University and McLean Hospital, is investigating the possibility that peyote prevents alcoholism in American Indians. end quotes

MANUFACTURING or GROWING?

When the law about the mushrooms says, "Manufacturing psilocin", that word "manufacturing" seems to me a way that the drug warriors use to make it all seem so bad. "Manufacturing" conjures up visions of smoke stacks, fire and brimstone, factories, environmental contamination, railroad cars full of coal and ore, laboratories, bubbling refluxers and all of that. One can certainly "manufacture" meth or LSD. That is done by mixing chemicals the right way. But when one grows mushrooms and they say that it is "manufacturing" a drug, they are really wrong about that. It is the mushrooms that "manufacture" the alkaloid. They do it by biotransformation. I just grow them, and nature does the work. I allow the mushrooms to live, but as far as actually making the drug, the mushrooms do it.

ENDING THE DRUG WAR - SOLUTION - THE PLANTS

The drug war and the so called drug menace is a modern development and it has its' roots in racism, the advent of modern chemistry, chemicals and new synthetic drugs that are not of plant or natural origin, but created by science. If all of the plants were declared legal, the synthetic drugs would die off and go extinct and the addicts of the synthetic drugs or dangerous concentrated forms of the natural drug plants (heroin and cocaine) would decrease in number and then they could be treated as a health issue. That idea is called "harm reduction". But the governments of this world love harm increasement.

The drug war could be ended by easily just declaring all plants legal, and the end of the drug war would ratchet down all the violence and death about it. So instead of a potentially dangerous powder such as cocaine, the leaf would be legal. Leaf coca has been used for centuries by the peoples of the South American Andean mountains. There is even evidence and proof of its' use by the people that created the awe inspiring civilization of Tiwanaku. These are some excerpts from the National Geographic Magazine - June 2002 issue about the research and archaeology that has been going on in that region.

The form of the schedule one plant derived drugs is in two forms, the plant and the chemical. With magic shrooms, the chemical is an alkaloid named Psilocybin which was named by its' discoverer, the first person to isolate it and synthesize it, the creator of LSD, Dr. Albert Hoffman. It would seem to me that the two forms could be seperate in the law. The pure chemical is indeed a manufactured chemical, done by chemistry in a laboratory. The original form of the drug is made by nature or bio-synthesized by the mushroom itself. So logically (and that would exclude the Government that has no brain) the two forms could be controlled in two ways. One way would be to make pure synthetic psilocybin and psilocin the schedule one drug. The other way would be to put the magic mushrooms in another less severe class which could be for possession and cultivation, a misdemeaner instead of a felony infraction.

ANCIENT SACRED PLANT USE IN THE ANDES - THE TIWANAKU

Excerpts from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE �

page 116 - "Researcher Alexei Vranich believes the Pumapunku served as Tiwanaku's Ellis Island, indoctrinating pilgrims from remote parts of the empire into the state religion with chicha (a fermented drink), hallucinogens, and ritual theater. When the rituals were over, the converts could proceed to other temples in the city's ceremonial core, like the 56 foot high Akapana temple, in the background above. A devastating drought around A.D. 1100 may have ended the city's 600 year reign over the south-central Andes".

page 119 - "Around the edge of the walls he found hundreds of sherds of beautifully painted and intentionally smashed pots, some the size of wine barrels. Other pits held broken jars decorated with the design of a hallucinogenic plant". (My comment - the plant is a large night blooming cactus called SAN PEDRO which contains MESCALINE (Like Peyote). end comment

page 123 - "Inside the city, administrators probably handed down orders and dispensed chicha, and priests took hallucinogenic drugs while performing secret rites to summon the spirits and advice of the ancestors".

page 127 - "It must have been overwhelming," Vranich says, "a mind-altering, life-changing experience made even more so by the drugs they were taking". A Hallucinogenic cactus, other hallucinogenic plants, drug paraphernalia, and snuff have been found among Tiwanaku's ruins. Recently another archaeologist uncovered the mummy of a shaman with his packet of drugs and medicines.

page 128 - "Apparently the Tiwanaku needed massive quantities of corn, potatoes, and COCA to feed and impress the pilgrims who flocked to their temples". end quotes

The evidence of the great civilization that was the Tiwanaku is all around Lake Titicaca in the Bolivian mountains. They were a megalithic civilization and built huge temples and places of worship from the rocks quarried nearby. There was no drug war or drug menace with them. The drugs were the plants that were worshipped. The plants were their gods, created by the god of nature. Their demise is one of the mysteries of archaeology, but the main theory that has been proposed and accepted, is that weather patterns changed and drought brought down the great empire.

THE SCYTHIANS 700 - 100 B.C.

Another ancient people who were successful in that they were never conquered were the famous Scythians (700 B.C. - 100 B.C.) of the Asian Steps north of the Black Sea. Marijuana and other hallucinogenic plants were discovered in tombs and graves by archaeologists. The Scythians faded out by the gradual encroachment of "civilization". But the Scythians lasted for centuries practicing their ancient ways, with no drug war or drug menace.

This is another article from a National Geographic society magazine: "Though not an agricultural society, Scythians benefited from crops the fertile plains offered. Among them: Hemp. Herodotus, in The Histories, details one use: "On a framework of three sticks, meeting at the top, they stretch pieces of woolen cloth, taking care to get the joint as perfect as they can, and inside this little tent they put a dish with red-hot stones in it. Then they take some hemp seed, creep into the tent, and throw the seed on to the hot stones. At once it begins to smoke, giving off a vapour unsurpassed by any vapour-bath one could find in Greece. The Scythians enjoy it so much that they howl with pleasure. This is their substitute for an ordinary bath in water, which they never use".

National Geographic Magazine also reports: "In one grave they found evidence of surgery - a skull with three small holes, evidently drilled to relieve swelling. Beside the skeleton was a cache of cannabis to ease the deceased's headache in the next world". Obviously, the marijuana was used in life as an inebriant, a shamanic drug, and medicine. And of course, they used the valuable fiber. The Scythians smoked hashish as well and used sacred hallucinogenic plants in their Shamanic animist religion.

ANCIENT AMAZON INDIAN SHAMANS

A great book written about the sacred plants and shamanism is "HALLUCINOGENS AND SHAMANISM" (Oxford University Press - 1973). The book describes the now extinct Indian cultures that proliferated throughout the Amazon river basin of Brazil and South America. One of the most famous of these tribes were the JIVARO. They were known as "headhunters". There were many such tribes extant just up until about a century ago, but when the Amazon rain forest was encrouched upon by western civilization and the missionaries in the early 20th century, their ways went extinct and many tribes no longer exist.

In the Amazon rain forest grows many hallucinogenic plants. The most famous of those plants are several species of BANISTERIOPSIS, a tree inhabiting vine containing DMT as the hallucingenic molecule. The indians would chop the vine up and boil it along with other leafy additions to create a powerful hallucinogenic brew in which they would partake on a regular basis and commune with their jungle gods. The vine is not very powerful by itself, but when other plants such as Psychotria viridis (containing DMT) is added to the brew, the hallucinogenic power is increased. There are many different plants that the indian shamans would add. Although the actual scientific analysis is incomplete, enough has been done to reveal that the indian shamans knew what they were doing. The brew is called ayahuasca or yage.

