Fascinating information about Bill W’s psychedelic journey!
Also, I was that 24-year-old (except I was 21) in AA hearing that my days of pleasure-seeking were over. The program helped me quit narcotics, and for that I’m forever grateful. But I can’t imagine my life if I had stayed on that path.
Indeed it does, and the world - although it has made progress - continues to hate nuance. But the openness around addiction and recovery in 2024 is worlds beyond what I could have dreamt of 20 years ago when my path first diverged from AA/NA. Thank you for being part of this conversation with your blog! I’m working on my own contribution, and I continue to be inspired by yours and other voices on Substack.
Great point about progress…it’s important to periodically recalibrate and assess all that has been accomplished. You are right; many of these conversations simply weren’t happening a few decades ago.
Thank you so very much for the kind words! Looking forward to seeing what you contribute.
When I was writing drug policy reviews for International Journal of Drug Policy on the '90s I came across a very significant study on addiction, that of American soldiers in Vietnam. Late in the war it was determined that a very large part of the U.S. deployment of the soldiers that actually did most of the suffering were availing themselves of daily heroin, cheap, of good quality... U.S. government was worried how all those ADDICTS would fare when repatriated. Turned out that a great majority of them who had wives, families, jobs waiting, simply gave up their habits on their own volition and without much pain and few needing "treatment" or 12-step methods etc. Conversely, those soldiers who had little awaiting them, returning to ghettos or whatever, had great difficulty with most of them just continuing their bad drug habits. So it wasn't THE DRUG that was "Addicting" (a logical impossibility)...
You can't have it both ways. Either you are an autonomous human being with free will, ability to guide your life, OR you subscribe to radical determinism where all has been decided in advance and all sorts of things "control" you no matter what you decide or do, think, or be.
Very interesting information, thanks for sharing! I think it’s much the same with newly-paroled inmates and recidivism rates. People traumatized by war and prison need to be able to re-integrate into society in supportive environments. A lot of harm reduction people want to allocate funds to “safe injection sites” aka supervised shooting galleries. If I were in charge, I would take that money and put all of it into therapeutic communities, halfway and three-quarter way houses (I was in one for months after I got clean) and also eliminate much of the red tape surrounding getting a bed in detox, which most people who live on the streets will never be able to navigate.
People like to get high because it feels good. No social program can ever change that. But many, many people also would get clean if it were easier. The trick is to get them in a bed on the same day they decide to get clean. Get them into detox before the vibe deserts them, before or at the onset of getting dope sick. I am convinced that would increase recovery rates.
We should ban the word and the concept of addiction from any discourse that pretends to be scientific. The belief in the reality of addictions produces victims where there should be agents.
We have got the arrow of causation totally reversed when we believe that a chemical, or a behavior, controls us.
And we have got causation entirely backwards when we say that psychedelics "do" or "cause" things, when in actuality it is "we" who are "doing" all these things. Of course psychedelics actually "do" something, but it is not among the long lists of published psychedelic effects, such as those listed here:
I readily admit that such views are more than controversial, since they go against the grain of the entire neurocognitive paradigm. But have a read of Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience by Bennett and Hacker and there is a chance, slim for some, that a conversion experience will take place, that victimhood will evaporate in a flash of realization as to just who is in control. Here is the introduction:
Absolutely love this article. Psychedelics help us peel layers of BS that we put around ourselves to protect us from the world - or so we think. Those layers include our addictive behaviours. The beauty of returning to our core is that we realise those layers may have served a purpose in the past but they are no longer in alignment with who we are… Thank you for writing about all of these amazing things.
…return to wholeness(?) this statement instantly creates a “problem”,..one that incentivizes people to need to do something, panicked into action! to fix, repair. The epitome of “broken paradigm thinking”, the origins of this are available and exist within whatever rabbit hole that will serve your particular creative narrative. “Recovery”, as defined by 12 steps, AA-NA look backward to places & person that doesn’t exist, that shouldn’t exist.. so give up stupid broken retrieval systems like AA & NA, they dont do much except offer an opportunity for becoming more informed on how such systems entrap & collar people into believing in something that doesn’t exist or truly help..”its about the work”.. “one slave at a time” i mean day….”It(?) works if you work it”(?) wtf? Abstinence thinking & behavior actually poisons the body & mind, its fully alien,…humans need to experience addiction, diseases, harm & death just like a infant needs to get sick get colds so to develop a healthy strong immune system… these “evils” are there to evolve us out from stupidity & slavery systems… yes! those very systems that have bern destroying humanity & the planet now.
Fascinating information about Bill W’s psychedelic journey!
Also, I was that 24-year-old (except I was 21) in AA hearing that my days of pleasure-seeking were over. The program helped me quit narcotics, and for that I’m forever grateful. But I can’t imagine my life if I had stayed on that path.
Amazing...congrats on quitting narcotics.
And thank you for sharing this! This discussion warrants for more nuance than is typically allowed.
Indeed it does, and the world - although it has made progress - continues to hate nuance. But the openness around addiction and recovery in 2024 is worlds beyond what I could have dreamt of 20 years ago when my path first diverged from AA/NA. Thank you for being part of this conversation with your blog! I’m working on my own contribution, and I continue to be inspired by yours and other voices on Substack.
