[HN Gopher] San Francisco decriminalizes psychedelics
___________________________________________________________________
 
San Francisco decriminalizes psychedelics
 
Author : O__________O
Score  : 336 points
Date   : 2022-09-08 16:33 UTC (6 hours ago)
 
web link (doubleblindmag.com)
w3m dump (doubleblindmag.com)
 
| bosswipe wrote:
| Already happened across the bay in Oakland. Unfortunately Oakland
| police is so dysfunctional that it's impossible to know if
| decriminalization has caused any change in problematic public
| behaviors.
 
  | throwaway_4ever wrote:
  | > Oakland police is so dysfunctional
  | 
  | https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/guqz5t/comment/fsk...
 
| formvoltron wrote:
| finally 16th & Valencia can compete with 16th & Mission.
| Seriously though this is pretty cool.
 
| mrcheesebreeze wrote:
| As if the city wasn't bad enough, I guess they would rather let
| people get hooked on even more drugs instead of fix anything.
| 
| Maybe if they are high enough they will not be able to tell how
| bad things are.
 
  | wmichelin wrote:
  | Have you ever tried psychedelics? What makes you think they're
  | problematic? I'm sure opiates are the primary driver of many of
  | the problems in San Francisco, combined with a failure to
  | charge anyone with petty property crimes. Drug prohibition
  | doesn't work and just hurts the wrong people.
 
    | anon291 wrote:
    | Psychedelics can induce schizophrenia, as most mind altering
    | drugs can. The stronger the drug, the more capable.
    | 
    | From https://www.psychedelicsdaily.com/faq/can-a-bad-trip-
    | cause-s...
    | 
    | > Research has shown that the use of LSD can trigger the
    | onset of schizophrenia in people prone to schizophrenia.
    | People who use LSD are more likely than anyone else with a
    | psychotic disorder to consume it over a period of more than a
    | few days at a time.
    | 
    | I am an educated adult who understands my family's history of
    | schizo means that these drugs are no gos for me. It's just
    | not worth it.
    | 
    | However, I worry that teenagers and such in their
    | developmental years will experiment. The way these drugs are
    | marketed by true believers you'd think they're a cure all.
    | However, in some people they cause long-lasting, even
    | permanent effects. A significant number of people taking
    | psychedelics experience symptoms for years after. This is a
    | very bad change to make to one's psyche that calls one
    | ability to reason and decide into question.
    | 
    | These drugs should not be encouraged.
 
      | nh23423fefe wrote:
 
      | jlmorton wrote:
      | That link makes claims not backed up by any sources it
      | links to that are accessible online. If you follow the
      | chain, it eventually gets to a book unavailable online, but
      | I am skeptical.
      | 
      | Other research has shown no link between psychedelics and
      | psychosis. [1]
      | 
      | This same [1] article discusses old research which may have
      | shown a link, and speculates that the wide prevalence of
      | various psychotic disorders may have led to spurious
      | findings.
      | 
      | [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2015.16968
 
        | adnzzzzZ wrote:
        | Sorry, but I'm just going to trust my own observations of
        | reality over some random paper. It's plainly obvious that
        | these drugs trigger schizophrenia and other mental
        | illnesses in a percentage of people who use them.
        | Sometimes all it takes is a single use even. If you
        | haven't met people who have had this happen to them then
        | I advise you to search online for people's stories since
        | it's not that hard to find them.
 
        | deadbeeves wrote:
        | However, what's unknown is whether people who develop
        | schizophrenia due to psychedelic use wouldn't have
        | developed it anyway for some other reason. Latent
        | schizophrenia can be triggered by things such as stress.
        | 
        | Besides, it's not like even given this there's no way to
        | consume the substances safely. A simple method is to way
        | until 25-30 years of age. Since schizophrenia most
        | commonly develops during a person's teenage years through
        | to early adulthood, a person who hasn't developed it by
        | 30 probably will never develop it.
 
      | Flankk wrote:
 
  | babyshake wrote:
  | There are some problems with psilocybin and ayahuasca but
  | "getting hooked" isn't really one of them.
 
  | pigtailgirl wrote:
  | -- the idea of getting "hooked" on psychedelics is - frankly -
  | laughable - primarily because - well - they're not
  | physiologically addictive - and additionally - because they're
  | medically used to treat addiction --
  | 
  | https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/classic-psychedelics...
 
    | borski wrote:
    | To be fair, while they are definitely not physiologically
    | addictive, they _can_ be psychologically or emotionally
    | addictive.
    | 
    | (I agree with you, but I think all too often people talk
    | about addiction as if it is solely physical; emotional
    | dependence is a real thing too)
 
    | Invictus0 wrote:
    | I'm appalled by your hyphen usage
 
      | panzagl wrote:
      | Psychedelics aren't addictive- hyphens are.
 
      | matrix12 wrote:
      | Especially the joined hyphens, they represent marriage. And
      | as in bash, means the end of options, and the beginning of
      | arguments.
 
        | pessimizer wrote:
        | "em-dash" is the word you're looking for. I like it, it's
        | like Celine or Bukowski were forum commenters.
 
  | bloppe wrote:
  | Honestly we need more people to believe this to bring this dam
  | rent down
 
    | kurthr wrote:
    | Exactly! Everyone here should hate this terrible place... why
    | is the rent so damn high? I love the "I just moved here"
    | crowd complaining about how bad things are, and I miss the
    | pre-1999 days when artists could afford to live in the city.
    | Even Oakland is expensive now.
 
      | fosk wrote:
      | I am frankly tired of hearing this non-sense. NYC is more
      | expensive than SF and it is very much a vibrant place.
      | 
      | For a decade SF complained about tech and actively drove
      | companies away, because they wanted "their culture" back.
      | 
      | Fine, then tech organizations left after covid (and their
      | money left too), and now SF complains that tech
      | organizations are not supporting the city anymore with
      | their money and their employees, and you get entire areas
      | of town (ie: Fidi) which are empty and small business are
      | struggling. Who exactly do you think was supporting the
      | outrageous spending and programs of San Francisco? Artists
      | playing the piano in a bar, or hundreds of millions of
      | dollar in taxes paid by tech and its employees?
      | 
      | You can't have your cake and eat it too.
      | 
      | Now - finally - we get to see "SF culture" in full force
      | without technology organizations and their employees: meth-
      | addicted zombies with violent outbursts, tents everywhere,
      | human poop and needles, salmonella outbreaks, go ahead and
      | complete the list.
      | 
      | Nobody wants to live in a place like this: not the artists,
      | not the families, and now not even tech workers. There are
      | plenty of great cities to go to, why would anybody move to
      | San Francisco and deal with these quality of life problems?
 
      | [deleted]
 
  | junon wrote:
  | Clearly spoken by someone who has exactly zero exposure to such
  | drugs.
  | 
  | For example, they're typically not addictive.
 
  | cowmix wrote:
  | I was just there for the first time in two years. Based on all
  | the comments here on HN, I expected to walk through a hell-
  | scape. After spending a week, mostly on foot in the city... a
  | lot of this talk seems overblown.
 
    | systemvoltage wrote:
    | I visit SF occassionally from East Bay. Absolute disaster.
    | Where did you go? I think situation is more dire than it
    | seems in East Bay. Both are succumbing to third-world urban
    | decay and infrastructure rot.
 
      | novok wrote:
      | It really is area specific, and I think that is on purpose.
      | When there was the superbowl in SF, all of a sudden certain
      | BART stations stopped smelling like piss and homeless
      | population in those areas were not there any more. Tell me
      | where the homeless camps are around the marina or other
      | wealthy neighborhoods of SF with high foot traffic.
      | Suspiciously missing or hard to find...
      | 
      | Since it's done on purpose, if SF wanted to actually
      | revitalize their downtown they would lay down the law on
      | their mainline tunnel transit stations, caltrain stations,
      | ferry stations, tourist hotel hot spots and market st like
      | they lay down the law in the marina with it's crazy high
      | foot traffic. Yes it is 'moving the problem around', but at
      | least it makes people feel safe and not nauseated where
      | they enter and exit from SF. I bet one good chunk of why
      | people are not coming back to offices to SF is because the
      | transit safety and cleanliness experience is not good
      | there.
 
        | systemvoltage wrote:
        | I've had my car broken into 3 times in different parts of
        | SF. Nothing visible anywhere inside the car. They took
        | things like coins and a utility knife from the center
        | console, and once I made the mistake of having a dash cam
        | which was promptly stolen. Never again.
        | 
        | Criminals are not localized in SF. They roam around in
        | cars smashing and grabbing.
 
    | ceeplusplus wrote:
    | Not sure what you define to be a hellscape, but Market St
    | definitely fits the bill especially after 8pm. I've never
    | before had to worry about zombies but in SF you do.
    | 
    | If you think SF is the norm then you should visit a city with
    | competent governance and see what normal should be.
 
      | Animats wrote:
      | > I've never before had to worry about zombies but in SF
      | you do.
      | 
      | Well, more drugs, more zombies.
 
        | ceeplusplus wrote:
        | Psychedelics are quite a bit different from
        | heroin/meth/fentanyl. The problem is that SF tolerates
        | the latter.
 
  | SpaceL10n wrote:
  | I view this as a pragmatic solution to a common problem amongst
  | law enforcement agencies which is constrained resources.
  | Focusing on the bad drugs and leaving the hippies alone seems
  | like a sound step forward.
 
  | TakeBlaster16 wrote:
  | All our problems would be solved if we simply jailed everyone
  | who put the wrong kind of mushrooms on their pizza
 
  | Ixiaus wrote:
  | > Psychedelics (serotonergic hallucinogens) are powerful
  | psychoactive substances that alter perception and mood and
  | affect numerous cognitive processes. They are generally
  | considered physiologically safe and do not lead to dependence
  | or addiction.
  | 
  | ... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4813425/
  | 
  | Decriminalizing psychedelics is likely to help with the
  | treatment of mental health problems that often lead people to
  | substance abuse.
  | 
  | The idea that substance abuse is a character flaw is outdated
  | and harmful. Some substances are certainly dangerous.
  | Psychedelics are not in most cases. Condemning people who are
  | using dangerous substances perpetuates the cycle of shame which
  | keeps people from being able to heal.
 
    | josephcsible wrote:
    | > The idea that substance abuse is a character flaw is
    | outdated and harmful.
    | 
    | Sure, once you're already physically addicted, taking the
    | next hit isn't a character flaw. But being willing to take
    | the first hit before you're addicted is absolutely a gigantic
    | character flaw.
 
  | quickthrowman wrote:
  | Hallucinogens have the lowest addiction potential of any
  | illegal drug, by a large margin.
 
| tiahura wrote:
| That's great. Every time I take my family on a leisurely stroll
| down Market Street I keep thinking what SF really needs are more
| people on drugs.
 
| [deleted]
 
| DocTomoe wrote:
| Given that San Francisco has decriminalised basically any crime,
| it's curious this took them so long.
 
| rockbruno wrote:
| Fantastic news for the US and the scientific research of
| psychedelics as a treatment for depression and anxiety.
| Meanwhile, on the other side of the atlantic, it's a nightmare to
| get our politicians to even begin talking about cannabis
| (Sweden).
 
