April 03, 2004

Coming Down from LSD This drug is 'dropping' off the face of the earth, and nobody seems to know why. I've had some memorable times with the stuff, and, though I haven't used any in almost 15 years, I'd hate to see it go. Oh well, there are always flashbacks.
posted by pyrrthon1 20 years ago
  • A theory, from the comments to this post at Crooked Timber: Can
  • having been a great acid dropper back in the old days, i suspect the problem is, indeed, an issue of quality and price. five bucks used to guarantee 8 - 12 hours of tripping the light fantastic.....california sunshine, orange blossom.... now the kids tell me you have to pay extra to buy the special 'cartoon' acid that provides any hallucinatory effect. mass marketing does it again. having seen kids who are on today's acid, it is not the same thing....they are too functional to be stoned the way we were on the stuff. / i did give it up after a year....i found there were more fun substances that were more productive in personal terms.
  • My last experience on today's acid taught me never to take your tripping deaf friend to the park at night where you can't see whatthefuck they're signing and couldn't understand her anyway because purple elephants keep dropping out of the sky. Not as much fun as it sounds :(
  • acid's down, but not out :-) The 'ref dragon' blotters are pretty strong.
  • err... red dragon
  • the kind of people who would listen to the Bartok Macrocosmos straight thru while keeping time with a hammer against their shins Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it!
  • Times change, people change, drugs change. If it's going, I'll miss it. But most folks that I know have either grown past it, or now have kids and such. Can't care for kids and do acid. You know: kid...fridge...kid in the fridge...what's the kid in the fridge for?...heh heh...what are you doing in the fridge?...heh heh... I just wonder where science will take us next.
  • I think most people just concentrate on the apparent and prominent perceptual distortions on acid. Well, if that's all you do, acid is going to get boring pretty quick. After all, watching walls breathing is monotonous. The key is triggering synaesthesia in imaginative ways. And the cognitive trip on top of that. Sticking to the same environment, or doing the same things each trip is a one-way ticket to boredom.
  • This is easily my favorite drug, but nobody knows where to get it and nobody I know wants to do it with me. "LSD is a drug you try twice or three times high school" they say. And they're off to do more "sophisticted" drugs like X - hahaha boooooooring.
  • I tried LSD once, and while I enjoyed the experience for the first 8 hours, I found the next eight hours tiresome - the stuff just did not quit. Personally I prefer 'shrooms.
  • I once had a teacher who had developed the perfect anti-drug program - which, of course, could never be adopted wholescale. He was a classic hippie - long hair, jeans in class everyday. He sat down our grade 10 class and said, "I'm sure that some, if not all, of you have thought about doing drugs. I'm not going to tell you not to - you wouldn't listen, and it would be hypocritical. What I want to ask if for you to be careful, and think about the consequences. Especially with LSD. I have some friends who are in mental hospitals now because of doing too much acid and it breaks my heart." /paraphrased from memory. I could never bring myself to even contemplate trying LSD, or heroin or anything stronger than marijuana after that. Also, seeing hallucinations just never appealed - spinning around until you are dizzy is much more fun.
  • Set and setting is the key. But I wonder if there is only a finite number of times a person can take it and enjoy it. While there was nothing better than dropping then tooling around Austin (esp Eeyor's birthday) in the early 90's, there was eventually a time where it felt like being locked in a cinema playing a movie you've seen a hundred times. "Look kids, Big Ben - Parliament!". That said, I really hope it does make a comeback in a decade or so. Done 'correctly' in the right place with the right music and people, it can be an incredible debugger/dissasembler for the operating system of your habits and perceptions, and I dare say I'm literally a better person for having taken it back then.
  • jb, it seems a better attitude than the mainstream one. however consider that "think about the consequences" sounds good on paper, but unless someone personally tries a drug, they don't know what the consequences will be. So, then you have to rely on secondhand information. Either it's anecdotal (my friend saw green monsters all around him, STAY AWAY OR GET FUCKED UP!!! --or-- it's all good, it's the best thing, peace man). Balanced information and context is the victim in this zero-tolerance atmosphere. Consider that you only remember and hear about the bad experiences and outcomes from the papers or authority or public figures. When was the last time you heard in the media, someone praising LSD? Are we to conclude that LSD is always harmful? The DEA (and NIDA and NIH) will never admit that any schedule I drug could even potentially be helpful or atleast not significantly harmful. A kid wouldn't know whom to trust. The kid has to make a deliberate choice to trust one authority (govt./family vs. peers). How can one know they have made the right choice? There is a taboo even on a public debate, let alone an active consideration. ernie, I'm literally a better person for having taken it Amen.
  • Not to worry! Soon nanobots in your bloodstream will piss enough LSD to keep your speech center offline all day long!
  • Interesting that according to that article one bust in Kansas reduced the supply by 95%. Yes, if there's any place in America that I could see needing acid, it would be Kansas. So what are the kids today doing? Mushrooms? Toad licking?
  • Sleep deprivation works best.
  • You don't need to toad-lick anymore. I won't provide details, but the chief chemical present in that is technically legal (unscheduled) in the US (so you can get it from the net).
  • Wait... So... Correct me if I'm wrong, but pretty much all the LSD in the world was made in two or three batches in the 1960s? Personally I too much trouble keeping track of stuff sober without resorting to illegal drugs.
  • Worms!
  • That's one guys theory. But I would think not. Remember, it's the DEA reporting that 95% is cut. Besides, from what I've come across, it's to easier to cook acid in small batches. So, there probably are a few regional cooks across the US, producing for a elite market.
  • My daughter had an upsetting flashback or two several years after she had stopped taking LSD. Is that common?
  • path, I went to Google expecting to find some page supporting what I was originally told: that LSD becomes stored in fat and, when said fat is metabolized it is released, causing a flashback. However, according to most things I could find (e.g. Wikipedia) this is an urban legend, and there is no hard evidence to support flashbacks occurring as a result of LSD. However, I have yet to see any sufficient citations toward studies one way or the other.
  • 2 and 1/2 points: 1 and 1 and 1/2: The "recipe" for LSD is available and if I remember my "anarchists cookbook" properly the dosage works out to about 300,000 hits per ounce, there is some difficult chemistry involved. I'm 40 now, when I used to take acid it was about $3.00 or $4.00 for a serious 4 hour trip. Everyone that I knew that sold it, took it, was evangelical, not profit minded, not concerned with the legal consequences, and there were less legal consequences at the time. Now you buy X for 5 times the price. I think where acid used to be bought from friends, X has replaced and been taken over by commercial interests (See Sammy the Bull). 2. Acid leaves you very vulnerable, it's a drug for risk-taking kids. In the past when I lived in bigger cities (Seattle, San Francisco) you could expect to walk University Ave and Market Street pretty much unmolested, I may have succumbed to old age or media sensationalism, but I worry more. In the same way that the controlled environment of cruise-ships are becoming more popular, the drugs that leave you less vunerable are too. If you must however: I reccomend Mt. Si Please watch your step.
  • Easily my favorite drug, too. Have never had a flashback (yet). I believe I am a better person for having had those acid trips. Unbelievable ones that I would never, ever want to trade in. I am thankful for them. However, I agree that there are a finite amount of times you can take it before it become repititious and, God forbid, the possibility of having a BAAAAAAADDDDD trip becomes more likely. As far as comparing acid and mushrooms....for me there's no comparison. Mushrooms were far more hallucinatory whereas acid gave CLARITY. In a Colonel Kurtz kind of way, but, still amazing. I think that kids today are looking for a 'high' that is more speedy...Meth, crank, crack, etc... Acid requires more of you. Acid is also more of a loner drug rather than a social one. Your likely not going to want to have sex when your on acid. At least, I never did. One more thing, how cool is it to see fractals friggin' EVERYWHERE!
  • Amen Ernie and Gyan. Anyone out there remember Orange Sunshine? That was fun and in no short supply in my neck of the woods circa 1986. Am I crazy or did each different batch play out in a different way? Or mescaline? Haven't seen it in 15 yrs or so, but that caused laughter so hard it hurt. Just thinking is all... no, no, gonna have to stick with the more responsible alcohol nowadays.
  • I don't even know what I was taking in the mid-80's but it sure as hell lasted a lot longer than eight hours. Excellent every time.
  • One of the funniest things I ever saw on TV was a report from a straightlaced BBC reporter in the 60s (suit and tie etc) doing an experiment on the effects of LSD; He started out very formal, Queens English etc, a few minutes later he was wibbling ... Sadly I haven't been able to find any reference to this on the intaweb - if anyone knows of it I'd be v keen to see it again.
  • i'm not going to track down the source, but i was reading an article on spiritual enlightenment and it mentioned how some people achieved same while in a drug induced state, and that the experience had proved as valid and enduring for them as others who pursued more traditional means. this jibed with my own experiences. in the early 70's i was studiously reading and re-reading the works of chuang tzu and lao tzu in an attempt to grasp the ultimate of taoism. one night i did my reading while on acid and suddenly everything 'clicked'! i just lay back and was immersed in the sensation of being at one with the universe.....words make it sound so trivial. but that sensation, over thirty years later, is still readily accessible to me and the understanding remains my guidance system for life. that was the last time i did acid. yes, i then ventured into the world of dexxies and bennies...and pulled off top marks in all my courses as i was so organised and diligent. but gave that up as well, when the year was over and i had my degree. hallucinations no longer interest me. all i desire is my smoke and a good book in the evenings and i'm in my own nirvana. yes...some people do benefit from their drug experiences. i doubt if they want to publicise such though, as credibility would immediately vanish. i wrote a paper on taosism for a religion course, that the prof wanted me to publish. he gave me an A++ and said he regretted there was no higher marking system. / i never mentioned the lsd boost to him.
  • Can't comment; tripping.
  • didn't stop me /seriously
  • I liked acid far better than the more popular shrooms - crisp, clean feel, as opposed to rather organic aspects of shrooms (not to mention the camelshit taste). That said, the thing that put me off it was the 48 hour time frame. You drop Saturday early midafternoon, 8-12 hours of tripping puts you coming down late Saturday night. You crash, catch a flat 6-8, then back up. You may have slept, but you ain't *right* all day Sunday. Drip-fed memories from the night before coming back up like trench-fish coming up to the surface to feed, you still get little zaps and flashes as the acid settles in to your fat cells to sleep, you croak your words out the two charcoal briquets you have for lungs from the 6 or so packs of cigarettes you smoked, and worst of all, the acid-farts - ass-roasting, eye-watering, sinus-raking, room-clearing, cat-killing acid farts. Knock a bird out a tree, swear to god.
  • Why do they call it "dropping" acid?
  • Sorry for the length of this, I tried to preview and it wouldnt fit in one comment... It would take me some amount of consideration to do acid again. Not that I wouldn't, most of my experiences were good on it, though I have been around a few too many people who flipped out. I tend to prefer mushrooms, but again I havnt seen hide nor hair of those in a while (they were legal here in Japan until the world cup a couple years back, then they cracked down so the tourists wouldnt think that Japan is something other than a superior, happy, technology savvy country -- dont get me started). I think much of the acid audience has been supplanted by the rave/E scene, which offers much of the pleasant feeling that could result from a heavier psychedelic trip with none of the lasting effects, and none of the mind-fucks leading up to it. Weather this is a symptom of a shortage of the drug or a preference for superficiality I cant say, but I am not a fan of it personally. One thing that has always struck me in peoples discussions of hallucinogenics (mostly among those who have no-experience with them) is this notion of either seeing snakes everywhere or being in candyland with your favorite disney characters. The actual effect is quite different. In thinking of it as only a method of developing visual hallucinations the actual effect is overlooked. If you were sober and began seeing things that you knew were not there (or even feeling the way you felt), you would think yourself crazy. If you lost the capacity to realize that not everything you saw was real, you would be totally nuts. Acid pushes your brain through a similar path, into a tweaked out, sometimes paranoid, sometimes pandering personality, it bombards your brain with so many signals and crosses so many wires that you cant help but sense things improperly (hearing colors, feeling sounds), the absolute foundations of what you base your beliefs are completely shaken, and -- up to a certain extent -- shaken differently each time. Through the course of this experience you are forced to rebuild and re-examine your framework (if something as fundamental as my eyes can lie to me, what about my beliefs about god, money, family, etc). In short, it can give you a way to re-evaluate things you normally would not, which is certainly not something for everyone. Naturally, this is based on my own experiences and I dont speak for everyone, I know people who are always way too serious and want to be really heavy and deep about everything, and I find that pretty much intolerable. Though, there were several times I took a small amount and just stayed up all night playing video games with my friends. It all depends. It certainly is not something that you can do like Marijuana, at basically any time and still function in a relatively normal (albeit sometimes dumb) capacity. There is a reason all them hippies like nature so much. There is a great deal of folklore and urban legends going around with regards to LSD, and I have known many people in my generation and from hippy times past and there is no one who got locked up forever in an asylum from LSD. If you know someone personally I will stand corrected, but having been raised in a communal hippy atmosphere that had existed in various incarnations up and down the west coast since long before I was born, I can tell you bad stories of overdoses, deaths, Hep C, AIDS, jail-time, you name it, but the only stories involving asylums involve people with pretty serious pre-existing mental health problems, and drug habits where LSD was be a minor player.
