Worries With Drugs
The use of chemicals to enhance our lives is a notion that brings up taboo ideas of drug use. But using the properties of items that grow around us is a common feature of everyday living. Herbal chemicals such as liquid zeolite, ellagic acid, fish oil and zinc are often used to improve different aspects of our lives and improve our well being. This use of herbs and natural flora to help us can also be viewed in the indigenous cultures of the Australian and Canadian Aborigines, Native Americans, and additionally African cultures. Nowadays, however, the notion of taking certain chemicals has become taboo due to the effects on the brain they are proven to have. Can there be advantages to using these substances?
Many chemicals are added to drinks and foods for what are basically drug-like qualities. The use of guarana in energy drinks, for example, is a well known chemical additive created to enhance the alertness and vitality levels of the drinker. While these drinks are quite legal, they’re not suitable for young people or pregnant women, and doctors advise against having a large amount of these kinds of drinks, if at all.
Along with the natural chemicals in the drinks, they are also very high in caffeine. This is an additive which has become incredibly commonplace. The fact is, however, that drinking a large amount of coffee or energy drinks will create a reaction in the body that is very similar to that given by amphetimenes or known toxic chemicals. The difference, of course, lies in the view our society has of such substances.
This taboo has not always been the case, however. While hallucinogenics are now seen as some of the most dangerous chemicals it is possible to take, the properties of natural substances such as ayuhuasca and psilocybin mushrooms was often used in the shamanic rituals of indigenous peoples.
The idea of starting use of hallucinogenic drugs to gain the wisdom held by indigenous individuals is a tempting one. But it needs to be remembered that psychedelics were taken by indigenous peoples as part of a wider relationship with nature, these were “local plants” just as creatures were local food and day- to -day life was a local widescreen entertainment system. How can the mind-expanding capabilities of psychedelics be fully realized within such an unnatural environment as that which we live in, beyond the momentary high?
The answer is that with any chemical, it cannot be thought that drugs will be the complete answer. It’s only through a deeper understanding of ourselves and our connection with the Earth that we can begin to look into deeper questions of what it is to be human, and how we can most effectively use our limited time on this planet. The negative reactions of all drugs can be easily viewed in those who regularly injest them, and it’s vital to remember the dangers every kind of drug posses.
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