Hallucinogens and Shamanism: A Brief Article Arab AL

The use of psychoactive drugs was studied in the 1960s by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert who looked at LSD and psilocybin who studied shamanic teachings and practices around the globe. These shamanic traditions involve non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by a variety of methods including ingesting hallucinogenic plants, but also drumming, fasting, wilderness vision questing, use of sweat lodges and others.

Family Life Center
(256) 582-1471
432 Gunter Avenue
Guntersville, AL
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Substance abuse
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Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups
Criminal justice clients

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Lighthouse Inc
(256) 739-2777
925 Convent Road NE
Cullman, AL
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Substance abuse
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Residential long-term treatment (more than 30 days)

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Aletheia House
(205) 324-6502
201 Finley Avenue West
Birmingham, AL
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Substance abuse
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Outpatient
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Criminal justice clients

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West Alabama Mental Health Center
(334) 289-2410x26
1215 Walnut Avenue South
Demopolis, AL
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(800) 239-2901
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Substance abuse
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Outpatient, Partial hospitalization/day treatment
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Adolescents, DUI/DWI offenders, Criminal justice clients

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Aletheia House
(205) 595-1114
4246 5th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL
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Substance abuse
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Residential long-term treatment (more than 30 days), Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups
Persons with HIV/AIDS, Pregnant/postpartum women, Women, Residential beds for clients' children, Criminal justice clients
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ASL or other assistance for hearing impaired

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Cedar Lodge
(256) 582-4465
22165 U.S. Highway 431
Guntersville, AL
Hotline
(256) 582-3448
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Substance abuse
Types of Care
Residential short-term treatment (30 days or less), Outpatient

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Alabama Abuse Counseling Center
(205) 428-2600
1612 3rd Avenue North
Bessemer, AL
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Substance abuse , Detoxification
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Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups
Persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders, Women, Men, DUI/DWI offenders, Criminal justice clients

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Calhoun Treatment Center Inc
(256) 831-4601
118 East Choccolocco Street
Oxford, AL
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Substance abuse , Methadone Maintenance, Buprenorphine Services
Types of Care
Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups
Pregnant/postpartum women, Women

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Department of Veterans Affairs
(205) 933-8101x6136
700 South 19th Street
Birmingham, AL
Services Provided
Substance abuse
Types of Care
Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups
Persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders, Persons with HIV/AIDS

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East Alabama MH/MR Center
(334) 298-2405
3170 Martin Luther King Parkway South
Phenix City, AL
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Substance abuse
Types of Care
Outpatient
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ASL or other assistance for hearing impaired, Spanish

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Hallucinogens and Shamanism: A Brief Article

In the western area, many drugs are highly refined and attempted excessively or habitually, in ways that are addictive and harmful. However, in traditional societies powerful mind-active plants are consumed ritually for therapeutic purposes or for transcending normal, everyday reality. In this article I will look in detail at the ritual use of mind-active drugs for therapeutic mind-expansion as part of shamanic traditions in comparison to the modern abuse of pharmaceutical drugs as part of drug addictions and dependencies.

The use of psychoactive drugs was studied in the 1960s by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert who looked at LSD and psilocybin who studied shamanic teachings and practices around the globe. These shamanic traditions involve non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by a variety of methods including ingesting hallucinogenic plants, but also drumming, fasting, wilderness vision questing, use of sweat lodges and others.

Metzner notes that indigenous people have a profound knowledge of plants and herbs and their effects on the body and mind and are well able to distinguish harmful from beneficial medicines. For this reason the vision-inducing plants that have a tradition of shamanic usage are much more likely to be safe, in contrast to newly discovered and synthesized drugs, the use of which may often involve unknown long-term risks.

Western psychotherapy and indigenous shamanism use similar psychoactive substances for healing and obtaining knowledge (call...

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