  • [continued] Which is not to say you should drop everyday, or that you can't damage yourself with excess. However, having had done it, quite a few times even to the point where I felt that I had fundamentally broken down my personality and rebuilt it, I think it would be HARDER to excessively use or abuse it than most drugs, and of course, that excess of anything is never good for you, be it sex, excersize, work, coffee, booze, or brushing your teeth. I also had an interest in fractals before I ever did any of these things, it might be a coincidence that I ended up persuing them academically... There are analogues of LSD as well, and while LSD-25 is the original formula, I remember there being other variations (from the late 40's), but I can't find what they are exactly, and LSD is a surprisingly common acronym. Synthesizing LSD is a tricky affair, and there are several ways of making the base (which is highly toxic). It is possible to make the base from ergot alkaloids and even L-tryptophan. The process is far more complicated, sensitive and dangerous than simple alkaloid extractions which is basically any chemical that ends in 'ine' (caffeine, nicotine, codeine, cocaine, amphetamine, DMT, MDMA (E), etc... -- though it should be noted that caffiene and nicotine are extremely toxic in an extracted form, and it is better to leave them in the leaves). As a practical comparison: someone who had taken an introductory college course in Organic chemistry could easily repeat the method if they had a proper base (the number of portable meth labs run by people with very little education is testament to that) whereas a full-scale synthesis of LSD would take a PHd. level chemist, and given my experience with science types, there are very few at that level who would be interested enough and willing to compromise their professional lives to make the least expensive drug out there. With regards to flashbacks, I would not say that I had any recurring experience along those lines, but I have heard stories and theories which always conflict. The previous generation had theories of residual crystals in the spinal fluid that had a half-life of 20 years that would haunt you forever, that coming from experienced users. I dont have the background to comment on the veracity of such a theory, but I did read an intersting one that put flashbacks as being post-traumatic stress disorder relating to a particularly intense or traumatic experience with the drug. Again, I have no experience or qualifications to comment on, but I think much of it is rooted in the propaganda and folklore of the 60's and 70's. And vapidave, watch your step with the anarchists cookbook. Well...hope I didnt miss the fray on this one.
  • and drug habits where LSD was be a minor player. Ugh...speaking of drugs..."where LSD would be a minor player" I previewed it twice and everything...
  • Have appreciated being able to read everyone's comments on this thread. I have a funny little snippet of a story that goes along with this.....Driving to Vancouver B.C. one night with friends, we tried to get through the border (from stateside), just as the acid was starting to hit, unfortunately, we all had a different answer about what we were doing that night. Of course, we were told to pull in for questioning. Out came the border police and the dogs to search us and the car. We had to go in and get interviewed, and in a room that seemed to have a thousand fluorescent lights, we barely managed to get through the questioning. Don't ask me how we did it, it seemed like we giggled hysterically through the whole ordeal. They let us go, and we continued on our journey. Long, wonderful story short...On our way back through downtown Vancouver, at around four in the morning, still tripping hard, here comes this white horse galloping through the streets. No other cars at that moment, no other people, just a big, white horse. Well, no one said a word to each other. We kept on driving in total silence. About ten miles further, someone said, "Did anyone see a white horse back there?". We had just assumed that it was a hallucination, sighs of relief and laughter all around. That was a good night. P.S. Don't drop and drive. Such a bad idea.
  • Don't drop and drive. Such a bad idea True. It's better to drop and float down a river on a small boat. Now that's blisssful.
  • Why do they call it "dropping" acid? posted by Alnedra I think that goes back to the old days when LSD came only in liquid form, and you put a 'drop' of the stuff on a sugar cube.
  • pyrrthon1 old buddy, thank you. *burst into tears cos everyone else was ignoring her*...nah.
  • Fes: acid doesn't settle into your fat cells, that's THC. Acid is water soluble; has a half-life of 5 hours in your bloodstream and gets metabolized and excreted accordingly. It's pretty unstable. The flashbacks are a psychological phenomenon, not a "released acid" thing.
  • This was kind of fun.
  • So what explains the LSD drought? The best explanation is a bust, a really big bust. That, and a continuing series of busts thereafter. The U.S. Feds appear to have a sting operation running on the common precursor chemicals. If any of you monkeys are thinking of cooking the stuff, y'all please be careful. Big Brother is watching. /does nothing stronger than bourbon, himself
  • *lights joint, counsels caution*
  • Great link, homunculus! Had never heard of this guy before. It also reminded me that I am missing some of my Terence McKenna books. Thanks!
  • I wonder where goetter is? Whatever, his business, just been a little while. Hope he's doing something agreeable to him.
  • I don't know but there was a bust at the Canadian border just today, with 2.2 million dollars worth of Ecstasy and $300,000 in weed in the guys' truck. Hhmmmmmmmmmm.........
  • All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face, they've joined the human race, some things will never change... Get along, get along, Kid Charlemagne...
  • LSD comeback on the horizon ?
  • Interesting. I think it would also be interesting to get everyone's take on their own personal experiences with the drug. On a large scale, to find out if, indeed, we all agree we are better for having taken it as many in the above comments have said. The idea being that it might be possible for everyone (generalization) to benefit from such an eye opening experience (within the right kind of environment). That this might become part of anyone's 'therapy' for whatever their own issues might be. IMHO. Any takers?
  • Ooh, ooh! Me me me me me me me me me!!!! waves hands frantically in the air
  • I'm a taker. Not a big fan of the LSD (or approximation thereof, if PF's quote is correct) that I've taken. Two bad trips, two good, but all in all far too long a time period for my comfort. Mushrooms, on the other hand, have worked out extremely well almost every time. And it's that one outside of almost that I think is most relevant to your question, Darshon. The first time I took mushrooms was the worst psychedelic experience I've had, and the most important for my psyche. I was totally unprepared for the experience, as was everyone else that had taken them that night. Plus we were on a college campus, so there was the fear of waking up the RA's and getting caught and subsequently hauled off to druggie jail or wherever. So there was already a fugitive edge to the experience. But even under the best of circumstances, I think I would have had to deal with the same shit, because what happened was that the mushrooms unleashed a backlog of fears and anxieties that I had never properly dealt with before, specifically those dealing with my father's death combined with residual adolescent nightmare material. So it was miserable when those particular chickens (mouldering feathers and crooked talons) came to roost, I was overwhelmed and really thought that I had gone completely, irretrievably insane. But, I dealt with it, I lasted the night and felt much better the next morning. I faced the fears, I overcame them, and I can honestly say that I learned lessons that night that I've taken with me to this day. So, yeah, I think that there is a therapeutic use for these substances, and that in the proper environment much of the paranoia that first time users experience can be avoided. I know that it would have helped me immensely to have had some sort of "guide" to allay some of my more superficial "Oh my god I've gone crazy and ruined my life by eating drugs" fears. I have taken mushrooms many times since then, and have had very positive experiences.
  • Good one, Nick.
  • Mmm. Mixed feelings about it, here. I haven't taken anything extra-legal for quite a while (seems like ages), and I honestly don't know how to assess its impact on my life and mind. I used to love acid, big time, so it was probably a good thing that it was hard for me to get my hands on it. But when I could get my hands on some, I stocked up. First time out, I went to see "Natural Born Killers" at Movies 10 in Kansas City (the inside of which looks like a cartoon even when you're sober), and shockingly had a fantastic, no freakout time. Afterward we went to the Nelson art museum, climbed around on the giant shuttlecocks in the backyard, and moved on to a party at a local private school. It was blissful insanity, and I was hooked. After that I'd do it every chance I got -- the best times were with my friends, of course, preferably out banging around in the woods, but I had a few good introspective trips in my bedroom by myself. I got pretty good at controlling it, so much so that sober friends had trouble telling if I was tripping. Then there was that last one, which was a solo flight and quite pleasant, but which took me the better part of a month to come down from. I honestly thought I was losing my mind, and was on the verge of asking my parents to send me to a psychiatrist. I battled through it, and I learned one hell of a lot from the experience (though it'd be damned difficult for me to define those lessons for you), so I can say that using (and fighting against) it did have a positive effect on my life. On the other hand, I think it made me a bit more self-conscious and -aware than I was before (both good and bad in that, as well), and I damn sure would like to have all those brain cells back. On the whole, I wouldn't recommend it for just anybody.
  • More stories, people, more stories!
  • I don't drop any drugs. It gets them dirty.
  • More stories, people, more stories! Oh sure, like you don't already know everything that I experience. I know your agents in the walls are listening to my thoughts! I CAN HEAR THEM BREATHING!!!
  • Calls agents back to office, discusses 'Eavesdropping Plan B'
  • can you tell what i'm typing on your side? okay, I'll type quieter
  • I had a long conversation in a dark room with myself that I can't remember, just later walking out into the sunrise (in Vermont, during mud season) and being completely impressed with the wondrousness of being alive. This is nice to listen to, as is the Reverb Motherfuckers "LSD-25", a 7" that continued on both sides that ended with the distorted voice repeating "I'm not coming down..."
  • Geez, I somehow missed that album altogethor. Thanks for links PF and waraw.
  • Darshon: On a large scale, to find out if, indeed, we all agree we are better for having taken it as many in the above comments have said. Dr. Oscar Janiger's Pioneering LSD Research: A Forty Year Follow-up.
  • Once on the golf course in Hanover, NH, I heard every sound in the world, simultaneously.
  • I'm glad that I stumbled onto this thread. About five years ago, I stumbled onto a sheet of acid (100 hits). Cost me $300. Haven't seen acid since, and the sheet is long gone. But damn, it was beautiful while it lasted. I much prefer it to mushrooms, though mushrooms are easy to grow. I even prefer it to mescaline (though I've only done low-potency extractions). Acid was the most powerful form of psychic exploration I've ever come across. It allowed me to do on my own what years of therapy had never accomplished, with the added benefit of feeling great. God save LSD.
  • HAR HAR HAR! ^ | | | That's how people who know where to get acid laugh. Seriously though, Ikc is right in pointing out that the people who end up with a problem with LSD typically have issues in their lives that need to be dealt with, not avoided with an acid trip. So check your mental baggage before boarding.
  • Dammit, Spooky. You don't want to send me any envelopes full of paper, do you? And you can either check your baggage beforehand or deal with it on the trip. Depends on what kind of trip you want to have, I suppose.
  • I did a lot of acid in the mid-eighties, being bored and living with two girls who were dealing it; 'blue lotus' was what it was called, and you'd trip for about 10 - 12 hours, though the last 3 or four generally sucked a bit because the strychnine content made you stomach feel like you'd eaten a bunch of ice cubes that stayed frozen in your stomach. Also, you'd get the whirling 'everything's fucked' repetitive thoughts that meant you couldn't sleep though you desperately wanted to. My ex-sister-in-law really did end up institutionalized back in the late seventies or early eighties. She's schizophrenic. Nobody will ever know if her pre-existing weakness towards schizophrenia would have remained untapped without the acid. So yeah, you can do acid and end up institutionalized because nobody knows for sure who may be at risk for schizophrenia before your first psychotic break. Smoking a lot of dope can do the same thing. All told, I can think of five people whose permanent break with reality and/or permanent prescriptions were greatly helped by acid or the insanely strong skunk or chemo weed (BC Bud) we grow up here in Vancouver. I also had a friend who imagined he'd been hit by a car, was mangled and covered in blood, and at the hospital. This person was afraid of me because they thought I was a nurse at the hospital and was going to touch him and it would hurt. Meanwhile, in Realityville, he's curled up in a big armchair, unable to talk, and cringing in fear every time I went near him, despite the fact that he was my boyfriend and we were at home at our place. Another friend (one of the girls dealing) had a beloved dog suffering with hip dysplasia. Because my friend wanted nothing to do with most authority figures, including veterinarians, she and her probation officer both dropped acid, drove out to the woods, and my friend tried to cut the dog's throat and botched it. She had to lure her bleeding terrified dog back to her and hack away again until her dog was dead. We'd all dropped back at home too, and I'll never forget her coming in the house crying and covered in dog hair and blood. My take? Acid is some serious shit. The acid you take may be nothing like the acid other people have taken and maybe had a good time on, and you will not know if your psyche is robust enough to deal with it at that particular time, or in general. Maybe you'll be lucky; maybe you won't, and you won't know until you're in the shit. I pretty much quit after the dog incident, and also because I started having difficulties breathing each and every time I did it, after having done it about 15 - 20 times or so. It was a strange time.
  • There's no strychnine in acid; that's an urban legend. "Some like water, some like wine. I like the taste..."
  • I love moneyjane's stories.
  • I only did acid a few times, in the late 60's and early 70's but the trips remain among some of my most vivid memories. From walking in a snowstorm and hearing each individual snowflake fall to having a friend who never did make it back from his last acid trip. He's still alive, but on another planet. As MJ says, acid is some serious shit. Now, opium, that's another story.
  • yikes!, mj. never had a bad one, myself. though, we almost always had a tripsitter with us... i wouldn't want to leave reality without one. and as spooky said, you really want to check your mental baggage before boarding. tripping is a lot like dreaming, imho. if your head is full of bad shit, you stand a good chance of having a nightmare. contrarywise, you can see or experience some really beautiful/amazing/cool shit with the right frame of mind.
  • Truly...ironically, I was usually the designated tripsitter because I'm far too leery about giving up control. After a while, I learned that showing people a clock when they were bad tripping was the best way of getting people to understand they weren't going to be like that forever; basically, "When the big hand gets to X, you'll come down". That and the largely placebo vitamin C tablets. People liked the idea of 'first I ate the bad thing, now I'll eat the good thing', especially since the first thing had obviously worked. I did have good trips, but we lived in a town with bad cops, so the paranoia was always nerve-racking. They liked to play mind games - like curb crawling or jacklighting us, or talking weird shit through the speaker - with whoever was on their hitlist (our entire household) and/or beat the fuck out of you if they could get away with it. Made for tripping already primed for sketchiness.
  • *ahem* nerve wracking
  • nerve wrecking - acid trip where user freaked-out Truthfully, I have a whole lot of trouble placing credence in a 3 or 4 hour acid trip, Old skool acid lasted at least 36-48 hours. Dunno what is being sold as acid to people since the sixties, but acid is NOT what it sounds like to me. Highly unlikely an old skool user would survive driving a car once things got thoroughly underway -- people were too wiped out.
  • Aha- the seamy larval stage of a bee revealed. :-)
  • Heh. Writers-in-utero observe but don't necessarily indulge in all they observe. Most importantly, though, I've always been one who gets high on writing. Words: my drug of choice.
  • Clearly a cover-up for purchasing excessive amounts of blotter paper. Tried the stuff meself a lifetime ago and wondered why psychedelic art and trippy music was popular - a doorbell can produce a symphony in such conditions. However, I understand that such aids to the wow factor are handy with pot. Moody Blues? Oh, wow, man, just- wow. ;-)
  • What happened to the old stand-by of valium for a quick return from a bad trip? We always had some on hand for emergencies, back then. Had to use it a couple of times myself, and it finished things off nicely.
  • I had 3 experiences with acid: #1 My first exposure was not by choice! I had this crazy girlfriend at the time who thought it would be fun to lace me with a hit. Without my knowing it, she had managed to slip a dose in my mouth. Next thing I know, she was laughing and telling me to "get ready!" Luckily, I had a good friend who was very knowledgeable on the subject (was proud of being in the "200 Club") and gave me a good background on tripping (not on this occasion, but over numerous conversations for years prior). I had contemplated trying it many times, but this was not the way I had envisioned it! It was my freshman year in college, I had basically quit going to classes, and moved into a party house with 6 girls. There was no turning back at that point, I just let myself relax and ready to enjoy the experience. Fortunately, it was a good experience for the most part. Who would have ever known that there is so much to watch on a static TV channel? Aaah, the spinning orbs of color! Scary moment was when I found myself alone in the dark basement of this house, laying on a table, looking out a window and watching grass "grow" through the snow. Suddenly, I thought I was dead, lying on a table in a morgue... To this day, whenever I hear the Beatles "Abbey Road" album, it always takes me back to that night (this was 1990 btw). For some reason, that album made everything magically turn into subtle hues of pink and green, it looked like Easter, and I could "feel" the music... #2 I had enjoyed #1 so much, that I decided to do it again with my girlfriend at a "shroom" party. South Dakota in dead winter, kids had nothing better to do! About 20 people eating shrooms, but we giggled knowing that we were the only ones dropping. Experience turned bad early on. My girlfriend disappeared, and I became a frantic mess looking for her. Apparently she had left with a friend and didn't think to tell me. All of the "shroomers" were having fun and looking at me like there was something very wrong. All I knew was that I was sure she was dead! One of my band mates was a dj at the local college radio station. He dropped by the party and saw that I was in dire need of help (luckily, he was straight). He grabbed me and "rescued" me from the party. Tried to calm and reason with me. Told me that he knew where my girlfriend was, that she was ok. We hopped in his car and drove to the radio station (he was about to start his shift, and thought he would keep me there, a nice "neutral" environment for me). That was the most bizarre ride I've ever had in a car! It was as if the car was stationary, but the scenery was moving; 5-minute car ride seemed like an eternity. Being at the radio station was calming for a few minutes, but every time my friend would go on-air live, I would freak out. I ran out and found myself in a basement again! The basement this time however was in an old campus building, very institutional... I thought was in an abandoned mental institution! If I recall correctly, I wound up in a bathroom stall, scared shitless, alone in the dark. Bad, bad, bad night!!! Needles to say, I told myself that was to be my last experience... #3 Few years later, after deciding that I had my fill of acid experiences, my best friend talked me into doing a hit with a small group of friends. I was with a group of trusted people, so I let my guard down. Must have been a weak dose, because it seemed like we were waiting hours... Once it finally "hit," I was in misery because all I could think was that I was going to choke. Every swallow felt like my throat was closing up. Needless to say, it was a long agonizing night that I prayed would end.