One of the mysteries of the Amazon shamans, is the question of how did they find out how to create their powerful visionary brews from the myriads of species of plants and animals which exist there. When the shamans were asked by the research anthropologists how they found it out, the shamans would just reveal that their ancestors taught them, which doesn't answer the question. It is well known, that these shamans know every plant and animal in the jungle and what the plants do - if they are a food, a poision, a medicine or a visionary plant. The shamans claim that they become in touch with the supernatural realm of the rain forest and learn from the gods, of which amongst their sacred gods are the giant snakes, birds and big cats such as the jaguar. Many anthropologists also report that the shamans have psychic ability and reveal secrets unknown to them, but only known to the anthropologists. For instance, a shaman would say that a certain family member belonging to the scientist had just died. A few days later, the scientist would receive word of that. There has been much written about this, but it is all going extinct today and anthropologists are doing work to preserve the knowledge that is becoming forgotten. And of course, the plants these shamans use all contain alkaloids (like DMT) that are all schedule 1 hallucinogenic drugs, declared criminal by the United States government and its' drug warriors.

In the book "HALLUCINGENS AND SHAMANISM" (Oxford University press) is a description of an initiation ritual that the Jivaro did to bring their young men into the warrior ranks. The shamans would take the young man (just out of puberty) deep into the rain forest. There in a chosen spot, the shamans would give the young man a powerful dose of YAGE brew, and then leave him, taking another route home. Then the shamans (and of course the anxious mother) would wait at their encampment. When the young man found his way back to the village (usually after a day or two), he would be celebrated as a new warrior - experienced in the way of shamans and ready to take his place amongst the warrior shamans of the tribe - a man. Of course, if the young man didn't make it back, that's a hard way to fail. In comparison, there is the intitiation into manhood (and womanhood) in the USA culture. After a hard nights drinking, the youths would jump into a car and if there were no deaths, injuries or arrests made, whoopee! - courtesy of the great legal drug of the west - alcohol.

Since the Amazon Indians were discovered in the rain forest, that makes it obvious that they were never conquered or erradicated by the Spanish conquistadors as the Aztec or Inca civilizations were. The Amazon Indian cultures go back thousands of years and came to an end with the encrouchment of the unstopable forces of civilization. What is left is a remnant and their ancient practices have been replaced with alcohol drinking and a sad state of affairs. The young are not interested in the old shaman ways but prefer boom boxes and pop music (which isn't that bad of a thing in my opinion). But I can't help but imagine what happened when the dreaded Jivaro warriors encountered the Spanish Conquistadors as the invadors with their armour, weapons, gun powder and christian missionaries would make their way up the Amazon tributaries in search of gold, plunder, slaves, and victums to murder. So picture this: Spanish expeditionary forces would be coming up an unknown Amazon river when suddenly, from the river bank would be the rustling of underbrush and then some kind of projectiles would pelt their boats. The Spanish and their Indian counterparts (mercenaries and converts) would quickly realize that they were under fire with some sort of small arrows and darts. They would immediately consider the attack rather impotent in comparison with their own Spanish steel and weaponry. But, some of the crew members would get hit by an arrow or dart, and it would not seem to be very deadly. As the Spanish prepared to attack, certain soldiers who were hit by a stray dart or arrow, within several minutes, would collapse onto the flooring of the boat and begin writhing in agony. They were finding it hard to catch their breath and they were becoming paralyzed and begin suffocating as their their nervous system shut down and they would not be able to breathe - then death. Very quickly, the Spanish invaders realized that they were in trouble. There was something very deadly about the arrows and darts that were pelting them. They didn't know it, but the shamans knew how to process a small brightly colored rain forest frog into a deadly nerve poison in which they would coat their darts and arrow heads with. The Spanish incursion into the Amazon rain forest didn't last long and the Indians therein didn't become slaves and weren't erradicated. I am sure they took some Spanish heads for their pleasure. That is why the infamous head hunters of the Amazon rain forest were still there when more modern explorers encountered them. The anthropologists would most likely agree, that the Jivaro and their counterparts received messages from their gods while under the influence of their magic sacred plants. Just maybe, while under the influence of the Yage, the shamans relealized that an evil was coming, and the best way to deal with it, was to kill and shrink the head of every Spanish invader that had the misfortune to come their way.

IBOGA AND THE AFRICAN BWITI CULT

In Gabon and Zaire Africa dwells the BWITI cult. The Africans take the plant, Iboga Tabernanthe, to have out of body experiences and claim to visit the world of the dead and their ancestors. It is an ancient African Shamanic religion that is growing. It has become a strong force against the missionary spread of Christianity and Islam, since it unifies many of the once hostile, warring tribes in resistance to European innovations.

IBOGAINE

From "PLANTS OF THE GODS" by Richard Evans Schultes, Albert Hofmann and Christian Ratsch.

"Iboga roots contain the alkaloid, Ibogaine. This substance was first introduced in the 1960's by the Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo as a "fantasy-enhancing drug" for psychotherapy. Today, ibogane is in the spotlight of neuropsychological research, which has shown that the alkaloid can ease drug addiction (to such drugs as heroin and cocaine) and make way for a cure. Ibogaine calms the motor activity that is present when under the influence of an opiate. The chiropractor Karl Naeher says that "Ibogaine, when taken in one high dose by an opiate addict, drastically reduces withdrawal symptoms and, at the same time, causes a "trip" that reveals such deep insights into the personal causes of the addiction that the majority of those who undergo this type of therapy can go for months without a relapse. But several additional sessions are required before a lasting stabilization is evident". end quote

DRUG TREATMENT WITH IBOGAINE

Research into the potential use of ibogaine as a treatment for substance abuse is being carried out by Deborah Mash and her team in Miami.

Excerpts from a newspaper article by Vince Beizer - THE LOS ANGELES TIMES - november 28, 2004

A single day long trip on ibogaine, lore has it, can help break an addiction to heroin, cocaine, alcohol or even cigarettes.

"It has been proved to alleviate the pain and physical discomfort of drug withdrawal with animals," says Dr. Stanley Glick, a neuropharmacologist at Albany Medical Center in New York who has researched the drug for years. "And there are lots of reports of it doing the same with humans. You hear the same story a few thousand times, you've got to believe there's something there."

"One dose of ibogaine is not a magic bullet," says Dr. Deborah Mash, a neurology professor at the University of Miami who has done the most extensive research on ibogaine's effects on human beings. "But it can be a powerful first step on the road to recovery."

Everyone agrees that ibogaine is no fun. It's often emotionally unsettling, mentally exhausting and physically stressful. Its side effects can include nausea, vomiting, loss of coordination and a potentially dangerous reduction in blood pressure and heart rate. There have been several documented deaths in connection with the drug. But because the ibogaine was not taken in a clinical setting, the cause of death was never firmly established. Some fatalities may have been caused by preexisting heart conditions made lethal by ibogaine's effects. Dr. Mash is confident that there are more that have gone unreported. "There are some pretty unethical people" giving clandestine treatments, she says. "They just leave patients for dead in hotel rooms."

By 1993, Dr. Mash had won FDA approval to begin testing ibogaine on human subjects. In 1995, the National Institute on Drug Abuse decided not to proceed to clinical studies.

"Committee members were not all that impressed with its efficacy, but the safety issue stopped them in their tracks," says Frank Vocci, a federal researcher who has followed ibogaine's progress. "What you have are a lot of interesting, colorful anecdotes. But the plural of anecdotes is not scientific data."

Dr. Mash is doing her own part to advance the cause. In 1996 she helped to launch an ibogaine clinic on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. During the next five years, she gathered data on more than 300 patients who sought treatment there; the largest body of serious clinical research on ibogaine ever collected.

Dr. Mash presented her findings at a medical conference last fall in San Francisco. Granted, her sample wasn't representative of America's drug users: most were white men between 20 and 40 years old, the sort of addicts who can afford to spend several weeks and several thousand dollars detoxing in the Caribbean. Still, she declared that her research proves that ibogaine can be administered safely and does help break addictions. "We saw people with big methadone habits lose their cravings after just a single dose of ibogaine," she says. "One month later, both cocaine and opiate addicts reported cravings were significantly lower. And at one year, drug use was significantly down among testees." end quotes

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MAGIC MUSHROOMS

This quote is from the book, "HALLUCINOGENS a forensic drug handbook" - academic press - 2003:

PSILOCYBE - In addition to the AMANITA-type of sacred mushroom, described above, there are several other genera of psychedelic mushrooms that have a long history of use in religious settings (Ott and Bigwood, 1978). As we have seen, AMANITA can be found as far north as Siberia, whereas the lusher climates of Mexico and Central America are the primary habitat for the genera PANAELOUS, STROPHARIA, CONOCYBE and PSILOCYBE. The name PSILOCYBE is derived from the Greek for "bald head", a rather less poetic appellation than the Nahuatl word from the ancient Mexico, TEONANACTL, meaning "flesh of the gods". PSILOCYBE MEXICANA, which can be consumed either fresh or in dried form, has a longer history of human usage than any other psychedelic botanical. In Central America, religious sculptings of mushrooms with visages of gods etched on their stems date back more than 2500 years. Early descriptions of their ritual use were recorded by the priests who accompanied Cortez on his expeditions to conquer the Aztec nation. Because persecution of these mushroom cults by the Spanish missionaries succeeded in driving them far into the hinterlands, relatively little was known about them by Americans of European descent until mid-way into the twentieth century.

In the early 1950's, the Wall Street investment banker-turned-ethnomycologist, Gordon Wasson and his physician wife, Valentina, began to investigate stories of ritual use of mind-altering mushrooms by the Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico (Wasson, 1972a). The Wassons succeeded in gaining the trust of the Maztec users of these fungi who eventually permitted the American visitors to try them and to take samples home for analysis. The particular variety was designated PSILOCYBE MEXICANA. After several unsuccessful attempts to identify the active chemical in the fungus, the Wassons and their French collaborator, Roger Heim, turned to Albert Hofmann, the chemist who had discovered the psychedelic properties of LSD. In remarkably short order, Hofmann succeeded in identifying the psychoactive components which he dubbed psilocin (4-hydroxy-dimethyltryptamine) and psilocybin (4-phosphoryl-dimethyltryptamine). It turned out that psilocin is the actual neuroactive chemical - psilocybin is converted to psilocin by enzymes in the body before it affects brain tissues. Unlike DMT itself, the active chemicals in these mushrooms remain so when taken orally, the usual route of administration.

Hofmann tried the mushrooms' purified chemicals himself, finding their effects very much like LSD. The structural similarity among psilocybin, the neurotransmitter serotonin, and his pervious discovery , LSD, was immediately apparent to Hofmann. On a weight-for-weight basis, psilocin and psilocybin have only one-one-hundreth the potency of LSD and their duration of action is only about half that of the approximately 8-12 hour duration of the LSD trip (Snyder, 1986, p.190). Not surprisingly, their effects are very much like those of LSD, for the psychoactive molecules in both cases are closely related. It was an encounter with PSILOCYBE MEXICANA, while on vacation in Mexico that set Timothy Leary onto the path that led from Harvard psychology professor to LSD advocate, counterculture guru, and eventually, incarcerated felon. end quotes

The only thing I disagree about in the above quote from the book, "HALLUCINOGENS a forensic drug handbook" is the claim that the LSD trip is very similar to the magic mushroom psychedelic psilocin. This is far from the truth. I myself have had many LSD trips back in the 60's. Then, when I had my first magic mushroom experience in the mid 70's, I did notice the similarity, but it was only slight. The mushrooms are much different. In LSD, there is a breakdown of the "ego" where you forgot who you are. In other words, your "self" seems to disappear, or becomes very remote, almost not even a memory. It is really impossible to describe. But with the mushrooms, the over all hallucinogenic power is there (if not more) but the "self" is still there. The "ego" is clearer than ever and you meet yourself as you are. LSD is far from that. LSD, to me, is mind poison. When I had my first full blown mushroom trip, all of the old memories of my LSD experiences were overshadowed or eclipsed completely by the more natural and equally powerful magic mushrooms (psilocin). It was like I was healed of the lies and false visions rendered by the inferior man made mind poison, LSD. I wound up becoming symbiotic with the magic mushrooms for several years, enjoying (or not enjoying) the fabulous trips from them and I learned things or I advanced in my metaevolution as my life experiences would allow. And today, the memory of my excursions into the edges of the unknown universe are still with me, and will continue to be with me until the day I leave this body. And after I am gone, I will summon them to be my allies.

PSILOCIN RESEARCH FOR THE DYING AT UCLA

I found this info on the web about a proposed study of psilocybin to be given to dying cancer patients, to see if it helps them. It is from MEDICALNEWSTODAY.COM.

Psychiatric study for cancer patients to measure psychoactive medication - 02 Mar 2004

Stage IV cancer patients who suffer from anxiety may want to investigate a new research study recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) taking place at The Research and Education Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA.

The specific aim of the study is to learn whether the psychoactive drug, psilocybin, might be effective in reducing anxiety, depression and physical pain, and therefore improving quality of life for Stage IV cancer patients.

Psilocybin is a novel agent that produces a profound alteration in your state of consciousness. It is the main active ingredient found in 'magic mushrooms'.

For each participant there will be two overnight admissions to the hospital. In one session you will be given a placebo and in the other you will get the active medication.

Patients are not eligible for the study if they have:

- central nervous system (CNS) cancers

- kidney disease

- diabetes

- abnormal liver function tests

- epilepsy

- cardiovascular disease including high blood pressure (BP greater than 140/90)

- a history of a personal or familial psychiatric disorder

- a current substance abuse problem

- anxiety or a mood disorder within 1 year prior to the onset of symptoms of your current illness, and are pregnant.

We also cannot take patients in the study if they are taking certain medications, such as anti-seizure, insulin and oral hypoglycemics, blood pressure, cardiovascular drugs and some antidepressant medications. end article quotes

There were follow up articles by the Doctors in which they were having a hard time finding even one candidate. The problem is, is that they need "healthy dying people". But the Doctor's goals are really great, but in the USA war on drugs, the magic mushrooms are considered a menace and I predict this research will get nowhere. But in the annals of the mushroom stories, having experiences that encounter the "other world" (world in which the dying are headed for) are common place, especially in the anthropology studies of the mushroom cults in Mexico.

It seems to me, that the only real requirement should be that the patient is not in pain. But even there, a small dose could be administered - say one gram of shrooms. And then, the best way to do it would be to use the professor's ethanol crystal extraction method which renders close to pure psilocybin without any stomach problems - a huge plus!

But then, the researchers will most certainly use synthetic psilocin. But there is a big advantage to avoiding a "pill" to induce the experience, and that is to grow the magic mushrooms in their lab, PF TEK style. And since they have got DEA clearance, there would be no problem with that. Using the actual source of the magic, the shrooms, would be good because the actual growing and living mushrooms could be shown to the patients. This would give a reality to the patients that they are not guinea pigs. The patients would be shown information about the ancient shamanic uses of the shrooms and that the shrooms were always considered by the ancients to be entheogenic keys to unlock the door into the mysteries of the unknown universe, the worlds of the dead. And since the patients are facing just that, death, then this would apply to them, personally.

The patients should be allowed to pick a fresh mushroom, check out its aroma and the way it feels. Then they should be shown some dried specimens. Then they they will understand what they are doing. Instead of some chemical or pill, they will know they are experiencing something from the realm of nature. Then the patients would be shown the crystal extract. The crystal extract smells very shroomy and is rather attractive. And with the crystals, they will most likely have a very nice experience, totally controllable, (but not as controllable as a pharmaceutical drug form of the shrooms magic). And as seen by the reports added to my Magic Crystal extraction tek from across the internet, the infamous sour stomach problems of the shrooms is eliminated, making the patients trips natural, and potentially empowering.

It is very important that the patients should be eased into the experience. At first, they should be given a dose equal to one gram of the shrooms (Psilocybe Cubensis potency). That is not a trip, but it gives the taker a little idea, but in no way does it reveal really what is to come with a full dose. Then a 1 1/2 grams worth dose and then a 2 gram dose. The 2 gram psilocybe cubensis dosage is almost a trip. The energy levels are definitely felt and the beginnings of the trip are felt, but the patient does not go all the way through the doorway. A 2 1/2 gram mushroom equal dose, to most people, becomes an easily controlled trip. I myself, have tripped very hard on that dose. And of course, the partaker can go up from there. But it is a learning experience and eventually, the dying patient can experience the wonder that is to come when they finally leave their diseased body.

As far as myself goes, I have had dozens of serious level 10 (1 to 10 rating) experiences. I always did it by myself, in the privacy of my own realm. The privacy issue is very important. When one is tripping hard, things like dancing, jumping around, and talking to unknown prescences happen and with others around that aren't bemushroomed, they don't understand and can douse the trip. I have had a few experiences where my "third eye" tweaked open and saw things from the realm of what I would call the "dead". These shrooms are all about that. The silliness, the pretty colors, the undulating walls and floors (ect) are just for starters. These effects are apparent at a 1 to 2 1/2 cubensis equal dosage. Most people seem to stop there. To really see what these shrooms can do for you takes a serious investment in personal intention and also, one cannot make demands of the shrooms. All one can do is take the shrooms, lay back and say "OK, what are you going to show me today - I'm ready". Scientists have no idea about these things unless they are experienced. The books reveal nothing. Now of course, this is all theoretical, and it actually hasn't been done scientifically. And I doubt that it will ever be done and that is because the governments of the world consider the sacred mushrooms to be "sacred" (as in the book - "Hallucinogens a forensic drug handbook), but alas, ILLEGAL and in the USA, a schedule 1 drug and in Europe, a class A drug - evil and only good for banning. I doubt that will ever change.

Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance

R. R. Griffiths1, 2 , W. A. Richards3, 4, U. McCann1 and R. Jesse4

(1) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 5510, Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224-6823, USA(2) Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 5510 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224-6823, USA(3) Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, 2516 Talbot Road, Baltimore, MD 21216-2032, USA(4) Council on Spiritual Practices, Box 460220, San Francisco, CA 94146-0220, USA

Received: 20 January 2006 Accepted: 27 May 2006

Published online: 7 July 2006

Abstract Rationale: Although psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes, little is known scientifically about its acute and persisting effects.

Objectives: This double-blind study evaluated the acute and longer-term psychological effects of a high dose of psilocybin relative to a comparison compound administered under comfortable, supportive conditions.

Materials and methods: The participants were hallucinogen-naive adults reporting regular participation in religious or spiritual activities. Two or three sessions were conducted at 2-month intervals. Thirty volunteers received orally administered psilocybin (30 mg/70 kg) and methylphenidate hydrochloride (40 mg/70 kg) in counterbalanced order. To obscure the study design, six additional volunteers received methylphenidate in the first two sessions and unblinded psilocybin in a third session. The 8-h sessions were conducted individually. Volunteers were encouraged to close their eyes and direct their attention inward. Study monitors rated volunteers' behavior during sessions. Volunteers completed questionnaires assessing drug effects and mystical experience immediately after and 2 months after sessions. Community observers rated changes in the volunteer's attitudes and behavior.

Results: Psilocybin produced a range of acute perceptual changes, subjective experiences, and labile moods including anxiety. Psilocybin also increased measures of mystical experience. At 2 months, the volunteers rated the psilocybin experience as having substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance and attributed to the experience sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior consistent with changes rated by community observers.

Conclusions: When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences. The ability to occasion such experiences prospectively will allow rigorous scientific investigations of their causes and consequences.

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Long banned as illegal, psychedelic mushrooms are being eyed for their potential medicinal and psychological properties.

Is There a Drug-God Connection? "Shrooms" Linked to Godly Experiences

By JOY VICTORY, BHARATHI RADHAKRISHNAN and ANDREA CARTER

July 11, 2006 - This may come as no surprise to the flower children of the 1960s, but in one of the few controlled human studies of a known illegal hallucinogen, the active ingredient in "sacred mushrooms" created what researchers are describing as deep mystical experiences that left many of the study participants with a long lasting sense of well-being.

The controversial study, conducted by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, looked at whether a pill containing psilocybin, derived from the psilocybe mushroom, would induce mystical experiences among 36 healthy adult study participants. All had religious backgrounds, and all were also given the active drug ingredient in the attention-deficit disorder drug, Ritalin, at a separate time as a comparison.

The results were clear: Sixty percent of the psilocybin group elicited behaviors consistent with a "full mystical experience" as measured by psychological scales. Two months later, about 79 percent of the group reported "moderately to greatly increased" well-being or life satisfaction.

