On Tue, Feb 11, 2003 at 11:32:24PM +0000, Steve Mynott wrote:
(much snipped)
>
> It's just the same as some people claiming particular alcoholic drinks
> are better or worse than others.
>
That's hardly a good analogy.
> The key thing about these drugs is the effects are intensively
> subjective and highly unpredictable. The dosage level is more likely
> to be related to adverse effects than the particular psychedelic drug
> used.
>
> In double blind tests, where neither the doctor nor the subject knows
> which drug is which, people can't distinguish major psychedelic drugs
> anyway. The only clear distinction is the duration of drug effect
> which does vary.
>
> This is usually denied by users of these drugs despite numerous studies
> supporting this since the late 1960s.
>
I can't imagine how they could ever do any sort of serious test, let alone a
"double blind test" -- the length of experience would be a dead giveaway.
Besides which anyone with any real experience would easily recognize the
essential flavor, if you will, of the particular psychedelic, and the quite
different and distictive voice of the Other. Or lack, thereof, for instance in
LSD. They are simply far too different -- on LSD, people are up, eyes open,
grooving on sights and sounds, talking to people, but on strong doses of
psilocybin and ayahuasca you'll most likely be snuggled under a warm quilt with
your eyes shut in a dark room. And preferably alone. Totally different
experiences -- the voice of the Other with psilocybin and ayahuasca are very,
very different from each other as well.
One might have some difficulty discerning a strong hit of Salvia vs. DMT,
but you certainly wouldn't confuse them with anything else, just because of
intensity and brevity. But even with those two, most experienced travelers would
say the entities one encounters in that other dimension are quite different,
indeed, that those dimensions themeselves are not the same.
(snip)
--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com
