I think people in our society have the wrong idea about how to best use drugs, not just the people that don't do them, but the people that use them as well. Most of the people I talk to who have done mushrooms and feel they're at a stage where they can give advice seem to think people should use them to trip out and party. I used them (as well as many other hallucinogens) for this purpose originally, but it became all too clear to me that this was a tragic misuse of a powerful medicine.

To me they seem to be about removing barriers and illusions. I recall a particular mushroom experience where I was at a party with a bunch of other people on mushrooms and while they were just enjoying the tripped out feeling, I could only wonder why we felt the need to escape the world by drowning ourselves in toxins. I was thinking about alcohol, at the time, not mushrooms. Mushrooms are not in the same vane to me. They do not help one escape reality, they help one face reality. I would say the same thing about LSD and even DMT to a far greater respect. DMT does not fill your head with illusion unrelated to reality. To me, it reveals the true nature of reality. Since I chose to use drugs as a learning and healing experience rather than a party crutch, I have discovered the therapeutic value is enormous. In fact I think hallucinogens are a key element missing from modern psychotherapy, tragically replaced by anti-depressants which do not aid one on their journey to face and absolve their burdens, but rather enable one to get through the day while numbing them to the edge of life. I refer to the edge people regard when they use the phrase "...take the edge off." I refer to the edge Nietzsche referred to when he explained that pain enables growth and deepens the mind. I am basically advocating drugs which enable you to face your shadow rather than nullify your awareness of it.

Consciousness itself is the greatest healer. Being aware of inner pain without attempting to control is all one need to do to change and alleviate it. This is why good psychologists do not give advice so much as just ask purposeful questions and provide a compassionate ear. It is also why drugs which expand your consciousness serve such powerful therapeutic value. They are the key to undoing the conditioning exemplified by the experiment where if you give a dog a shock collar for a month and then turn the electric fence off, the dog won't bother trying to go leave the yard anymore. The danger no longer exists but the conditioning remains. This useless accumulation of conditioning requires careful attention to alleviate, and much of this conditioning is not only useless but also painful to deal with, such as PTSD, addiction and OCD.

If you didn't catch it, yes I am recommending drugs as a means to alleviate addiction, and other psychological problems. But not by themselves, not for the untrained. Combined with a guide, guru, shaman or therapist, a synergistic effect occurs where one may grow profoundly faster than solely with one or the other. And of course different drugs are also more important for different people. I recommend DMT to everyone, period, but I would not say the same thing about LSD, Mushrooms or Ketamine. Studies are coming out showing dissociatives like Ketamine are actually dramatically more potent at alleviating depression than SSRIs, but that doesn't mean everyone going through a moodswing should rush off to find some Ketamine, just like how not everyone dealing with dysthemia et al should get on SSRIs, or that getting anxious because your forced into a desk 6 hours a day means you should get on Adderall. There's a time and a place for everything, and different people have different needs. I am serious about the DMT though.