Thanks for the comments folks. Always nice to get feedback on your own stuff.
Gunslinger-- Brilliant, I've always loved Dylan, and that's an excellent one.
Skyweir-- Thanks.
Let me put that piece into context, and then I'll answer your comments.
It was written at what was a fairly interesting time in my life. I'd very recently, (within the previous year) completely stopped taking the only hard drug that I ever really got into, (it was Coke, and I'd reached a point where I realised that if I didn't stop, I wasn't going to be able to), and I'd pretty much outgrown my intense, but brief, infatuation with ecstacy. I'd only recently become a dedicated (daily) marijuana smoker, but I hadn't (and hopefully never will) lost my love of hallucinogenics. So I was in a position of changing peceptions, not caused by drugs, but encouraged by the change in recreational drug use habits.
The original thought was the contrasts between the "straight" world, or rather the world that got off on things other than drugs, and that of the people who were taking them.
Something I've often thought is that the very reason that people take drugs is
because they're illegal. It's an outward manifestation of disillusionment with society in general.
Drug users, whether recreational or addicted, usually share at least parts of a similar world view. In terms of your comment regarding uniting people in ultimate harmony; in a sense, yes.
Not that I think that everbody should rush off and get wasted, quite the contrary. Drugs,
especially hallucinogenics, can, and should, be used as a learning aid to the psyche.
Somewhere in the "Legalise it" thread, someone mentions that your brain doesn't produce anything that's not in it in the first place. This is, IMO 100% true. If you are demon-ridden, (to borrow from the christian metaphor), expect to summon demons. This knowledge can be used to "excorcise" them, if you have the confidence and strength of will. If not, it can cause them to be manifested more clearly in your "real" life.
This is a danger that everyone should be aware of, and I believe ignorance of it causes many of the negative psychological effects associated with hallucinogens.
But back to harmony... Nothing fosters an atmosphere of tolerance, whether religious, racial, or any other sort, like drugs do. When you all know that you're sharing, if not the same experience, but at least the same plane of consciousness, it's very hard to hate someone under those circumstances.
All drug users feel a connection to one another that springs from this shared world view, regardless of their personal interpretations of it, (and they do differ widely) becuase they share what society considers a stigma. They know the same fear of police, the same distrust for a government who seeks to persecute them for intoxicating themselves, the same feeling of being looked down on for their habits. They know that others feel this same way.
No matter where in the world I have been, and no matter how different the people I meet, knowing that someone takes drugs of any kind, creates an instant common ground. Except the poor old Heroin addicts. (Even drug users need
someone to look down on
)
Drugs definitley promote harmony, not least becuase you can't afford to be prejudiced against the guy you're getting them from
Again, I just want to say that I'm NOT advocating that everyone take drugs madly. If we followed the rule that said "Everything in Moderation", there wouldn't be even a fraction of the fatalities and terrible negative effects, especially combined with an honest and effective program of education.
Unfortunately, it is the irresponsible or ignorant who spoil it for the rest of us. As I said before, the media only reports on the one poor bugger who died last weekend, not the half million people who took drugs and had a great time.
I certainly don't recommend hard drugs, like cocaine or opiates, in fact, I recommend that you stay the hell away from them. But to paint all drugs with the same brush is to ignore the possibilities of positive aspects, the tolerance, the new perspectives that are opened up.
Moderation folks, that's the key to safe drug use, if you must use them. Yes, there is that one in a million chance that your body or mind won't be able to handle it, and if you even
think, or
fear, that this might be the case, DON'T DO IT. It is unjust however, to insist that
nobody do it becuase some can't/shouldn't.
Well, this become something of a soliloquy, and I didn't intend it to. You may want to move it into the "Legalise it" thread-- up to you.
I look forward to your comments, (although I fear I might have opened myself up to some serious "debate"
).
Take it easy
--Avatar
