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Comment by utefan001 | Hacker News Reader

One of my best friends committed suicide at age 18 in 1995. If LSD was not part of his life, I am sure the suicide would have never happened.

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I don't want to sound callous -- I'm sorry for your loss, that sounds awful -- but your comment doesn't give enough context to gain any insight. It just sounds like "drugs are bad, mkay."

The problem is that some people can't handle LSD or other hallucinogens and won't know until they are dead, hurt, or mentally screwed. It's this risk that makes them bad.

Some people aren't capable of healthy romantic relationships and will cause and experience a lot of pain through trying to have them. Should we stop everyone from trying because some percentage will end up in abusive situations, or with broken hearts, or even dead? Risk alone doesn't make something bad, just risky. The question is if the potential rewards make the risks worthwhile, and the answer for LSD for many is clearly yes. Learning how to deal with risk is just part of life.

I've had a lot more friends die from not being able to handle driving licenses than all other causes of friends dieing added together.

I'm very sorry about your friend. While LSD can provide great rewards, it is emphatically NOT for some people, or situations, or moods, or stages of life. It is extremely powerful and requires care and respect.

Of course, the same could be said for driving a car, having children, and a lot of other things that can make life better. Research and education are the proper responses to such risks and dangers, not banning the activity for everyone.

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend and his drugs abuse however this statement is pure speculation. I don't find drug abuse to be a convincing argument for prohibition - in the US, it has only escalated violence and addiction rates. There are obviously negative ways to use drugs. The article is about a positive way.

You can't know that it's speculation. You didn't experience it.

I am alive. I doubt I would be if I hadn't taken LSD at the right time.

(not trying to invalidate your argument at all, btw. and I am not saying that LSD is the only way or the best way it could happen. But it's the way how it did happen.)

That really sucks that your friend killed himself. Having lived through it, maybe you know for sure LSD was the reason he did it. But perhaps he was covering up something else.

If I killed myself today, not a whole lot of people would know why. They might attribute it to something they knew about, but very, very few people know about the thing that makes me want to kill myself.

So what I'm saying is maybe you're right - I certainly have no idea why your friend killed himself, but maybe it could have been something that was devouring his mind that he kept covered up.

What makes you want to kill yourself?

Haha nice try

What do you gain by not giving an answer? What do you stand to lose?

What do we lose by not hearing your answer? What might we gain?

Your call, of course.

Strangely enough, it's not something I'm comfortable talking about. This is why not many people know about it.

One of my best friends committed suicide at age 32 in 2005. Because LSD was not part of his life, I am not sure why the suicide happened.

Or: One of my best friends committed suicide at age 32 in 2005. I think LSD was not part of his life, so I am sure that is not why he killed himself. Anyway, you get the point. People die, sometimes I wonder why.

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