I don't know what gives me more hope, studies like this or the fact that one came from Alabama!

From online article:HERE

"BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - People who use psychedelic drugs report less depression and fewer suicidal thoughts than those who never dropped acid or took mushrooms, according to research published yesterday in the "Journal of Psychopharmacology."

Lead author Peter Hendricks is a professor of clinical psychology at UAB. He and the other researchers culled the data from almost 200,000 responses to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. People who said they used psychedelic drugs at least once in their life reported better mental health and fewer suicide attempts. The results set psychedelics apart from other drugs. Lifetime users of substances such as cocaine, marijuana and heroin reported poorer mental health and a higher frequency of suicidal thoughts."

Heil Alabama

Basicly said ---- >

Did the psychedelics make people less unhappy and the other drugs made them more unhappy ...... OR ...... ( The sensible version ---- > ) Do unhappy people abuse coke and co . ? = Do the drugs make problems or have the people that abuse drugs got problems ? = Is it the drug or the persons personality ?

I think you are trying to see an either/or scenario, and I think it is likely that such scenarios don't usually exist.

I may be wrong, but i would think an omniscient life form would have some knowledge of grey areas, not to mention be a tad open minded in a forum like this.

But to each their own, bombastic and antagonizing ways.

null24

Please explain what you mean ? What grey areas ? And why do you think that i am not open minded ?

Did drugs make the people happy or did happy people take the drugs ? Did drugs make the people unhappy or were the people who took drugs and were unhappy unhappy anyway ?

I didn't perform the study, just posted a link to an article about it. Any conclusions made would be in the article, surely.

I feel from reading some other posts that you have some assumptions surrounding addiction and drug use that are very cut and dry. I'm involved in the addict community where i live as a harm reduction advocate. I've seen a lot of destruction in people's lives from the cut and dry attitudes of law enforcement, as well as the recovery community itself.

I shouldn't have attacked you, i can be over reactive, apologies, but as a former, recovery resistant addict i get defensive.

null24

Thanks . No problem .

I think its good that you posted the study . My comments were 100 % about it and nothing else .


" I feel from reading some other posts that you have some assumptions surrounding addiction and drug use that are very cut and dry. "

I acept what you say and that you said it . Can you please give me some examples ? If i get / got something wrong i like it when i am told = I dont get it wrong again .

Thats the same for everyone = If you think something or have objections to what i say please talk with me about them = We learn .

All scenarios exist. There are happy people who took cocaine/heroin/insert negative drug here and became addicted and are now unhappy.

There are unhappy people who took those drugs and became addicted and are generally happy. <- not as common

There are happy who took those drugs and didnt become addicted, unhappy people as well.

There are both happy and unhappy people who have taken psychedelics and either no change in overall mood took place or a change in overall mood took place and it was either good or bad.

I think its safe to say in a real world model psychedelics have a much higher chance of bettering ones life than drugs of abuse. Slowly overtime this will become common knowledge and we can rejoice.

Okay, actually this, as someone who has hung out on both sides of this spectrum is something I've thought about. I know that to some extent my use of heroin began as a means to escape, to leave the world of stress and pressure into a fantasy land. It is so good at that, that the escape began looking better and n better than the petty pains of daily life. Eventually, i was no longer avoiding anything but withdrawal. The lying, cheating and stealing that came out of my need for the drug saddled me with so much shame and guilt that i really had something to want to get away from after years of addiction.

So yes, i was never really a 'happy' person before that, but neither was i an 'unhappy' person. I experienced both of those moods, often. I'm really not sure, it's a chicken and the egg thing. I know my misery increased exponentially with my use, but there was a level of f dissatisfaction with life before heroin. But i don't know if my use was honestly a reaction to that, or just hedonistic pleasure seeking.

However, now, even though i still struggle with cleaning up the mess from years of abuse, I'm happier and more comfortable in my skin than ever. Not that i don't have crap days, and weeks. (Like today, lol,and that's why i barked at you g)and i credit psychedelics for that. For reminding just how insignificant, and how very important, i really am as a sensory organ of the creator.

So yeah, a couple cents, right there.

Well I guess it's safe to say as a collective planet we've lost more loved one's to heroine/cocaine/alcohol.

That alone...

Add to the fact from experience (barring heroine/opiates in general... as in I have no experience) the nature of the of these types of drugs is to leave the user craving for more = never satisfied.

In a short-sighted manner, psychedelics can lead to depression in as much that they make you realise you are not where you want to be. But then, healthy integration will get you where you want to be.

I guess with cocaine, integration is "man! I'm doing too much coke".

I do know of a guy who found his way through methamphetamine, but that's the only person who I ever heard say that.

null24

Your a good person . Your honest with yourself and others . You have my respect . I understand what you say because i was there to . Maybe look at it this way ...... it isnt a dissadvantage or something to be ashamed of ...... you have learned through it and became a better person because of it .


There was also at least one study that showed that generaly people who take LSD are more intelligent than those that dont ........ and another that showed that generaly the kids of people who take LSD are more intelligent than the kids of people who dont .

I think that there was also something that showed that people are more intelligent after haveing had LSD than before . Maybe that means clearer and not more intelligent . By that i mean that the part of our mental capacity that we use before we have taken LSD is not as much as the capacity we use during the trip = Mind expansion . A muscle that hasnt been used compared to a muscle that has . = Not more intelligent just useing resourses better and being clearer .

I think we need to go back to research methods 101, rule #1.

Correlation does not imply causation.

As is often the case, the journalist may have cherry picked quotes from the interview and published them in a manner that may not have necessarily reflected the context in which they were stated. The actual study does suggest and make a case for many of the speculations put forth in the article, however it also specifies that this information is corellational in nature and the conclusions that can be drawn from it are limited due to the nature of the data collection method and illegal status of these compounds.

In the end this study mostly just supports the idea that these compounds hold great therapeutic promise and that further research is warranted.

I have attached the full text of the study for your consideration.

dreamer042

Thanks for the report and the explanation .

I see several big " mistakes " in it . One being lumping data together from different sources . For instance the terminaly ill people who had been given hallucinogens . They had psychelogical help and knew thast they were being given it to help them get to terms with their death . Theres a lot of sugestion and stearing there .

Another thing is lumping psychedelic drugs together = Psychedelics are psychedelics .

Another one being " life time use " . Remembering that some of the substances mentioned are realtively new to us and also the fact that DMT wasnt generaly available to the public for more than the last few yeas . 10 years ago it was RARE .


When it comes down to it all it says is that there might be good reason to do more experiments and studys about the subject .


IF anyone doesnt like reading studys ...... just read the conclusion . If you want more details look at the discussion .

EDIT - The things i said about intelligent parents and kids and LSD might have come from ' The psychedelics encyclopaedea " or " LSD A total study " by Siva Sanka .

The bit about the increased intelligence was from a study with rats . They speculated that it could be caused by a process called Progenesis . I did a google search yesterday and found some info ........ that i cant find today .