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Which drug? Context matters.

Salvia can be a very negative experience and has allegedly caused suicides.

DMT is almost a universally euphoric and positive experience although not Ayahausca. I have never heard of anyone committing suicide after either.

The big problem with psychedelics is how people spread fear and uncertainty. Try sharing the death statistics for alcohol the next time you share a bottle of wine with a romantic interest.




If salvia is very negative for you then you're doing too much. Sadly most people use salvia "extracts" which are almost guaranteed to be far too much to handle. Stick with plain leaf.


Salvia is, for me, is quite rough.

But I can't imagine it causing suicide. What's the progression/causation there? Or do we just not have enough data to know?


It would likely be quite difficult to ethically do such a study. Correlation alone isn't compelling: it could simply be that the underlying reason a significant share of people turn to [insert mind-altering substance here] is underlying emotional suffering, trauma, etc. and if the substance doesn't offer any improvement they end up resorting to suicide.


Maybe.

But based on the 3rd-hand reports I have read (the suicide can't/doesn't report), the self-kill-decision seems more immediate than the realization that the efficacy of the substance wasn't, you know, efficacious.




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