Drugs

From metawiki
It is recommended that each pill be kept in its original container to avoid confusion.

Drugs are a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they have done great things for longevity. But the side-effect of many drugs (addiction) is one of the most serious issues faced by modern culture.

"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too." -Mitch Hedberg, Strategic Grill Locations

While many are quick to paint recreational drugs, pharmaceuticals, or both as being wholly bad, as with any simplistic moral pronouncement it is based on shallow reasoning and absence of nuance.

See psychedelics for details on that particular class of drugs.

Moderation in All Things

Moderation is the way to avoid addiction, both to recreational drugs and medically prescribed pharmaceuticals, as well as the recreational use of prescription medications. Independent of recreation, doctors can get addicted to writing prescriptions as a simple cure for complaining patients, and patients get addicted to seek pill-based cures when none are needed. And pharmaceutical industry propaganda has heavily reinforced this notion in both parties, ensuring the addiction is inevitable.

The principle of variety can help avoid addiction as well. Following the mantra to "try everything once" can allow for broad consciousness experimentation with minimal chances of addiction. The propaganda stereotype of instant addiction after trying something once is a myth. You have to try something at least twice to get addicted. If you only try it once you are by definition not addicted.

Be self-aware. If you're prone to excess then abstinence may need to be your thing. However, most people can avoid excess if they approach altered states of consciousness with the intent to maintain moderation. It's even easier if there are culture norms built around moderation, instead of the current model of hypocrisy where we are told to abstain from drugs in school but then every adult is on some cocktail of prescription, over-the-counter, and illegal drugs.

Improper Propaganda

Medical decisions should be influenced by evidence, not propaganda. Therefore, even in a society that values capitalism and freedom of speech, information about drug efficacy should only come through unbiased channels. In other words, direct pharmaceutical marketing to patients should not be allowed. Even if the benefits and side-effects are accurately conveyed, the marketing itself drives demand from patients who ask their doctors, who often write the prescription to make the patient happy rather than because it is the best medical decision. It creates a chain of bad incentives that can only interfere with evidence-based medicine.

Spreading misinformation on social media that exaggerates the benefits or side-effects of any drug (or vaccine!) is bad, too. New culture norms are needed to enforce this. Unfortunately, contrarian distrust of the pharmaceutical industry is what has been normalized. Speaking up for peer-reviewed research from Pfizer or expert recommendations by the FDA is not likely to go down well in your crunchy moms[1] group chat.

Placebo Substitutes

The Placebo Effect can be used honestly and effectively to treat many common conditions or induce desired changes on mood. This can provide a safe, affordable alternative to many of the pills people take with unnecessary or ineffective ingredients whose effects are already placebo-based.

Those who distrust big pharma and look for healing in alternative medicine should look no further than the placebo effect, because that's what all alternative medicine is anyway.

While this is bad news if you're in the homeopathy business, it's great news for anyone who is looking for ways to find natural healing without pharmaceuticals. You don't actually need anything to make the placebo effect work. Simply performing a ritual will get the job done if you believe it will! Why should you believe that a silly ritual will cure your IBS? Because science has proven it!

The placebo effect is so strong with pills because so much of our culture is designed to make you believe that pills will cure you. Besides the unethical direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing, there is the entire medical establishment. The educational system that reinforces the ideas of science, evidence, and expertise. The TV shows about doctors performing miracle cures to save the patient every week. Modern medicine men wear white coats instead of traditional shamanic regalia, but they both convey the same cultural message: this person knows how to heal you so you can trust the cure they give you.

What if rituals had all of the same education, marketing, arts, and other cultural reinforcements of their healing power that exist for medicine? Could significant portions of our healthcare industry, supplements industry, and alternative medicine be replaced with a set of simple rituals you can perform at home for free? It will only happen if you believe it can! But you should only believe it can if there is good evidence for it, which fortunately there is.

Music About Drugs

Is there any good music about drugs? Bill Hicks has a few things to say about this.

Bill Hicks - Drugs Have Done Good Things


Viagra Boys - Research Chemicals

Since there are too many songs to choose from, here are some full albums about drugs.

The Symposium - Drugs (Full Album)


Flatbush Zombies - D.R.U.G.S. (Full Album )


Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows - D.R.U.G.S. (Full Album)