On Psychedelics

[andrewducker]

Psychedelic drugs are not addictive. Even enthusiastic proponents of psychedelics take them infrequently due to the intensity of the "trip". Animal research indicates that Homo sapiens is the only species that will voluntarily take a psychedelic drug again after having experienced the effects. Although laboratory animals such as rats or monkeys will readily self-admininister most other drugs abused by humans, including cocaine, heroin, amphetamine, nicotine and alcohol, they find psychedelic drugs highly aversive (Yokel, 1987).

Comments

[kpollock.livejournal.com]

Suggestive (for me) on the "conscious" or not debate, since I personally find that the pleasurable effects are all changes in thinking and how I regard thinking on my awareness of thinking, on my preception of self and of the passage of time.

If a creature didn't have a concept of self, or the ability to analyse thought etc etc, just about all you'd have for effets would be some weird visuals, nausea and strange muscle cramps. I'll agree that it doesn't seem to plug into any of the 'normal' (survival-oriented) reward pathways.

IIRC rats don't like alcohol unless it's sweet. I have visions of them staggering up the streets with their mini bottles of bacardi breezer.....