Psychedelic pleasures: An affective understanding of the joys of tripping. Bøhling, F. International Journal of Drug Policy, 49:133–143, November, 2017.
Psychedelic pleasures: An affective understanding of the joys of tripping [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Background This paper considers the pleasures of psychedelic drugs and proposes a Deleuzian understanding of drugged pleasures as affects. In spite of a large body of work on psychedelics, not least on their therapeutic potentials, the literature is almost completely devoid of discussions of the recreational practices and pleasures of entheogenic drugs. Yet, most people do not use psychedelics because of their curative powers, but because they are fun and enjoyable ways to alter the experience of reality. Methods In the analytical part of the paper, I examine 100 trip reports from an internet forum in order to explore the pleasures of tripping. Results The analyses map out how drugs such as LSD and mushrooms – in combination with contextual factors such as other people, music and nature – give rise to a set of affective modifications of the drug user’s capacities to feel, sense and act. Conclusion In conclusion it is argued that taking seriously the large group of recreational users of hallucinogens is important not only because it broadens our understanding of how entheogenic drugs work in different bodies and settings, but also because it may enable a more productive and harm reductive transmission of knowledge between the scientific and recreational psychedelic communities.
@article{bohling_psychedelic_2017,
	title = {Psychedelic pleasures: {An} affective understanding of the joys of tripping},
	volume = {49},
	issn = {0955-3959},
	shorttitle = {Psychedelic pleasures},
	url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395917302311},
	doi = {10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.07.017},
	abstract = {Background
This paper considers the pleasures of psychedelic drugs and proposes a Deleuzian understanding of drugged pleasures as affects. In spite of a large body of work on psychedelics, not least on their therapeutic potentials, the literature is almost completely devoid of discussions of the recreational practices and pleasures of entheogenic drugs. Yet, most people do not use psychedelics because of their curative powers, but because they are fun and enjoyable ways to alter the experience of reality.
Methods
In the analytical part of the paper, I examine 100 trip reports from an internet forum in order to explore the pleasures of tripping.
Results
The analyses map out how drugs such as LSD and mushrooms – in combination with contextual factors such as other people, music and nature – give rise to a set of affective modifications of the drug user’s capacities to feel, sense and act.
Conclusion
In conclusion it is argued that taking seriously the large group of recreational users of hallucinogens is important not only because it broadens our understanding of how entheogenic drugs work in different bodies and settings, but also because it may enable a more productive and harm reductive transmission of knowledge between the scientific and recreational psychedelic communities.},
	urldate = {2024-01-19},
	journal = {International Journal of Drug Policy},
	author = {Bøhling, Frederik},
	month = nov,
	year = {2017},
	keywords = {Affect theory, Alcohol and other drugs, Deleuze, Pleasure, Psychedelic drugs, Trip reports},
	pages = {133--143},
}

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