PSYCHEDELIC SCIENCE: Drugs Are the Same: Legal or Illegal. Stimulation as a Necessity: A Reinterpretation of 'Drugs' in Contemporary Society
December 13, 2024 Edison Carrasco Jiménez preprint
Legal and illegal drugs alike function as stimulatory substances that nourish both mind and body, driven by a fundamental human need to alleviate the anxiety arising from social and cultural tensions. Drawing on Freud's concept of social discomfort in 'Civilization and Its Discontents' and Huxley's soma in 'Brave New World', the article argues that consumer societies seek artificial pleasures to mitigate suffering. A comparative analysis of various drugs and their effects on the human psyche suggests that future legalization of psychedelics should be considered from cultural and philosophical perspectives, not merely medical ones.