Nearly anything can be considered a drug … are they all created equal?

I <3 Drugs 🍄🍃💭🍺☕️☀

Chapter I: What Are Drugs? 💭
Chapter II: How Do I Use Drugs? 🛠️
Chapter III: My First Time 🌱

Good Morning! ☀️

⚠️ This piece contains raw truths about drugs, repositioning them as tools of experience rather than gateways to despair.

No, this isn’t a typo. I haven’t been hacked. 

It’s not a confessional either – I’m not an addict, and I don’t need help.

Spare me the interventions.

I’m simply like the average American.

I enjoy brief escapes – or altered experiences – that support the picture of a full life. 

My experiences have helped bring balance into my day-to-day, and have shaped me into the faith and service driven man that I am.

As an advocate of good health and happy living, I’m just here to share what I’ve learned about through those experiences.

I hope you appreciate my honesty 🌎

What Are Drugs? 🤔

You may shudder when you hear the word drugs.

You may think of overdoses, addiction, or something dirty, illegal, dangerous.

But I don’t see it that way.

To me, drugs are simply avenues of experience — tools that shift the mind, the body, the soul.

Of course there’s a fancy medical definition of what a drug technically is.

For the sake of this conversation, let’s consider drugs to be things outside of our own skin that make us feel good.

The better question is, what isn’t a drug?

Drugs can bring joy, heal trauma, induce clarity and ease, stimulate productivity, and even drive self-improvement.

By that measure, almost everything is a drug – not just weed, alcohol, and the others.

Food is a drug.

Love is a drug.

Social media is a drug.

A good book is a drug.

The almighty sun is a drug (a powerful one)

Cold water on the skin is a drug.

Your favorite album hits like a drug.

Work is a drug.

Gossip is a drug.

Herbal supplements and medicines are drugs, too.

And of course, the all-innocent caffeine, is the most widely used drug on Earth.

I know what you’re thinking.

“How could you possibly compare my matcha latte with a line of cocaine?” 

Though they may seem worlds apart, these two drugs are actually quite similar. 

Both caffeine and cocaine are stimulants.

Stimulants are substances that speed up communication between the brain and body.

They increase alertness, focus, and energy by jamming the brakes on fatigue.

We like stimulants because they make us feel sharp.

When we should be tired, they make us feel alert.

When we should be cautious, they make us confident.

When we’d otherwise otherwise be sluggish, caffeine makes us productive.

Don’t forget about ADHD and “study drugs” like Adderall and Ritalin – those are powerful stimulants too. They even got children taking those!

It makes sense that caffeine is worshiped.

So why is cocaine, the most infamous of the stimulants, whispered about and demonized?

Obviously, there are more hazards and dependency risks depending on the substance.

But all of them run on the same wiring in your nervous system, and carry certain risks and tradeoffs.

A healthy habit of any substance can cost you a pretty penny, and drive you toward dependence.

Nicotine, another widely consumed stimulant, is both the hero and villain of drugs around the world, depending on who you ask.

It’s all cultural norm and perception; for every human, there is a different vice or drug, and they all scratch the same itch.

Some just have better PR.

Think about caffeine’s cultural script:

“Don’t talk to me before I’ve had my coffee.”

“I can’t function without my morning cup.” 

These phrases are confessions of dependence, even addiction.

Without caffeine, users crash into withdrawal — headaches, irritability, low mood, brain fog, sometimes even jitters or anxiety.

That’s the same behavioral pattern we fear in “harder” drugs.

That’s why we judge and condemn the curbside addict – it’s their desperation and dependency – unashamed and plain to see –that disturbs us.

Those who are downtrodden embody some of our deepest fears – living and breathing representations of what we could look like at our worst.

And we praise who society tells us are the victors.

These select few represent the “best” versions of ourselves.

The Goldman Sachs analyst who crushes a night of spreadsheets – geeked-up on Adderall to beat the market by sunrise – is a workhorse.

A dawg.

These archetypes are the favorite children of the system.

Good little capitalists who tirelessly labor through any adversity, for the glory of the almighty dollar.

We should be this way, too – the narrative insists.

It’s no matter whether it costs time, family, social ties, wellbeing, or our souls.

“F— you, pay me.”

Certain drugs thrive in a society that demands endless energy, focus, and productivity.

Others are condemned for results that disrupt the status quo.

Ask around, and you’ll get a sense of what Americans think of as “white” drugs, and “Black” drugs.

There are all threads within the hegemonic narrative that Westerners, like us, have been shaped to believe.

A hegemonic narrative is a prevailing storyline, perspective, or ideology that is so deeply ingrained in a society that it is accepted as “common sense”, often serving to legitimize existing power structures and marginalize alternative viewpoints.

💡Sound familiar? Think for a moment about why certain drugs are highly marketed and celebrated, while others are heavily criminalized.

How differently would these drugs be viewed in a society where our worth was not measured by our labor or conformity, but instead by our character and positivity?

After experimenting with several substances over the years, I deeply understand how some of them affect me – for better or worse.

Before engaging, I leverage what I know about myself and my reactions to the substance, and make careful decisions from there.

I then ask myself a series of questions:

• What is it that I seek?

• Can this drug help me get there?

• Is it honest, or dishonest to reward myself with this?

• What are the tradeoffs here?

• Is it worth it?

Once my decision is made, I prepare to face (or embrace) the consequences.

What I seek depends on the kind of state I desire.

If it’s wakefulness and motivation I seek, I’ll knock down some cold brew.

(Sometimes two cups if I really need to giddy up.)

On days without a need for such stimulation, I’ll go without caffeine altogether.

I’m not much of a drinker, but if closeness and fellowship is what I crave, a Mexican beer or New Zealand glass of wine helps plenty.

For focus, I lean on Lion’s Mane mushroom extract or powder, and hop into a cold shower.

Long work sessions typically follow.

And while we’re on the topic of mushrooms ….

Let’s talk about psychedelics.

Psychedelics are drugs that alter perception, mood, and thought.

Instead of speeding things up (like stimulants) or slowing them down (like depressants (alcohol) psychedelics bend and reshape what you sense and feel.

One of the most popular psychedelics is the Psilocybin “Magic” Mushroom.

If what you desire is reflection, stillness, bliss and introspection, mushrooms are a powerful gateway.

Mushrooms affect serotonin pathways, which can strongly shift your mood, and even your perspective on life and self.

There’s a reason it’s called a trip …

But mushrooms aren’t just a route of escape – they also serve as a method of wholistic healing.

Clinical trials prove that they help alleviate depression, anxiety, PTSD, alcoholism, and nicotine dependence.

When users take the mushroom, they break cycles of craving and addiction by reshaping brain pathways, effectively creating new windows and doors in the home that is our mind.

My First Time 🌱

When I first experimented with mushrooms, a few things happened.

First, I consistently felt powerful nostalgia and sentimentality.

I am already a pretty reflective person, but it felt as if every truth and memory from my past was presenting itself.

Strangely enough, none of these memories were threatening. Even the uncomfortable truths I was confronted with made sense. 

They say the truth shall set you free, and I have felt that in great depth.

As I progressed, I began to thoroughly understand truths about myself: my family, my ancestors, my culture, my friends, my environment, my possessions, my feelings, and most of all, my patterns.

I started to understand why I did things, and where those behaviors stemmed from.

Without any nagging from the ego, I became able to accept these truths, and in the months following, I was able to make changes that have lasted to this day.

There’s obviously much more I could get into, and I probably will in some other issue.

The long and short of my initial mushroom experiences is that I learned a lot about a lot.

Using that vision, I’ve become more equipped to improve on bad habits, to do more good, and to appreciate the blessings I may have overlooked.

After reading about my experiences, it might make sense why I boldly claim to love drugs. But then again, in some way, we all do.

Whether its a new video game, a promotion we’re chasing, or even a much-needed hug, drugs come in many different forms, and they all have their tradeoffs.

How we balance them is our choice, and the consequences are our lessons.

But don’t worry, the discussion doesn’t stop here.

This piece was just Part One in this series, so look out for more on this subject soon!

Peace, 

Red 🍄