Yo, I'll be rather short, because the real reason I'm here is to get some questions answered about an extraction, and I'll post that in another topic.
I've been a long time lurker here, both for practical reasons (I mean info about extractions does exist elsewhere but I have come to consider the nexus one of the best sources out there, at least at my level of chemistry knowledge), and by sheer curiosity, since I'm quite the drug geek (I love to learn new information of certain topics, even if I'll never use it practically, just for the sake of it, and drugs as a whole are one of those topics).
I live in a desert, but not really.
I love plants that do, like some cacti, some species of which I grow (but I also generally love plants, regardless of habitat or alkaloid content, they remind us that stuff that don't necessarily look like us animals are still rich living forms, with a lot to teach about evolution).
Desert originally means a place devoid of people so I have to admit that's another reason for my name, because I generally distrust humans - I won't elaborate, it could get very political, and I'm not here for that.
When it comes to personal tastes of partaking substances, I'm interested in psychedelics (otherwise wouldn't be there I guess) and I have extensive experience with a lot of them, both natural and synthetic, even research chemicals.
But I wouldn't describe myself as someone trying to push boundaries too much here, for me, it's the journey and its integration that matters, not the quantitative aspects of the doses.
When I did smoalk spice, I had the clear impression that I really did not need to do it again, as "pleasurable" as it might have been (quotations marks because pleasure is not relevant if your goal is learning something true, in my opinion) - you know, the whole "hang up the phone" stuff.
I am genuinely angered by those who think you cannot reach enlightenment without doing X mg of the Y compound.
My enlightenment, if I can call it this, began without the use of any substance, and the substances only deepened and thickened what I was already beginning to learn by other means (philosophy, meditation).
I'd like to live in a world where drug policies are designed to serve the people, not the other way around. I'd like drug policies to be rational, and the users not treated as freaks or ignoramuses.
I have, as most people here I presume, seen people exhibit rational behavior with drug taking, without the help of any law enforcing agencies (I attend tekno freeparties, although not as much as I used to). I hope we get to evolve to this kind of society, where people can be trusted to care about one another and prevent, by themselves, most risks involved with drug taking.
I'm not too sure psychedelics can change the world. I spend a lot of time on a video platform owned by one of the great powers of our time that tries to pose as benevolent, and also on one of the OG social media platforms that is less popular with the youth nowadays, and I can definitely say that psychedelics are present on both not only for good (educational) reasons, but also for profit : profit of people selling microdoses and spiritual commodities, profit of the people that you work for that benefit from the purported productivity gains you have been taught to want to offer them...
However, I'll end this by saying that if used right, psychedelics can do no harm, and even help a little. In this respect, I can only support their more rational uses, and I hope my presence here will, in some small way or another, contribute to that.
See ya soon with some newbie-ish extraction questions !