Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 08:02:17
From: Anexia <neocon1@cris.com>
To: twc-l@halmarax.demon.co.uk
Subject: Re: Comments on TWC-L
Brian Sandle wrote:
> And I ask that anyone supplying psychoactive substances, or data about
> them, considers having a support network at the ready for those who use
> them to their detriment.
>
> Tony indicates a willingness to consider support for failures, though he
> perhaps doesn't give enough credence to harmful effect when he says
> `failure to have the desired effect'.
If you're getting ready to take your last breath, what possible
detrimental effcts could the hallucinogen have other than inefficacy in
opening the mind to death? As the hour of your death approaches, long
term side-effects of a drug become irrelevant. Furthermore, if the drug
does not assuage fear, what use is a support group--you're dead! I know
that your mother had a bad experience with scopolomine (or whatever it
was) but you must understand that in hallucinogenic doses, scopolomine
induces a dysphoric and wretched subjectivity. With the hallucinogens
we're talking about, the chances of a dysphoric reaction occuring are
about equal to the chances that a dysphoric reaction will occur in a
patient treated with morphine. Is there a need for a support group for
cancer patients who don't like morphine? Maybe there SHOULD be, given
that morphine is administered way before the moment of death. What I'm
talking about (and I can only speak for myself here, as the purpose of
this list is not yet clearly delineated) is treatment with hallucinogens
(preferably the serotonergic, indole derivatives) only hours before the
moment of death (or suspected death) to open the mind to the experience
so as to lessen the fear. At that point in the life of a terminally ill
patient, I honestly do not understand the pertinence of worrying about a
support group.
> > Now why do I deserve "ire" for wanting to edjucate someone about someone
> > else's life?
>
> I was being advised not to discuss other than the point of death
> experience, but you appeared to be, as I explained.
I am sorry that I appeared to you to be doing so. I did not appear to
myself to be doing so.
--
"Nothing is true, all is permitted"
Hassan i Sabbah
Old Man of The Mountain