During the experiment, the participants were informed they could be receiving a hallucinogen, and they were closely watched in a comfortable room to make sure they didn't experience what is commonly known as a "bad trip," researchers said.

However, researchers were not releasing much information about what exactly the participants did experience, other than this statement from the study author that was released in a press statement:

"Many of the volunteers in our study reported, in one way or another, a direct, personal experience of the 'Beyond,' " said study leader Roland Griffiths, a professor with Hopkins' departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry and Behavioral Biology.

According to Johns Hopkins, psilocybin is one of a class of serotonin receptors compounds (similar to the chemical used in many antidepressants) whose effects include changes in perception and cognition. Some call them "hallucinogenic," while other researchers are more inclined to call them "spirit-facilitating," the hospital's press release said.

Because it is illegal to possess psilocybin in all states but Florida and New Mexico, the study is attracting the attention of many ethicists and doctors and even the scientists at the federal National Institute on Drug Abuse, one of the funding entities for the study.

Yesterday, NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow released this statement critical of the study. "Although there is no evidence that psilocybin is addictive, its adverse effects are well known. Similar to the more commonly known hallucinogen LSD (acid), psilocybin acts on serotonin receptors in the brain to profoundly distort a person's perceptions of reality," the statement said. "Psilocybin can trigger psychosis in susceptible individuals and cause other deleterious psychological effects, such as paranoia and extreme anxiety.

However, Griffiths, the study author, said extremely rigorous ethical standards were maintained throughout the research process, and that the value of learning the potential medical and psychological benefits of hallucinogens should not be ignored. "[The study] shows that, under carefully controlled conditions, psilocybin can be administered safely and that it can occasion a mystical-type experience, which scientific measures say are very similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences" Griffiths said in an e-mail to ABC News. "The results suggest that such events may have lastingly beneficial consequences."

Other scientists familiar with hallucinogens and pharmaceuticals also praised the possible benefits of studying such chemicals.

"I was most impressed by the large percentage of individuals reported a much more positive effect afterwards. That to me is very significant. They are thinking of taking this to cancer patients and difficult substance abusers," said James A. Smith, chairman of the Physiology and Pharmacology Department at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

The work is similar to the "Good Friday" experiment conducted in 1962 by a minister and doctor said Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. In that study, psilocybin also produced mystical experiences in most of the participants. "This kind of work should be a top priority of our society. People have some of the most profound experiences of their lives after taking psilocybin. This mystical experience they talk about from the Good Friday experiment is something that tends to have people become more tolerant and compassionate," Doblin said. "We're talking about how psilocybin is a tool that helps people have these remarkable experiences."

Just because the active ingredient is illegal doesn't mean it should not be studied, noted Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, the director of the Center for Bioethics at University of Minnesota. "If you step back and ask: Have we ever used illegal drugs in other medical research? There is probably a long list of drugs that started off illegal but had very useful purposes in medicine, such as marijuana," Kahn said. "This study seems less unusual now than in the 1960s since many more people take medications or drugs now compared to the 60s."

However, the study raises important safety questions, said Laurie Zoloth, a professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities at Northwestern University in Chicago. "There is no known antagonist for this drug, unlike others - if someone's peak moment turns out to be - being eaten by a terrifying sea creature, there is no way to rescue them from the thing we used to call 'a bad trip,'" Zoloth said. "The long-term side effects are not known." She also wasn't that impressed by the drug's effects on mood. "If such an experience meant that you suddenly became aware of injustice, poverty and inequality in the world, and became devoted to caring for the vulnerable in a selfless manner, I might be more impressed," she said.

Dr. Rosamond Rhodes, a professor of Medical Education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and director of Bioethics Education, questioned some elements of the study's design. Not only was the study limited to people with religious backgrounds, but religious experiences could have been subtly or unduly promoted by the research administrators. "After each administration of the drug, they gave people the same set of questionnaires. As you ask people these questions each time, you are also directing them to focus that way - so it is suggesting," Rhodes said. "You are encouraging people to close their eyes, to concentrate, and you are not just doing this to regular people but to people who are religiously inclined. They are suggesting that this is what you are going to get from the drug, so they find a great deal of that sort of response, particularly to the drug psilocybin."

However, these things shouldn't necessarily limit the further study of previously shunned illegal drugs, said Dr. Scott Basinger, a drug researcher, and associate dean of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "I am in a city where Andrea Yates is being retried. - All of the [psychiatric] testimony says that she has been in a profound depression for many years that she could not get out of," he said. "I am not saying that psilocybin would have helped Andrea Yates and she would not have killed her kids - I am saying that it is sad that in an age where we have so much pharmacological advancement we still have people that we cannot help."

Mushroom drug produces mystical experience

JULY 11 2006 11:30 PM ET - CTV.ca News

Scientists are taking a second look at so-called magic mushrooms, a staple of 1960s hippie culture, to see if they do open a pathway to the divine. Or, failing that, to help with addictions or terminally ill patients fighting depression and anxiety.

The active ingredient in the mushrooms is the psilocybin, a hallucinogen. "This is a class of compounds, the classical hallucinogens, for which research has been in the deep freeze for about 40 years," said Dr. Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

His new study was published Tuesday by the journal Psychopharmacology. Use of magic mushrooms by native Americans in religious rituals predates their use by hippies.

In the Johns Hopkins study, two-thirds of the 36 volunteers, given capsules of psilocybin extracted from the mushrooms, claimed they had what they described as a religious experience. By that, they meant a sense of pure awareness, transcending time and space and feeling positive moods like joy, peace and love. They claimed it changed their lives for the better. Not only that, one-third said the experience was the most significant of their lives, likening it to a child's birth or a parent's death. Two months later, almost 80 per cent of the volunteers reported feeling ongoing positive effects.

On the God stuff, however, Griffiths said not so fast. "Just because we can describe the neurophysiology of this kind of experience says nothing about the existence or non-existence of higher power or God," he said. Religious leaders were also skeptical. "... I'm very, very suspicious about whether these experiences are genuinely spiritual," said Fr. Terry Kersch of St. Basil's Parish in Toronto.

At least one-third of the volunteers experienced a bad trip, including feelings of intense fear and paranoia, even though they took it under controlled conditions. Psilocybin acts as a message-carrier between brain cells in the same way as serotonin, a major mood-monitoring chemical in the brain. "There might be some application with these drugs for individuals who have anxiety or depression," Griffiths said. Some doctors also think the research might have value some day in treating addictions.

While hallucinogens haven't caught on with today's youth, one critic hopes it stays that way. "It's a very vulnerable age and you don't want them to be experimenting with it," said Wende Wood of the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health in Toronto. Griffiths also strongly warned people not to try the drug at home.

