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Comment by user3939382 | Hacker News Reader

I knew someone with a horrible addiction/dependence on ketamine and justified it by always talking about how it cured depression like it was a vitamin.

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I know people who had horrible addictions to ketamine and adderall (who also had depression and ADHD) who managed to recover from those addictions and years later use them appropriately and in reasonable therapeutic doses on a normal therapeutic schedule for treatment of same.

Anecdotes are not data and abuse potential isn’t really relevant to their clinical utility. Do we need to have a comment about junkies whenever someone mentions that they received fentanyl for a major surgery?

Maybe there’s a danger in 100% of the time discussing this drug’s benefits with no discussion of the risks.

Aren't there always risks with any treatment though? I'm not sure why psychedelics need to be specially called out.

Its a schedule 1 drug for a reason. Many people have used psychedelics and have had permentant changes to their personality.

I think the hippie stereotype is indicative to how damaging psychedelics have on the mind. You look at these people they are happy but something is clearly wrong.

Ketamine is schedule 3. It is regularly prescribed.

Schedule 1 substances basically can’t be prescribed without very special circumstances and permission. (Marijuana is in this class in the USA, strangely enough, along with MDMA.)

Even methamphetamine and cocaine aren’t Schedule 1.

Ketamine is actually a Schedule 3 drug. Schedule 3 drugs have strict regulations but are not on the same level as Schedule 1 drugs. Schedule 1 is the most severe in terms of regulation.

Adderall is Schedule 2.

And marijuana is still schedule 1, surprisingly

i envy those people so very very much. i don't care how wrong it might seem to appear happy, sounds awesome.

They don’t and aren’t.

Were they the director of the Yale Depression Research Center?

and are they hiring?

perks include padded floors and walls in the office (yes they are pushing RTO too), and free adult diapers for when your bladder inevitably fails.

I think I'm out of the loop

I came here to say this. I know someone who had one dose of ketamine for PTSD after a terrible fire. Worked like magic, but being a regular ketamine user is mind altering in a way that isn't good. These days there are quite a few people who are getting ketamine through a doctor on a weekly basis. John C Lilly was a regular ketamine user and his crazy-seeming thinking and writing later in life is an example to avoid and consider.

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