open letter to Students for a Sensible Drug Policy

this group has advocated opening the legislation so that we may enjoy drugs without interference. this is a worthy goal, but i feel we would do well to undertake some personal alchemy first in order for us to be more effective. i would challenge us to consider what responsibility looks like on a personal level, and share the story of how we are responsible drug users with the general public. if indeed we are. we are not a homogeneous group.

this is the essential story to combat their narrative of fear and loathing: responsible drug use is possible, and further it is HELPFUL. my question for OU SSDP is, are we up to this? my sense has been that i have a more limited view of responsible drug use than my SSDP fellows. that is partially because i have a more limited experience-based knowledge, and partially because i cannot help but note that our group has suffered from lack of action. i take some share in this, and left the group to find more action-inspiring energy elsewhere. now i find myself somewhat strung out on stimulants, and looking for community to be studious, effective and also cut loose in dyonesian revelry on occasion as a counterweight. or something.

*~#what am i looking for? basically i just miss you guys and feel like i don't use or go to enough shows to connect anymore, and it doesn't have to be like this. so i'm looking for you, and heart to heart discussion, and whatever comes of that#~*

now the reading that inspired me to contact y'all. and btw, i'm here for the summer please please hit me up

"4. The Preparation of Medicines

Herbs are the finest energy of mountains and streams, the essential florescence of grasses and trees. They may be warm, or they may be cool; one uses them to supplement or drain energy. They may be thick, or they may be thin; one uses them externally or from within.

Studying herbs in their essence allows you to support your inner nature and destiny. On the other hand, if you apply herbs blindly, you will waste your body and phsysical constitution.

All those who study the Tao must penetrate herbal lore. If you do not do so, you have no means to support the Tao. Yet in doing so, you must not develop attachments, for they will diminish the hidden merits of past lives. You will then hanker after mateiral goods on the outside and waste your efforts at cultivation within.

Not only does lead to grave transgressions and errors in this life, but it will also cause retribution in the lives to come. Oh, noble disciples of my teaching! Heed this and be very careful!"

~Wang Chongyang in their 'Fifteen Articles on Establishing the Teaching', circa 1150 CE