ThePiper
Kava Lover
I absolutely hate the term “Nature’s Xanax” to describe kava. It’s a clickbait marketing term and it completely distorts kavas true properties. I also don’t like the way that it makes kava into this one dimensional product that has been “finally discovered” by altruistic westerners who know how to turn it into a consumer friendly product to make it “fit” for the western pallet and lifestyle and allows them to remain ignorant to its cultural importance and history.
Back to the catch phrase. When I think of Xanax I think of:
1) a horribly addictive substance from a class of pharmaceuticals that has long been touted as harmless and non addictive.
2) a drug that people use to blackout at parties and completely make a fool of themselves, often to greater extent than alcohol.
3) a deadly player in the drug cocktails that kill thousands of people every year (even prescribed cocktails)
4) a drug that causes cognitive deficits and other long term damage to a persons mental health
I’m not saying Xanax doesn’t have a place in our society, but let’s not get it twisted. Kava isn’t Xanax. Its safer and so much more interesting from a historical, anthropological, spiritual, and pharmacoloical standpoint than some pill that opens the floodgate on your gaba system and causes various forms of brain damage.
Yes this is a harsh criticism of benzodiazepines. I have been prescribed them and used them both beneficially and been put into a deep depression from their numbing effect. I’ve witnessed good people become temporarily lobotomized by them and seen how that type of impairment can decay a person’s moral compass while under the influence. I’ve met young people who now have epilepsy after using them recreationally. I’ve seen someone take them having no idea how many they’ve taken because they are so intoxicated by what they were prescribed. That person was dead a week later after he chose to drink on them. I also know people who use them occasionally for acute anxiety without issues. Thanks for reading my rant! Maybe I need some kava lol.
Back to the catch phrase. When I think of Xanax I think of:
1) a horribly addictive substance from a class of pharmaceuticals that has long been touted as harmless and non addictive.
2) a drug that people use to blackout at parties and completely make a fool of themselves, often to greater extent than alcohol.
3) a deadly player in the drug cocktails that kill thousands of people every year (even prescribed cocktails)
4) a drug that causes cognitive deficits and other long term damage to a persons mental health
I’m not saying Xanax doesn’t have a place in our society, but let’s not get it twisted. Kava isn’t Xanax. Its safer and so much more interesting from a historical, anthropological, spiritual, and pharmacoloical standpoint than some pill that opens the floodgate on your gaba system and causes various forms of brain damage.
Yes this is a harsh criticism of benzodiazepines. I have been prescribed them and used them both beneficially and been put into a deep depression from their numbing effect. I’ve witnessed good people become temporarily lobotomized by them and seen how that type of impairment can decay a person’s moral compass while under the influence. I’ve met young people who now have epilepsy after using them recreationally. I’ve seen someone take them having no idea how many they’ve taken because they are so intoxicated by what they were prescribed. That person was dead a week later after he chose to drink on them. I also know people who use them occasionally for acute anxiety without issues. Thanks for reading my rant! Maybe I need some kava lol.
Last edited: