Comment by beepboopbeep | Hacker News Reader

Comment by beepboopbeep | Hacker News Reader

One of the worst things that comes from the banning of drugs is the stigma attached to it in order to give reason to ban it. That stigma just doesn't let go no matter what evidence is being presented.

Case in point are the incredible studies by the folks at Johns Hopkins on Psilocybin. They're not feeding people hallucinogenic mushrooms, they're giving them controlled doses of manufactured psilosybin. Incredible studies, very interesting in all ways, but the news headline is almost always some shitty pun or stupid jab about 'shrooms or "trippy" or "far out" which immediately demeans the research in the readers mind.

This usually continues through the text. The author will describe the study, effects, results, etc. then punctuate it with some dumb line about it being groovy. Makes it embarassing to be associated with the results when we could be looking at some truly breakthrough approaches to therapy and who knows what else.

Obfuscation of the true nature of the research might help in this case.

Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the highly reactive hydroxyl radical, a species shown to mutate DNA, denature proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and chemically alter critical neurotransmitters. The atomic components of DHMO are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

Learn more about the dangers of DHMO here

I always write the editors of whatever magazine published an article with the tone you described and complain about it.

Authors do the world a tremendous disservice delegitimizing chemicals that have the potential to treat heretofore untreatable conditions.

Although I don't disagree with the problem of stereotypes and stigmas, what I think we're seeing with the language you've identified is a movement from "they ignore you" to "they laugh at you," - remind me, what are the next two stages?

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