I’m good with weed – should I try psychedelics?

why psychedelics if weed is good

Perhaps you’ve been smoking weed for a few years and naturally heard people talk about things like psychedelic mushrooms, DMT, ketamine, MDMA and the likes. Depending on who you ask, the experience is either sold to you like a “Must do!” or an “Avoid at any costs!” endeavor.

Lately however, there’s been a lot of hype surrounding the efficacy of psychedelics as a means of dealing with trauma in in terminal cases helping people cope with the idea of their own mortality. Some people claim that psychedelic roots or brews helped them kick drugs like heroin, or that MDMA allowed people to move beyond certain psychological blocks.

Typically, those who oppose the use of psychedelics speak from a position of inexperience. Even researchers who look at psychedelic through a pathological lens cannot fathom the therapeutic value in disintegrating your ego and reassembling it – as occasionally occurs with certain substances.

While I am a strong advocate for the spiritual and therapeutic use of psychedelics – and on occasions recreational too – I do NOT believe that everybody should try psychedelics. Not everybody is ready for the experience and while I may enjoy my time on the shores of psychedelia – others might react differently to the experience entirely.

There are some psychonauts that argue that even a nightmarish trip is a “beneficial trip” – however, I don’t think that this is a sensible approach to altering your consciousness with various plants or chemicals.

When you shouldn’t take psychedelics…

One thing you have to understand about the psychedelic experience is that it is heavily dependent on Set & Setting.

Set includes the physical environment where you take the substance and “setting” includes the social environment you find yourself in.

However – there is also the notion of Set and Setting within oneself. If you are living in a particularly emotionally charged situation – where you have to keep your faculties about, taking psychedelics is probably not a good idea.

For example – let’s say that you’re in the middle of grieving over the loss of someone dear to you. You may be inclined to think that a “trip into psychedelia” will help you forget the pain – when in reality it will manifest and magnify the experience significantly.

You can never escape you – no matter what drug you take. You’ll always be there.

Using psychedelics as a means of escapism from whatever you’re experiencing will never produce the results you seek. It may dull the senses for a short time – but these larger issues will always linger until you start dealing with them.

Yes – psychedelics may be a good way to start dealing with these issues – but if you’re knee-deep in depression you may need some outside assistance on dealing with that pain. People tend to distort their own narratives when dealing with themselves.

Another time when you’d probably want to not take psychedelics if you’re dealing with conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar, borderline, etc.

I’m not saying that people with those conditions can’t handle the trip – I’ve seen many do it without major complications. However – there’s some people with these underlying conditions that aren’t being honest with themselves about the severity of their symptoms.

When they take psychedelics – these underlying issues come to the surface and take control entirely. If you’re not surrounded with people who know what they are doing – you may become a danger to yourself or others.

In these cases – it’s best to avoid the situation altogether because the perceived value of the psychedelic trip will not be obtained as a result of the poor reaction.

What to do when someone is freaking out on psychedelics?

It happens – some people simply can’t keep their shit together. It may not entirely be their faults either – but if you are in a situation like that – one of the first things you can do is not to panic.

When people are telling people how to behave when they are spiraling into a sensory Clusterfuck – it makes it worse.

Keep calm, speak in a calm manner – but be assertive and in control.

One trick is to get people to focus on a single breathing pattern. If they are freaking out – simply let them breathe slowly. Inhale for 3 seconds and exhale for 6. This will begin to instruct his body to go to rest/digest mode.

You can also do; inhale for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight. [4-7-8]. This also will help them relax quickly.

If nothing works and you see that things are getting to a point of medical urgency – get them to a hospital and let the doctors know what they were on. There is no consequence from the law that outweighs the guilt of someone dying when you could have done something about it.

Why we need to change our drug laws…

The fact of the matter is that our current drug laws increases the occurrences of these “bad trips” because they force these psychedelics into the black market.

People will consume psychedelics with or without the government’s permission – they have been doing it since the dawn of modern humankind.

It’s time we embrace the reality that we as a species have evolved alongside these plants and have the ability to interface with them – why not explore this?

Sure, there are some people who cannot take these substances. Yes! We don’t want kids to be tripping on acid. But other people are deathly allergic to peanuts and we don’t outlaw them – and alcohol is legal in an environment where it’s not suited for children.

It’s time we mature the conversation from “should we” to “how do we”…this goes for everything from cannabis to heroin…let’s grow the fuck up people!