  | torpid wrote:
  | Decriminalization is different than legalization. It likely
  | will not help any US or scientific research.
 
    | justizin wrote:
    | The FDA is in the process of certifying psilocybin for
    | therapeutic purposes, research should begin within a year or
    | two, but decriminalization in oakland has already led to high
    | quality, precision-dosed, retail-available gelcaps and such.
    | I'm hoping those products hop the bay and show up in SF head
    | shops, soon.
 
    | kirsebaer wrote:
    | Reducing stigma helps research. It becomes easier to get
    | institutional support, recruit study participants,
    | collaborate with colleagues, obtain funding, etc.
 
  | nzealand wrote:
  | It's still illegal at a federal and state level.
 
    | jjcon wrote:
    | Just to clarify, Psychedelics yes. Marijuana though is legal
    | at the state level in some form for about 75% of the USA
 
| photochemsyn wrote:
| This is a good move. Psychedelics (read: naturally occuring or
| semi-synthetic substances which bind to the 5-HT2A receptor) are
| generally safer than most other recreational drugs (such as
| alcohol, opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, tobacco) and tend to
| have the lowest addiction potential. In addition they have some
| noted medical effects (treating alcoholism and depression in
| particular, with potential for treating opiate addiction as
| well).
| 
| The best way to approach psychedelics is with the 'less is more'
| mentality, although this does fly in the face of consumer
| capitalism and the profit motive.
 
  | worik wrote:
  | "consumer capitalism and the profit motive" and recreational
  | drugs are a bad mix.
 
    | worik wrote:
    | ....unless your business is dealing drugs
 
| gwbas1c wrote:
| Meta: The nags on this site are overwhelming.
| 
| There were 4 nags, three of them pushing a guide to grow my own
| shrooms.
| 
| No means no.
 
| jointpdf wrote:
| DC decriminalized psychedelics (well, entheogens like psilocybin)
| over a year ago: https://www.washingtonian.com/2021/03/15/magic-
| mushrooms-are...
 
  | yboris wrote:
  | Detroit and Ann Arbor in Michigan both decriminalized it:
  | 
  | November 2021:
  | 
  | https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/detroit-just-decrimina...
  | 
  | September 2020:
  | 
  | https://apnews.com/article/ann-arbor-plants-featured-ca-stat...
 
  | yboris wrote:
  | December 2020: Oregon decriminalized _all_ drugs:
  | 
  | https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-12-10/...
 
| torpid wrote:
| This growing fad of partial "psychedelic decriminalization"
| initiatives covers only plant-based ones, which is ridiculous.
| 
| Ingesting shrooms are harder to dose than a hit or two of acid.
| Eating the weight equivalent of one cap or stem can be a
| completely different experience, from the same spores. This will
| make the gradual path to full legalization even harder because
| people aren't trying things that are more easier to dose.
| 
| There is no good reason why non plant based drugs like LSD, MDMA
| and Ketamine are not included so we could really call this a true
| psychedelic decriminalization measure.
 
  | ebb_earl_co wrote:
  | I think that one at least passable reason for just the
  | "natural" substances to be focused on is to bring religious
  | people under the big tent of eventual psychedelic legalization.
  | Leaning on arguments such as God wouldn't have made the
  | substance if He didn't want us to use it resonates with a lot
  | of potential allies to the overall psychedelic legalization
  | cause.
  | 
  | A second reason comes from the group Decriminalize Nature [0]
  | in their resolution to the Oakland City Council when pushing
  | for decriminalization there[1]: "...reestablish humans'
  | inalienable and direct relationship to nature." That is, some
  | have this explicit goal and might not care much for the
  | synthesized psychedelics.
  | 
  | 0: https://www.decriminalizenature.org/ 1:
  | https://www.decriminalizenature.org/media/attachments/2019/0...
 
    | oh-4-fucks-sake wrote:
    | Agree with this incremental step from a political perspective
    | as an easy sell / quick win. But, it's _imperative_ that this
    | be understood as an incremental step. The hazard here is
    | equating  "natural" with "safe" and "synthetic" with
    | "unsafe".
    | 
    | Eventually, this mindset will have to be dropped because
    | morphine, cocaine, and cyanide are natural (heck,
    | methamphetamines is found in trace amounts in some species of
    | acacia). MDMA is synthetic but can be lethal in a single
    | dose. LSD is semi-synthetic and one of the safest of the
    | bunch--in fact, it's safer than the "natural" chemical
    | feedstocks of its synthesization routes (LSA or ergot).
    | 
    | The shift will have to be to evaluating each molecule on its
    | merits and risk profile. Sure, the whole "natural" argument
    | feels warm-'n'-fuzzy for a lot of people--but sadly it's a
    | poor metric for determining safety. After all, our brains'
    | receptors can't tell whether a molecule originated from a
    | plant or from a lab.
    | 
    | TL;DR: LSD, Cannabis, Psilocybin, Mescaline, DMT, (maybe)
    | MDMA, and their various pro-drugs/analogues should be legal
    | and regulated--regardless of their source. Morphine? I mean,
    | the libertarian in me says "OK", but the more practical side
    | says "probably not a great idea". In the end, none of this is
    | rocket science--but the DEA, the broader US Government, and
    | religion have turned it into a far more complicated thing
    | than it needs to be.
 
  | Der_Einzige wrote:
  | Maybe it has to do with the fact that a large majority of the
  | LSD/MDMA sold on the streets is not at all pure, and frequently
  | is not even LSD/MDMA at all!
  | 
  | Yes, there are research chemicals that are tasteless, and feel
  | sort of like LSD. They are not LSD, and they could fuck you up.
  | 
  | You can't easily lace shrooms
 
  | [deleted]
 
| hayst4ck wrote:
| Imagine thinking you have freedom when you can't decide what to
| put in your own body.
| 
| Imagine being happy with your tax dollars funding the
| "investigation, detention, arrest, or prosecution" of people
| using substances rather than teacher's salaries, solving
| homelessness, public transportation, or exploration of space.
 
  | pvg wrote:
  | _Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies, generic
  | tangents, and internet tropes._
  | 
  | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
 
    | hayst4ck wrote:
    | Yes, I am a bit embarrassed by how inflammatory that appears
    | to be. I am actually a bit happy that the HN algorithm
    | devalued the post fairly significantly.
 
      | pvg wrote:
      | Yeah that's exactly the effect the guideline tries to head
      | off which isn't necessarily obvious from just reading the
      | guideline but makes more sense when you see it happen even
      | if you didn't intend it.
 
  | nimbius wrote:
  | Ah absolutionists. Either we can all drink bleach or we're
  | trapped in some orwellian hellscape of ruination to succor a
  | distant memory of the time we could huff the sweet ichor of
  | airplane glue in peace.
  | 
  | We as a society generally need criminal justice reform, but it
  | wont come at the hands of addressing the illness of addition
  | through exploring space instead. better bus schedules doesnt
  | magically demilitarize the multibillion dollar industry
  | predicated on a loophole in the thirteenth amendment. I can
  | only hope the decriminalization of psychedelic drugs is
  | predicated on sound research but alas, it feels like most SF
  | legislation is brinksmanship between seattle and portland to
  | see who can pedal their city into oblivion fastest with random
  | virtue signalling.
 
    | nawgz wrote:
    | > Ah absolutionists. Either we can all drink bleach
    | 
    | I'm confused if this even reaches the bar for a strawman...
    | Today, I am legally allowed to drink bleach. It's not
    | breaking the law, just my body.
    | 
    | I cannot, however, take psilocybin, which breaks the law, but
    | gives new insights into the body.
    | 
    | We are indeed trapped in some orwellian hellscape.
 
      | tick_tock_tick wrote:
      | Correct me if I'm wrong I don't even think ingestion, of
      | psilocybin, is illegal it's just possession.
 
    | marricks wrote:
    | What are you even advocating for? Continuing to prosecute and
    | lock people up when we already have millions in prison? That
    | isn't helping anyone.
    | 
    | The war on drugs is over and the drugs won.
 
    | [deleted]
 
    | natpalmer1776 wrote:
    | Purely pedantic however I just wanted to point out that
    | everyone can in fact drink bleach if they wanted to.
 
      | tsol wrote:
      | Well suicide is a crime in most states, so technically
      | they're not allowed to
 
      | borski wrote:
      | Careful, you're going to convince someone to stockpile it
      | lest it become unavailable like toilet paper. :)
 
        | jen20 wrote:
        | It's not that long ago that the actual president of the
        | US suggested injecting it during a press conference.
 
  | yuhguhmuh wrote:
  | Right because homelessness doesn't have anything to do with the
  | substances you put in your body.
 
  | noduerme wrote:
  | Arresting people who are psychotic from meth and forcibly
  | preventing them from accessing that and Fentanyl would pretty
  | much completely solve the homeless problem where I live.
  | Unfortunately, those drugs have now been decriminalized, and
  | somehow the "systemic" problem of homelessness has shot through
  | the roof.
  | 
  | The freedom to kill yourself in public is no kind of freedom at
  | all. I also don't see the legalizers working to "solve
  | homelessness", just to enable it, while expecting the
  | government or someone else to "solve" it.
 
    | [deleted]
 
    | altruios wrote:
    | Whoa there... the right to kill yourself should be an
    | inalienable right - regardless of your location.
    | 
    | Without the option to crash - you aren't a pilot.
    | 
    | If and when we find the secret to immortality - this right to
    | end your own life how you see it will be eroded by corporate
    | greed.
    | 
    | Tangential point, back to the main one.
    | 
    | There are 2 classes of drugs I would not legalize and you
    | named one of them. the opioid and amphetamine are a chemical
    | moth to the flame trap - And I support making that trap
    | harder to find/get into...
    | 
    | Psychs on the other hand, RC's of course are dangerous due to
    | their inherent novelty, Don't do the same things as
    | Meth/fentanyl/crack, and generally are less
    | dangerous/abusable. Basically anything that rewires the
    | dopamine reward circuit should be highly suspect at best -
    | and banned at worst.
    | 
    | Most psyches build a tolerance quickly in the brain -
    | resulting in weeks/months between effective 'trips'. To abuse
    | psyches is tough - and not desirable (after a trip most
    | people want a rest for a long while from doing that again)
    | 
    | Yeah - freedom of brain chemistry should also be an
    | unalienable right. If the government tells you what is
    | allowed brain chemistry and what is not: that's government
    | mind control...
    | 
    | If someone controls what you ingest, see and hear: they
    | control (to some extent) what you think.
 
      | throwaway0a5e wrote:
      | Low dose amphetamines are pretty safe. We've given a lot of
      | them to kids with adhd over the years
 
        | altruios wrote:
        | In low does - for certain brains - for certain reasons -
        | aye: there are medical uses.
        | 
        | Above I am speaking solely of recreational use.
 
    | [deleted]
 
  | chasd00 wrote:
  | If you want to kill yourself with drugs then have at it. I'm
  | 100% for the legalization. However, I don't want to pay for
  | your rehab nor your medical bills associated with your drug
  | use. So no emergency services for overdose, your choice your
  | consequences. Further, you can't expect a sympathetic
  | disposition when it comes to prosecuting people who commit
  | crimes to further their drug use either.
 