Great point about progress…it’s important to periodically recalibrate and assess all that has been accomplished. You are right; many of these conversations simply weren’t happening a few decades ago.
Thank you so very much for the kind words! Looking forward to seeing what you contribute.
When I was writing drug policy reviews for International Journal of Drug Policy on the '90s I came across a very significant study on addiction, that of American soldiers in Vietnam. Late in the war it was determined that a very large part of the U.S. deployment of the soldiers that actually did most of the suffering were availing themselves of daily heroin, cheap, of good quality... U.S. government was worried how all those ADDICTS would fare when repatriated. Turned out that a great majority of them who had wives, families, jobs waiting, simply gave up their habits on their own volition and without much pain and few needing "treatment" or 12-step methods etc. Conversely, those soldiers who had little awaiting them, returning to ghettos or whatever, had great difficulty with most of them just continuing their bad drug habits. So it wasn't THE DRUG that was "Addicting" (a logical impossibility)...
You can't have it both ways. Either you are an autonomous human being with free will, ability to guide your life, OR you subscribe to radical determinism where all has been decided in advance and all sorts of things "control" you no matter what you decide or do, think, or be.
Very interesting information, thanks for sharing! I think it’s much the same with newly-paroled inmates and recidivism rates. People traumatized by war and prison need to be able to re-integrate into society in supportive environments. A lot of harm reduction people want to allocate funds to “safe injection sites” aka supervised shooting galleries. If I were in charge, I would take that money and put all of it into therapeutic communities, halfway and three-quarter way houses (I was in one for months after I got clean) and also eliminate much of the red tape surrounding getting a bed in detox, which most people who live on the streets will never be able to navigate.
People like to get high because it feels good. No social program can ever change that. But many, many people also would get clean if it were easier. The trick is to get them in a bed on the same day they decide to get clean. Get them into detox before the vibe deserts them, before or at the onset of getting dope sick. I am convinced that would increase recovery rates.
Quite right. it’s all about reconnecting to a sense of self & meaning, not caring about any labels they might have put on you.
Absolutely!
Fom victimhood to agency.
We should ban the word and the concept of addiction from any discourse that pretends to be scientific. The belief in the reality of addictions produces victims where there should be agents.
We have got the arrow of causation totally reversed when we believe that a chemical, or a behavior, controls us.
And we have got causation entirely backwards when we say that psychedelics "do" or "cause" things, when in actuality it is "we" who are "doing" all these things. Of course psychedelics actually "do" something, but it is not among the long lists of published psychedelic effects, such as those listed here:
https://www.psychedelic-library.org/Psychedelic_Elephant.pdf
I readily admit that such views are more than controversial, since they go against the grain of the entire neurocognitive paradigm. But have a read of Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience by Bennett and Hacker and there is a chance, slim for some, that a conversion experience will take place, that victimhood will evaporate in a flash of realization as to just who is in control. Here is the introduction:
https://www.psychedelic-library.org/KOSMOS/Bennett_Hacker.pdf
As for addiction, here is something that might help to cure believers in the concept:
The Myth of Addiction
https://www.psychedelic-library.org/davies/myth_of_addiction.htm
I enjoy this perspective! And thanks for sharing these links. Could not agree more.
Absolutely love this article. Psychedelics help us peel layers of BS that we put around ourselves to protect us from the world - or so we think. Those layers include our addictive behaviours. The beauty of returning to our core is that we realise those layers may have served a purpose in the past but they are no longer in alignment with who we are… Thank you for writing about all of these amazing things.
Thank you, Dr. Toribio-Mateas! That means a lot. Well said...we are aligned!
We are. Miguel is fine! 🙏🏽💛
Adding this to my top 5 Weisse pieces. Profound.
Thank you for this. Means so much.
awesome post, drew! saw the sweet new designs in your etsy store too - congrats!
Thanks my man!
…return to wholeness(?) this statement instantly creates a “problem”,..one that incentivizes people to need to do something, panicked into action! to fix, repair. The epitome of “broken paradigm thinking”, the origins of this are available and exist within whatever rabbit hole that will serve your particular creative narrative. “Recovery”, as defined by 12 steps, AA-NA look backward to places & person that doesn’t exist, that shouldn’t exist.. so give up stupid broken retrieval systems like AA & NA, they dont do much except offer an opportunity for becoming more informed on how such systems entrap & collar people into believing in something that doesn’t exist or truly help..”its about the work”.. “one slave at a time” i mean day….”It(?) works if you work it”(?) wtf? Abstinence thinking & behavior actually poisons the body & mind, its fully alien,…humans need to experience addiction, diseases, harm & death just like a infant needs to get sick get colds so to develop a healthy strong immune system… these “evils” are there to evolve us out from stupidity & slavery systems… yes! those very systems that have bern destroying humanity & the planet now.
Wholeness is a gift
I wrote this wiht joy and gratitude, inviting. Discovering. Psychedelics opened the door for me to step into myself
https://open.substack.com/pub/straythoughtsandbadpoetry/p/possibility?r=45g794&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Yes