  • I'm sorry, i just have to say that's the single most depraved, disgusting, inexcusable act i've heard of in years, or maybe ever. that is seriously fucked up and wrong. goddamn.
  • I heard a story about this couple having a bad breakup, and after moving his stuff out, guy A asked guy B out for one last drink, as a civilised gesture. When B went to the bathroom, A dumped a massive amount of some kind of liquid LSD - or whatever was passing for LSD at the time - into B's beer. A then finished his drink, watched B finish his, and left. B made it home. He couldn't leave his apartment for over a week, because he was so afraid of himself and what he might do to other people because he thought he'd become inexplicably psychotic. Amazingly, he came out of it ok. I think that A desperately needs to be convicted of, among other standard charges, aggravated assault.
  • Probably because she was seriously fucked up and wrong I probably should have re-phrased my #2 of above (because it sounds as if I was at-ease with her actions). Luckily, the experience didn't turn seriously bad. There was some initial panic, which subsided to nervous worry, and finally growing anticipation of what was about to happen to me. I was only 18 at the time, and didn't know any better to get involved with someone so completely fucked up. Well, what comes around, eventually does come around! I dumped her about 2 weeks after this incident. She was a loose cannon to boot. I couldn't take it anymore, and something in my head finally clicked. She called me up a year later, and told me how she had become addicted to crystal meth, and was very proud that she had finally tried coke. Glad I woke up!! Looking back on it now, it's hard to believe that someone could be so brazen... I can't imagine even contemplating dosing someone with LSD without their prior knowledge (even when I was one of those un-responsible crazed teens!) guess that's how we learn and grow to be wiser monkeys!
  • sorry sugarmilktea, that wasn't the one i was referring to. apologies for the confusion
  • Anybody else have the feeling that mushrooms are somehow kinder and less damaging to the spirit than acid? My personal experience has been that a night of acid makes me feel like someone has raked my soul with a cheese grater, while a night of shrooms makes me feel refreshed and rejuvinated (even the time when i took wayyyyy too many and spent most of the trip curled up in a little ball in the bathroom). Anecdotally, I hear a lot more stories about people getting permafried from too much acid than from shrooms or other hallucinogens that grow from the ground. In our current climate it would be difficult to investigate this scientifically but I'm interested in other peoples' subjective impressions.
  • I haven't done acid in years but in high school I was the Acid Queen. Well, the Mescaline Queen - we mostly used to get orange sunshine, the happiest shit on the planet, and laugh and laugh and laugh. I was 15 the first time I ever dosed - blotter, pyramids - by my junior year my best friend and I would dose every Saturday night, than Sunday morning when we started coming down we would go to IHOP to eat chocolate chip pancakes and smoke cigarettes. Than I lived in Spain for a while, where I saw Satan and a dinosaur tripping one time (it was okay though, it was a very mellow encounter, hee hee, Satan just looked at me for a while) and back in SC by my early 20s I dosed a lot as well. Then I mostly grew out of it, or, really, grew out of a time where I had 36 straight hours that I could drop out of the world, not be somebody's mom or daughter or employee. So it's been years, but no regrets, none at all. In all that acid, mescaline, shrooms I only ever had two truly bad trips, but in retrospect I'm surprised I survived, since (get ready to stone me) I drove my mom's ford station wagon all over South Carolina while tripping my brains out. On one bad trip I stopped dead in the middle of Savannah Highway since I was convinced there was a giant bird straddling the road, and it would get me if I drove underneath. My terrified friend got me going again and by some total miracle there was not another car on the road. So I was a stupid little shit, but the drugs were great. Oh, and no flashbacks, and my kids are fine - I think my chromosomes survived. My friend who was even more of an acid queen than me has three perfect small honor students now and is a total classic normal middle class soccer mom - you would never know. However, here's a true acid horror story: a cousin of mine was tripping with a bunch of people up on Roan Mountain when one of his friends was hit by lightning and they had to carry his body back down the mountain. Half of them turned Xtian right then and there. . .
  • As long as they go for Sexual Healing as well. Woo! It's covered! Ka-ching!
  • Too add to the horror stories about acid trips (I've had nothing but good ones, myself), an ex of mine and a friend of his were hiking around on one of the local islands and had landed in an opening in the woods, on the edge of a huge field, to hang out and trip for awhile. It was probably around 2 am in the morning when they saw a house way out in the field that looked like it was on fire. They were tripping pretty hard and were too afraid to move from their spot. They sat and watched this house burn. By the time help arrived, four people had died in the fire, two children and their parents. I could never quite look at my ex the same way anymore. I always wondered if he felt, what I would assume would be, the heavy burden of guilt. I understand what they were going thru, but I know that I would have tried to do something. It made me sick to my stomach to hear this story. Another one; a couple of friends of mine were camping out at Mt. Baker and were hanging out by one of the rivers. They were tripping hard and wading around in the water. They had brought their dog, Baker, with them. Baker got too far out in the water and floated down a ways. They tried to run along the side of the bank and catch up with him, but he hit a snag and went under. He never came back up. They never got over that.
  • Thanks, homunculus! That explains a lot.
  • Actually, I'm dropping everything more than I used to...
  • ::rimshot::
  • oops, dropped the drum...
  • Don't drop the shaman's drum. You never know what could happen.
  • Maybe here.
  • Oooh, I'm packin' my bags.
  • Good to know.
