<story><title>Magic mushrooms are changing the lives of terminal cancer patients</title><url>https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/11/25/Magic-Mushrooms-Changing-Lives-Terminal-Cancer-Patients/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fsloth</author><text>I presume the main reason for the controversy is the prevailing dogma &amp;quot;Drugs are evil&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;This dogma has been used to enact countless bills of legislation in most rich countries, which in turn have encumbered the justice and police system, which in turn have put thousands upon thousands of people into to the 
correctional system for years.&lt;p&gt;After all that busywork, lives destroyed and taxpayer money wasted, it is &lt;i&gt;really hard&lt;/i&gt; to suddenly jump ship and say &amp;quot;Nah, you know what... after all these lives destroyed and billions of tax money spent ... you know, we were wrong, let&amp;#x27;s rethink this&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;Drug abuse should be handled as a public health issue, not a criminal issue. And it takes time and effort to rebalance the current status quo to a more humane and sane approach.&lt;p&gt;This vox article discsusses the political history of war on drugs:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vox.com&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;3&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;11325750&amp;#x2F;nixon-war-on-drugs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vox.com&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;3&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;11325750&amp;#x2F;nixon-war-on-drugs&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>rich_sasha</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t understand the controversy. We know full well the natural world is full of substances with significant impact on our bodies. Many such substances can even on average be harmful, but when used correctly, they are beneficial. Opioids come to mind first and foremost. It&amp;#x27;s not controversial to give e.g. serious accident victims a shot of morphine.&lt;p&gt;Why are investigations into medicinal use of shrooms or marijuana controversial? Is it the picture of a sick old lady smokin&amp;#x27; a massive spliff?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>yummypaint</author><text>I would argue it goes beyond &amp;quot;drugs are evil&amp;quot; for many people and is more of a vestige of the country&amp;#x27;s backwards puritanical past. It has little to do with medicine and is more closely related to the idea that pleasure is wrong and pulls one away from devotion to the church, tithing, etc. If presented with a hypothetical recreational drug with no side effects, people with this perspective will immediately say it should be banned, or that taking it would be morally wrong. As long as people can derive enjoyment, even as a side effect, they will oppose. This is the ideological appeal used by them pharma industry to, for example, highly process medicinal Marijuana products to ensure no one might inadvertently enjoy them.</text></comment>
<story><title>Magic mushrooms are changing the lives of terminal cancer patients</title><url>https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/11/25/Magic-Mushrooms-Changing-Lives-Terminal-Cancer-Patients/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fsloth</author><text>I presume the main reason for the controversy is the prevailing dogma &amp;quot;Drugs are evil&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;This dogma has been used to enact countless bills of legislation in most rich countries, which in turn have encumbered the justice and police system, which in turn have put thousands upon thousands of people into to the 
correctional system for years.&lt;p&gt;After all that busywork, lives destroyed and taxpayer money wasted, it is &lt;i&gt;really hard&lt;/i&gt; to suddenly jump ship and say &amp;quot;Nah, you know what... after all these lives destroyed and billions of tax money spent ... you know, we were wrong, let&amp;#x27;s rethink this&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;Drug abuse should be handled as a public health issue, not a criminal issue. And it takes time and effort to rebalance the current status quo to a more humane and sane approach.&lt;p&gt;This vox article discsusses the political history of war on drugs:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vox.com&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;3&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;11325750&amp;#x2F;nixon-war-on-drugs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vox.com&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;3&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;11325750&amp;#x2F;nixon-war-on-drugs&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>rich_sasha</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t understand the controversy. We know full well the natural world is full of substances with significant impact on our bodies. Many such substances can even on average be harmful, but when used correctly, they are beneficial. Opioids come to mind first and foremost. It&amp;#x27;s not controversial to give e.g. serious accident victims a shot of morphine.&lt;p&gt;Why are investigations into medicinal use of shrooms or marijuana controversial? Is it the picture of a sick old lady smokin&amp;#x27; a massive spliff?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>darkerside</author><text>There&amp;#x27;s an undercurrent of corporatism that powers the status quo. It&amp;#x27;s not that all drugs are evil, it&amp;#x27;s that the _wrong_ drugs are evil. The ones you can make on your own have an air of illegitimacy about them, while those that are manufactured and administered by professionals are &amp;quot;ok&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;If there were a real war on drugs, pharma companies would be the nuclear superpowers.</text></comment>