[Noisebridge-discuss] PsychedelicSF

[Joseph Brenner]

You need to make up your mind whether you're claiming that
psychedelics have profound effects, or none at all.


Daniel Jabbour <daniel at psychedelicsf.org> wrote:
> On Feb 29, 2012, at 7:47 AM, Nick Parker wrote:
>
> 3) Psychedelics are essentially like loading a hacked firmware into the
>
> human brain for several hours, resulting in interesting effects and
>
> unconventional thought processes.
>
>
> Or like exposing a motherboard to static electricity, sometimes resulting in
> unintended and unpredictable side-effects for years afterward.
>
>
> Actually, most psychedelics are relatively harmless drugs to the body, as
> compared to other recreational drugs such as alcohol. The biggest risk
> factor is that they can trigger latent mental illness, in those genetically
> predisposed to mental illness.
>
> For instance, LSD's LD50 (the dose at which 50% of the population die) has
> never been measured in man (since no fatal LSD cases have been recorded),
> and extrapolated from studies with rats show the effective dose and LD50 are
> hundreds of times apart, making the drug remarkably non-toxic.
>
> Drug interactions with some types of anti-depressants (MAOIs for instance)
> can be very hypertensive and should be avoided. SSRIs though, have the
> opposite effect, making the psychedelic experience more mild (they both act
> on the same receptors, but in opposite ways- 5HT or serotonin).
>
> As far as fear of neurotoxicity, or brain damage goes, this is just totally
> a myth. Even government-funded NIDA studies have shown LSD is remarkably
> safe on the brain.
>
> Flash-backs are by in large a myth as well, though I will say there is a
> condition known as HPPD which is EXTREMELY rare and usually dissipates
> quickly if it does occur. HPPD is characterized by a persistent perceptual
> change (such as halos or auras surrounding objects). It has occurred in a
> relatively small (way less than 1%) percentage of the population, usually
> occurs immediately after a psychedelic experience, and usually only lasts a
> short period of days/weeks (though some HPPD patients have reported the
> effect lasting many months or even years). HPPD is highly dose-dependant, so
> starting new psychedelic explorers with a relatively low dose and increasing
> gradually is an excellent way to identify it early and discontinue.
>
> But I'll just say- Phase I FDA trials establish efficacy and safety of using
> drugs in humans. The fact that several psychedelic compounds are already
> past that phase is reassurance to their relative safety. Other psychiatric
> pharmaceuticals are far far scarier compounds as far as I'm concerned, and
> widely prescribed to millions every day. The psychedelic therapy model would
> involve one or two psychedelic experiences a year... compared to altering
> brain chemistry on a daily basis with some scary unknown compounds.
>
> Warm regards,
> Daniel
>
> --
> Daniel Jabbour
> Organizer, Psychedelic Society of San Francisco
> http://www.PsychedelicSF.org
> daniel at psychedelicsf.org
>
>
>
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