There are 1000's of known plants that have a psychoactive effect)
Why would these be designed with these psychoactive compounds within them?
Well, the fact that it acts psychotropic to humans, as in having a mind-altering good time, was not the effect, whether by design or by happenstance.
Nicotene to the tobacco plant, coca to the cocaine plant, cannabis saptiva to the marijuana plant, opium to the poppy plant, etc, are all poisons to keep slugs, snails, locusts, beetles, etc, from devouring the plant.
Its the same thing with certain brightly colored frogs, much like those Quetzal may seen during his treks deep in to the Ecuadorian rain forest. Some Native American tribes have discovered that upon licking the frog, which secretes its neurotoxins, that it will induce in shamans a psychodelic response neurologically.
Human beings are much larger and can process these poisons better than smaller creatures, which for them, will kill them quickly. Instead of killing humans, it produces in them feelings associated with drugs.
When people say, "Drugs are poison," that's quite literally what they are!
The Biblical reference to such drugs is "pharmakia" in the Greek, which is where we derive the English word, Pharmacy. Regardless, it is spoken about scripturally as something to avoid, not to embrace.
One of the easiest to question is Cacti that uses Mescaline as a way of fending off insects. Yet many other plants use other compounds to do the exact same thing yet without the psychoactive effect! The simple practicality is also questionable, because mescaline isn't the most effective, wouldn't a god/designer use a more effective non psychoactive compound?
I have a better question. Why would natural selection produce this symbiotic relationship between plants and humans, since you seem to speak of it in terms of it being purposeful? What are the forces driving it that it would actually be necessary from an adaptational point of reference?
I'm sure many chronic pain sufferers that use morphine or codeine on a daily basis would happily argue that Poppie plants which produce those two compounds have a purpose. To help them live a more functional life and enjoy the life God has given them.
I have no idea how much God would be involved in nature and how much he left to happenstance. But I suppose there is that possibility. But answering one question about God often simply leads in to the next. For instance, did God create mescaline with the deliberate intent of having us use it for legitimate, medicinal uses? The next question could very well be, why does disease exist at all? The next question following that could be, well why do we live in the material universe?
It could just go on and on.
Or is it all just a fluke? A lucky roll of the dice. Which is something the advocates of Evolution would argue, that it's mere coincidence.
Overall I see so many lucky rolls so as to rule out the total possibility of random chance X natural selection. In the final analysis, all we can do is do the best we can to uncover these eternally difficult questions, and to have spirited debates about it.
Because at the end of the day,
"I don't know for certain" just might be my answer.
Edited by Nemesis Juggernaut, : typos
Edited by Nemesis Juggernaut, : typo
“There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the 'wisdom' of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to objective reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique; and both, in the practice of this technique, are ready to do things hitherto regarded as disgusting and impious" -C.S. Lewis