Stories like the ones here really kind of choke me up. This thing is so important to me, what these plants cause us to remember-because I think that is really what they are doing-is so valuable and intrinsic to human life and supports it in such a way as to just set us on a path to wellness sometimes whether we want that or not.

Man, when I came to this forum it seemed the idea of the psychedelic experience emerging into a zeitgeist would be a slow gradual process initiated through MAP’’s MDMA studies. And then psilocybin just busted through the BS and into the scene like nobody’s business. Now the talk is how to use, not whether to do so or not. Addiction recovery with the use of psychedelics is getting ALOT of attention. And it’s about time.

The old paradigm of abstinence is just wrong and doesn’t apply to the world we live in. It never really did. It is a non inclusive philosophy based on negative reinforcement and has nothing to do with supporting what is alive in a person, arguably  only in memorializing what’s dead in them. 

I give massive props to you sunnyside and everyone else with similar stories in this thread. They echo mine in so many ways. Different substance but similar years spent engaging in my numbing strategies and time engaging life without the drug ones at least. We are doing this.

My current writing projects include a talk on a new paradigm of meeting the issues of addiction that is Inclusive, based in the normalization of drug use and harm reduction and that meets the individuals where they are at and helps them get where they as individuals want to be. I look at the treatment industry with such dismay but really hope that very soon it can be something I can be employed in and maintain my integrity.

Good f*****g job everyone. :thumb_up: