Wondering is theres any kind of psychedelic census? if not i think would be something worth doing with surveys in controlled groups.To see how many people have had a psychedelic experience, and what kind of psychedelics. than marked across a graph over years to see how much progress there is. Can imagine there would be a hugeee spike in the late 60s. Would like to see where we stand to previous years. Im sure been growing popularity with new media outlets and communicating information, im curious how much..

You want the National Survey on Drug Use and Health put out by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Blessings
~ND

thanks! exactly what was looking for, kinna surprised and disappointed seeing psychedelic use pretty constant over time. Marijuana seems to be slowly moving along nicely though, with around a nice 10% increase of ppl that tried it since the 90's and increasing past month use, and should continue to go up with more legalization laws and greater general acceptance. Interesting seeing how reflects my parents once against it deeming it evil now starting to accept it. Also nice seeing so much decrease in cigarrete use over the years. about the psychs guess until legalization laws are passed and gets more integrated into society theres only so much progress that will be made.

More psychedelics being used now than in the 60s

Relative to population?

I think psychedelic use will always be there, however there's negligible addiction potential with classic psychedelics. The window for abuse is also (IMO) negligible due to the recognition of how powerful these substances are and their psychological impact. Generally lessons learned during a good or bad experience are imprinted into your psychology for quite some time which requires integration. Some people will try a classic psychedelic once and they can't bring themselves to do it again because of its overwhelming nature. Psychedelics can be particularly intimidating.

I know there are exceptions to every rule, however the average person will not have an intense session on LSD or other powerful psychedelic and have the desire to back it up the next day, days or weeks. Personally I'll happily take 9-12 months after strong LSD trip before I'll do it again. There isn't the same compulsion as there other with other substances (due to reward pathways) where the addiction potential is extremely high and unavoidable with subsequent and continual consumption.

I tend to believe most other drugs will soar as population increases - especially dopaminergic substances. Psychedelics will fluctuate a little but I can't see any major shift like amphetamine etc.

Don't forget, psychedelics aren't for everyone. On the contrary, not many people are interested in what psychedelics have to offer.

Consider the DMT experience, relinquishing control of your consciousness for 10-15 minutes. Given the amount of people out there with control issues, it most certainly isn't for everybody.

The stigma attached to LSD, the stereotype of somebody completely losing their marbles and jumping from a balcony believing they can fly. Unfortunately we've had years of negative press on things like this and it just pushes psychedelics further down the list of desirable drugs.

It takes a certain inquisitiveness and a level of critical thinking to see beyond what the governments of the world have ingrained into the population when it comes to opinions on psychedelic drugs.

It's like psychedelics are a sort of "anti-meme" or self keeping secret. Whenever psychedelic use becomes widespread among a significant portion of a large population, it seems that some kind of institution inevitably suppresses it.

The secret of soma was lost by the ancient Hindu civilizations. Spanish conquerors did what they could to prevent the use of ayahuasca. When psychedelia became popular in the 60's, governmental institutions acted quickly to suppress the movement.

Now, in modern day, and thanks to government sponsored propaganda, the public is so deluded about LSD and psilocybin that most people don't even have a clue what the experience is even remotely like.

" Why is it that people think it's so evil? What is it about it that scares people so deeply, even the guy that invented it, what is it? Because they're afraid that there's more to reality than they have ever confronted. That there are doors that they're afraid to go in, and they don't want us to go in there either, because if we go in we might learn something that they don't know. And that makes us a little out of their control.״ kinsey

True, true. The desire to control is strong for many.

A lot of people are really quite afraid of the darkest corners of their own psychology. Most have suppressed memories and things they never want to resurface. It's not surprising psychedelics are quite confronting and intimidating for most because you'll no doubt get a preview of these feelings or memories if you push yourself through different states of consciousness. That is what used to terrify me before I had to address and acknowledge most of it through such experiences.

I think that's a broadly innacurate assessment that focuses too exclusively at recent, Western history.

Psychedelics have been prohibited in the US (and by extension, around the globe) for 50 years, and the conquistadors started their prohibition 400 years prior which, realistically was only strictly enforced for probably less then half that time.

In Africa, Iboga and silene capensis have been culturally significant sacraments for as long as their are written records. In the Amazon, Ayahuasca use has continued to be used since before recorded history. Before the conquistadors showed up, there was evidence that the Aztecs and Maya were using mushrooms pretty much uninterrupted for at least 500 years.

You can go back even farther with amanita mushrooms in Northern Europe and peyote in North America, all the way back to the petroglyphs in the Sahara desert that date back thousands of years. Whether Soma was even a psychedelic is STILL up for debate, and the fact that it was lost is not any guarantee that it was actively suppressed. Cultures evolve on their own.

The prohibition on psychedelics is comparatively recent, and restricted largely to Imperialist, Christian powers of European descent. For the vast, VAST majority of the time humans have been using psychedelics, there hasn't been any kind of authoritarian clamp-down.

Blessings
~ND