Are you tripping? Drugs and life (or the lack thereof)

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Last updated 7-15-07

In prehistoric times, humanity accidentally stumbled upon drugs in their natural environment or circumstances much as they did new types of food and drink. Children performed the bulk of the exploration and testing in both cases, either with or without their parents' permission (assuming their ancient behavior was similar to how they act today).

The desperately hungry or ill or injured made up the second biggest contingent of test subjects.

Slowly, gradually, over generations, people learned about the value of certain items as either food or drugs or some combination of the two, and taught it to their families and tribes. And possibly traded it to others for knowledge of still more such resources.

Some things like alcoholic drinks were downright essential for survival in times when water supplies were contaminated. Significant amounts of alcohol made liquids safer to drink-- and possibly helped with tainted food as well.

And drunkenness-- well, that may have been nearly as important a benefit of alcohol as anything else. For it could dull the pain of injuries, both mental and physical. As well as offer some welcome temporary relief from the growing awareness people were suffering of their true plight in the world back then.

People were certainly using at least a small number of drugs in a purposeful fashion by around the same time modern humans evolved from their predecessors. Or some 50,000 plus years ago.

Some of the medicinal discoveries made by our ancestors centuries or millennia ago have yet to be surpassed by modern science even today. But corporations are striving to claim ownership over as much of that ancient knowledge as possible, to make us pay for what can often be obtained for free.

In those cases where the cat's out of the bag (i.e., virtually everyone knows how to 'grow their own', as in the case of marijuana), corporations have seized control of government policies in some nations to make such self-medicating possibilities illegal. That control includes media campaigns to support those policies, even when the scientific evidence for them is dubious.

But of course like virtually everything else, some drugs (like some foods) are definitely dangerous-- especially in large doses. Puffer fish may kill some 10 % of those who eat it; but it remains on the menu around the world today (in some of the finest restaurants, yet!), as well as prepared in homes. Though many of us enjoy mushrooms on a regular basis on pizza or in other dishes, it usually requires an expert to differentiate between poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms in the wild.

But things get still more complicated than that. For just as some foods are only toxic at certain dosage levels, or in combination with certain other kinds of food or drink, even drugs widely accepted as super-safe by the public can prove deadly in both those ways as well. Too much aspirin can cause you to bleed to death, for instance. A surprisingly small dose of Tylenol can cause organ failure.

So self-education relating to any and all drugs you might take is essential.

-- Medical Marijuana: The Replacement for Very Dangerous Drugs by Dr. Phillip Leveque; May-17-2007

-- Cannabis Use May "Improve" Brain Function In Schizophrenics, Study Says; May 17, 2007

-- Dazed and Confused Denver's newest party drug can be one bad trip. By David Holthouse; February 3, 2005

-- The Most Exotic Brands Of Weed - Forbes.com by Saabira Chaudhuri; 2007

-- LSD, Crack, & 5-MeO-DMT by Tod the Pod; 2002

-- Vaporized marijuana may be easier on the lungs | Health | Reuters; May 4, 2007

-- Pot Use Doesn’t Exacerbate Symptoms Of Schizophrenia, Study Says ; May 3, 2007

-- THE AMAZING POT FARM!! Written by Rick Archer, November 2006

-- Legalizing and taxing marijuana would ease state's budget woes By Greg Francisco; April 26, 2007

-- Top 20 Celebrity Drug Confessions; Nidhi,Shimla; Apr 30 2007

-- An odd effect of drug prohibition Ray, April 26, 2007

-- New Studies Destroy the Last Objection to Medical Marijuana By Bruce Mirken; May 2, 2007

-- Marijuana Timeline - A History of Marijuana

"Drug tests can be very difficult to understand and interpret...There are lots of circumstances under which a kid could be using drugs and not test positive or have a positive test when they are not using drugs."

-- Schools urged into divisive drug crackdown - 22 April 2007 - New Scientist by Phil Mckenna

-- Clergy join push to OK medical marijuana

-- Was Timothy Leary Right? | TIME By JOHN CLOUD; Apr. 19, 2007

-- Alcohol damages women's brains faster than men's By Anne Harding; Apr 23, 2007

-- When the Elite Loved LSD By JOHN CLOUD; Monday, Apr. 23, 2007

-- THE EXPERIENCE OF GETTING HIGH What is it like to consume cannabis? Good question. By Mikki Norris with Chris Conrad

-- U.S. marijuana even stronger than before report | U.S. | Reuters By Maggie Fox; Apr 25, 2007

-- Morphine makes lasting -- and surprising -- change in the brain Morphine, as little as a single dose, blocks the brain’s ability to strengthen connections at inhibitory synapses, according to new Brown University research published in Nature. ; April 25, 2007

-- Despite Drug War, Cocaine Purer, Cheaper Drug's Prices Have Dropped From $600 Per Gram In 1981 To $135 Despite Nearly $5 Billion Spent By U.S.

-- Why Kids Do Drugs By JSwan; 08 Apr 07

-- Sex vs. Heroin Posted by Humpasaur Jones; March 28, 2007

-- Heavy Marijuana Use Doesn't Damage Brain Analysis of Studies Finds Little Effect From Long-Term Use By Sid Kirchheimer; July 1, 2003