Surprising results from psilocybin study

NEW YORK - People who took an illegal drug made from mushrooms reported profound mystical experiences that led to behavior changes lasting for weeks -- all part of an experiment that recalls the psychedelic '60s. Many of the 36 volunteers rated their reaction to a single dose of the drug, called psilocybin, as one of the most meaningful or spiritually significant experiences of their lives. Some compared it to the birth of a child or the death of a parent. Such comments ''just seemed unbelievable,'' said Roland Griffiths of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, the study's lead author. But don't try this at home, he warned. ''Absolutely don't.'' Almost a third of the research participants found the drug experience frightening even in the very controlled setting. That suggests people experimenting with the illicit drug on their own could be harmed, Griffiths said. Viewed by some as a landmark, the study is one of the few rigorous looks in the past 40 years at a hallucinogen's effects. The researchers suggest the drug someday may help drug addicts kick their habit or aid terminally ill patients struggling with anxiety and depression. Spiritual experiences - it may also provide a way to study what happens in the brain during intense spiritual experiences, the scientists said.

Funded in part by the federal government, the research was published online today by the journal Psychopharmacology.

Psilocybin has been used for centuries in religious practices, and its ability to produce a mystical experience is no surprise. But the new work demonstrates it more clearly than before, Griffiths said. Even two months after taking the drug, pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin, most of the volunteers said the experience had changed them in beneficial ways, such as making them more compassionate, loving, optimistic and patient. Family members and friends said they noticed a difference, too.

Charles Schuster, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at Wayne State University and a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the work a landmark. ''I believe this is one of the most rigorously well-controlled studies ever done'' to evaluate psilocybin or similar substances for their potential to increase self-awareness and a sense of spirituality, he said. He did not participate in the research.

Psilocybin, like LSD or mescaline, is one of a class of drugs called hallucinogens or psychedelics. While they have been studied by scientists in the past, research was largely shut down after widespread recreational abuse of the drugs during the 1960s, Griffiths said. Some work resumed in the 1990s. ''We've lost 40 years of (potential) research experience with this whole class of compounds,'' he said. Now, with modern-day scientific methods, ''I think it's time to pick up this research field.''

'Pure awareness' - | The study volunteers had an average age of 46, had never used hallucinogens, and participated to some degree in religious or spiritual activities like prayer, meditation, discussion groups or religious services. Each tried psilocybin during one visit to the lab and the stimulant methylphenidate (better known as Ritalin) on one or two other visits. Only six of the volunteers knew when they were getting psilocybin. Each visit lasted eight hours. The volunteers lay on a couch in a living-room-like setting, wearing an eye mask and listening to classical music. They were encouraged to focus their attention inward. Psilocybin's effects lasted for up to six hours, Griffiths said. Twenty-two of the 36 volunteers reported having a ''complete'' mystical experience, compared to four of those getting methylphenidate. That experience included such things as a sense of pure awareness and a merging with ultimate reality, a transcendence of time and space, a feeling of sacredness or awe, and deeply felt positive mood like joy, peace and love. People say ''they can't possibly put it into words,'' Griffiths said.

Two months later, 24 of the participants filled out a questionnaire. Two-thirds called their reaction to psilocybin one of the five top most meaningful experiences of their lives. On another measure, one-third called it the most spiritually significant experience of their lives, with another 40 percent ranking it in the top five. About 80 percent said that because of the psilocybin experience, they still had a sense of well-being or life satisfaction that was raised either ''moderately'' or ''very much".

July 18, 2006

COMMENTS ON THE JOHNS HOPKINS PSILOCYBIN STUDY

I have a few comments you might find interesting since I am a layman but very experienced with a serious relationship with the shrooms themselves.

From the press release published online--- July 2006 --- "The 8-h sessions were conducted individually. Volunteers were encouraged to close their eyes and direct their attention inward". MY COMMENT -- My suggestion would have been to do the opposite with attention and consciousness directed OUTSIDE. I have tripped on these shrooms many times and usually it was in the privacy of my domicile, alone. Here is a little info of where I am coming from - When I first grew the shrooms back in the late 70's, my first try was with one small fresh shroom. I got a low level "buzz" and it sparked my interest. I could tell a little about what they were like, but I had no idea what was to come. My next experience was about one gram of dried shrooms. That was more intense and I wound up doing a night time walk through my North Atlanta neighborhood. I found it very interesting and I felt that "energy boost". My next experience was about 50 grams of FRESH shrooms. I tripped. A good friend was there and he left when he kind of "tripped" on my trip. I unnerved him. My next trip was about a week later on about (probably more) 5 grams of dried shrooms. That was totally intense, with vivid colors and lights seen with my eyes closed. It was very startling. Later that night I went out in the night time for a walk and had a fabulous time. Over the next few years, I took the shrooms many times, almost a hundred or more trips with doses always at least equal to that 30 milligram level that the Johns Hopkins scientists used on their subjects. I would usually take a trip once a week for a period of months because I lived alone and my job was being a professional musician which freed me from the usual conundrum of the daily grind. I am kind of a special person, because I felt like the shrooms were right for me, which is very rare in my experience. Most people I know take the shrooms a couple of times, and decide that the experience is too deep for them and they prefer the usual drugs - marijuana, cocaine and ET. (Escape drugs - in my opinion).

It is a long story but I will end my monologue and history with this bit of info: when I would trip, I would wait for the right day - when I was feeling good with nothing to do that night. I quickly got used to being "bemushroomed" and during one very heavy trip a couple of years after I began, I had that "spiritual" experience. Basically, it was that I experienced a dream that I had since I was a kid, for real. The "dream" actually occurred (came true - I believe it) and I value it above everything I have experienced in life, but it didn't occur until a couple of years went by after many experiences. The dream that came true, has given me my life's path and I think about it almost everyday and the dream trip took place over 25 years ago. So what I am wondering about the report, is that the majority of the subjects reported a "spiritual" experience on their first trip. That amazes me because it took me about two years of heavy shroom tripping to have my spiritual experience. Or maybe I just had one spectacular trip along with many "spiritual" experiences previous to that special one. I think I just had a truly special event happen.

An important thing to say is that after that SPECIAL experience, a few months later, I had a real horror trip. It was kind of a "pay back". I guess I was feeling kind of cocky and it brought me back to knowing that I am a mere human facing the normal dangers of spiritual life. But even there, the HORROR experience was absolutely amazing. Today, I put high value on it and it showed me a great truth about the spirit world. I survived it and a couple of months later had a secondary HORROR happen where I learned that I have nothing to fear of the spirit world. I am ready for my translation into the next world. After the few years of intense tripping and living alone, I met my lady at a local Atlanta Jazz club were I was the house Tenor sax and flute player. I moved in with her and her 8 year old daughter. My tripping basically came to an end, but I would trip every now and then, but nothing like I was doing previous to meeting her. She knows about the shrooms herself and her now grown up daughter has respect for them and is a liberal thinker (she used to work for me with the PF business).

From HOME U.S. International Investigative Money Technology & Science by J. Victory, B. Radhakrishnan and A. Carter - "During the experiment, the participants were informed they could be receiving a hallucinogen, and they were closely watched in a comfortable room to make sure they didn't experience what is commonly known as a "bad trip", researchers said."

