Psychonauts And Their Entheogens

I was thinking about making a psychonaut character to roleplay, but I probably won't. It brings back too many ?strange memories on this nervous night.... Five years later? Six? It seems like a lifetime....? Anyway, I believe this forum has enough mature people that this topic can be discussed, and that everyone has enough judgement to follow their comfort level as to admitting potentially incriminating things in public.

Okay.

For thousands of years, there have been people who have explored altered states of consciousness. These people are known as psychonauts. Altered states are achieved through things like meditation and prayer, self-discipline and fasting, dream manipulation and astral projection, music and dance, and so on. There are also those who explore the spirit using entheogens.

Entheogens are compounds with hallucinogenic properties. (Interestingly, Wiki tells me the word has the same Greek root as the word "enthusiasm".) They are often poorly understood by the scientific and medical communities, because most traditional entheogens are, in present day America, illegal to possess. The studies aren't there; when I wrote a paper way back in highschool, I had to rely on trip reports at Erowid, because of the extreme poverty of formal literature in the university library.

Sometimes there are exceptions to the illegality of entheogens, such as when therapeutic potential is practically impossible to deny, despite all attempts to block research (medicinal marijuana); or for the spiritual use of Native Americans. For the population at large, though, drugs are bad, m'kay. Off the top of my head, the only consciousness-altering drugs that are legal are a certain festive spice that's indispensable for eggnog, ethanol, cough syrup, and psychiatric medication.

I see nothing inherently wrong with psychonauts who are interested in using entheogens for insight, although I admit not all ?street drugs? will produce a consonant result. On a personal level, I can't think of a single entheogen that alters consciousness to a greater degree than bipolar disorder, and my particular mental affliction provides zero insight into anything.

Are entheogens a valid or effective way to obtain spiritual insight?
What sorts of reasons might entheogens be illegal?
Should Americans prevent Native Americans from using entheogens? Alternatively, should entheogens be legal for the general population?
Any other things you'd like to say on this topic?

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