If that were true, herbalism would be wholesale regulated by the FDA rather than pretty much ignored with only minor regulations.

Having "big pharma"'s support makes legalization far easier definitely, but it's always been the fear response or moral panic of the general population that determines whether a substance is illegal or not. That's why things like San Pedro/Peruvian torch are not scheduled while Peyote specifically is. Plenty of other examples as well like Salvia, Amanita Muscaria, and all the other unscheduled psychoactives.

As far as the psychoactives forum not containing many posts about pharmaceutical psychoactives, that's probably because there are plenty of other places to find information on them and the general bias against them held by many in our community. However "Other psychoactives" definitely includes them.

Up until several months ago, The Traveler actually had a rule against the discussion of anything other than classic psychedelics and other entheogens that have been in common use for at least a couple decades. He removed that rule and allowed the discussion of RCs, Dissociatives, etc, as long as discussion was informational and did not deny the risks of such drugs.

Hence, I don't see how this topic is unsuited for discussion. Personal bias against something is just that, a personal bias. Facts are though that benzos and other pharmaceutical psychoactives have uses, and psychedelics aren't illegal due to pharmaceutical companies. Hell, they would have benefited if they were legal and psychiatrists/therapists were in favor of legalization. They were just as forbidden for the most part from research and potential patenting of them as we are from self-exploration with them. The wholesale illegalization of psychedelics makes the cost of researching, patenting and approving a potential product prohibitively expensive for them.

My voice doesn't crack. I just freeze up and frantically try to think of something to say while I just stand there with a dumb look on my face. Often times I will say the exact opposite thing I wanted to say.

This convo is stressing me out. I think i'll take a valium to calm down

LOL, no, beta blocker would be more appropriate to my knowledge. Benzos shouldn't be used for generalized anxiety in my belief. Only for acute panic or cardiovascular conditions, or sporadically for sleep aid.

Thanks for the advice aetherius

Can we ease up here on the knee jerk reactions and judgmental postures, people? They're not conducive to critical thinking or intelligent discourse in general, and a number of the posts here have crossed the line into hypocritical territory.

To an extent, knee jerk reactions do provide the perfect opportunity for self reflection of one's beliefs. Knee jerk reaction coupled with a desire to ignore all evidence to the contrary is where things go wrong.

I love having conversations with people who have strong and passionate beliefs about something, but are willing to listen to opposing opinions.

They make for the best conversations.

Maybe i came across as judgemental or knee jerking but the reason i was a bit harsh is this.

Tango said " Just had a public speaking event and I just wanna say that no amount of yoga and exercising and preparation helped me get honorably trough these dreaded circumstances in the past. Today, it was 1 mg of xanax that did the job, and it did it well.

Furthermore, even knowing that something like this exists is of enormous help. I only wish I had become aware of this earlier !"

This implies to me that tango doesn't have any experience with benzos if he/she wasn't aware of their anxiolotic properties.

I have extensive experience with benzos and iam trying to educate tango a little on how dangerous they can be. I probably worded it all wrong.

My take on benzos isn't any more valid than anyone elses.. It's just a point of view. In my experience benzos cloud your better judgement much like alcohol. I would advise against alcohol also if it was in the same context.

Anyway as always just be careful Tango, i only have your best interests at heart.

I wasn't trying to offend anybody....

Bob Dylan and other musicians use the metaphor of selling their soul to the devil to describe purposely becoming a drug addict in order to help them make better music...

Didn't mean to step on any TOES.

I just wanted to confirm that indeed beta blockers would be better suited for stuff like this, like Aetherius has mentioned a few times.

I've had big problems with social anxieties and stage fright all my life, and beta blockers completely removed those problems. I think popping benzos for stuff like that is just terrible terrible overkill. Beta blockers are non-CNS and non-addictive, I think their primary function is to reduce the effects of stress hormones like adrenaline, but as a result all the physical aspects of nervousness are gone, and the mental state is something I could describe as "Not giving a F what anybody thinks about you".

As far as I can see their only bad side is making you very numb to things and not being able to enjoy them. But that's also why you don't want to take them unless you really need to, like for social gatherings and public appearances.