    | altruios wrote:
    | tell me you've never taken a psychedelic without having to
    | say that you've never taken a psychedelic.
 
  | throwaway894345 wrote:
  | I don't think SF's enormous homelessness issue has anything to
  | do with spending _too much money addressing addiction_.
 
  | robomartin wrote:
  | > you can't decide what to put in your own body
  | 
  | I truly don't care what anyone wants to put into their bodies
  | or do to themselves.
  | 
  | My problem comes in when they affect others. That applies to a
  | wide range of situations from excessive drinking to smoking
  | (ever go to a concert and you have to sit in a cloud of smoke,
  | breathing what came out of others' mouths?) and more.
  | 
  | I think everyone should be free to do as they please to
  | themselves. The red line is when their choices infringe on
  | someone else's right to _not_ be affected in any way by their
  | decision. If you choose to smoke, that does not give you the
  | right to have the smoke that comes out of your mouth go into my
  | lungs.
  | 
  | Respect for freedom requires respecting everyone's freedoms and
  | rights. A self-serving stance will never result in expanding
  | freedom.
  | 
  | Why is this important?
  | 
  | To continue with the hypothetical, if the smoker does not
  | respect the right of the non-smoker to breath clean air, the
  | non-smoker will eventually want to (need to!) seek ways to
  | restrict the smoker's freedom to smoke. Everyone loses because
  | society becomes more restrictive.
  | 
  | In a sense, not much different from the concept of freedom of
  | speech. In order to preserve it you have to allow --and
  | protect-- that with which you disagree to have a voice.
 
    | [deleted]
 
  | xwdv wrote:
  | Those laws exist _because_ it leads to homelessness.
  | Homelessness is a drug addiction problem. Sick and tired of
  | people ignoring this correlation.
 
  | throwaway0a5e wrote:
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | treeman79 wrote:
  | Do I still need a prescription to get medication?
 
    | [deleted]
 
  | gotoeleven wrote:
  | Yes they should try it in san francisco maybe there'd be less
  | hobos and you could use the public spaces occasionally.
  | 
  | I used to be super libertarian but Ive come to realize that
  | this only works if you, the one availing yourself of liberty,
  | are the one that bears the consequences of your bad decisions.
  | Increasingly, it seems, you do not. The dumber and more anti-
  | social you act, the more victim status you are awarded with as
  | the left half of our polity trips all over themselves rushing
  | to make excuses for you.
  | 
  | And then all the people who'd just like to sit in a park while
  | also not being menaced by drug addicts are told to shut up.
  | 
  | No thanks. We, as a society, cannot handle the liberties we
  | already have.
 
    | virgildotcodes wrote:
    | Thank God none of this currently happens with drugs being
    | illegal.
 
      | robomartin wrote:
      | > Thank God none of this currently happens with drugs being
      | illegal.
      | 
      | This has nothing to do with the vast range of laws we have
      | in the books. It's a question of complete lack of
      | enforcement.
      | 
      | When defecating in public at a park carries no consequences
      | whatsoever, do you really have a law that makes that
      | illegal?
      | 
      | Some guy just shot and killed four people in Memphis.
      | Google it. The man was arrested in 2020 for "attempted
      | first-degree murder, aggravated assault, using a firearm to
      | commit a dangerous felony and reckless endangerment with a
      | deadly weapon". It took until April of 2021 to convict him
      | to three years. He was released 11 months later.
      | 
      | As the Mayor put it, four people would be alive today and,
      | my addition, a number of others would not be wounded in the
      | hospital, if this person --who is and was an obvious danger
      | to society-- had been where he belonged, in prison.
      | 
      | Laws mean nothing when they are not enforced.
      | 
      | Another tragic example is what has been happening at the US
      | border since the new administration took office. It's a
      | mess. It's criminal, but nobody is enforcing the laws. So
      | much fentanyl and other drugs is coming in that I am sure
      | we have lost control. In my town alone I think we've had
      | over 300 deaths so far this year due to fentanyl.
      | 
      | We have laws. Things are illegal. And yet, you can't sit at
      | the park with your kids to enjoy a nice sunny afternoon
      | because the laws mean nothing when the people we elect to
      | look after society choose not to enforce them.
      | 
      | This is not a formula for a society that trends towards
      | better outcomes. It's crazy. You have people who have never
      | even thought about owning guns asking about gun ownership
      | and buying firearms because they no longer feel safe.
      | 
      | Not to go too far. Over a year ago, I caught and arrested a
      | guy who broke into my neighbor's home across the street.
      | The guy probably caused over $10K in damage to the home
      | entering, destroying the security system and breaking
      | through the door from the garage into the home. This guy,
      | we came to find out, had a prior record in another state.
      | We finally went to the hearing last week. It took almost a
      | year. I don't think the guy did more than 30 days in jail.
      | What did the DA's office, led by George Gascon (I can only
      | describe him as demented and, yes, with history in San
      | Francisco) do? They let the guy go. He is supposed to
      | enroll in some kind of a counseling program. Brilliant. I
      | hope he doesn't kill anyone when he returns to crime.
 
      | slickdork wrote:
      | We made being homeless be illegal too, so it's a solved
      | problem.
 
        | [deleted]
 
        | [deleted]
 
      | throwaway894345 wrote:
      | I don't have a strong opinion, but there's a difference
      | between "making drugs illegal solves all problems" and
      | "making drugs illegal minimizes drug use".
 
    | mdcds wrote:
    | I'm not well-versed in political... philosophy!? but for the
    | sake of the argument: perhaps SF didn't fully embrace
    | libertarian ideals? "you can do what you want, but you must
    | not impose on others" sounds fair. you can take any drugs you
    | want, but if you shit in the street - you suffer
    | consequences. Pose danger to others - you suffer
    | consequences. etc. That's not what I'm seeing happening in
    | SF.
 
| holyknight wrote:
| One of the few good legislations in SF in a long time
 
| yieldcrv wrote:
| > will be "among the lowest priorities" for law enforcement.
| 
| By that standard, both San Francisco and Los Angeles have
| decriminalized all drugs, alongside open containers, prostitution
| on the street, prostitution in strip clubs, prostitution
| elsewhere indoors, and practically every other vice.
| 
| And I'm _reaaallly_ not saying this from a position of envy or
| disdain, only accuracy, there is also a completely parallel
| society for people living in tents where enforcement of anything
| is a stated non-priority.
| 
| Seeing an article about a board actually voting on a measure to
| "lower law enforcement priority" is kind of redundant! The Mayors
| and DA's have already dug their heels in, what does anything like
| this actually change? Does it force county/city judges to auto-
| drop cases if an officer and prosecutor fail to do so themselves?
| 
| Seems redundant if it can't actually do anything differently.
 
  | pessimizer wrote:
  | > there is also a completely parallel society for people living
  | in tents where enforcement of anything is a stated non-
  | priority.
  | 
  | Also where health or safety isn't anyone's responsibility. I
  | guess we find it innately distasteful to make real demands of
  | people that we do as little for as we possibly can. Most of us
  | think that it's dangerously charitable not to imprison them and
  | burn their things.
 
  | notch656a wrote:
  | Homeless have no money to extract. A middle class guy open
  | carrying a protective weapon will get hit by the judicial
  | system like a ton of bricks, while the homeless guy selling
  | fent or acid or whatever on the corner will probably just get a
  | tip on the next feeding time at the kitchen.
 
    | yieldcrv wrote:
    | One correction, the current non-enforcement of the nylon
    | favelas is coming from a place of compassion, ostensibly
    | 
    | I just wish we could use selective enforcement as a way to
    | invalidate some laws and policies under the constitution
    | (right its only the opposite, a law can only be questioned by
    | someone it was enforced against, if they can afford doing so)
 
    | docandrew wrote:
    | Anarcho-tyranny. The only crime is self-defense.
 
    | jakear wrote:
    | Hell SF pays homeless cash, simply for being homeless. Walk
    | around SF on homeless payday and you'll see a massive uptick
    | in open use of crack, folks strung out motionless on the
    | sidewalk with needles sticking out of them, and sidewalk
    | slouchers openly sapping on liquor bottles. This is the same
    | city that can't manage to secure funding to prevent human
    | waste from accumulating on the sidewalks.
    | 
    | I happen to be homeless as well, but I still can't get behind
    | this concept. I volunteer my time to a national wildlife
    | refuge and expect nothing in return, these folks shit on
    | sidewalks and get cash in hand. If we really want to "solve"
    | homelessness (I don't think it's something that needs to be
    | solved, every era of humanity has had some portion of the
    | population living without a solid roof over their heads), the
    | answer is funding more public works programs, not funding
    | delinquency.
    | 
    | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10498607/San-
    | Franci...
 
      | moneycantbuy wrote:
      | just out of curiosity, how did you become homeless?
      | (judging from your profile you seem employable)
 
      | yrgulation wrote:
      | "I don't think it's something that needs to be solved"
      | 
      | Yeah it is something that needs to be solved. I simply dont
      | agree that society should sit idle while people are out
      | there in the cold. Sure some do it by choice and you cant
      | do much to help them. But a healthy society should have the
      | mechanisms to house every person. I am not a socialist or
      | whatever but i strongly believe that basics such as housing
      | and health care should be taken care of on behalf of those
      | who cant do it on their own. How can people call themselves
      | "patriots" or say they love their country yet they dont
      | help their fellow citizens. A country is not made of trees
      | and rocks its made people. Loving it means loving the
      | people as well.
 
        | yieldcrv wrote:
        | > I simply dont agree that society should sit idle while
        | people are out there in the cold.
        | 
        | SF and coastal west coast cities don't get cold _enough_.
        | 
        | That's a major contributing factor to why there is a
        | density of people living on the street. I would say that
        | temperature argument point is invalid.
        | 
        | > But a healthy society should have the mechanisms to
        | house every person.
        | 
        | There is plenty of land for housing nearby and elsewhere.
        | 
        | >
        | 
        | I'm not advocating for anything, I'm actually hoping that
        | you can solidify your arguments better as you maintain
        | your primary sentiment of wanting people to not be on the
        | streets, that matches the sentiment of the people you
        | think you're against, but you're wanting to address it
        | with love and compassion.
 
        | kelnos wrote:
        | I think you're taking the grandparent's "out in the cold"
        | line too literally. "Out in the elements" is probably a
        | better descriptor; it's not about temperature, it's about
        | all the disadvantages to health and safety that come with
        | being homeless.
 
        | yieldcrv wrote:
        | I don't think it makes a difference in my hope they can
        | iterate towards stronger arguments that lead to consensus
        | solutions, cleaning up the streets and also improving
        | their physical and mental health, and ideally financial
        | position too.
        | 
        | Their weaker arguments don't factor in anything. It
        | doesn't factor in why people go to those specific areas.
        | It doesn't factor in how the people on the street are
        | only the visible homeless population and just the tip of
        | the iceberg of the larger unhoused population in the same
        | circumstance. It doesn't factor in how much of that
        | visible homeless population is not interested in going to
        | a different living arrangement, and so much more. Its
        | just a rudimentary compassion argument that assumes well
        | off and influential people aren't doing anything and that
        | massively funded programs don't already exist. The
        | statement about "the cold" doesn't seem to be targeted to
        | any specific place either, despite this conversation
        | being about San Francisco where "the elements" are more
        | important, since a sweater and blanket is good enough for
        | the worst of San Francisco weather. If their sentiment is
        | so strong, they can iterate towards stronger arguments.
 
        | yrgulation wrote:
        | I dont need to iterate towards stronger arguments. There
        | isn't much else to debate or elaborate on the issue.
        | Indeed you are taking the out in the cold statement too
        | literarily, my comment is not weather related. We as a
        | society, regardless of country or city, need to look
        | after each other to a certain extent. Thats what makes a
        | society. We are not beasts. Competing in boardrooms,
        | politics, businesses, or careers is welcome and healthy,
        | but simply allowing for people to struggle at that level
        | is not. It's not even about wealth or class, let alone
        | rudimentary compassion. It's just something i feel. An
        | automated reaction to such societal issues, and a
        | response i can give as a tax pair, voter and very very
        | small donor. Somewhere somehow a circuit is broken and
        | people end up in that situation. We need the mechanisms
        | to prevent that from happening. Sure if some people see
        | homelessness as a positive choice they themselves make
        | then thats their choice and i totally respect that. I am
        | not writing this comment to patronise people, i know
        | nothing of their lives. But i do know that we must do all
        | we can to develop mechanisms to prevent it from happening
        | to those who dont want it. Food, shelter and health care
        | are basic human needs.
 
| rideg wrote:
| The Netherlands backpedaled after a couple of very serious
| incidents regarding many psychedelics. Public suicide, animal
| sacrifice, crime etc. I don't see how it will be different in SF.
 
  | ch4s3 wrote:
  | This is ridiculous. A single French teenager(17yo) jumped off
  | the Nemo Building[1], which lead to mushrooms being banned.
  | There are several problems here. This building has a low
  | railing around the tall publicly accessible portion, and no
  | real safety features to prevent jumping. Teens this age are
  | notorious for impulsively jumping from these types of
  | structures, it's why The Vessel in Hudson Yards in NYC was
  | closed. There's no real reason to suspect the mushrooms caused
  | the incident given the previous two factors.
  | 
  | As for the animal sacrifices, I couldn't find a single news
  | article from 2000-2007 referencing this. I also couldn't find
  | any good crime numbers.
  | 
  | The whole illegalization push in 2007 from available news
  | sources was tied to this one suicide and damage to French-Dutch
  | relations.
  | 
  | [1]https://www.google.com/search?q=nemo+building+amsterdam&rlz=
  | ...
 
    | borski wrote:
    | Having stayed on a crane in Amsterdam (Faralda crane hotel)
    | which was absolutely thrilling and simultaneously insane, I
    | can vouch for the fact that 'safety standards' in Dutch
    | buildings are _far_ lower than those in the US. I actually
    | found it refreshing, to be honest, from the railings and
    | gates I 'm used to in the US, but there was _nothing_ that
    | was going to stop me from even _accidentally_ taking a dive
    | off the crane. The upshot of that is a rooftop crane hot tub,
    | though, so I mean...
 
      | ch4s3 wrote:
      | It's a cool place for sure. It seems like the US at 14 per
      | 100,000 and The Netherlands at 11 per 100,000 have similar
      | suicide rates. Jumping makes up a far higher share in the
      | Netherlands at 3rd or 4th most common depending on the year
      | (per statista.com), and barely registers in the US. Gun
      | availability may be the reason here, but I wouldn't count
      | out the total lack of safety infrastructure around heights
      | as a factor.
 
        | borski wrote:
        | For sure; I have to say, while it was expensive (to the
        | tune of $800-1000 euros for a single night, hence why I
        | only stayed a single night), there is very little more
        | thrilling than staying on a crane that still moves in the
        | wind (giving you a new view every few hours), or skinny
        | dipping in a hot tub on the roof of said crane because
        | you're the only ones staying there, etc.
        | 
        | I know it sounds like I'm writing a Yelp review, but it
        | was fantastic. :)
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | codyb wrote:
  | Lol, these stories are like bringing up some horrific accident
  | every time someone talks about cars.
  | 
  | Things happen, that's life, but it's really important to put
  | things into proportion at some point.
 
  | rr888 wrote:
  | > Public suicide, animal sacrifice, crime etc.
  | 
  | That's just normal in SF streets already lol.
 
  | Nifty3929 wrote:
  | I'd love to read a bit more about this. Do you have any
  | interesting reading on how psychedelics were legalized or
  | decriminalized in the Netherlands and the resulting affects on
  | society? I'll Google it, but maybe you would know better :-)
 
  | pageandrew wrote:
  | Psychedelics still can't legally be sold in SF. What good is
  | criminalizing simple possession?
  | 
  | Besides, for every animal sacrifice on LSD there are 100
  | (probably more) drunk drivers crashing into trees, parked cars,
  | oncoming traffic, and pedestrians, and alcohol is totally legal
  | and widely used.
 
    | autoexec wrote:
    | > Besides, for every animal sacrifice on LSD there are 100
    | (probably more) drunk drivers crashing into trees, parked
    | cars, oncoming traffic, and pedestrians, and alcohol is
    | totally legal and widely used.
    | 
    | That seems to ignore the fact that there are far more people
    | drinking than tripping. I'm not saying that with an equal
    | numbers of users the math wouldn't still make drinking more
    | dangerous, I really don't know, but it's an unfair
    | comparison.
 
    | NullPrefix wrote:
    | Unsure if by "parked cars" you've meant crashing into parked
    | cars or parked cars by themselves being a bad thing
 
      | chihuahua wrote:
      | I think they meant "crashing into parked cars". Because if
      | you interpret it the other way, it implies that they also
      | consider the mere existence of oncoming traffic and
      | pedestrians a bad thing.
 
  | FredrikMeyer wrote:
  | So silly, considering all the noise and accidents alcohol
  | directly causes. But then a single bad case after someone
  | taking psychedelics, and they reverse.
 
    | subsubzero wrote:
    | Its not silly, for some psychedelics are fine and they can
    | handle them ok. But others have psychotic breaks that are
    | irreversible. I feel like SF is already a city that is very
    | dysfunctional with crazies screaming at nothing, why make a
    | really bad situation worse?
 
      | borski wrote:
      | Some people who drink alcohol are fine and they can handle
      | it okay. Others drink and drive and kill people, or become
      | addicted and/or kill themselves. Should we go back to
      | prohibition?
 
        | subsubzero wrote:
        | This is a straw man argument, having a permanent mental
        | change after having a "bad trip" on psychedelics is not
        | analogous to drinking a beer or too much whisky and doing
        | something dumb(or worse). There is not evidence that a
        | person consumes one drink and goes into psychosis or has
        | permanent mental changes like with psychedelics. I am not
        | against having psychedelics for certain situations(under
        | controlled situations) but you are playing with fire and
        | your mind and sanity are the tinder and are rolling the
        | dice so to speak.
 
        | acchow wrote:
        | What are the negative permanent effects of a "bad trip"?
 
        | borski wrote:
        | Citation required. I have yet to see a single reputable
        | paper or study that describes a 'permanent mental change'
        | for the worse, like psychosis, after a single encounter
        | with psychedelics.
 
      | ckw wrote:
      | So your solution is in principle to incarcerate the
      | overwhelming majority of users who suffer no ill effects...
      | 
      | Do you also advocate for the criminalization of alcohol?
 
    | nathanaldensr wrote:
    | Textbook whataboutism--and I _hate_ that phrase.
    | 
    | Yes, and _both_ substances should be controlled. Uncontrolled
    | hard drugs are harmful to society, but it seems like the
    | ignorant, naive youth of today are going to have to learn
    | some hard lessons on the topic from first principles.
 
      | nonasktell wrote:
      | Controlled hard drugs are harmful to society, the only
      | country that has decriminalized everything is doing very
      | good in that regard.
 
      | JamesBarney wrote:
      | This isn't whataboutism, it's very specifically comparing
      | the societal consequences of two drugs and the possible
      | consequences.
      | 
      | It's not whataboutism bring up other risks that as a
      | society we tolerate, when we are thinking about restricting
      | one.
 
        | bko wrote:
        | One drug is possibly more harmful but is already legal
        | almost everywhere, deeply ingrained in many aspects of
        | Western society and has a history of issues regarding
        | criminalization
        | 
        | The other is possibly less harmful but it is currently
        | illegal/controlled pretty much everywhere and has a niche
        | demand.
        | 
        | I think its entirely reasonable to think that we should
        | not open up a whole new can of worms.
 
        | gopher_space wrote:
        | Another way of looking at it is that right now only the
        | kids buy and consume shrooms, and they do so completely
        | unsupervised.
 
        | kortex wrote:
        | How is the can of worms not already open? The War on
        | Drugs has failed to put a dent in drug consumption
        | habits.
        | 
        | My suspicion why there was an uptick of incidents in
        | NL/Amsterdam was the influx of people specifically
        | seeking those substances out, with little safety
        | education or experience. If they were more widely
        | available, the incidents would be far more diffuse, and
        | likely fall below the noise floor. Plus, wider awareness
        | means better overall substance education and
        | understanding, meaning fewer folks getting in over their
        | heads and acting a fool.
        | 
        | The same "can of worms" argument was leveled against
        | cannabis legalization, and turned out to be overblown,
        | there was no outbreak of reefer madness.
 
      | yellowapple wrote:
      | > Yes, and both substances should be controlled.
      | 
      | We tried that here in the US. The result was a a
      | proliferation of organized crime.
 
        | tsol wrote:
        | Yes we made murder illegal and organized crime engages in
        | that too. Guess laws are just pointless
 
      | loeg wrote:
      | Crying "whataboutism" isn't a rhetorical shortcut to
      | dismiss a reasonable argument. It's hypocritical and silly
      | to allow alcohol and not other recreational drugs with
      | similar safety profiles. It's also untenable to completely
      | restrict alcohol.
 
        | dshpala wrote:
        | Similar safety profiles? I'm not a drinker, but I think
        | you need to drink a LOT of alcohol to state
        | hallucinating? I.e. most people don't do that.
 
        | yellowapple wrote:
        | You're right that the safety profiles are dissimilar, but
        | if anything it's the other way around: alcohol is
        | significantly more likely to result in long-term illness
        | or death than e.g. LSD.
 
        | nonasktell wrote:
        | Yes, but hallucinations aren't the main problem.
        | Assaulting people and zigzaging on the road after just a
        | few drinks is a bigger problem than having blurry vision
        | and seeing weird colors. I took a shitton of
        | psychedelics, I never saw anything that wasn't there.
        | 
        | Psychedelics never made me black out, piss on the
        | floor/all over the room, never made me want to assault
        | someone, or made me act like an asshole, but alcohol on
        | the other hand....
 
        | loeg wrote:
        | "Similar" does not mean "identical." Yes, they affect the
        | brain in different ways. The net safety profile for
        | individuals and society is (arguably) similar.
 
        | LargeWu wrote:
        | To start hallucinating? Sure.
        | 
        | To engage in dangerous behavior? Hardly.
        | 
        | That said, alcohol is a lot more predictable in its
        | effects for a given dosage. And also the dosages are a
        | lot more reliable. There's a reason it's perceived "not
        | as bad" as hallucinogenic drugs.
 
        | welshwelsh wrote:
        | You might be overestimating the effects of hallucination.
        | Someone who's hallucinating is not necessarily more
        | impaired than someone who is drunk.
        | 
        | Imagine this- you hear something behind you (a real
        | sound), and for a moment you are startled, thinking
        | someone else is in the room. You soon realize that this
        | isn't the case.
        | 
        | Someone on hallucinogens might take a moment longer to
        | realize that there is nobody there. They imagine the
        | intruder a little more vividly, their heart rate goes up
        | a bit more. But just for a moment.
        | 
        | In contrast, if there actually is someone there, a drunk
        | person might not realize it. Their senses are dulled.
        | Instead of seeing things that aren't there, they fail to
        | notice things that are there. It's the opposite.
 
      | 8note wrote:
      | Specifically for the psychedelics, the danger is that
      | people will see capitalist structures for how ridiculous
      | they are
      | 
      | They aren't dangerous to individuals, only rent seekers
 
        | WalterBright wrote:
        | That's the worst argument for socialism I've ever
        | encountered.
 
        | captainredbeard wrote:
        | It's not an argument, it's a drug-induced psychotic
        | musing...
 
        | deemster wrote:
        | Good time to quote the cosmic bard, Terence McKenna.
        | 
        | "Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government
        | is concerned that you may jump out of a third story
        | window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve
        | opinion structures and culturally laid down models of
        | behavior and information processing. They open you up to
        | the possibility that everything you know is wrong."
 
  | BoorishBears wrote:
  | You can already get hard drugs in the open here, the serious
  | incidents would already be happening
 
  | jobs_throwaway wrote:
  | No different than reefer madness. People do all that shit
  | without psychedelics
 
| moneycantbuy wrote:
| safer than alcohol
 
| [deleted]
 
| yrgulation wrote:
| Oh boy prepare for more "AI is conscious" "whistleblowers" and
| headlines.
 
| cies wrote:
| > California is On the Brink of Decriminalizing Psychedelics --
| But It's Not That Simple
| 
| Sure, believe your government. Much of this stuff is grows in
| nature. It is a personal choice to take it. And it is forbidden
| by laws! So it used to be legal, before the law was enacted, and
| now you are a criminal for getting high.
| 
| All that is needed is to remove the law! Which is not hard for
| the right politicians, but still they dont and have not for a
| long time.
| 
| It is not hard to remove the law, and what we have to accept is
| that decriminalization is what we get. Pfff...
 
| Nifty3929 wrote:
| I think these "no enforcement" things are the worst. It always
| leaves people in a legal grey-area where they want to do
| something, and they are _allowed_ to do it, but it 's still
| technically illegal with all the baggage that goes along with
| that. In fact, it _relieves_ pressure to legalize, since most
| people are now able to do what they like.
| 
| Take speeding laws (in the US): (almost) everybody breaks them
| since the limits are so low, which gives officers discretion to
| basically go out and just start ticketing anybody they like.
| Everyone is guilty, but we just don't enforce it against you, at
| least for today. Clearly (I hope), when a large number of people
| are breaking a law, and we all just accept this - then it's not a
| good law. But speed limits don't get repealed, because very few
| people are actually prosecuted, so the general public doesn't get
| mad enough about it. If speed limits were _universally_ enforced,
| the public would get mad and the limits would be removed or
| raised within a week.
 
  | dsl wrote:
  | There is no gray area here.
  | 
  | San Francisco can make murder legal and refuse to arrest people
  | for it. State and federal law enforcement will just step in.
  | 
  | The DEA still busts dispensaries and grow operations in
  | California for example, it just isn't newsworthy.
 
| ben174 wrote:
| Surprised Ketamine isn't listed. I figured they'd lump that in.
| On the other hand, ketamine is extremely addictive, despite what
| you might read online. I know several people who have given up
| everything to sustain their Ketamine habit.
 
  | travisjungroth wrote:
  | This resolution mentions SB 519, a state bill, and looks to be
  | matching it. SB 519 had ketamine but dropped it since it was
  | more contentious than other drugs.
 
  | tbalsam wrote:
  | "Extremely addictive" is a bit of a misnomer I believe, in
  | terms of both the scientific literature and also much consensus
  | around treatment-focused communities. Please stop spreading
  | this.
  | 
  | What I can say is a similar thing, that it can cause
  | _dependence_ very rapidly. It can be extraordinarily useful for
  | healing certain mental health conditions, but tolerance builds
  | rapidly, and people on the street are often trying to K-hole
  | repeatedly, a basically pointless exercise. Sustained low-
  | dosage usage seems to have fewer bladder effects, the tolerance
  | combined with people using it as an escape (and preferring
  | K-holes), as well as people who are already mentally broken
  | having a nice lever to pull, is what can cause it to get out of
  | hand.
  | 
  | This is not everybody, however. I think it depends upon the
  | circles, and I think it is hard to see people do that
  | regardless of the world. But your circles around you are also
  | not the world at large. Please stay factually rooted in what
  | you're sharing online. To me, substances that would be
  | dangerous would be directly opioidergic or dopaminergic
  | substances (opioids, nicotine, opioidergic hallucinogens) as
  | opposed to one that is opioid _sensitizing_, like Ketamine
  | (which lets it be a kind of opioid replacement for pain relief
  | clinics, for example. Even infusions are helpful.)
  | 
  | It really is important that we all don't take our personal
  | experiences to say "don't listen to what you hear online" too
  | strongly, I guess even myself included here. Hope that helps
  | shine an alternative perspective on the matter.
 
    | olalonde wrote:
    | What's the difference between "extremely addictive" and "can
    | cause _dependence_ very rapidly"? Don't they mean the same
    | thing?
 
    | nick__m wrote:
    | Ketamine, is foremost a NDMA antagonist (Ki=0.25uM ), sure it
    | act on some type of opioid receptor also as an antagonist (a
    | blocker) (Ki=12uM at KOR2), but this effect is 50x less
    | important. Other NMDA antagonist like PCP that don't act on
    | the opiate receptors are as strong if not stronger at pain
    | suppression.
    | 
    | Ketamine is also a direct dopamine agonist (Ki=0.5uM at D2).
 
  | pengaru wrote:
  | It also has bladder toxicity issues, it's not uncommon for
  | ketamine addicts to piss blood AIUI. In extreme cases bladders
  | have required permanent removal.
  | 
  | Edit: VICE even named their recent Ketamine episode "Pissing
  | Blood" for this reason. [0]
  | 
  | [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99XQY7Elwhc
 
    | jjulius wrote:
    | >... it's not uncommon for ketamine addicts to piss blood
    | AIUI.
    | 
    | I had no idea this was a thing until the morning after I woke
    | up from my first time partying around people who were using
    | it. Someone took a leak and I hear, "Hah! Yep, there's the
    | good ol' orange K piss," and I couldn't help but be surprised
    | that it sounded like they were laughing at the fact they were
    | pissing blood.
    | 
    | I should clarify - nothing against ketamine in small doses
    | recreationally, just take care of yourself.
 
      | totony wrote:
      | ketamine also has been shown to cause brain damage in
      | addicts afaik.
 
        | worik wrote:
        | > ketamine also has been shown to cause brain damage in
        | addicts afaik.
        | 
        | I have to call you on that.
        | 
        | Very irresponsible to say things like that with out
        | context.
        | 
        | Like: Where does that factoid come from? Compare it to
        | other known neuro toxins - alcohol obviously.
 
  | sva_ wrote:
  | I don't think it makes a lot of sense calling Ketamine a
  | psychedelic. It is very much unlike any known psychedelic, and
  | acts in a very different way in the body as well.
 
  | bsedlm wrote:
  | Ketamine is not a psychedelic (in the hallucinogenic sense)
 
    | acchow wrote:
    | In which sense is ketamine a psychedelic?
 
| Overtonwindow wrote:
| "While it doesn't immediately enact changes to criminal justice
| policy in San Francisco, it urges police to deprioritize
| psychedelics as "amongst the lowest priority" for enforcement and
| requests that "City resources not be used for any investigation,
| detention, arrest, or prosecution arising out of alleged
| violations of state and federal law regarding the use of
| Entheogenic Plants listed on the Federally Controlled Substances
| Schedule 1 list."
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | dsl wrote:
  | Heroin seems to fit their definition as well.
 
| darawk wrote:
| Great news. Whether or not you believe these substances have
| significant therapeutic potential (I do), it's basically
| indisputable that they are socially harmless. Nobody gets
| addicted to them, there are no known negative health effects.
| There is absolutely no justification whatsoever for their
| criminality, and there never has been.
 
  | slibhb wrote:
  | Psychedelics, especially in conjunction with SSRIs, can cause
  | serotonin syndrome. They can cause visual disturbances that far
  | outlast the trip: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_pe
  | rsisting_percep.... They can trigger psychosis in certain
  | people, i.e those with bipolar disorder.
 
    | kortex wrote:
    | Alcohol, especially in conjunction with acetaminophen or
    | other OTC pain meds, can cause liver damage.
    | 
    | As long as alcohol is a legal substance to consume, it makes
    | no sense to criminalize substances widely shown to have lower
    | harm coefficients than it. There's tons of studies which
    | mostly-objectively quantify harm/addiction caused by
    | substances. The only drugs squarely as bad or worse than
    | alcohol are tobacco products (also legal, contains many more
    | psychoactives beyond nicotine), meth, crack cocaine (delivery
    | route matters), cathinones, GHB, certain gaba-ergics, and
    | most opioids.
    | 
    | Nicotine in isolation, ketamine, classical psychedelics,
    | cannabis, MDMA, most of the Shulginoids (phenethylamines and
    | tryptamines), all fall short of the harm caused by alcohol.
    | 
    | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.5921.
    | ..
 
    | acchow wrote:
    | I have a friend who had HPPD for years and loved it! It's
    | gone now and he misses it.
 
  | kneel wrote:
  | I wholeheartedly disagree, psychedelics can amplify mental
  | illness and result in bizarre behavior. Decriminalizing
  | psychedelics in a city with a large homeless drug infused
  | population is asking for trouble.
 
    | kelnos wrote:
    | Not sure it matters; it's not like the police enforce _any_
    | laws when it comes to the homeless population here, except
    | for when it 's politically expedient to do so.
 
  | acchow wrote:
  | Society has figured out quiet quitting all on their own without
  | the need of widespread psychedelics and capitalism has not
  | ended because of it. There's definitely no need to hold back
  | LSD now.
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | notch656a wrote:
  | Honestly I couldn't give a shit if there were horrible effects.
  | Kidnapping someone off the street and throwing them in a padded
  | room with a doctor over watching to make sure they're medically
  | OK is perfectly safe, but ought to be illegal. Buying rat
  | poison and eating it is completely unsafe, but if that's
  | someone's thing then they're free to have at it.
  | 
  | Of course, if I buy rat poison, I have a pretty pure product
  | and I can look up the ld50 and make a scientific estimate on
  | how much I can take before I die. Not so with some random shit
  | off the street.
 
    | itintheory wrote:
    | Most rodenticides, and a great many other hazardous household
    | chemicals actually carry a warning that they are illegal to
    | use in a way different than described in the instructions.
 
    | worik wrote:
    | > Of course, if I buy rat poison, I have a pretty pure
    | product and I can look up the ld50 and make a scientific
    | estimate on how much I can take before I die. Not so with
    | some random shit off the street.
    | 
    | True.
    | 
    | Where I live (Aotearoa) drug testing has been made legal and
    | there are many opportunities to take your stash along to the
    | spectrometer (I am not a chemist, unsure about the actual
    | nature of the instrument, except it is reliable) and get it
    | tested.
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | codebolt wrote:
  | > it's basically indisputable that they are socially harmless
  | 
  | Considering that the place with the highest psychedelic drug
  | use is also the place with the highest number of mentally ill
  | and homeless, that seems a rather preposterous assertion.
 
    | uoaei wrote:
    | Yours is an excellent example of how correlative
    | observational studies (however formal or informal) are
    | practically useless. Once you have experience interacting
    | with the unhoused population, you will quickly learn that
    | they are largely using things like crack, meth, and opioids
    | (if at all -- many are in fact sober), not psychedelics.
 
    | darawk wrote:
    | Psychedelic use in SF is not primarily among the homeless
    | population. That population is using very different
    | substances.
 
  | pstuart wrote:
  | I agree with you, save for the negative health effects. It's
  | very rare but sometimes it breaks people (firsthand witness to
  | this way back when).
  | 
  | It still should be legal but we should be honest about risks.
 
  | alecfreudenberg wrote:
  | Many people have bad trips that end up in irreparable self harm
  | or harm to others, often inducing death by police.
  | 
  | Psychedelics radically impact cognition and consciousness, and
  | not always in a safe way.
  | 
  | It's not always just a 'woah man' giggling in a park.
  | 
  | People climb high things and fall. They run into traffic or
  | harms way. They often attack first responders that are
  | attempting to deescalate.
  | 
  | Thought loops are dangerous and psychotic breaks are an obvious
  | possibility to anyone who has done these substances.
 
    | darawk wrote:
    | Yes, this can happen, but it is extremely rare. Advil
    | probably has a higher death rate than psilocybin.
 
      | pessimizer wrote:
      | Tylenol is an even better choice: "Paracetamol poisoning is
      | the foremost cause of acute liver failure in the Western
      | world, and accounts for most drug overdoses in the United
      | States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand."
      | 
      | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol
 
    | worik wrote:
    | > Thought loops are dangerous and psychotic breaks are an
    | obvious possibility to anyone who has done these substances.
    | 
    | No. Not obvious at all. A psychotic break is where you cannot
    | distinguish reality from thoughts.
    | 
    | LSD et. el. does not have that effect. The person under the
    | influence has a very clear idea of what is real, and what is
    | not. A very different view of what is real, but no confusion.
    | 
    | For some reason there is a lot of opposition to people taking
    | these drugs (I blame Timothy Leary for trying to make them a
    | font of revolution). SO a _lot_ of lies are spread.
    | 
    | But it is an absolute fiction that LSD makes it impossible to
    | distinguish reality from unreality
    | 
    | There are drugs that do do that. They are very unpleasant,
    | and are mostly not illegal as they are no fun at all.
    | 
    | LSD is enormous fun. Find a reliable dealer. By a bunch. (Get
    | it tested). Take it with your friends. It is very good for
    | you.
    | 
    | "LSD is enormous fun". Or not. If you do not enjoy it, or
    | find it useful, do not do it again.
    | 
    | Simple.
    | 
    | Why is law even an issue?
 
      | tsol wrote:
      | Because you're incorrect. Some people face serious side
      | effects. It can trigger mental illness in those that have a
      | predisposition. It can cause HPPD. Here's a report I just
      | dug up for an earlier comment:
      | 
      | >These symptoms persisted for the last 13 years, with
      | little change in intensity and frequency. All efforts at
      | treatment, psychopharmacological as well as
      | psychotherapeutic, failed to alleviate the symptoms. Often
      | the patient was unable to focus properly with her eyes and
      | tired rapidly while performing intense visual tasks - these
      | deficiencies being detrimental to her studies and
      | professional work as an architect. As a consequence, the
      | patient became depressed with latent suicidal impulses. She
      | also found it increasingly difficult to distinguish between
      | 'normal' and ' abnormal' perceptions.
      | 
      | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3736944/
 
  | mistermann wrote:
  | In the long run, they could be dangerous to profit margins of
  | defense contractors.
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | deepdriver wrote:
  | Certainly in terms of short-term judgement impairment, this
  | isn't true:
  | 
  | https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/teendeathbridgefal...
 
  | novok wrote:
  | No, if you are susceptible to schizophrenia, it can trigger it
  | and turn it into full blown schizophrenia including all the
  | other comments about potential downsides.
 
    | darawk wrote:
    | https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2015.16968
 
      | nnm wrote:
      | The title of this study "No link found between psychedelics
      | and psychosis" should really be that "the authors did not
      | find links between psychedelics and psychosis using their
      | survey method".
      | 
      | These survey methods come with huge uncertainty and lots of
      | pitfalls. I would not be surprised if the result in the
      | paper is not reproducible. In fact, "over half of
      | psychology studies fail reproducibility test"[1]
      | 
      | [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2015.18248
 
      | jack_pp wrote:
      | yeah, it just happens most anyone with friends who do
      | psychedelics have had some of them go on psychotic breaks
      | that take months or years to fix. It's not super common but
      | I'm gonna trust my own observations of reality over studies
      | that usually fail to replicate
 
        | worik wrote:
        | > not super common but I'm gonna trust my own
        | observations of reality over studies that usually fail to
        | replicate
        | 
        | You mean you are going to prefer anecdotal evidence over
        | scientific research?
        | 
        | The "studies that usually fail to replicate" are the ones
        | supporting a LSD inducing schizophrenia.
        | 
        | Your "own observations of reality" are interesting to
        | you, but do not form a basis for creating public policy
 
        | adnzzzzZ wrote:
        | >You mean you are going to prefer anecdotal evidence over
        | scientific research?
        | 
        | Yes, if it has the potential to ruin my life and the life
        | of people I care about, as it is plainly obvious to
        | anyone who pays any attention _at all_ to the world
        | around them that these drugs are extremely harmful to a
        | subset of the population.
 
        | jimmygrapes wrote:
        | How many well recorded and observed anecdotes are
        | required before it becomes recorded data worthy of being
        | considered a replication of a poorly designed and
        | unreplicated academic study? Do I just gotta format it in
        | two columns like it's a high school newsletter and pray
        | nobody reads the dozens of references I threw in there
        | but never actually used beyond roughly associating my own
        | thoughts with ones someone else already had?
 
    | akomtu wrote:
    | Peanuts can cause a strong allergic reaction and death, thus
    | peanuts are very dangerous.
 
  | bil7 wrote:
  | While I am also in complete favour, stating that there are no
  | negative health effects is somewhat false. Abusing any kind of
  | psychedelic can lead to HPPD [1], a very real long term
  | disorder.
  | 
  | [1]
  | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_persisting_percep...
 
    | MacsHeadroom wrote:
    | I would classify HPPD as widely harmless. If you poll non-
    | users you'll find that many people have HPPD like effects and
    | can't recall ever not having them. Seeing a slight trail
    | behind a bright fast moving object is inconsequential in
    | life.
 
      | LordDragonfang wrote:
      | >If you poll non-users you'll find that many people have
      | HPPD like effects and can't recall ever not having them.
      | 
      | Yep
      | 
      | https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/11/lots-of-people-
      | going-a...
 
      | tsol wrote:
      | Many people with psychedelic-induced HPPD report them being
      | a difficulty, though. Take this case study: >These symptoms
      | persisted for the last 13 years, with little change in
      | intensity and frequency. All efforts at treatment,
      | psychopharmacological as well as psychotherapeutic, failed
      | to alleviate the symptoms. Often the patient was unable to
      | focus properly with her eyes and tired rapidly while
      | performing intense visual tasks - these deficiencies being
      | detrimental to her studies and professional work as an
      | architect. As a consequence, the patient became depressed
      | with latent suicidal impulses. She also found it
      | increasingly difficult to distinguish between 'normal' and
      | ' abnormal' perceptions.
      | 
      | This papering over of side effects that people insist on is
      | why so many are so hesitant to legalize these drugs. It's
      | doing no favor to the cause when so many refuse to
      | acknowledge the danger that's inherit in some kinds of
      | psychoactive drugs.
 
      | kortex wrote:
      | Brains are quite nonlinear. I wonder how many people
      | already had visual artifacts and assorted weirdness, but
      | never paid attention to them because the brain just paves
      | over it, until an experience highlights those artifacts,
      | and now they can't _not_ notice them.
 
    | worik wrote:
    | It is all relative.
    | 
    | In the case of recreational drugs it is relative to alcohol.
    | 
    | So not "completely harmless" but "relatively harmless"
 
  | giantg2 wrote:
  | "it's basically indisputable that they are socially harmless."
  | 
  | I wouldn't go that far. Any substance that alters perception,
  | inhibition, etc has the potential for some social impact. For
  | example, public drunkenness, DUI, liquor license etc were
  | created because intoxicated people caused some sort of problem
  | and laws were created around that. While these were created for
  | alcohol, it's likely similar laws would be created for other
  | substances.
 
    | notch656a wrote:
    | My state has no law against public drunkenness and there is
    | no discernible difference here between other states I have
    | lived in which had such a law. Honestly I think that was
    | written as a religious feelzy.
 
      | giantg2 wrote:
      | I bet your state has a disorderly conduct or similar. The
      | laws between states aren't vastly different on this sort of
      | thing in most cases.
 
        | MauranKilom wrote:
        | And that same law would apply to tripping people as it
        | does to drunk people, so I don't understand what this is
        | getting at.
 
        | HideousKojima wrote:
        | A drunk (or high) person is significantly more likely to
        | engage in disorderly behavior like tripping people than a
        | sober person.
 
        | notch656a wrote:
        | In my state disorderly conduct requires mens rea of
        | disturbing the peace. It's not something you can do
        | accidentally. Compare that to public drunkenness in
        | someplace like California, it's strict liability --
        | doesn't matter whether you meant to act drunk or not (in
        | fact you can be held accountable for being "unable" to
        | exercise care). They're extremely different laws.
 
      | dolni wrote:
      | You're oversimplifying. "The law" is not the only thing
      | that dictates peoples' behaviors. There are lots of other
      | reasons why drinking may be more or less bothersome in some
      | states versus others. Different places have different
      | customs, particularly around drinking. Those customs
      | combined with alcohol may create more or less of a public
      | nuisance.
 
        | [deleted]
 
    | worik wrote:
    | Did you just compare LSD intoxication with "public
    | drunkenness"?
    | 
    | Not so much "chalk and cheese" but "feather and revolver"
 
  | MisterTea wrote:
  | > socially harmless. Nobody gets addicted to them, there are no
  | known negative health effects.
  | 
  | Not true.
  | 
  | My friend woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed after a bad trip
  | on mushrooms. He saw his dead body in the street and was
  | convinced he was dead and a ghost. He then went running around
  | Manhattan traffic jumping on cars.
  | 
  | An English teacher in high school witnessed her friend jump to
  | her death from a balcony after taking LSD. The woman said she
  | felt light as a bird, took off running, hopped up a chair and
  | dove over the railing to the pavement 20 feet below. She broke
  | her neck.
  | 
  | I am not saying psychedelics should remain banned. But to
  | casually call them harmless is incredibly irresponsible. They
  | need to be taken under supervision by people with experience.
  | This is called trip sitting. Not all trips are good as emotions
  | and state of mind can effect the outcome. Things can go wrong
  | fast. Be safe.
 
    | dekhn wrote:
    | From my read of the scientific literature, most situations
    | like the ones you describe are at least partially caused by
    | underlying disorders that pre-existed (and manifested). And
    | the second one you describe is a pretty common story to be
    | told (same rumor at my college).
 
      | josephcsible wrote:
      | How are these two scenarios different in practice?
      | 
      | 1. Someone has had a latent mental disorder since birth,
      | which then manifested itself permanently upon taking
      | psychedelics, and would have never manifested itself
      | without them
      | 
      | 2. Someone who originally had no mental disorders developed
      | a permanent one from taking psychedelics
 
        | dekhn wrote:
        | Just replace "psychedelics" with "*" because the general
        | question is interesting, not psychedelics. People have
        | just sort of gone along with the idea that psychedelics
        | precipitate mental illness more than other drugs, or
        | other life activities. There isn't really strong data for
        | that with LSD.
 
      | MisterTea wrote:
      | > From my read of the scientific literature, most
      | situations like the ones you describe are at least
      | partially caused by underlying disorders that pre-existed
      | (and manifested).
      | 
      | Do you have a qualifying medical certificate and
      | professionally diagnosed my friend? The answer is no. So
      | don't try to down play a serious incident you have ZERO
      | knowledge of.
      | 
      | > And the second one you describe is a pretty common story
      | to be told (same rumor at my college).
      | 
      | When my teacher told us the story she was quite emotional
      | and serious. It could be a well intentioned lie to
      | discourage "drug use" but again, you have no way of knowing
      | the truth so knock it off.
 
        | dekhn wrote:
        | Note that my text was written to not specifically say
        | that you lied, or misinterpreted the situation. my point
        | was "the average observation is not entirely consistent
        | with your anecdote", and "if a person does a crazy thing
        | on drugs, it may not have been the drugs that made them
        | crazy"
        | 
        | (as for credentials- no, no actual medical credentials,
        | but I do have a phd in biophysics [emphasis on drug
        | discovery], and have worked in the field of medical
        | biology for decades). More importantly, my goal is here
        | to avoid the "reefer madness" effect by countering
        | establishment propaganda and college rumors with my read
        | of the scientific literature, and also to raise awareness
        | that mental illness is common and that psychedelic drugs
        | can be a precipitating condition that turns a maintained
        | disease into an emergency.
        | 
        | Trip responsibly,
 
        | pessimizer wrote:
        | > Do you have a qualifying medical certificate and
        | professionally diagnosed my friend?
        | 
        | It's weird that you yourself don't require these kinds of
        | qualifications to participate in this discussion. I guess
        | you don't need them in order to disqualify people from
        | disagreeing with you.
 
      | docandrew wrote:
      | Is that any less reason to think this isn't a good idea?
      | How many latent, otherwise-benign disorders might become
      | manifest if people experiment with these drugs?
 
        | pessimizer wrote:
        | Or with alcohol, or with religion, or with watching
        | movies about time travel.
 
        | docandrew wrote:
        | Is there a Biff Tannen copycat crime spree I wasn't aware
        | of?
 
    | ruined wrote:
    | if you are worried about the harmful behavioral effects of
    | psychedelics, consider that a significant fraction of all
    | violent crimes involve alcohol:
    | 
    | * 15% of robberies
    | 
    | * 37% of sexual assaults
    | 
    | * 27% of aggravated assaults
    | 
    | * 60% of domestic violence (victim reported)
    | 
    | * 40% of child abusers (self reported)
    | 
    | * 40% of convicted murderers (self reported)
    | 
    | * 30% of traffic violence fatalities
    | 
    | https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/alcohol/crimes/
    | 
    | psychedelics are essentially insignificant and are almost
    | never involved in violence.
 
      | worik wrote:
      | Yes. And.
      | 
      | I often hear stories about people tripping on mushrooms
      | getting upto mischief. When I did I always find that, along
      | with the mushrooms, there was a bottle of whiskey, or
      | equivalent.
      | 
      | My culture is _awash_ with alcohol. It is hard to
      | disentangle the dreadful effects of the alcohol overdose
      | experience form the psychedelic experience after consuming
      | a bottle of whiskey.
 
      | dsl wrote:
      | Sounds like both should be illegal then?
 
        | akomtu wrote:
        | No, it means both should be legal and the behavior is
        | what should be prosecuted, not the substance taken.
 
    | altruios wrote:
    | An English teacher you say... you have a reference for that -
    | or is that just an iteration/mutation of the original story?
    | (Frank Olson)
    | 
    | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Olson
    | 
    | Basically a chemist gets secretly drugged with a massive dose
    | of LSD, then nine whole days later allegedly jumps out the
    | window of a hotel... this was after he was declared a
    | possible security risk...
    | 
    | So more than likely he was helped out that window.
    | 
    | If not that - it was probably the guilt: for being a part of
    | MKUltra and the clandestine drugging of American citizens -
    | he had a moral crisis, that much is certain.
    | 
    | I'm not saying your story isn't true... but I've been on the
    | internet long enough to see how stories morph over time.
 
  | PuppyTailWags wrote:
  | I agree there was no justification to their criminality but
  | would like to caution against portraying them too widely as
  | harmless. Specifically, psychadelics should be considered very
  | carefully(and potentially not partaken in at all) in context of
  | those who have experienced psychosis or are relatives of people
  | with psychotic disorders.
 
    | worik wrote:
    | This is a bit disingenuous.
    | 
    | I have known too many people with "psychotic disorders". I
    | have learnt the hard way to show such people enormous
    | respect. A person who cannt distinguish a real thing from a
    | thought is somebody that can do very surprising things.
    | 
    | These can be wonderful things, great artists etcetera. But it
    | can also mean unexpected violence.
    | 
    | Yes "psychadelics should be considered very carefully... in
    | context of those who have experienced psychosis". Everything
    | should in that context.
    | 
    | A cup of tea should be.
 
      | PuppyTailWags wrote:
      | I'm sorry for whatever happened to you that is causing you
      | to behave as if someone who had experienced psychosis
      | cannot live a full, functioning, well-managed life. Someone
      | with a well-controlled schizophrenia spectrum/psychotic
      | disorder/mood disorder with psychosis does not generally
      | have to be careful about "everything". Someone who
      | experiences psychosis due to insomnia, dehydration, or
      | drugs generally does not pose a risk to themselves or
      | others once the causal factor is removed. I understand your
      | reaction may be coming from a place of trauma but please
      | understand it is misinformed.
 
        | worik wrote:
        | > you to behave as if someone who had experienced
        | psychosis cannot live a full, functioning, well-managed
        | life
        | 
        | It is true that it is possible to manage psychosis.
        | 
        | But it is also true that if you live with some one with
        | psychosis you _must_ respect the illness.
        | 
        | Denying that is dangerous. Unexpected violence is
        | dangerous, and unexpected violence is a common symptom of
        | psychosis.
 
        | PuppyTailWags wrote:
        | People who experience psychosis are more likely to be the
        | victims of violence than the perpetrators of it, and it
        | is perfectly safe to live with someone who has a well-
        | managed disorder with psychosis as part of its symptom
        | profile. I understand this may not be your personal
        | experience.
 
  | autoexec wrote:
  | While most people harping on the "there are no known negative
  | health effects." claim are talking about the drugs making
  | people crazy I would point out that some psychedelics can also
  | make people become sick. It passes, no long term harm, but it
  | still seems like a miserable time and one I'd call a "negative
  | health effect".
  | 
  | Sure, too much alcohol can cause people to get sick too, but
  | then nobody ever said alcohol had "no known negative health
  | effects" either.
 
    | worik wrote:
    | Remember when you compare the health effects, public health
    | or private health, of LSD and alcohol, you are making a
    | strong recommendation for LSD.
 
| pengaru wrote:
| Years ago I interacted with hippies openly selling commercial-
| looking individually wrapped chocolates containing psilocybin in
| Golden Gate Park.
| 
| This is San Francisco we're talking about, psychedelics already
| weren't a priority for the police in any practical sense.
 
  | da39a3ee wrote:
  | > This is San Francisco we're talking about, psychedelics
  | already weren't a priority for the police in any practical
  | sense.
  | 
  | Whenever someone says something like that, you know they don't
  | have much experience trying to get hold of illegal drugs! It's
  | rarely easy, and often falls through.
 
    | sva_ wrote:
    | I think if you can get some cryptocurrency and have access to
    | the internet using Tor, it is incredibly easy. In fact I'd
    | say, DO NOT buy acid on the street.
    | 
    | If you live in the EU, you can even acquire a legit
    | derivative legally on the 'clearnet'.
 
      | tsol wrote:
      | Sure, but darknet markets have a different sort of risk.
      | From what I understand they can still intercept it and
      | charge you for it.
 
    | pessimizer wrote:
    | > openly selling commercial-looking individually wrapped
    | chocolates containing psilocybin
    | 
    | https://mushroomoneupbars.com/
    | 
    | IDK, people cheaply deliver these politely, promptly and
    | dependably to your door where I live, and I don't live in CA.
 
    | pengaru wrote:
    | > Whenever someone says something like that, you know they
    | don't have much experience trying to get hold of illegal
    | drugs! It's rarely easy, and often falls through.
    | 
    | As this is a public record, I'm in total agreement with you.
    | I have zero experience acquiring illegal drugs, _none_.
    | 
    | To not distinguish psychedelics from "illegal drugs" however,
    | especially in the context of San Francisco, suggests to me
    | you don't have much experience with the city.
 
      | WastingMyTime89 wrote:
      | Same totally in agreement. I have never in my life acquired
      | any illegal drugs. I have absolutely no idea if weed, molly
      | and lsd are regularly advertised on WhatsApp here and
      | wouldn't considered the complexity as akin to ordering on
      | Uber Eats.
 
    | TaylorAlexander wrote:
    | Two weeks ago I was picnicking with friends at Mission
    | Dolores Park in San Francisco and multiple vendors came by
    | with cute baskets full of weed and psychedelic mushrooms for
    | sale. They even accept Venmo for payment. We weren't looking,
    | these people just wander around offering them to every group
    | they walk past.
 
    | acchow wrote:
    | This is San Francisco we're talking about... you just have to
    | sit at Dolores Park and wait for the sellers to walk by....
    | 
    | Also, the chocolate brownies are pretty good and even
    | sometimes have drug-free versions too!
 
      | TaylorAlexander wrote:
      | Ahhh I was just at Dolores Park and I never thought to ask
      | the vendors if they had regular brownies! Thanks for the
      | tip.
 
