Hacker News Reader

Comment by primitivesuave | Hacker News Reader

Regarding #1, you can get a waiver for past cannabis use if you weren't a habitual user (by self admission) and never faced any legal action (distribution, possession, etc) in regards to cannabis. If you have ever distributed any drug (even so far as splitting the cost of drugs with a roommate) you cannot enlist. The enlistment screeners are surprisingly effective at getting people to admit things they did over a decade ago.

If you admit to ever using LSD or psychedelics, even one time, you will be automatically disqualified from serving in the military or law enforcement (go figure).

View on HN

Oddly enough if you joined the British Army in days of yore you might have found yourself ordered to take LSD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziqpwkhqTRs

( Likely also true for other countries, eg: USofA, etc )

Interesting footage of US soldiers doing drills on LSD. It's really strange that someone learned about LSD and decided to see how well people can march in a parking lot while under the influence. Whoever designed the experiment really didn't understand LSD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbSEU8Hv4lA

The whole point of that experiment was to see how a military unit behaves on acid.

Why shouldn’t they be marching the soldiers?

Is this a thing that requires testing? Do they have units run drills on all common recreational drugs? I could see some merit in evaluating stimulants, but what is the expected gain from most anything else?

If it were used as an environmental toxin, would it cause the soldiers to begin shooting at each other?

No, they might start empathising with each other.

They considered using L.S.D. as an aerosol on enemy troops, but IIRC there were problems with using it, don't remember exactly what. It would also incapacitate friendly troops or some agreement was signed forbidding its usage. Long time ago since I went down this rabbit hole last time...

Right, but there are known agents that are incredibly legal. I am still trying to imagine the scenario in which making the enemy ineffective was a superior option to dead. I guess the non lethal option lowers the risk of friendly fire?

If nothing else, the double edged sword application of chemical weapons was well known at this point.

The ideal scenario for a weapon is immediate, non-lethal, incapacitation. The holy grail of weapons technology is the stun setting on the Star Trek phaser.

Making an incapacitated enemy dead: Easy.

Making a dead civilian/ally un-dead: Necromancy.

This is amazing, I cried laughing. “This man nearly succeeded in felling a tree using only a spade”

> If you admit to ever using LSD or psychedelics, even one time, you will be automatically disqualified from serving in the military or law enforcement (go figure).

Well how many hits do you need to understand that everything we do could be construed as a game?

>If you admit to ever using LSD or psychedelics, even one time, you will be automatically disqualified from serving in the military or law enforcement (go figure).

Is this documented anywhere? I have gone on a psilocybin retreat and have considered a career in the air force in the distant future.

For 3 letter intelligence agencies I think it was 10 year statute of limitations... This may have changed

Anecdotal from reliable sources, but it sounds like a holistic evaluation. If you’re a strong candidate otherwise, they will overlook drug experiments but not drug addictions.

You still need a waiver.

A quick google search says the Air Force's max enlistment age is 39, so I don't know how distant in the future you mean, but it's probably something to be aware of.

I'd be curious about some documentation too, but I suspect it's one of those things where a person who enjoys the odd psychedelic now and again is a poor cultural fit for the military, though the Air Force is by all accounts the least militant branch of the military from what I can tell. Certainly my grandfather had a good career there and he was about the least disciplinarian or serious person (personality speaking I mean; he did a good job as an officer and electrical engineer by any account) you'd ever meet. He certainly spoke highly of the Air Force and said on a few occasions that it helped him to meet one of his major life goals; to make more money retired than working.

Just don’t tell them.

Please don't give advice like this. Everything people publish on hackernews stays online forever and it's not that hard to associate with real people.

GPT5 or 6 can just get this data with a simple question in the near future.

Otoh if you want to avoid the forever war meat grinder, keep some pictures of yourself at an LSD, mushroom, and weed party on standby.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com