I forgot to say my article was in the news section of solascircle.com
I'd be careful about saying that entheogens are completely safe. If a certain type of person were to take one of them it could do a lot of damage to their mental health!
For example... A 16 year old who has no idea what they are doing and decides to take some lsd...
I know you didn't mention LSD but I think it's worth mentioning that everyone should be ultra careful and do lots and lots of research into their chosen entheogen. I think especially cacti in certain circumstances will produce a more intense experience than expected.
The most important thing is to be prepared and see it as an enlightening experience!
I live in Ireland and because one stupid teenager got hit by a car after taking some mushrooms they banned the sale of them from the entire country (mushrooms grow here naturally so I think it's ridiculous). Especially seeing as alcohol is a more popular drug and has done much more damage. Mushrooms have barely caused any harm.
But people are scared of what they don't understand. So when this kid ran out in front of a car and they found out he had taken psilocybin of course everyone rang in to a very popular radio show the next day about it.
Within a month the substance was banned.
I think as much knowledge about entheogens as possible needs to be spread. People need to become aware that drugs like alcohol are much more dangerous than any entheogenic substance.
Here's an excerpt:
"For example, I have heard news of an ayahuasca church in Ireland. The leader of this church is to go up in court for growing ayahuasca (I will not mention details of the leader for his own personal security). This leader claims it is their religious right to use the plant, as those in South American tribes do in the same circumstances. It is unthinkable why this has happened. Apart from the fact that ayahuasca has no history of killing anybody on record, I have no idea why this plant would be illegal. It is a very rare plant, widely unknown by most, even many of those who have heard of entheogenic plants. It seems to me the government must be looking upon these plants as a dangerous drugs, not a sacrament. However it is widely accepted to drink alcohol and consume cigarettes. Powerful mind-altering drugs like Prozac are seen as “safe” even though they are manmade and have not been used in the long term as entheogens, so we cannot determine how safe they really are. Following the recent problems with cocaine abuse in Ireland, the government have grown afraid of anything they think could be related. A recent study in the UK has shown that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than ecstasy and LSD (both of which are class A drugs). (BBC Horizons programme, 2008 ) Is this religious persecution, or is the government greatly misinformed?"
