DXM and other stuff on Youtube

[Yeti101]

I've seen a few YouTube vids of late showing people tripping on SD and the like, and last week one of the commercial current affairs shows did an 'expose' on DXM - complete with YouTube clips of staggering, drooling bug-eyed teens. Here is the original CBS story that they recycled: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/21/...in3959347.shtml

It got me to thinking about discussions we have had here regarding how damaging trip vids on public forums are to the public image of entheogens, alternative recreational substances and the like. I generally thought that these clips are pretty bad news for us because of the negative attention they generate and that people should not post them, and that the existing vids should be removed. What I did assume was there must have been a lot of these vids posted to generate such a fuss.

But there are not that many and the reaction in the media shows how we are disproportionately targeted compared with alcohol. If a few hundred robotripping vids warrants a current affairs piece along with the requisite moral panic, then why not a proportional reaction to the vids that show people in states of alcohol intoxication? If I had to guess, there are at least 100,000 of these, so where are all the expose's on this?

That a small amount of exposure on Youtube can generate negative media attention (for anything other than booze) shows how tenuous our position really is.

What I'm wondering is what do we do now? Would it help if we hacked every tripping teen off Youtube? Or will these clips eventually desensitise the populace so that they will leave us alone? Any thoughts?

[Yawning Man]

I generally thought that these clips are pretty bad news for us because of the negative attention they generate and that people should not post them

Agreed. I've seen lots of videos of people high on various drugs, some of them i thought were pretty funny but usually the people in the vids were high beyond belief. One video that caught my attention was of a dude out in the street wasted on ketamine. That video actually made me think about my own usage of entheogens in a somewhat negative light. But if a lot of people have the same reaction i did maybe some of those videos put people off trying enthogens. If you type in entheogens in youtube, a series of videos from a youtube member named neuro-soup comes up, and these videos are actually informative, rational and give a positive view of enthogens and the culture around them. I don't know where i'm going with all of this but there will always be ignorant people on the web ready to attack issues they don't know much about.

[ethnodude]

When it comes to salvia a large part of the problem comes from the distribution of such substances. On line distribution of powerful entheogens is a terrible idea IMO. There is no way to know who is going to end up with the product. In an ideal world there would be some type of initiation into the plant so that abuse is minimized. Then hopefully idiots like these wouldn't end up with it. I mean what are they hoping to achieve? It almost makes me think they want to get the plants banned.

As for robo tripping I remember a bunch of friends who did that nasty shit regularly in highschool. Ironically they would only do this when there was no acid around. If LSD were legal they would have done much less harm. Would have burned a lot less holes in their heads as well. The chemist down the road didn't seem to mind when these kids were buying boxes of the stuff either. Goes to show why prohibition is a bad idea. The legal products do more harm. Prohibition isn't about harm prevention though, its about control.

[Jesus On Peyote]

There should be some kind of "omerta" (mafia secrecy) type stuff about ethogens atm. its not to stop people from learning about ethogens, but those who seek, shall find. rather then plastering it all over the net in these "drug crazed" fashions.

In essence, enthogens use is more about spiritual and philosophical ideas and such.. and when you get 15yo american teens wanting to get high on anything they can, the news will jump onto these things with negitive slogans and try ban them, without actually understanding what its all about.

and what makes matters worse is like ethnodude mentioned, when u can buy 20x salvia smoke, and others from webstores that promote all these products as an alternative "legal" high as the story gets bigger then so will the pressure to ban any substences that may lead in that direction. And the next thing we know, theres a whole new task force to try and save the children from these things,and b4 we know it having nearly any plant thats not an inactive will be illigal.

IMO, no end products or at very least very little should be sold online, only their bearers. if people wish to try salvia,they should be able to buy their own plant(legally), and grow it and use it as they will, just as an example.

[ThunderIdeal]

that's a good idea JOP.

i'd like to see them ban lettuce though, heh, it's supposed to contain some opioids or something.

[Yawning Man]

Well said jesus on peyote, well said!!!