Skyhilist
9th July 2014, 02:33
Hi. I'm looking to do some polemical writing soon on the prohibition of psychedelics (specifically the classic psychedelics, i.e. LSD, mushrooms, peyote/mescaline, DMT), and why, by the numbers it is logically inconsistent that psychedelics are illegal while alcohol and tobacco are not.
Part of what I would like to do, perhaps in the form of an infographic/chart that goes along with the polemic I'm writing is compare the traditional psychedelics with alcohol and tobacco in a variety of categories.
These are some of the categories I'd been hoping to include:
-Estimated users of the drug (numbers wise)
-Average age of users
-Average rate of usage amongst users
-Average age that users started taking the drug
-Confirmed deaths from overdose (numbers wise)
-Confirmed deaths associated with the drug (numbers wise, includes things like lung cancer killing tobacco smokers)
-Suicides committed while on the drug (numbers wise)
-Fatal car crashes caused while on the drug (numbers wise)
-Leading cause of death associated with the drug (I want to include this, because for LSD, for example, the leading cause of death is people who think they're buying LSD but actually end up buying NBOMe or something like that and overdosing on it - this reinforces the point I want to make that less harm would be done if LSD were legal, because people would know what they were putting in their bodies and wouldn't overdose on NBOMe thinking it was LSD)
-Violent crime associated with the drug? (yes or no)
-Addiction potential (Options: High, moderate, low, non-existent - might create two subcategories, with one for physical addiction and one for mental addiction)
-Long term physical effects
-Reported long term mental effects (I want to include this, because most users of psychedelics report that they've had a positive long-term effect on them mentally, whereas this is not as true with alcohol, and definitely not tobacco)
-Medical potential
-Hangover?
-Legal status
Ok so I already know what to put on the chart for most of these categories, as I'm well read in scientific literature on the subject (and yes, I have a few experiences under my belt as well). What I am looking for really is hard data, namely on the first seven categories that I listed. If anyone has data on any of the four psychedelics I mentioned (LSD, mushrooms, peyote/mescaline, DMT) that pertains to the these first seven categories that I listed, I'd appreciate it. Ultimately I'm hoping to create an infographic that looks something along the lines of this, but that includes these 4 psychedelics instead of marijuana, is more detailed, and also contains tobacco: http://karmajello.com/postcont/2014/02/effects_alcohol_vs_marijuana.jpg
I understand that there may be a dearth of data on many of these things, but I'd like to be as scientific as I can and don't want to just rely on anecdotal evidence, which isn't statistically valid. If no one is able to provide me with solid data, I may start a poll somewhere for some of these things. I'm aware that there are some polls on the internet already for that, however I don't want to use them since they generally aren't randomized at all and aren't statistically valid.
Again, any help is appreciated!
Part of what I would like to do, perhaps in the form of an infographic/chart that goes along with the polemic I'm writing is compare the traditional psychedelics with alcohol and tobacco in a variety of categories.
These are some of the categories I'd been hoping to include:
-Estimated users of the drug (numbers wise)
-Average age of users
-Average rate of usage amongst users
-Average age that users started taking the drug
-Confirmed deaths from overdose (numbers wise)
-Confirmed deaths associated with the drug (numbers wise, includes things like lung cancer killing tobacco smokers)
-Suicides committed while on the drug (numbers wise)
-Fatal car crashes caused while on the drug (numbers wise)
-Leading cause of death associated with the drug (I want to include this, because for LSD, for example, the leading cause of death is people who think they're buying LSD but actually end up buying NBOMe or something like that and overdosing on it - this reinforces the point I want to make that less harm would be done if LSD were legal, because people would know what they were putting in their bodies and wouldn't overdose on NBOMe thinking it was LSD)
-Violent crime associated with the drug? (yes or no)
-Addiction potential (Options: High, moderate, low, non-existent - might create two subcategories, with one for physical addiction and one for mental addiction)
-Long term physical effects
-Reported long term mental effects (I want to include this, because most users of psychedelics report that they've had a positive long-term effect on them mentally, whereas this is not as true with alcohol, and definitely not tobacco)
-Medical potential
-Hangover?
-Legal status
Ok so I already know what to put on the chart for most of these categories, as I'm well read in scientific literature on the subject (and yes, I have a few experiences under my belt as well). What I am looking for really is hard data, namely on the first seven categories that I listed. If anyone has data on any of the four psychedelics I mentioned (LSD, mushrooms, peyote/mescaline, DMT) that pertains to the these first seven categories that I listed, I'd appreciate it. Ultimately I'm hoping to create an infographic that looks something along the lines of this, but that includes these 4 psychedelics instead of marijuana, is more detailed, and also contains tobacco: http://karmajello.com/postcont/2014/02/effects_alcohol_vs_marijuana.jpg
I understand that there may be a dearth of data on many of these things, but I'd like to be as scientific as I can and don't want to just rely on anecdotal evidence, which isn't statistically valid. If no one is able to provide me with solid data, I may start a poll somewhere for some of these things. I'm aware that there are some polls on the internet already for that, however I don't want to use them since they generally aren't randomized at all and aren't statistically valid.
Again, any help is appreciated!