  | hemloc_io wrote:
  | hah still a thing, and now they do delivery and have
  | punchcards.
  | 
  | Supposedly one of them works with a prof at Berkeley to make
  | their product
 
    | lalos wrote:
    | That's the premise of Breaking Bad, but with a twist.
 
      | [deleted]
 
      | YesWeWill wrote:
 
    | [deleted]
 
    | briffle wrote:
    | A line that is repeated by any LSD dealer in any college
    | town...
 
      | pessimizer wrote:
      | Because it's often true, and was universally true for late-
      | Xers, early-Millennials?
      | 
      | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Leonard_Pickard
      | 
      | Back then (the 90s), LSD was $2/hit.
 
        | cammikebrown wrote:
        | The wholesale price of LSD is currently under $2/hit.
 
        | pessimizer wrote:
        | That was retail in the 90s, but considering inflation
        | that sounds like we're finally getting back to Pickard
        | pricing. My local sources run an order of magnitude
        | higher.
        | 
        |  _edit, for anyone curious about 90s wholesale:_
        | "Government informant Skinner testified that Petaluma Al
        | and the largest wholesale customers of Pickard paid 29
        | cents per 100 ug dose, which would put the cost at around
        | $2.97 million for a kilogram of LSD."
        | 
        |  _edit:_ I 'm annoyed by the math used in this quote.
        | They couldn't say $2.9 million or "around" $3 million?
 
        | chasd00 wrote:
        | A kg of pure lsd would be a site to behold. I don't know
        | how you could even handle it in any semi-safe way.
 
        | boltzmann-brain wrote:
        | somehow I can't reply to djhn's comment, but what makes
        | large amounts of LSD unsafe is how readily it gets
        | absorbed into the blood stream through the skin in
        | amounts that are metabolically massive. Look up
        | "thumbprinting"
 
        | loves_mangoes wrote:
        | That's mostly a myth, it's not very well absorbed through
        | the skin at all.
        | 
        | For a thumbprint, you still put your thumb on your tongue
        | and lick it. But it's important to keep in mind that only
        | very rarely have people actually done thumbprints. Those
        | are mostly stories, legends, and artistic works of
        | fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take them as
        | fact.
 
        | pengaru wrote:
        | Albert Hoffman _discovered_ LSD by accidentally absorbing
        | it through his fingertips. [0]
        | 
        | > While re-synthesizing LSD, he accidentally absorbed a
        | small amount of the drug through his fingertips and
        | discovered its powerful effects.
        | 
        | [0]
        | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_LSD#Discovery
 
        | cwkoss wrote:
        | idk, the rainbow family (lsd distribution network)
        | requiring inductees to take a thumbprint to test that
        | they aren't cops and see if they can handle the
        | inevitable accidental dosing that can occur when laying
        | blotter makes a lot of sense to me.
        | 
        | I wouldn't assert that it's 'fact' but seems very
        | plausible. (A full 'thumbprint' is probably uncommon, but
        | ingesting a visible amount of crystal from a fingertip
        | seems believable)
 
        | effingwewt wrote:
        | Oh it's very well absorbed through the skin, and not a
        | myth at all, and can be easily searched many places
        | online.
        | 
        | We would routinely put this to the test.
        | 
        | Not only is it absorbed through the skin, but it takes
        | longer to start and end the trip. We would do it on
        | purpose for a longer/more intense trip if we were say
        | camping for the weekend.
 
        | djhn wrote:
        | Chemistry and LSD newbie question: what would make it
        | unsafe?
 
        | paulmd wrote:
        | it'll go through skin, and if you spilled a bunch on an
        | ungloved hand you're going to be going for a ride, which
        | is of course the origin of the 'bicycle day' itself and
        | the discovery of LSD.
        | 
        | of course, many things are not safe on the skin and
        | that's not uniquely dangerous, really
 
        | xvedejas wrote:
        | LSD is extremely potent at small quantities (dozens of
        | micrograms); exposure to even a small fraction of this (a
        | few grams, say) could be enough to put someone into a
        | non-responsive state for a few days. I don't think it'd
        | cause permanent damage, but still not something to
        | underestimate.
 
        | kirsebaer wrote:
        | There are reports in medical journals of people
        | accidentally taking hundreds of doses of LSD, and they
        | all were sober within 24 hours.
 
        | radicaldreamer wrote:
        | Three case reports for LSD overdoses: https://www.researc
        | hgate.net/publication/339234169_LSD_Overd...
 
        | nattmat wrote:
        | In my experience, double the dose lasts the same amount
        | of time, but the peak is more intense. It seems the brain
        | just gets used to the sensation after a while.
 
        | cwkoss wrote:
        | I think 24 hours may be an underestimate for 'sober' -
        | LSD's half life is 3.6 hours, so after 24 hours blood
        | concentration should be reduced to ~1/64th. Sober within
        | 2-3 days is probably accurate, but I bet anyone who took
        | a 100x dose doesn't feel "normal" for at least a couple
        | weeks, perhaps months - more from PTSD-like effects from
        | the intensity of the experience rather than acute LSD
        | intoxication.
 
        | BTCOG wrote:
        | Nobody in this world, is taking "hundreds of doses" of
        | LSD and sober within 24 hours.
 
        | BTCOG wrote:
        | That case report notes a 10x dose, a 5x dose (these are
        | pretty standard), and a very loose description of
        | snorting 55mg of powdered LSD, which I don't buy. I've
        | seen enough folks eat a sheet or down a 10k mic vial and
        | trip for a week+ to know better. Possibly the dose report
        | was well off, or snorting it and fortunately they didn't
        | get much of it or it wasn't pure LSD-25.
 
        | pessimizer wrote:
        | I also have a lot of doubt about the last one. The first
        | two are light users having strong emotional reactions to
        | amounts that would be an un-notable recreational amount
        | for others. 55mg is nuts. Five hits won't really even
        | make you hallucinate.
        | 
        | As old hippies used to tell me in the 90s, pot is 100x
        | stronger than it was in the 60s, and LSD is 100x weaker.
 
        | chasd00 wrote:
        | Maybe lsd has changed since the 90s but 2 or 3 hits lasts
        | longer than 24hrs. I don't see how "hundreds" would be
        | survivable. You would probably just die of exhaustion,
        | there's no sleeping on lsd and the harder you try fight
        | it the worse it gets.
 
        | loves_mangoes wrote:
        | A kilogram is a lot, considering LSD is active at
        | microgram doses, although in practice there _are_ labs
        | producing and handling kilograms of it.
        | 
        | LSD in powder form is readily available on the black
        | market. Expensive (because you don't just go and ask to
        | buy only 1mg of LSD powder), but not exceptionally unsafe
        | or rare.
        | 
        | Now the people who handle Fentanyl and Fentanyl
        | analogues, those probably want to triple check their
        | gloves and mask before putting them on.
 
  | throwaway292939 wrote:
  | True, but to many, the destigmatization and the recognition of
  | practical uses is still important.
 
  | colordrops wrote:
  | Psilocybin chocolates are a great way to consume the substance,
  | but they are a bad f'n idea in my opinion. A lot of the people
  | that get a hold of them are not always in a vigilant state, and
  | one of these could easily get into the hands of a child. They
  | just look like a normal chocolate.
 
| g42gregory wrote:
| How are people supposed to drive (or walk on the street for that
| matter), with large number of street population under the
| influence of various drugs?
 
  | hadlock wrote:
  | Tell me you've never walked through a non-touristy neighborhood
  | in SF without telling me you've never walked through a non-
  | touristy neighborhood in SF
 
    | borski wrote:
    | This made me lol. Thanks
 
  | 10x_contrarian wrote:
  | Psychedelics are not a street drug. The majority of people
  | struggling with addiction use crack cocaine, crystal meth, and
  | opioids. Those are not decriminalized (technically).
 
  | green-salt wrote:
  | they already do with all the people consuming alcohol,
  | nicotine, etc.
 
  | RC_ITR wrote:
  | Carefully and with respect for others' lives.
 
    | g42gregory wrote:
    | How about walking? Is your advice to people of San Francisco
    | and visitors to walk "carefully" on the streets?
 
| tikkun wrote:
 
  | [deleted]
 
| bloppe wrote:
| A more accurate title: SF supervisors would like to decriminalize
| psychedelics
 
  | pvarangot wrote:
  | Considering how things went with the fence in 24th St. when
  | Ronen actually tried to "criminalize" something
  | (https://twitter.com/HillaryRonen/status/1537599919090847745) I
  | would say psychedelics are already decriminalized in the city
  | wether the board instructs SFPD about making them "the lowest
  | possible priority" or not.
  | 
  | This is probably a "propaganda law" to appear progressive while
  | actually not doing anything at all except wasting ink and
  | breath.
 
    | justizin wrote:
    | lowest priority of law enforcement is a meaningful law, sure
    | the police do not typically target individual users, but
    | producers and distributors are at risk - and nobody can get
    | individual amounts without producers and distributors doing
    | their thing. this also allows people to come out of the
    | shadows which tends to ensure the product _and_ the
    | purchasing experience are safer.
    | 
    | Prior to Prop 64, we had a lowest priority ordinance for
    | cannabis and it was a useful tool in defending our medical
    | dispensaries.
    | 
    | People also have a tendency to get charged with possession
    | when arrested for other things, even a traffic warrant or
    | case of mistaken identity.
 
    | erdos4d wrote:
    | I'm not a SF resident and don't understand this at all, can
    | someone explain what happened here?
 
      | kelnos wrote:
      | There's a BART station at 24th and Mission streets where
      | the aboveground plaza (where the escalator is to get down
      | to the station) is just covered with un-permitted street
      | vendors. Many of the vendors are selling stolen goods.
      | Ronen pledged to clean that up.
      | 
      | Of course, it was all just staged; they swept away the
      | vendors, finished their photo op, and after they left, the
      | vendors all came back.
      | 
      | I think the grandparent's point is that if they can't/won't
      | even enforce laws that they actually claim to enforce, LSD
      | use -- something the local government explicitly has not
      | cared about for quite some time -- has _already_ been
      | unofficially decriminalized. I don 't really agree with the
      | overall premise there, though; without getting into whether
      | this particular decriminalization is a good idea, leaving
      | intentionally-unenforced laws on the books just leads to
      | abuse. If particular laws shouldn't be enforced, then they
      | should be repealed entirely.
 
      | bombcar wrote:
      | I think they're saying that pshychedelics laws are already
      | entirely not enforced so this does nothing.
 
    | hemloc_io wrote:
    | That whole station is such a cluster. Someone got murdered
    | there a week ago or so.
    | 
    | There was some quote with her that her district "went to shit
    | during her term" and she seemed confused as to who was
    | responsible...
 
  | vhold wrote:
  | Here is the resolution they adopted:
  | https://sfgov.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5742708...
  | 
  | https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11095427&GUID=46...
  | 
  | I think it is useful because it provides a fairly compelling
  | and surprisingly specific list of justifications.
 
| WFHRenaissance wrote:
 
  | itake wrote:
  | You think the homeless people were choosing not to do
  | psychedelics because its illegal?
 
    | WFHRenaissance wrote:
    | regret
 
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