I have never done mushrooms.....wait I take that back, I ate a small stem once but felt absolutely no psychological or physiological shift or change....so technically, I've never actually "done" mushrooms because I didn't eat enough to feel anything worth noting. Lately though, I've just been utterly fascinated and occupied with the idea and the research involved in  experiencing an entheogenic experience.

I've always been fascinated by altered states of consciousness but lately, my fasicnation was sparked when my dad told me about Dr. Rick Strassman and his DEA approved, clinical research into giving 60 different volunteers the extremely powerful hallucinogen, DMT (N N dimethyltryptamine) and the insanely powerful states of altered consciousness reported by the volunteers after being given the DMT. I was fascinated by what the volunteers had to say about their experience.
A number of them had the same experiences and states of consciousness which Dr. Strassman found to be out of the realm of coincidence.
A large number of the volunteers who were given DMT, reported to have had the exact same experiences of leaving their bodies, even leaving the planet and going out into deep space and meeting with entities, either occupying another dimension or entities from outside our planet. This I find to be amazingly fascinating.
Another amazing thing about DMT itself is that it is found throughout the human body and throughout nature and is very similar to the neurotransmitter, serotonin and supposedly acts in a similar way when taken into the body in a high concentration.
Strassman was trying to find a connection between DMT and the pineal gland, which has been considered by some to be the seat of the soul or the position of the seventh chakra. Strassman makes a pretty convincing case that the pineal gland produces DMT which facilitates the movement of the soul in or out of the body and is an integral part of the birth and death experience and may have connections with the alien abduction phenomenon and some of the dream states we experience during sleep. The persistence of these experiences by tens of thousands of people can either be described as being built into our brains or infused into our DNA somehow or these substances are actually the vehicle which can propel us or allow us to see a greater spectrum of reality. The crazy thing is that chemicals in your brain CAN actually affect the way you perceive the world. For example, many mental disorders have been attributed to an imbalance of serotonin which can effect your outlook on life and the way you see yourself and others. If it weren't for the proper amount of that chemical in your brain, your reality would be completely different. Likewise if  everyone's serotonin level were different, the world would be a very different place. Mental imagery is very powerful.

So back to the whole mushroom fascination. The substance in hallucinogenic mushrooms is psilocybin, which when taken into your body, produces psilocin, considered to be close to DMT and serotonin. With that said, psilocybin containing mushrooms have very similar effects when compared to DMT and unlike DMT, there is no preparation necessary because you can find these mushrooms just about anywhere during certain seasons. Their use in religious, shamanic and spiritual experiences and practices throughout the world have been dated back from this day to more than Four Thousand Years ago! Some speculate and theorize that these hallucinogenic plants and fungi have had a large part in being responsible for our evolution and the development of our art and language. This idea isn't too far fetched when you read about how profound, intense, life changing, terrifying and enlightening some of these experiences can be.

 With all of this said, I'm not condoning the usage of this or any other hallucinogen to just anyone. I think in certain circumstances, the consumption of a hallucinogen by a person who is already whacked out, in a bad place, unhealthy, depressed, imbalanced to begin with, careless or just plain ignorant is a terrible idea. I also think that certain drugs do a huge amount of harm to the brain and body, drugs such as heroin, crack, cocaine even cigarettes and alcohol to me are the absolute worst idea you could ever conceive of when thinking of having an altered state of consciousness. These harmful drugs I mentioned do a great disservice to the perception that the greater uneducated public has on the subject of mind altering drugs and in my opinion these fore mentioned drugs wreak havoc to anyone's body who consumes them. On the other hand, I do in fact condone with no guilt or inhibition, the consumption of certain powerful hallucinogens such as psilocybin to  physically and mentally healthy, responsible adults looking to explore themselves and their perceptions of the world. This is why I have decided that when I'm given the chance, I'm going to consume and experience the effects of the psilocybin mushroom.

 I should probably bring up the fact that these mushrooms ARE in fact illegal and are considered a schedule 1 drug....meaning the most illegal and most punishable form of substance that you can consume in the united states. This really means nothing to me because I don't believe desires can be outlawed or prohibited, only regulated. Also,  the war on drugs is a complete fucking failure! Education and treatment is the key, not prohibition. Desires and experiences cannot be prohibited they can only be regulated and to think that these things cannot exist in society is to truly be infected with a horribly skewed hallucination of reality. Altered states of mind have been part of the human experience since the dawn of time and to outlaw them and allow substances which do absolutely fucking NOTHING for you (like cigarettes and alcohol) because of some old protestant idea of how everyone should live is something that should not be allowed in a so called "free nation". The war on drugs has created more criminals and killings and allowed for more illegal drug profit  than any reasonable person can probably imagine. It just mystifies me that we didn't learn from the mistakes of the original prohibition of alcohol and the criminals that it created. So I say fuck the unconstitutional war on drugs....that's right, I said it UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Fuck the war on drugs and use your intelligence to undermine the war on drugs just like they used their intelligence to undermine the constitution.