In this episode, Dr. Carl Sagan talks about the benefits and dangers of psychedelics, and why you should try them if you're curious about what they can do for you and your family. He also discusses the dangers of smoking and drinking in general, and the benefits of taking psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin, which are among the most potent psychedelics on the planet. Dr. Sagan is a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, and is the author of The End of Faith: How to Live a Good Life in a Drug-Free World, which is available for purchase on Amazon Prime and Vimeo worldwide. His work is also available in Kindle, iBook, Paperback, Hardcover, and Audio Book format. The End Of Faith is available on all major podcast directories, including Audible, iTunes, and Podchaser, wherever books are available. It's free to read and listen to on any platform where you get a good quality copy of the book. If you don't already have a Kindle device, you can get a free eReader app, too! Kindle $9.99, or an Audible $9,99, and Audible is Free $19.99. iBook is Free on Audible Free $99, too. Other good quality ebooks are also available for Kindle $29.95, or Audible at==1.99 or at=3. Audio Book is Free at=1=3r&mt=3 Book Recommendation: Kindle Free Trial Download MP3" Subscribe to Kindle Free eReader $3, $5,99 & iBookcase Free Trial=3RSS=3,99&mt3=1&qid=3&format=3? Kindle is Free Subscribe to iBookmark=AuBook=Apostle=A&q=AQ&qref=Avenue=Aq&t=3a&qlist=3s=3M&qset=3f&q&qcount=3d=3c=3e&q cite=3b&qname=3q=3Bc=1 &qrefref=1s=2&qqrefree=3g=2c&qdata=3m&qb=3l3&qr=3SdbV&qtoc=3Qt=1c=A3S&qt=4S5&qx&qwr=1S5Qt&qn&qcr&qk=3C&qf=2S5c=5S1AQI&qw&qc=4c=2Qc=P&q
00:00:23.140Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness.
00:00:27.220We form friendships so that we can feel certain emotions, like love, and avoid others, like loneliness.
00:00:33.780We eat specific foods to enjoy their fleeting presence on our tongues.
00:00:37.940We read for the pleasure of thinking another person's thoughts.
00:00:41.480Every waking moment, and even in our dreams, we struggle to direct the flow of sensation, emotion, and cognition towards states of consciousness that we value.
00:00:50.860Drugs are another means toward this end.
00:00:53.580Some are illegal. Some are stigmatized. Some are dangerous.
00:00:56.460Though perversely, these sets only partially intersect.
00:01:00.960Some drugs of extraordinary power and utility, such as psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, and lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, pose no apparent risk of addiction and are physically well tolerated, and yet one can still be sent to prison for their use.
00:01:14.840Whereas drugs such as tobacco and alcohol, which have ruined countless lives, are enjoyed ad libidum in almost every society on earth.
00:01:22.100There are other points on this continuum.
00:01:24.360There are other points on this continuum. MDMA, or ecstasy, has remarkable therapeutic potential, but is also susceptible to abuse, and some evidence suggests that it can be neurotoxic.
00:01:32.920One of the great responsibilities we have is to educate ourselves, along with the next generation, about which substances are worth ingesting and for what purpose and which are not.
00:01:43.080The problem, however, is that we refer to all biologically active compounds by a single term, drugs, making it nearly impossible to have an intelligent discussion about the psychological, medical, ethical, and legal issues surrounding their use.
00:01:55.660The poverty of our language has been only slightly eased by the introduction of the term psychedelics, to differentiate certain visionary compounds which can produce extraordinary insights from narcotics and other classic agents of stupefaction and abuse.
00:02:09.540However, we should not be too quick to feel nostalgia for the counterculture of the 1960s.
00:02:14.560Yes, crucial breakthroughs were made, socially and psychologically, and drugs were central to the process.
00:02:19.660But one need only read accounts of the time, such as Joan Didion's slouching towards Bethlehem, to see the problem with a society bent upon rapture at any cost.
00:02:29.640For every insight of lasting value produced by drugs, there was an army of zombies with flowers in their hair shuffling toward failure and regret.
00:02:37.740Turning on, tuning in, and dropping out as wise, or even benign, only if you can then drop into a mode of life that makes ethical and material sense, and doesn't leave your children wandering in traffic.
00:02:47.960Drug abuse and addiction are real problems, of course, the remedy for which is education and medical treatment, not incarceration.
00:02:56.640In fact, the most abused drugs in the United States now appear to be oxycodone and other prescription painkillers.
00:03:02.440Should these medications be made illegal? Of course not.
00:03:06.080But people need to be informed about their hazards, and addicts need treatment.
00:03:09.920And all drugs, including alcohol, cigarettes, and aspirin, must be kept out of the hands of children.
00:03:14.460I discuss issues of drug policy in some detail in my first book, The End of Faith, and my thinking on the subject hasn't changed.
00:03:22.440The war on drugs has been lost and should never have been waged.
00:03:25.760I can think of no right more fundamental than the right to peacefully steward the contents of one's own consciousness.
00:03:31.460The fact that we pointlessly ruin the lives of non-violent drug users by incarcerating them, at enormous expense,
00:03:37.500constitutes one of the great moral failures of our time.
00:03:39.940And the fact that we make room for them in our prisons by paroling murderers, rapists, and child molesters
00:03:45.520makes one wonder whether civilization isn't simply doomed.
00:03:49.580I have two daughters who will one day take drugs.
00:03:52.920Of course, I will do everything in my power to see that they choose their drugs wisely.
00:03:56.680But a life lived entirely without drugs is neither foreseeable nor, I think, desirable.
00:04:02.240I hope they someday enjoy a morning cup of tea or coffee as much as I do.
00:04:05.980If they drink alcohol as adults, as they probably will, I will encourage them to do it safely.
00:04:11.700If they choose to smoke marijuana, I will urge moderation.
00:04:15.100Tobacco should be shunned, and I will do everything within the bounds of decent parenting to steer them away from it.
00:04:20.660Needless to say, if I knew that either of my daughters would eventually develop a fondness for methamphetamine or crack cocaine,