|
July 21, 2010
This I-dosing thing is giving me heavy flashbacks, man!
What is getting high? Does it require drugs? What are drugs? Must they be actual chemical substances ingested by a person? Or might things which stimulate the body to produce its own highs be called "drugs"? These questions were on my mind as I read about the latest form of hysteria and counter-hysteria: I-Dosing: How teenagers are getting 'digitally high' from music they download from internetThat's quite a headline, but if you read through the piece carefully, there's not much by way of scientific proof. This is the world of 'i-Dosing', the new craze sweeping the internet in which teenagers used so-called 'digital drugs' to change their brains in the same way as real-life narcotics.That's the claim, and I suppose if I got excited enough I could say similar things about the Grateful Dead or even Doowop music. Fascinatingly, some of the people in the narcotics enforcement bureaucracy are taking this very seriously, claiming that the music can lead to drugs, and that to keep kids "safe," parents should "take action." But there has been such alarm in the U.S. that the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs has issued a warning to children not to do it.Sheesh. This sounds almost as dangerous as Jazz Hysteria. Back in the day, jazz was claimed to lead the kids to cocaine and morphine, and cause them to abandon religion. No seriously. Or how about the belief that pornography is a "drug" and actually generates "erototoxins" in the brain? Get enough of the neurolaw crackpots involved, and you never know where this might lead. But back to I-dosing. The experts say that if there is anything going on, it's most likely a placebo effect: although they use a very modern method of spreading themselves, i-Dosing is actually a variation on a very old method of achieving an altered state.I think it may be a bit like voodoo or shamanism, and I don't reject entirely the idea that excitable people can work themselves into little mini frenzies. (In North America, the idea is at least as old as Indian culture, or even Salem witch culture.) But I also think that some of these kids may be putting everyone on, and I am reminded of the Bananadine ("Mellow Yellow") hysteria of the 1960s. There is absolutely nothing in banana peels which will get a person high, but enough people started doing it and claiming that they were high, that it was taken very seriously -- to the point where there was a government investigation: The wire services, and after them the whole country, fell for it hook, line, and roach clip. "Smokeouts" were held at Berkeley. The following Easter Sunday, the New York Times reported, "beatniks and students chanted 'banana-banana' at a 'be-in' in Central Park" and paraded around carrying a two-foot wooden banana. The Food and Drug Administration announced it was investigating "the possible hallucinogenic effects of banana peels."Perhaps the FDA could look into this dangerous "I-dosing" trend. At the very least, if these young people are stimulating brain receptors, the "music" might very well be a "medical device" and run afoul of some of our complex newer laws. We can't be too careful. After all, we have learned a lot since 1967. posted by Eric on 07.21.10 at 11:49 AM
Comments
legally available and downloadable on the Internet ...under thousands of innocent-sounding aliases, such as "Giacinto Scelsi CD" and "La Monte Young mp3s," many of which date from the '60s! Sustained notes: eternal menace. guy on internet · July 21, 2010 06:11 PM Sorry, I ain't as stupid as these PhDs. This here is straight-up stupid. Next they'll be burning CD's.... Bill Johnson · July 21, 2010 10:18 PM Post a comment
You may use basic HTML for formatting.
|
|
July 2010
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR
Search the Site
E-mail
Classics To Go
Archives
July 2010
June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 May 2002 AB 1634 MBAPBSAAGOP Skepticism See more archives here Old (Blogspot) archives
Recent Entries
Burglar? Or underground bartender?
It's The Carbon Footprint What California most needs right now -- a defrocking campaign! In protest, I quote your words! Where's The Party, Man? The Problem Is Self Induced This I-dosing thing is giving me heavy flashbacks, man! We still have the First Amendment, right? The horse has left the barn, and the barn is gone! And we long since threw away the toothpaste tubes! barking back at authoritarian dogs
Links
Site Credits
|
|
Wait until the DEA finds out the brain is full of cannabis analogs called endocannabinoids. And that it is full of receptors for such drugs which are referred to in the literature as CB1 and CB2 receptors.
PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System
Or worse what if they find out about the heroin analogs the body makes? And that making those analogs in response to food or sex is rather common. Strenuous exercise will do it too.
Which is why I recommend strenuous sex. Fuck the government.