From: petersen@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Julie Petersen)
Subject: Re: LSD and alcoholics posting on usenet
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 09:46:36 GMT

In article <1992Dec27.201453.1@pomona.claremont.edu> cblanc@pomona.claremont.edu (Muffavore) writes:
>> Well, certainly one good experience isn't going to make someone
>> suddenly wake up and never drink again. But it can be a powerful
>> start just to realize there's something else 'out there'. One of
>> the keys to AA is acceptance of a 'higher power'. This is much
>> easier when one has experienced the higher power directly through
>> LSD or MDMA.
>
>	The 'higher power' argument is nice; however, it's just substitution of
>one addiction for another, and in the long run doesn't cure the more
>intellectually active alcoholics.  Besides, you fail to address the point:  it
>is a disease, whether physical or mental, and simply giving a substitute drug,
>whether bullshit icon (gOD) or MDMA is not going to cut it.  
>

I'm not sure I'm getting your point here... Are you implying that
alcoholics never recover? I'm saying MDMA could be used to aide
the recovery process, and you keep saying that I'm wrong because
alcoholism is a disease. I don't see how the fact that alcoholism
is a disease ('disease' is subjective term, how about 'biological
difference') discredits the idea of using MDMA as part of working
towards a solution. In the first place, MDMA can allow a person
to look at themselves honestly. It can break down the defenses
that an alcoholic uses to avoid seeing what they're doing to
their life. And the nice thing is that at the same time that you
see yourself clearly, you are more inclined to accept things for
what they are. Acceptance is the first step towards recovery.

As for MDMA being 'substitution of one addiction for another',
you saying this simply means that you don't understand MDMA. It
may be many things, but almost nobody makes the claim that it's
addictive, physically *or* psychologically.

For the alcoholic, alcohol is a very powerful drug, almost an
opiate. Some people don't understand that alcohol affects the
alcoholic differently than it does a 'normal' person (any
doctors to back me up on this?). Using LSD or MDMA is not
'merely' replacing one drug with another. For an alcoholic who
has been partaking of a powerful drug for all of his adult life,
the high is very much an intergral part of life. It's got to
be replaced somehow (there is a natural human need for feeling
high, whether through religion, drugs, exercise, whatever). If
the highly debilitating drug alcohol can be replaced with a
drug that everyone agrees is way WAY safer, then that is a
great accomplishment in itself. And if it is a drug such as
MDMA which generally tends to be self-moderating, even better.
And as the alcoholic awakens from the 'other'-oriented
alcoholic high to the 'self'-oriented MDMA high s/he may
discover a whole new world which allows them to leave
behind the alcohol.

At the very least, there should be further research into the
use of LSD and MDMA to treat alcoholism. Nothing else we've
tried seems to work particularly well, any new approach
should at least be studied, rather than pushed into a closet
without giving it a chance. Personally I just think the
government would rather have an alcoholic citizenry than
an awakened psychedelic citizenry. Call me paranoid.

__________________________________________________________________________
Jim Petersen         petersen@casbah.acns.nwu.edu          jp@darkstar.com

                If mercy's in business I wish it for you-        
             More than just ashes when your dreams come true.


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