  • That Scotsman link is pretty trippy. Did Crick actually believe our DNA was encoded to help us see the parallel universes from whence we came?? Wikipedia mentions that while he was alive, he "was ready to sue anyone" who suggested he had used LSD, and never actually prescribed to "Panspermia".
  • check this out
  • Did Crick actually believe our DNA was encoded to help us see the parallel universes from whence we came? I very much doubt it.
  • More fun.
  • His name was Larry Carlson.
  • Ah, I didn't know it was called 'bicycle day'. Thanks for the link, homunculus!
  • *ponders changing religions*
  • Well, fish is brain food!
  • *Most* enjoyable! Thanks, homunculus.
  • homunculus - this would make a great FPP, with links to Carlos Casteneds's writing and other studies on hallucinigens. The article you linked was very powerful, but many interested people could miss it, hidden away here in a 2 year old thread. And, this is from someone who never did all those drugs.
  • Didn't Castaneda denounce the use of psychotropics in one of his later books?
  • here's a pretty sweet screensaver (and by sweet i mean totally awesome)
    Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver run by thousands of people all over the world. It can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers "sleep", the screen saver comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The result is a collective "android dream", an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
    imho it's far superior to the ugly, ancient windows 3.1 -era "mystify" & "beziers" screensavers that micro$oft is still bundling with windows.
  • Ah, Flowfazer, now that was some trippy screensaver... oooooohhhh...
  • Nick Cage lives.
  • I would take acid if anyone had any for me.
  • Ach, I'm skeptical of the LSD allegation;. Into the psilly-sigh-bin with it!
  • I’ve had the good fortune to take acid more than a few times in my life at what were, in retrospect, crucial junctures. Also I always got my stuff from a source I trusted. The time that really hit me was when I was in the military. I was on a ship at night and it was the sky, the ocean and me. The eternity of that moment hit me and the divine compassion of the universe just washed over me and I just lost myself in it. Which was marvelous, because that loss of perspective really enhanced my empathy for pretty much everything. It was interesting reclaiming myself. I remember a couple guys talking who apparently knew I dropped acid saying from a ways away one said:“Hey, you want to f*ck with him?” and the other guy saying “What if he kills us?” Just an absurd sort of personal koan of self that presented itself to me. And ultimately helped me change direction to align with what I knew. As I got better at meditation LSD lost it’s appeal. I’ve had a bad trip, but I think even that was instructive. So I’d have to agree with the others, I’m better for having taken it. It’s like Keats’ comments on what poetry should be ... ‘should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.’ There’s that “Ah, of course” bit to it that I’ve always found far more interesting than the hallucinations. I don’t take it anymore in part because I can’t find any, but mostly because I haven’t needed the insight. I suppose I’ll try to get some as an old man.
  • I regard hallucinogens as useful tools. However, I think they should be used cautiously. I used to do a bit of psilocybin mushrooms in the UK, because.. well they grow out of cow pastures & greensward. Pretty easy to find if you know what you're looking for. I had one depressive trip, because I was deeply unhappy at the time; never take 'em when you're down, they won't bring you up. They amplify the state of mind you're in. I would be interested in trying DMT.
  • I once saw someone on mushrooms desperately try to convince others in the room that he was an animated laundry heap (having upturned a basket of dirty clothes on himself), in imitation of the animated compost heap in Fraggle Rock. The performance was side-splittingly hilarious. I think.
  • Y'know, I'd like to think if I was high that that's the sort of delusion I'd have. At least, I know it would involve laundry somehow.
  • I'm a chicken, Marge!
  • I've never had a delusion like that, & I've taken large doses. I've never thought anything that wasn't real was real. Laughing jags, paranoiac attacks, mystical revelations, yes. Never thought I was anything but a shaved ape on druuuugs. Never tried to fly or whatnot. Although I've heard that jimson weed aka datura can bring on that kind of shit, but that's a different kettle of neurochemicals altogether.
  • Clarification: the chap I'm talking about didn't think he was an animated laundry heap; he was hoping that the other psilocybin users would think so.
  • Pinchbeck sounds like a moran.
  • You're just jealous because no one will pay you to write books about getting high.
  • YET.
  • Oh, I see. You're high now. Okay, that's a start.
  • ... and the sea is still salt. Took 'em long enough to get around to looking at it again.
  • *volunteers for test group*
  • Acid (long contemplative sigh)- I've really enjoyed this thread and thought I'd throw my story in too. I did a lot of tripping in the late seventies, mescaline, peyote, shrooms and acid mainly. Most experiences were very good with exception of one horrible, terrifying trip that I foolishly took alone. I was confronted with my worst fears and paranoia swirling around and through me for 10 hours- I had a little dog that I clung to and I felt that if I let him go, I would surely go mad. He didn't seem to mind snuggling up to me for six or eight hours and I was very grateful for his presence- we made a real connection and I was devastated when my landlord forced me to give him away. Never trip alone, was the message I got from that night of terror. The best trip I ever took was the first. Some strong blotter with some good friends in a safe environment. It started out badly- I became very paranoid and started to freak out as I simultaneously had to confront all my insecurities, percieved character defects, selfishness, Catholic guilt, emotional loose ends from my parent's divorce etc. for the first time, seemingly, in my young life (I was 19) It was very strong acid and I felt the artificial construct that was my working "personality" disintegrate. I felt myself "explode" at one point and I was convinced I was dead. When one of my friends wandered in to check on me he asked how I was. I told him I was dead. He said "no you're not, you're just fine". Instantly, I was transported into complete ecstasy, union with "God", one with the white light and exquisitely aware of the infinite compassion of the universe etc. Yeah, I know it sounds like such a cliche, but there you have it. There I remained as part of the white light for I don't know how many hours and the room would only reassemble briefly when someone asked me a question only to let me drift away again till I finally came down. Coming down was a little depressing but at the same time, my life had been irrevocably changed. All my subconcious and conscious questions about philosophy, Time, death, God and religion had been answered in one fell swoop. I was free of my old guilt and my ever lurking of death. It was easily the most important event of my life and I still think about it most days. Subsequent trips never added much to that experience and while I enjoyed laughing to Firesign Threater, listening to Coltrane, Bach, Stravinsky and Penderecki (but terrfied by Don Ellis and Pink Floyd's "Umma Gumma") and eating ice cream while tripping, I eventually lost interest. There were two other trips of note. One doing shrooms with my girlfriend in the woods (Nature!) and an intense trip with my brother where we apparently melded into one being for a time. But I did as Richard Alpert suggested ("When you get the message, hang up the phone") and eventually felt that there was no more to get from it. I too never saw the types of hallucination that some people claim either: elephants, disney characters etc. But I saw visually the interconnectedness of all things and the fractals and tracers mentioned elsewhere. More important than the visuals was the cognitive CLARITY that someone else mentioned. Never had a flashback and I estimate that I've probably tripped at least 50 times. Like a previous commenter, I may trip again when I get old and start circling the drain but I feel no pressing need either. I've told my story, banal as it is, to many people and get two reactions: those who have never tripped nod politely and look at me as if I might be demented and those who have tripped- they tend to smile knowingly. Based on my own experience, it seems likely that LSD could be a very useful tool for helping people get their lives together- it certainly helped me to a degree that I consider incalculable. It's too bad that the drug has such a bad rap considering it's capacity to do some real good.
