For the reasons that I agree with you and believe you are correct, I have achieved a Masters degree in transpersonal psychology and a doctorate in clinical psychology in the hopes of working clinically with these powerful psychoactive sacraments.

For the time being, I serve as the Executive Director for the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and am in collaboration with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, both of which are worth supporting and participating, if only for the cognitive liberties both organizations represent!

(feel free to contact me off-line with questions.)>> ^CreamK:

Very interesting take. Amphetamines are a ticking time bomb for your heart that is true. you can use them for years without noticing anything wrong and you may just drop dead at any time. Every time you take them you are cutting your life expectancy. They do have some therapeutic use but the fact is that pulse and blood pressure shoot so high that it's dangerous.
LSD and MDMA are much better for therapeutic uses, i've experimented with both, first recreationally but after realizing their potential have found them to be good tools. With LSD you can decrease depression for long periods of time, we are talking about months. MDMA is good for traumatizations, it enables the person to talk about his/her issues in a non-judgemental way, it kind of detaches the emotions from that trauma and gives closure. Both should be studied really carefully, i truly believe that hallucinogens are the answer to a lot of problems created by the modern high paced world and the lack of spirituality.

fixed>> ^cricket:

dead

Of course those types of establishments would exist and persist.
But only because racism itself exists and persists.

Moreover, what kind of douche bag "____" person would go into a "no ____ allowed" store in the first place?

And for what purpose? To cause a scene?
It most likely isn't to purchase goods and services.

How is that world any less free if people aren't threaten with force/violence for openly discriminating?

Do we currently live in the land of ultimate acceptance?
Where The Salvation Army allows Gay and Lesbian persons to serve as Pastors and Priest or The Girl Scouts don't have vehement anti-TransPersons members?

If THIS is the very worst Ron Paul can dish out. I can't see it really being that big an issue.
Because citizens, like you @NetRunner, would be free to ensure your local community wasn't accepting of racists!

[OH SNAP.. see how that works?! ]
>> ^NetRunner:

Are you saying that you think no such business would ever come into existence or persist?
Furthermore, once those places pop up, suppose a gay person goes into a "no gays allowed" store. What then?
How is that world "more free" than the one we live in now?

*Fixed

In reply to this comment by eric3579:
*dead

I'm quite glad to see stuff like this on the sift (and a bit impressed that CNN would do a story on this, albeit that the Hopkins study was published way back in 2005. Way to be current!).

Incidentally, it's due to experiences like the ones described here -- and other, similar non-drug induced experiences -- that had initially got me interested in the field of transpersonal psychology. I am close to completing my Ph.D. in this discipline and also work for the professional Association.

Folks who are interested in studies like these, may also want to visit the good people over at MAPS.

I am a graduate student in transpersonal psychology which, from my perspective, is one of the best scientific approaches so far for the empirical study of consciousness. One of the major questions that has emerged in this field has to do with the means of scientifically supporting the methods of diligence that are necessary for an adequate introspective exploration of the mind that have, until now, been generally associated with a kind religious (e.g., Buddhist) discipline and considered anathema to the scientific (e.g., secular) method of research. The "work" in this case has been in developing empirical evidence that establish so-called "religious" practices (e.g., medititive techniques) that may eventually lay the groundwork for the what must ultimately become a radically subjective approach to the examination of mental processes.

As a Ph.D. candidate in Transpersonal Psychology who has taken classes in parapsychology under well-respected parapsychologists, Charles Tart and Russell Targ, I would like to chime in here to say that the research that suggests remote viewers are capable of scoring statistically better than chance in their operation is pervasive in the literature.