164 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
164 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
"The Love Drug"
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from "The Marriage Of The Sun And Moon"
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by Andrew Weil
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Houghton Mifflin Co., publishers, 1980
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MDA is known as the love drug in the American subculture
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because of its reputation for producing loving feelings in groups
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of people. The initials stand for 3,4-Methylene-dioxy-amphetamine
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and the drug is a straightforward derivative of amphetamine,
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first synthesized in Germany in 1910. Its effects on human beings
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are much more interesting than simple stimulation. When I first
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encountered MDA in 1970, I took it a number of times and since
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then have observed its effects on a great many people.
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The usual dose of MDA is 90 to 150 milligrams, taken orally
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in a capsule. Its effects become apparent in twenty to sixty
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minutes and persist for ten to twelve hours. People perceive the
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onset of these effects differently. Some experience initial
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nausea. Some feel a warm glow spreading through their bodies.
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Most people become aware of a sense of physical and mental
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well-being that intensifies gradually and steadily. MDA commonly
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induces a state of profound relaxation and patience in which
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anxiety and defensiveness are left far behind. "It is impossible
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to imagine anything being a threat in that state," one user tells
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me.
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Unlike most stimulants, MDA does not increase motor
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activity. In fact, it suppresses it in a remarkable way, so that
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people can remain comfortable and content in one position for
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long periods. This effect is most dramatic in people who are
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heavily dependent on coffee and cigarettes, who are always in
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motion of one sort or another. Under the influence of MDA they,
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too, can be calm and motionless. Pharmacologists call this the
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"antikinetic" action of the drug, but that is a negative way of
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describing something very positive. I prefer to call it a
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centering action.
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The combined effects of relaxation and centering greatly
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facilitate certain kinds of physical activities, such as yoga,
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martial arts, and any disciplines requiring balance and
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maintenance of posture. For example, i can maintain a headstand
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longer when I take MDA than normally. Although it is extremely
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pleasant just to lie still and enjoy a respite from nervous
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activitiy in this state, i have tried rock climbing and swimming
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after taking MDA and again find that my body works in a more
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coordinated, smoother fashion and that I can do more than usual.
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One novel experience, conferred temporarily by the drug, is the
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ability to interact with kinds of external stimulation that would
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ordinarily be painful and not get hurt. It may become poossible
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to walk barefoot over sharp stones, for instance, and experience
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no discomfort or injury, apparently because the muscles are so
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free from imposed tension that they can respond with precise
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counterpressure to the point of a stone. In this way, the skin
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feels no net force.
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Such experiences confirm in a powerful way the sense of
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well-being. It fels as if nothing is threatening, and, in fact,
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things in the external world behave differently. This theme
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carries through to interpersonal relations. When people feel
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well, centered, unthreatened, and aware of their own strength and
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loveliness, they are able to drop many of the usual barriers that
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develop in groups. It is common in group MDA experiences for
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people to explore mutual touching and the pleasures of physical
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closeness. Participants may feel very loving toward one another,
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but the feelings are not explicitly sexual because MDA tends to
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decrease the desire for orgasm. For many people the experience of
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enjoying physical contact and feeling love with others in the
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absence of a specific hunger for sex is unique and welcome. (Some
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people do use MDA to heighten sexual experience.)
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Other hungers and desires may also disappear int he MDA
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state. Habitual users of tobacco feel no need to smoke. Chain
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smokers of marijuana do not need their weed. Nail biters leave
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their fingers alone. Compulsive talkers become quiet. Compulsive
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eaters do not think about food. Moreover, this desireless
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condition feels supremely natural and valuable. Becaue MDA
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affects the senses minimally, everything appears as it does
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usually. There are no hallucinations, illusions, or distortions,
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simply a great aura of peace and calm. It is not possible to
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pretend, as it often is with hallucinatory drugs, that the
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experience is coming from without. Clearly, all of the important
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effects, including the ability to be free of anxiety and desire,
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are part of the human repertory, often unexpressed, to be sure,
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but there nonetheless.
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The trouble with obtaining this state through the use of a
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drug is that it does not last. After five or six or eight hours,
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the old habits begin to creep back. before long the experience of
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loving peace and desirelessness is in the past. The value of the
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drug is that it can show people that certain ways of being are
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possible and available; it gives no information about maintaining
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them.
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I do not mean to paint a picture of MDA as a trouble-free
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panacea. Like all psychoactive drugs, its effects vary greatly
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with expectation and setting. People who take it in combination
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wit alcohol and downers at wild parties with strangers are not
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likely to realize its pootential. MDA also releases much energy
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stored in the nervous system, so that those who take it often
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feel tired and sluggish the next day. It should not be used
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unless one is in good physical shape with adequate energy
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reserves. For unknown reasons, it seems to be harder on womena nd
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may activate latent infections or problems in the female
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genitourinary tract. Women should take lower doses than men until
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they are sure the drug agrees with them and should avoid the drug
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altogether if their pelvic organs are ailing. Many people of both
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sexes report that the drug causes tension of the muscles of the
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jaw and face. In some individuals this effect becomes very
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annoying, progressing to involuntary grinding of the teeth. All
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of the adverse physical effects of the drug are dose-related.
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Whenever I have interviewed people who have had bad experiences
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with MDA, I have determined that they have taken excessive
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doeses, been in poor settings, or taken other drugs masquerading
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as MDA.
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In the right hands, MDA is quitte safe. Out of hundreds of
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experiences with it htat I have observed, I have seen only three
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anxiety reactions. The medical potential of the drug is great and
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quite unexplored. I have noted repeatedly that people under the
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influence of MDA, when feeling high, centered, and free of
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desire, are in a state complete anergy - that is, they manifest
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no allergic reactions, even to allergens to which they have a
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lifelong sensitivity. Asthma disappears, hay fever disappears,
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cat allergies go away, and there are even no responses to
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mosquito bites. This effect is temporary and appears to be the
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analogue in the body of the mental experience of complete
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relaxation and lack of anxiety. It might be reproducible without
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the drug if we could learn to spend more time in that state. I
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can envision a training program in allergy control in which
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patients would go through ten seesions with decreasing doses of
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MDA in settings designed to maximize the centering effect and
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demonstrate the possibility of coexisting with allergens. By the
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tenth session the dose would be zero and pateitnts would be doing
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it all on their own.
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Unfortunately, the federal government, having declared MDA
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to be a drug with high abuse potential and no redeeming
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therapeutic value, has placed it in a category (Schedule I) that
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makes it unavailable to physicians and available to researchers
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only with difficulty. I know of no ongoing research with MDA in
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this country and consider this lack to be another result of
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unenlightened policies on substances that could be helpful to us.
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven
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& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845
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Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766
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realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662
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Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699
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The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK
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The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674
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Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560
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"Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
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