What is your basis for comparing peyote to crack cocaine? Crack is highly addictive and psychedelics are well known to be some of the best medicines for fighting addiction.
I respect your choice not to consume psychedelics, but your statements seem to be based on dogma. It is not recreational superstition...for me, psychedelics are far from recreational. If you want to know why people claim spiritual insight from psychedelic use, research it or try for yourself. You can't just assume that everyone who thinks such is just superstitious because you have never experienced it. Nearly every indigenous culture has utilized plant psychedelics, including mushrooms, for spiritual purposes.
Jah made many many things, and not all of them are for human consumption--but people could use that same argument against cannabis. Opium in its raw form can be used for the benefit of a great many people, and historically it has done so. It wasn't until the Opium Wars imposed by the British on China that opium got the reputation that it has now. Jah made arsenic, which is in almost everything in trace amounts. Jah made venomous snakes. Jah made cancer. I don't think "what comes from nature" is a valid argument because not everything from nature is inherently good. But to compare mushrooms to opium to crack like they are the same thing seems silly to I. Redefine what you consider to be a "drug"
Using your logic, here is what babylon has to say about cannabis:
"The short-term effects of marijuana include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem-
solving, and loss of coordination. The effect of marijuana on perception and coordination are responsible for serious impairments in driving abilities.
Long-term chronic marijuana use is associated with Amotivational Syndrome, characterized by apathy, impairment of judgment, memory and concentration, and loss of motivation, ambition and interest in the pursuit of personal goals.
High doses of marijuana can result in mental confusion, panic reactions and hallucinations. Researchers have also found an association between marijuana use and an increased risk of depression; an increased risk and earlier onset of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, especially for teens that have a genetic predisposition.
Short-term physical effects from marijuana use may include sedation, blood shot eyes, increased heart rate, coughing from lung irritation, increased appetite, and decreased blood pressure. Like tobacco smokers, marijuana smokers experience serious health problems such as bronchitis, emphysema, and bronchial asthma. Extended use may cause
suppression of the immune system.
Because marijuana contains toxins and carcinogens, marijuana smokers increase their risk of cancer of the head, neck, lungs and respiratory track. Withdrawal from chronic use of high doses of
marijuana causes physical signs including headache, shakiness, sweating, stomach pains and nausea, as well as behavioral signs including restlessness, irritability, sleep difficulties and decreased appetite"
So in that vein of logic, why would I ever take something that makes me sedated and indifferent, could give me cancer or bronchitis, and that poses a risk of me becoming depressed and/or potentially psychotic or scizophrenic?
Obviously smoking cannabis is not going to make you psychotic unless you are predisposed to certain mental conditions. Obviously much of this "research" is twisted and used to persecute those who consume cannabis. Likewise, HPPD is a very rare condition and you will not continue to "hallucinate" after taking a psychedelic unless you are pre-disposed to certain psychiatric conditions or you take psychedelics on a very frequent and regular basis.
Mushrooms, peyote, ayahuasca, salvia divinorum, and countless other ethnobotanicals are known to be some of the safest substances you can put into your body given that you take them in the proper context. The only people who have significant potential for negative physical effects are those with heart conditions or mental disorders.
SOURCES:
http://iceers.org/docs/science/ayahuasca/Halpern%20et%20al_2008_Evidence_Health_Safety_Ayahuasca.pdf
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Fscience%2Farticle%2Fpii%2FS0006322305008553&hl=en&sa=T&ct=res&cd=3&ei=YiSxVMnwAcG8qQG8wICwBA&scisig=AAGBfm0etzfIDeVchlWspWYJ9v8kEdTFog&nossl=1&ws=1366x631
Iboga is a huge part of African culture and is being used now to treat addictions, it is considered a breakthrough in modern pharmacology. Iboga does have potential for serious physical side effects and should only be taken under the supervision of a medical professional for the purpose of overcoming life-threatening addictions.
http://rabbit.if-pan.krakow.pl/~popikp/download/5397_popik_ibogaine_pharm_rev.pdf
You talk about burning all illusion...I promise you, as a rational individual, there is no better tool for shattering illusion than a psychedelic such as peyote or psilocybin containing mushrooms. I completely respect that they might not fit into Rasta, and that's okay, but I don't think your comparison/analysis on a personal level is very fair.
Yes, take psychedelics with caution, but they are gifts from nature which can reveal many things to us and in fact they are actually very safe. Why do you consider cannabis to be something positive as opposed to peyote or mushrooms? Cannabis too can cause hallucinations, as we know. If I were to say that Rastas were all a bunch of superstitious lazy drug users/crack heads because they smoke ganja and trick themselves into spiritual revelation, that would be totally unfounded. So why any different with psychedelic plants? Smoking the herb is not "recreational superstition" and neither is taking peyote or likewise as a sacrament. What do you think of the countless cultures which have used these plants for medicinal/spiritual purposes through history, including our African ancestors? Other than what you have read from outside sources, what is your opinion based off of?
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