MY COMMENT - I can understand that, but as far as my experience goes, being watched in a "comfortable room" would not be conducive to a "good trip". Freedom is one of the key ingredients of good tripping and to be free from prying eyes.

"Because it is illegal to possess psilocybin in all states but Florida and New Mexico ---" MY COMMENT - That's news to me. Psilocybin is a Schedule One hallucinogen on the Federal lists. Psilocybin is illegal everywhere in the U.S.A with severe penalties - including automatic level 12 felony with prison time.

But of course the real danger is the fact that these mushrooms are a SCHEDULE ONE HALLUCINOGEN and the law is harsh and ruinous. Law enforcement's involvement is very dangerous and ones life can be ruined. When the good doctor said "don't try this at home", that is what I am thinking - that the danger is the law and its absolute destruction of the experience.

It was reported that about a third of the subjects experienced "fear". I would think if they were to grow their own shrooms using my PF TEK (the easiest, simplest and most reliable growing tek yet) and ease into it by starting with low level doses and working up, the "fear" factor would be greatly decreased. (Except from the paranoia of the law and its enforcers with their guns, chains and handcuffs, squad cars, jails, prosecutors, judges and hell).

I think if the subjects were to take the drug (preferably the shrooms themselves - no pills) over a period of time at their will, their experiences would evolve and change. They would experience both the fear and the wonder and then see that those two experiences are two sides of reality and they would become wiser and most likely learn to make better choices in life.

"However, the study raises important safety questions, said Laurie Zoloth, a professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities at Northwestern University in Chicago. ""There is no known antagonist for this drug, unlike others - if someone's peak moment turns out to be - Being eaten by a terrifying sea creature, there is no way to rescue them from the thing we used to call a 'bad trip', Zoloth said. ""The long-term side effects are not known". She also wasn't that impressed by the drug's effects on mood.

My comment on Zoloths statements - Her ignorance is fueled by her having no experience. The drug is an unknown to her and I feel her statements are irrelevant. She has never even tried the drug. Only by trying the drug for oneself can a good idea of what it is all about be ascertained.

Then she goes on to say "If such an experience meant that you suddenly became aware of injustice, poverty and inequality in the world, and became devoted to caring for the vulnerable in a selfless manner, I might be more impressed," she said. MY COMMENT - That's a very strange statement. What does she expect from shroom trippers - SAINT HOOD? I am not impressed by her "science" in any way.

From "MUSHROOM DRUG PRODUCES MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE" CTV.ca News --- Religious leaders were also skeptical. " --- I'm very, very suspicious about whether these experiences are genuinely spiritual". Said FR. Terry Kersch of St. Basil's Parish in Toronto. MY COMMENT - This man is a "Christian leader" and for what I know about the religion, their idea of a "spiritual" experience is accepting Jesus as your savior and personal God and then taking the sacrament which is bread and wine which symbolizes the flesh and blood of Christ. That is pagan idolatry to me. I reject all of mans religions as being Myth and Legend based with not much of a science to prove it. These so called "religious leaders" would automatically consider these mushrooms to be "Satanic" - just as the Spanish Conquistadors did when they invaded Central America and destroyed the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations.

Griffiths also strongly warned people not to try the drug at home. MY COMMENT - With this mushroom being as illegal as it is, you got no trouble from me with that statement. But, to disagree, I would say to grow the shrooms, be very discreet, tell no one, keep the kids ignorant of what you are doing, get a serious promise from the wife or husband to not tell anyone about the little grow op in the closet and then experience for your self - what other way would one do it? 36 people had one experience. The surface hasn't really even been scratched!

As a final comment on the Johns Hopkins study, it is clear to me that they really haven't touched on the real absolute end of the magic mushroom experience and what it is really about. So called "religious experiences" are poorly defined by science, in fact it is not much of a science because such experiences can't be taken apart and examined in a laboratory. Theology is not science. But I will say what the magic mushroom experience is all about, and it goes back to the Shammans and what they teach. It is all about the existence of the soul or the spirit and the greatest mystery of all, life after death and the cycle of rebirth. So far, there is no scientific proof for this greatest of mysteries but when one goes into the magic mushroom realm, the mystery is not so much a mystery any more, but a fact that includes all living beings.

PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG FREE AMERICA

An example of the ignorance and fascism of the drug warriors is an American (what else?) group called, "Partnership for a drug free America". What drugs are to be banned? The answer is all the drugs not approved by this self righteous group of fundamentalists. What they preach is inhuman, unrealistic, unscientific and fascist. I once talked to a woman who was a spokesperson for the group, on a Seattle radio talk show. After I cornered her with the logical idea of natural plant drugs being legalized and the harm reduction that would occur, she started babbling about Meth. I interrupted her and told her that Meth doesn't grow on trees. As she continued to spew forth her stupidity, I was cut off and on came a commercial for beer (alcohol). There might not be any hope. Even as this world could be ending, the drug warriors will still be smashing down doors and attacking weeds.

THE HEMP ISSUE

The continuing illegality of Hemp as a raw material (contains a tiny amount of THC) is proof of no hope for the USA to end the mad drug war. Raw hemp is incredible. I once took a piece of marijuana stalk (illegal), cut it up and put it into a small canister coffee bean grinder. After several seconds I opened the top, and out came a little bundle of greenish aromatic fibers interlaced with small pieces of wood like material. It was like a little tough greenish cotton ball. The resin that can be extracted is incredibly sticky and I understand it can be used in the manufacture of plastics and glues and all sorts of industrial products. Plus, the resin has a pleasant aroma. It does'nt smell like a noxious chemical. But no, not in America; lets just clear cut the forests and leave a waste land. Believe that! I live on the west side of the Olympic mountains of Washington state, and the clear cutting is unbelievable. As one drives from Aberdeen Washington up highway 101 to where I live and all the way up to the north side of the Olympic peninsula, it is like driving through a waste land. Up north from where I live, is a place called the HOH rain forest. It is a part of the Olympic national park. Going north, there is a right turn and the road is about a half hour drive to the HOH rain forest, and as one travels for that half hour, on both sides of the road is a desolation of clear cutting and destruction. Then after visiting the beautiful HOH rain forest, one has to drive back another half hour back through hideous clear cut destruction to highway 101 where to the north, south and west, there is more of the same. I know many loggers that are no longer loggers and that is because there are no more trees to log. What is left is protected by the Park service. At least in that respect, the US government (Dept. of the Interior) has done something right. Hemp production could be a great help in that the raw hemp production (weed growing) can reduce the need for big logging and clear cutting. Hemp is not the absolute solution, but it can be a big help, but it is illegal and will remain that way in America despite the ongoing declarations from pro hemp people that marijuana will be legal one day.

LOUIS AND BING

Before marijuana was made illegal in the U.S.A (1937), it was widely smoked and used, especially by the "hip" culture. During prohibition (alcohol), pot was smoked legally and in any nightclub, it could be bought for a pitance, and enjoyed in lieu of bootleg alcohol. In fact, there are several jazz tunes composed during that time to celebrate the herb amongst of which is "when I get low, I get high" by Marriana Proviti and the J street jumpers.

