
How LSD Almost Became the 13th Step (2019) - pmoriarty
https://prohbtd.com/read/alcoholics-anonymous-how-lsd-almost-became-the-13th-step/
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loceng
Anecdotally during a period of 3 or 4 months when I had gone to numerous
Ayahuasca ceremonies here in Canada, I saw the progression of a self-
proclaimed alcoholic who felt like she was going to die soon from the illness
- and physically she was very pale and unwell looking; so much so that she was
seeking and willing to try anything including Ayahuasca, which is an entheogen
similar to but different than LSD - and arguably being done in a ceremony
setting provides a different container as well.

There's an opportunity after a ceremony to share during a talking circle. I
can't remember if the woman shared during then or to me afterward, however she
told me in the morning that she could feel like alcohol no longer had a hold
over her. I saw her 3 or 4 more times over a 3 to 4 month period at ceremonies
- and by the end she looked very healthy, her skin had a healthy pink tone to
it - and she was beaming with energy compared to before.

Another experience to share related to alcohol and Ayahuasca: an ex-girlfriend
of mine had gone to a few ceremonies with me. After her first ceremony she
shared two notable things. The first was an insight from her family dynamics
that she could see from a holistic level looking down at the structure, which
seemed to give her great comfort, reducing her baseline stress. The second was
she was presented or saw simultaneously two separate "objects": she saw
alcohol and she saw social situations. She's Russian so perhaps the deep
cultural aspect of alcohol that seems to go with her background, along with
her family always immediately offering a drink to her as their greeting when
she'd visit are examples of how deeply engrained alcohol and socializing were
for her. After her experiencing that division separating alcohol consumption
and social situations, she roughly said she no longer felt the need to drink
when socializing - though she never had a problem with alcohol - she felt like
whatever association and connection to alcohol simply diminished, arguably due
to the clear division of the contexts; unlinking the healthy engagement of
socializing from alcohol consumption.

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mikelyons
Entheogens increase your consciousness. High consciousness gets us closer to
the truth of what reality is, which allows us to break our self-deceptions.

~~~
loceng
Indeed, they temporarily eliminate the ego and its bias from the equation of
the mind, allowing the rest of the mind an unfiltered view and clear
understanding based on whatever intellectual capabilities one inherently has;
ego death, ego dissolution.

~~~
lowdose
I have also experienced the elimination of my ego with MDMA use. I suspect
this is the explanation that MDMA works as a treatment for PTSD.

~~~
tachyonbeam
In my opinion, the reason it works well for PTSD, is because it temporarily
suppresses feelings of fear, shame and embarrassment. It also makes you more
trusting of other people, which can be good in a therapeutic setting, as it
might make it easier to open up. On MDMA, you can look at your own past
without any judgment. That makes it easier to look at things in a way that's
more detached, and begin to process what actually happened without being
flooded by negative thoughts.

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lrnStats
My annoyance is that we aren't taught about alcoholism or that alcohol (and
caffeine) are drugs.

Once your brain chemistry is changed, it takes significant pain to get it
back. And according to the book Power of Habit, it never goes away.

Then alcoholics have the need to make everyone else drink. It's a cycle.

I'm glad I was addicted to alcohol and weed, easier to break. But I still
relapse.

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mnm1
A cure for alcoholism that works fifty percent of the time is ground breaking.
How could doctors not be impressed? The success rate for AA itself is about
2%. What has a better rate of success than 50%?

~~~
DaftDank
As a country, we are just BARELY getting to the point where people are willing
to be public in their support of marijuana legalization. We have a long way to
go before entheogens are legalized federally. But I think if there is any way
to achieve that, it would be through doctors attesting to their efficacy in
treating various illnesses. It's the same thing we went through with marijuana
-- show the people there ARE medical uses, that the world is not ending
because of it, and then they accept a wider use.

~~~
tachyonbeam
I think it would make sense to start by legalizing mushrooms. The fact that
they are very prevalent in nature will make it easier for people to accept
them. They're also very safe, probably less addictive than marijuana (do you
know anyone who takes mushrooms daily?), and there are already a number of
studies showing therapeutic benefits.

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jnathsf
LSD helped me give up nicotine and consuming animal flesh. It was very clear
to me that I didn’t need either in my life. Why harm myself or other beings
for such mundane pleasure when I could now access the transcendent (now
through meditation).

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dijksterhuis
Misleading article title.

> Wilson later distanced himself from AA, as many other influential members of
> the program took issue with the idea of incorporating a psychoactive drug
> into a system of steps designed to end drug use.

> But, according to Pass It On, published in 1984 by AA World Services in New
> York, the movement was totally against his suggestions. "As word of Bill's
> activities reached the fellowship there were inevitable repercussions. Most
> AAs were violently opposed to his experimenting with a mind-altering
> substance. LSD was then totally unfamiliar, poorly researched, and entirely
> experimental – and Bill was taking it."

[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/aug/23/lsd-help-
alc...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/aug/23/lsd-help-alcoholics-
theory)

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thrownaway954
What's funny is that the AA I'm in doesn't oppose any treatment where you are
under a doctor's care. I honestly don't know where that line is drawn in
clinical or medical trials or experiments. I will say that personally, if this
can help eliminate or prevent addiction, I'm all for it.

