> Of those, 14% described themselves as having used at any point in their lives any of the three ‘classic’ psychedelics: LSD, psilocybin (the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms) and mescaline (found in the peyote and San Pedro cacti). The researchers found that individuals in this group were not at increased risk of developing 11 indicators of mental-health problems such as schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, anxiety disorders and suicide attempts.
Emphasis on "at any point in their lives".
In epidemiological surveys, lifetime use == reports using at least once.
Not necessarily. For smoking you need to smoke 100 cigarettes before qualifying for lifetime use.
The anti-depressant business model is genius: (a) They're sold at a very high price point, (b) they generally make you factually dependent for quite some time (and they're quite hard to quit). It's one of big pharma's preferred multi-billion cash cows.
Now you know who's interested in spreading fear, doubt and uncertainty regarding cheap and effective competing substances such as LSD and psilocybin. And this industry has the resources to effectively influence public discussion forums such as HN, Reddit, Slashdot, etc.
Anti-depressant meds are very cheap. This is one of the problems of meds, they're much cheaper than a course of talking therapy.
They don't cause dependence.
Most people don't have problems coming off SSRIs, SNRIs, NASAs etc.
> And this industry has the resources to effectively influence public discussion forums such as HN, Reddit, Slashdot, etc.
You might want to read any of the posts dang has mad about accusing people of astroturfing: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20astroturfing&sort=by...
That's also in the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
> Don't accuse others of astroturfing or shillage. Email us and we'll look into it.
You say that with such authority, but in my personal experience they can absolutely cause dependency. I've had long-lasting withdrawal effects from certain SSRIs that were both physically and mentally painful.
Discontinuation effects exist, are unpleasant, require correct tapering, but are not dependency.
'Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population.'
"[...] lifetime use of LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, or peyote, or past year use of LSD, was not associated with a higher rate of mental health problems."
https://www.nature.com/news/no-link-found-between-psychedeli... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3747247/