I don’t go on social media (Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter). I still have accounts on all of the platforms, I just haven’t logged into them for several months. But one platform I utilize every day is YouTube. There’s so many amazing channels with so much amazing content. It’s not perfect, but it allows me to connect with some of my hero’s of today without having to login to one of those aforementioned social media platforms.
Hamilton Morris
Hamilton Morris is an incredibly smart person/scientist/journalist and is best known for his documentaries on Vice (HBO), called Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia. He has been instrumental in my everlasting quest to learn everything related to all the substances I’ve used in the past (and that’s a pretty big list). Hamilton Morris has been all over the world, in his own search for truth as it relates to drugs. And there’s a lot of interviews and podcasts and panels online, on Youtube, and you can listen to his podcasts for free I believe, on his Patreon channel.
His primary interest is in psychedelics, something I’ve always been fascinated with, due to my consumption of so many different ones and how transformative they can be with the right intentions. Hamilton is extremely intelligent and speaks so well on the huge subject of drugs. He is able to explain the science behind what these compounds do to humans, and our brains in a way that’s easy to understand but not dumbed down for the layman. Hamilton shows himself taking a number of these drugs on video, and even synthesizing some of these drugs in laboratories (on video).
The war on drugs
Hamilton’s view on how damaging the war on drugs has been on everyone is refreshing. The whole idea of scheduling these drugs and the various laws made surrounding the scheduling is absolutely absurd. Luckily, with the help of people like him, people are getting more educated on the health benefits of many substances that are still illegal due to poor policy making, fear mongering, and other political agendas not aligned with public health. In fact, my own father started doing some reading on the health benefits of psilocybin mushrooms because of my blog. And if you knew my father, you’d understand what a big deal this is. Like most people, his information was probably obtained from the Reagan era media outlets who were spreading as much fallacy as the Reefer Madness movie. I wouldn’t doubt if my dad was made to watch that movie in high school or something.
So many years of research has been lost due to the politics behind the war on drugs. Putting these incredibly useful substances in Schedule 1 just drives the black market further away from safety standards, and prevents scientists from doing research and clinical trials so we can learn more about the effects and how they can help humanity. The amount of lives lost, and lives wasted in long term prison sentences (sometimes life sentences) for the transportation of cannabis and other similar charges makes me deeply upset.
Hamilton is on the forefront of this rebellion against the war on drugs as well as increasing awareness on the importance of studying these drugs. I am so glad he is doing what he is doing because it is so important. He is one of my heros.
Russell Brand
I love Russell Brand. I watch his YouTube channel every single morning. He’s hilarious and has a very similar view on the world as I do and his hope and faith in society’s ability to change and improve human lives on a grand scale is inspiring to say the least.
Russell’s style and speed at which he rants when speaking on a subject that he’s passionate about and how well he is able to articulate what he’s trying to get across is impressive. The amount of introspection he does with his pursuit of knowledge and putting that into action (wisdom) is incredibly insightful. And he’s a funny guy and makes it enjoyable. Russell’s channel is the first thing I watch every morning, when everyone else I know is still sleeping. He talks on a wide array of subjects, but a lot of it is about being skeptical when it comes to government having our best interests at heart. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a conspiracy theorist in the slightest (in my humble opinion). In fact, he doesn’t usually give a clear opinion on some matters (for a number of reasons) – but he lays out the comparisons, the facts, the quotes, the data, and lets you decide for yourself. I highly recommend his channel to everyone.
Joe Rogan
And Joe Rogan ties it all together… I actually don’t know too much about Joe Rogan’s personal life, or his standup comedy, but I do know about a lot of his interviews (such as ones with Russell Brand, and Hamilton Morris, of which there are several).
Joe Rogan is incredibly open minded. It’s a virtue that seems to be just not achievable with some people (without a hero’s dose of mushrooms perhaps), but I consider it vital if I want to make positive behavior changes in my own life. He’s a very good interviewer, and the interviews flow so smoothly due to the way he’s able to get information out of people and respond intelligently with thoughtful comments and further questions.
This is one of my favorite interviews from Joe Rogan. It’s of Paul Stamets, another one of my hero’s however I’m going to do a separate post about fungi and Paul Stamets is a big part of it.
