Why do psychedelics exist?

[MarcusJD9999]

What is the purpose of psychedelic drugs? What was the original reason people used them, why? When were they first known to be used and why are they here? Like, why do they exist? Are they just for fun and recreation? Some of them are made in labs, but some are found naturally from and in plants and herbs? Why do they exist in nature? Why would a toad happen to just randomly have DMT, a psychedelic drug, on it's back? What is the main reason they exist and are here.

 

[Incunabula]

Aliens

 

[Solipsis]

I think the main explanations are that a lot of them have been evolved in plants and animals to deter and confuse predators / animals that would eat the plant. It seems incredible but is no more incredible than the millions of other plant-animal relations that have evolved over spans of time. For example the relation between the shape of beaks of birds that drink nectar from flowers with a matching shape. The psychedelics as a key in the lock of the receptor would not be too different from that. A difference is that bird beaks still tend to work if they are a little bit different, but with chemicals often not so much. Still it wouldn't be too far off and would require more time.

Some other psychedelics / psychoactives in plant may exist from a combination of coincidence and similarity between biochemicals, for example indoles found in plants and serotonin in animals. How all of that is tuned into each other over the history of life is incredibly complex and wonderful.

But I don't think it's helpful to look for special purpose, like some intelligent design thing. Ironically that is not an intelligent theory.

 

[Durzo1258]

Curiosity. It started when first cave men ate some mushrooms (probably a lot because he was hungry) and he tripped balls. If he lived to tell others (not eaten by a sabre tooth tiger while tripping) about his experience others tired it too to see what is he on about. The trend continued with other plants, we started extracting some of them and as the time progressed and developed science we started to make new drugs.

 

[donvliet]

Why does anything exist? You can talk about the function a property of an organism has, but does that really answer the fundamental question about why things exist? Some of these properties have clear functions while others don't seem to have any at all.

The way biology seems to work is by random mutation and natural selection. New properties emerge from these random mutations all the time. Very often they attribute negatively to the survival chances of the organism and never catch on. A select few lead to a benefit and become sucessful in the game of survival. And some might be inconsequential. They might survive without function.

In this story there is no mention of reason, just function. Reason suggests a god-like entity designing the world with a purpose. I personally see a biological world around me that seems to be shaped by the interplay of evolving organisms that mutate, and survive if they function well. I don't think there's any reason behind the universe and it's intricate patterns. That's what's amazing to me, all this complexity from just the rules of the game. No reason.

By that definition psychedelics, like anything else, don't have a reason. They might or might not have a function in biology, but definitely no reason. (And I very much doubt any biological function has anything to do with us getting high btw)

 

[Cudi]

Perhaps the plants are intelligent and wanted to find a way to have a symbiotic relationship with human consciousness and the only way to do that was to become part of it upon consumption. Probably mumbo jumbo but hey who really knows lol

 

[Cream Gravy?]

Aliens

Couldn't help myself

 

[perpetualdawn]

Like others have said, no reason, they just do.

But they do have a purpose. We can say that an egg has a purpose, that is to develop into a bird. Maybe you have a purpose in life. In this sense I think we can say that psychedelics have a purpose, or many purposes. We can look at them as tools to help understand our own minds, our brains, to help understand existence. Maybe their purpose is just for shits and giggles. It's going to vary for everyone.

By saying they have a purpose I don't mean to imply that the purpose was defined or preordained by some creator god etc, just like there might not be intelligent design behind an egg. These things can just be meanings we've tagged on to aspects of existence.

Aliens

obvs.

 

[Dresden]

Why does anything exist?

 

[burn out]

They were given to mankind by mother nature as catalysts to his conscious evolution.

 

[burn out]

I think the main explanations are that a lot of them have been evolved in plants and animals to deter and confuse predators / animals that would eat the plant. It seems incredible but is no more incredible than the millions of other plant-animal relations that have evolved over spans of time. For example the relation between the shape of beaks of birds that drink nectar from flowers with a matching shape. The psychedelics as a key in the lock of the receptor would not be too different from that. A difference is that bird beaks still tend to work if they are a little bit different, but with chemicals often not so much. Still it wouldn't be too far off and would require more time.

Some other psychedelics / psychoactives in plant may exist from a combination of coincidence and similarity between biochemicals, for example indoles found in plants and serotonin in animals. How all of that is tuned into each other over the history of life is incredibly complex and wonderful.

But I don't think it's helpful to look for special purpose, like some intelligent design thing. Ironically that is not an intelligent theory.

WHy is not an intelligent theory? NAture is extremely intelligent. Just look at the wisdom inherent in the human body which generally far exceeds the arrogance of the intellect which for some reason likes to think that only IT is intelligent and everything else is a product of random forces.

Psychedelics are physical manifestations of the spiritual intelligence inherent in creation. Intelligence is a property of God/life itself.

 

[Img_9999]

Why is there something instead of nothing ?

 

[perpetualdawn]

Let me know when you figure that one out

 

[TheAppleCore]

^ 'Cause you can't have a party with no guests.

 

[perpetualdawn]

Ha nice one!

 

[MarcusJD9999]

Couldn't help myself

Was just about to do this, you beat me too it :/

 

[MarcusJD9999]

Why is there something instead of nothing ?

I guess the same reason you have the same numbers in your username as me........copy kat >:/

 

[MarcusJD9999]

I guess psychedelic drugs exist because they just do. That is the conclusion I will make from this. Everyone has their own opinions & answers/perspectives to this. So its kind of difficult to come up with a direct answer to the questions.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[swilow]

Some of these things are probably metabolic by-products of other more useful chemicals.

Its never made sense that something like san pedro would evolve mescaline to defend against predators. Doseage is like 1ft, that's a hell of a lot of body to lose to make a point.

Why does anything exist?

Does anything exist?

 

[Clocktower]

What is the purpose of psychedelic drugs?

There is none - or you need to explain this question a bit more.

What was the original reason people used them, why?

Nobody can be sure, but probably sometimes for pleasure, sometimes for religion, sometimes just by accident.

When were they first known to be used and why are they here?

Psychedelics of one kind or another have been in use throughout human history.

Like, why do they exist?

Why do you exist?

Are they just for fun and recreation?

No, they have powerful medical uses.

Some of them are made in labs, but some are found naturally from and in plants and herbs?

Yes.

Why do they exist in nature?

Substituted tryptamines are very important in biology, so most of them show up in one place or another just because of random variation.

Why would a toad happen to just randomly have DMT, a psychedelic drug, on it's back?

This is actually somewhat interesting - it's not random. DMT is a close chemical cousin of the amino acid tryptophan, which is one of the basic building blocks of life. Various relatives of DMT are produced naturally by many living things, including humans. They're so common that it would almost be stranger if there WERENT an animal that secretes them. (FYI, those toads don't really secrete DMT, but rather 5-MeO-DMT and 5-HO-DMT.)

What is the main reason they exist and are here

There simply is no answer to this question. The closest thing is probably the fact that since substituted tryptamines are so important biologically, the DMT family was always bound to show up sooner or later.