(Know that the videos in this post are supplementary, in case you want to expand on a point I'm making)
totally agree kids shouldnt do drugs...well atleast kids born in OUR culture....some abiriginal cultures have kids on entheogens from the early age, so when we go on a bad trip or something like that a chaman looks at us the way we would look at a grown up if he pulled a tantrum or something silly like that, in many ways we are like big selfish consumer man babies to them. Of course, indigenous kids are born in a culture where you are taught how to be wise about these things, in our culture whe
n a kid does something like this he does it for entertaiment, to get away from the problems of life, which is exactly the opposite of what it should be, it should be a journey into yourself....really our stance on drugs is just about the worst one to have.
Cure, the term i've been using for hallucinogens "enthoegen" very much points toward that idea that this is a sacred mindspace like nirvana, it literally means "the generator of god within", this is pretty much what I felt ayahuasca to be.
Helm, you say you havent done "many" drugs? sounds like you have atleast cursory introduction...:p I think you know more than you let on.
For anyone reading this that has that feeling that they havent done and WILL NOT DO DRUGS, I want you to atleast not drop everything into that big bag of "drugs" as if it were all one and the same thing, not because you'll try it but to avoid misconceptions about people you meet.
First, we have to recognize WHY should something a plant makes affect our brain? it is strange to think a plant would make something for our brain. What is true is that every substance is effective because because normal human experience that triggers the same sensations in a lesser extent, so what a person takes tells you about their personality. Consider dopamine, this chemical is involved in practically any action you take, it's the stimulant that makes you learn, seek food, etc.
You can start by distinguishing depressants (alcohol) anti depressants (prozac) stimulants (cocaine,caffeine) and halucinogens (ayahuasca, lsd). This is not the only way to classify them but it's a start.
Then, recognize that someone that has done any of these substances isnt inherently an addict, we now have gaming addicts shopping addicts and sex addicts, this is because it's not the object that's addictive, it's the personality. if you've had a surgery you've been given copious amounts of Moprhine and you barely had any widthrawal, and you've not went out to look for ways to get that morphine fix again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-4ECrP71rI here's an excellent lecture on that, you can expand on it with the link in the description. He also gives his perspective on Ayahuasca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_3lweLmQ8oThen there's the question of taking the extracted psychodelic agent (cocaine) versus the whole plant sans any chemicals (coca leafs). The process of extracting the psychoactive agent involves many chemicals, and often the unnatural chemical form will have several added undesirable side effects, not to mention the fact that it's far more potent than the natural form. Were you to observe a cocaine addict you'd see that they're jumpy accelerated and cant seem to sit still. On the other hand Kogi indigenous people have chewed coca leafs for millenia and on the opposite are the softest genlest and sweetest people you'll meet, the effect is completely different.
The context within which a drug is done, is far more important a factor that you can imagine, if there's someting that drugs defintively do is affect the way we relate to the world, and the stronger the drug the more suceptible to any stimulus you'll be. From personal experience I can tell you that under these states it feels like you may be emotionaly going trough something that would take a year in a few hours, so someone who carefully builds the context to make this suceptibility a catalyst for inner change is very much different from someone who would do it in any back alley. I try to build a sacred context when I do anything hallucinogenic/entheogenic, because I find that whenever I reject what the substance is doing to me, the traumatic part beggins to happen. You have invited a mind state into your being you have to be a good host, and be willing to let it do what it does, otherwise you shouldnt have taken it, which is why it's important to know as much as posible about a substance before taking it.
There is a biological notion that plants substitute behavior with chemistry, what this means is that a tree does not just sit there its whole life growing and absorbing nutrients, trees have been shown to take the nutrients at specifical hours of the day, in one big gulp much like when we eat, and they also tweak the chemicals they produce, to atract different animals, in a sense manipulating them into doing what they need, they communicate with the world by creating chemicals. This is not guesswork, this is true description about how plants relate with the world.
There is a theory, and unlike the past statement it IS speculation but it connects back to the question of why plants produce something to affect our brain. Theory is that they do it in order to communicate with us, by producing cannabis everywhere the earth is telling us "hey you hairless chimps, chill out". I take this perspective when I do natural plants and entheogens, I look at it as being a sort of embassador for the animal kingdom, so I ask permission to the plant before I take it, I make sure I surrender completely to the experience before I take it (the indigenous perspective that these are gods is useful in this) and while under its influence I try to watch my behavior and learn from the experience, anything that is learnt should be taken as something serious, and the point of the experience is to capture ideas and bring them back to waking life, create something which brings the message to the rest of mankind. Mckenna has an analogy for that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7WjtZnEEiA