I have to say that whilst I do think drugs are the wrong way to deal with things generally, there are good grounds to think that life for ordinary people is more unstable and filled with at least less apparent security and this makes a rise in the demand for treatment of mental disquiet inevitable.

I might prefer if it inspired political engagement or revolutionary activity, but this is not how most humans react to this kind of stimulus it seems.

To be undrugged -- neither pharmaceutically nor recreationally -- seems to be becoming exceptional.

it's the new 'unplugged'!

seriously though, have you read andrew weil?

the way he sees it, and i agree, is that many foods are drugs, in their effects, and the line between the two is pretty arbitrary.

one man's trash is another man's treasure...

wanting to bend consciousness is not per se a sign of folly, (though it can sure accelerate going there).

and being a non-bender is no guarantee of clear thinking, in my experience anyway.

personally i believe that we should decide for ourselves what best nourishes us, and if you can grow it in the garden organically, then you should have a right to use it, whatever 'category' the present mores determine it to be.

there's too much difference in opinion in various thriving cultures to take categorisation seriously, except for staying out of jail, natch!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty