From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   Many things have been done to fight drugs; but there is one promising tactic   
   that, to the best of my knowledge, has not been done on a wide scale. It is   
   acquainting these people with literature, poetry and the arts.   
      
   Many of the needs that people fulfil with drugs are fulfilled a lot better   
   with such things. Whether the person is doing it for escape or for expanding   
   consciousness, these things are once again better fulfilled through   
   literature, poetry and the arts.    
   When I was in school, someone asked me if I was on drugs, and my response was   
   “my brain makes LSD naturally.”   
      
   Drugs have never been important in my life; but poetry and philosophy have   
   been. I was told that other people pay money to experience states of mind that   
   are natural to me. A distinguished psychiatrist told me that in 1960s there   
   were many people who    
   were running around going on about insights they had while on drugs, but they   
   were unable to articulate these insights. With my regular mind achieving the   
   states that other people need drugs to fulfil, I have been able to articulate   
   my insights. Probably    
   the best setting for insight, for me, was the Burningman festival in Nevada. I   
   came away from that event with a whole philosophy of how dualities should be   
   dealt with better than they are dealt with in either the East or the West, and   
   I have applied that    
   thinking to a number of situations and a number of pursuits.   
      
   I have heard it stated that in American schools there are the “nerds”   
   (people into books) and “freaks” (people into drugs), and that the two are   
   cordial to one another while everyone else is not cordial to them. Of course I   
   recommend the way of    
   the nerd over the way of the freak. These people will know a lot of what other   
   people don’t know, and that would make them more interesting and more   
   effective people. I have heard it from tons of people that Americans don’t   
   educate themselves enough,    
   and I believe that this is a problem that can be fixed.   
      
   Is there a legitimate place for drugs? I know of someone who used marijuana to   
   deal with his anger, and it worked. James O’Barr wrote The Crow comic book   
   while on LSD, and there have been many people who produced great rock songs   
   while on acid or    
   marijuana. I don’t know whether the benefits outweigh the costs or whether   
   the costs outweigh the benefits. Probably the biggest problem with drugs is   
   that they are illegal, and that makes them dangerous to be used.   
      
   However there is no legal condemnation for the arts. Nor does it do bad things   
   to one’s brain or one’s health. We have people going on about how people   
   into arts are lunatics or snobs; but the people I’ve known who were into   
   arts spanned from the    
   lowest of the low to the highest of the high, and they were all welcoming and   
   open-minded people. So the next time you feel like dropping ice, look instead   
   at some Renaissance or Impressionist painting. I can guarantee you it will   
   last longer.  And you    
   will not have to worry about getting nabbed.   
      
   So we have Colorado legalizing marijuana. I think that’s for the better.   
   Once again, not all uses of drugs are benign; but some are. I would encourage   
   more people to read and to view some good art. That way they will be able to   
   be outside of the world    
   without being outside of the law.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)