Amongst that culture were many of the pioneering jazz musicians. Bing Crosby is an American Icon of singers and musicians. He is on record saying that pot should be legal, and he smoked regularly. Bing made several movies with the great jazz man, trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Louis was well known as a daily smoker of the herb. When one considers the fact that Louis and Bing enjoyed each others company, including singing duets on film, it makes sense because not only did they share singing duties, they shared the herb. Bing was as "white" as one can get, and Louis was as "black" as one could get, but together, they were "green". The green herb was their sacrament and unifier.

There is one movie from those days called "High Society". Bing plays a lonely but successful song writer in love with a debutante. There is a scene in the movie, where Louis and his 6 piece traditional jazz band (erroneously called "dixieland") arive at the mansion early and survey their place of performance. Then they set up and begin to rehearse. That's nonsense. Louis and company didn't rehearse like that. They were pros and didn't rehearse before the performance, because that would be a waste of their time and energy. When they "struck up the band", it was when they hit the stage. To be accurate, what really happened, was that Bing, Louis and the guys, would retire to the gardens, and light up joints. There is a very memorable photograph of Louis smoking a big fat joint (pot cigarrete) featured in Ken Burn's book on jazz (which was based on the film makers 8 part jazz documentary production that first aired on PBS (Public Broadcasting System).

According to the hypocrite drug warriors, the herb is a dangerous drug. Louis and Bing smoked the "dangerous addicting" drug and gave the world great jazz. The evil weed only gave them pleasure and inspiration, as it does many creative people. Even the legendary Benny Goodman bands' drummer, Gene Krupa and later star and band leader himself, was arrested and jailed for marijuana possession. The herb didn't hurt the master jazz drummers great time keeping. The list of famous musicians and unknown musicians that smoked the herb could fill a phone book of a big town - at least. All the herb does is inspire the art of creative music and every other creative art, but the drug warriors and their "experts" don't like that. "Woe unto the hypocrites" - (the Bible).

TOUCH NOT - TASTE NOT

The prohibitionist movement, against whatever inebriating substance is at hand, always seems to be led by the fundamentalist religionist types who preach to the multitudes that altering ones consciousness is a "SIN" against God (their God).

In the USA, a political manifestation of this type of thinking appears in many American organizations such as the "Partnership for a drug free America", "Concerned women of America" and on and on. All of these groups are decidedly "Christian" and such. When the Bible is explored for this idea of prohibition, there are several passages that reveal that the God of the Bible and Jesus himself actually promoted the gift of substance induced euphoria. But of course, the throngs of Bible pounding, flag waving fundamentalist holier than thou types that dominate the political arena of the USA - even in the 21st century, don't know how the bible actually contradicts their own abstinance doctrines. After all, their ignorance can be seen in that millions and millions of these christian right wing fundamentalist holier than thou types believe whatever their like minded preachers tell them, including the ridiculous "RAPTURE" theory that is very popular amongst the believers - even though it is not Biblical. (Look up the word "rapture" in a Biblical concordance, and it can't be found in the Bible).

There are many verses in the Bible itself that contradict the TOUCH NOT - TASTE NOT crowd of fundamentalist prohibitionists. This chapter is for them. Begin with the OLD TESTAMENT:

Numbers 28:7 And the drink-offering thereof shall be the fourth part of a hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou pour out a drink-offering of strong drink unto Jehovah.

If the God of the Hebrews demanded a sacrifice to him of strong drink (alcohol), it certainly makes no biblical sense that strong drink (alcohol) is a sin as the fundamentalist prohibitionists proclaim.

Deuteronomy 14:26 and thou shalt bestow the money for whatsoever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou shalt eat there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thy household.

When God says to "rejoice", he means to "get high" (in the modern vernacular). Or one could describe the experience as attaining a euphoria of some type. And since it is scientifically proven that alcohol is a drug, in fact one of the most dangerous drugs there is, and since God created the "green herb" in Genesis, God would certainly allow euphoria by other creations such as the "green herbs"; marijuana, cocaine, and opium poppy. GENESIS 1 -11: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12: And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13: And the evening and the morning were the third day. 29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30: And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Natural "God created" plants are amongst myriad's of plants that alter consciousness as well as give medicine.

Revelation 22:1 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2. in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Ezekial 47:12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not whither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing.

Plants are declared for healing in the future paradise of God. And, his plants are also gifts to his people on the earth. A pleasant euphoria can be a healing experience. God (nature) created a masterpiece with his opium flowers, giving to the human race the only known cure for pain, plus, the plant gives a euphoria. God (nature) would not declare the healing good, but the euphoria bad in his perfect creation.

The coca plant is definitely a green herb. It is another gift of God (nature) to the Andean highlanders of ancient time. According to science, the use of the green herb coca plant is a helpful stimulant when used in its God (nature) given form - the plant. It never created "sin" in the old world of the Andean Highlanders. Only the Christian fundamentalist "touch not taste not" types would declare it a sin.

Fundamentalist preachers often say that drinking wine or any alcohol is a sin. I have heard the famous fundamentalist preacher from West Virginia, Jerry Falwell declare that Jesus really didn't change the water to wine (that had alcohol in it) but that the "wine" was actually grape juice (literally - "fruit of the vine"). This is out of touch with what the Bible says about Jesus' first miracle, turning the water to wine at the marriage feast at Canna.

John 2:7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterspouts with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8. And he saith unto them, draw out now, and bear unto the ruler of the feast. And they bare it. 9. And when the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants that had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast calleth the bridegroom, 10. and saith unto him, "Every man setteth on first the good wine; and when men have drunk freely, then that which is worse: thou hast kept the good wine until now". 11. This beginning of his signs did Jesus in Canna of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

This description is complete. There is no other way to interpret it except that the WINE Jesus manifested had to of been the alcohol containing type. First, in the day of Jesus, they had no refrigeration. In that hot and dry climate, any just squeezed grape juice would quickly grow rancid in a matter of hours. Wine was always made (with the "fruit of the vine") in order to preserve it.

A second sign of the inebriating wine is that when Jesus did the miracle, he did it later in the party. When the participants marveled at how the host saved the "good wine" for last, that could only be alcohol containing wine. A common practice is to first serve the "good wine" and then when the taste buds are dulled and the effect is at work, the cheaper wine is served. It all becomes good for the partier and at less expense to the party giver.

1st Timothy 5:23 Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

Wine is a medicinal drink and Paul extorted its use. Alcoholic wine is not a sin. Being dead down drunk is, but that is behavior related, and it has nothing to do with Gods creation.

Ephesians 5:17 Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18. And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;

So it is not the alcoholic wine or strong drink as a substance that is sin, but the behavior. According to the Bible, God did not create sin. Fundamentalist prohibitionist hypocrites are the ones that have made it into a "sin". And as Jesus said so many times in the book that the fundamentalist holier than thou prohibitionist repressionist crowd loves so much - "Woe unto the hypocrites".