Eleven countries studied, one inescapable conclusion – the drug laws don’t work

[hifiguy]

4. Well, duh.

Years ago I read an article by, IIRC, a professor of neurology or neuropsychiatry or some other similar esoteric discipline at UCLA. Said professor argued that blanket prohibitions on psychoactive substances were supremely idiotic for a simple reason - human consciousness is reflexive and curious about itself and its states of existence. For all of recorded history humans have sought to alter and explore their consciousness through countless methods, the most prominent of which have been asceticism and psychoactive chemicals.

Curiosity about altered states of consciousness is built in to the human brain. It has been postulated, rather convincingly, that the discovery that you could make a mind-altering "drug" by fermenting grains (we call it "beer&quot was one of the things that contributed to the establishment of permanent human settlements and the eventual decline of hunter/gatherer culture in many parts of the world with ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt being the two most prominent examples.

Modern society, especially a modern society informed and shaped by capitalism and the appalling Abrahamic religions, seeks to stamp out virtually all natural human tendencies in the name of control. Anything that threatens to break the control of the authorites is a dire threat indeed. Things that alter consciousness and lead to different ways of thinking are the most dangerous of all.