  • I like to go there when I sleep and watch the white coals banked within my heart roar up before I let them eat me
  • kamus - that was beautifully written. I've never done acid or shrooms, but your experiences are poignant. Thank you for sharing that.
  • Great story, kamus. Thanks for sharing.
  • Thanks guys. Thanks Bees too- btw, have you published any of your stuff? You are a formidable poet- would love to read more of your stuff. One other thing that I didn't mention. The change that occurred for me after that first trip was so profound that I have difficulty remembering just how messed up emotionally I was before that first trip. Of course, it didn't solve all my problems either but having been in that pure state of ecstasy at least one time gave me some sort of important reference point that has helped me deal with my problems in a positive way and I continue to deal with them. The biggest change was in how I deal with other people: before I was so self obsessed and narcissistic and I guess I didn't worry about others that much. Acid reminds us, or at least me, that we are all separate branches on the single tree of Cosmic Consciousness and that our percieved separation is but an illusion. Sure, I'm still selfish and narcissistic but I can see it, at least, and therefore I'm in a much better position to deal with it and prevent it from harming others. And not worrying about death is no small thing either. I'm curious about X. It sounds like from some people's descriptions that you can achieve some of the same insights without some of the drawbacks of acid. Is this the case? I'd be curious to hear a comparison from someone who has done both. Again, thanks for listening.
  • Yes, I have. Thank you.
  • Bees- I tried emailing you but it bounced (unroutable address).
  • Oops. I'll fix it! - I put that there so Chy wouldn't feel pressured to email me.
  • Oops. I'll fix it! - I tried that so Chy wouldn't feel pressured to email me.
  • and we all know that Chy doesn't read this thread
  • Thank you kamus
  • Kamus, I have done both X and acid. My personal experience tells me that while ecstasy was a considerable amount of fun it was not nearly as impacting, and most certainly not on any long-term level, as acid was. Nor did it possess the far reaching aspects of acid. X is more immediately emotional, creating more visceral physical sensations, whereas acid is excrutiatingly, wonderfully intellectual. Acid changed me, permanently changed my outlook and my introspection. It's an odd thing to say, probably an odd thing to read, but acid empowered me, life became better, I lived better, I felt/feel far more connected to life and God. Ecstasy has had the tendency to be the opposite once the trip is over. Nothing is quite as pretty, it's kind of a pointless, wasteful drug, IMO. However, that being said, if you don't ever intend to drop acid yet you are interested in tripping, that is the easy way to go - just so long as it is done in moderation (hypocritical, I know, but I'm a mom now and I would not want to suffer what I hear many have suffered from taking too much ecstasy -- plus, I will repeat what kamus said, "When you get the message, hang up the phone")
  • Nice, Wedge!
  • Darshon- thanks. Exactly what I was hoping for. Wedge- the colours, the colours, man!
  • Recently my aged mum has been undergoing a crisis of faith. After a lifetime of being a diehard Catholic, she has taken to doubting the whole thing. The new Pope with his nazi past (albeit as an impressionable youth), the opposition to stem cell research and the recent sex scandals et al have all conspired to pull the metaphorical rug from beneath her. It's one thing for a casual worshipper to fall away from the Church; it's quite another when someone loses the bedrock of their existence, especially towards the end of their life. My eastern thought influenced assurances are a poor substitute. I've actually talked to her about possibly trying a psychedelic experience for a "taste of eternity" and while she seems dubious about the idea (as I am a little) she hasn't ruled it out. Has anyone here attempted anything similar with a loved one or does anyone have any thoughts on this possibly harebrained idea?
  • Wow, kamus. As I said above, my own experience was highly faith-based. Especially impacting as I had not been even remotely faithful prior to that. I came to realize that my connection to/with God is all-encompassing. As I have gotten older, I find I have come to hold on to that more and more. I would not want to sway you, or her, one way or the other, but I am highly intrigued by the potential realizations for her. The downside being that nothing is guaranteed. I look forward to hearing how it went for her if she goes forward with this.
  • I don't know if that's fun to watch if you're tripping, but after two scotches, you close the window before the one minute mark.
  • Cool stuff homunculus, thanks for keeping this thread alive.
  • the news, on pcp
  • Goodness. First time I've been aware of DMT. Interesting, indeed. From the wiki: Dr. Rick Strassman, while conducting DMT research in the 1990s at the University of New Mexico, advanced the theory that a massive release of DMT from the pineal gland prior to death or near death was the cause of the near death experience phenomenon. DMT creates legal dilemmas in many countries because possession is illegal but at the same time the drug is naturally present in the human body. Heh. "But officer, I extracted this from my own brain, really!"
  • Kamus- I have taken acid a couple of times and shrooms a couple more times and I hate to admit it but E was the drug that changed my life. I had taken shrooms before and under the tutelage of some very informed psychedelic cosmonauts but E was the one that got me connected to the great consciousness of all humanity. I've never had the experience of other people that upon coming down one becomes depressed I was happy with the beauty of the world for the first time in years after rolling the first time. I've done it maybe 5 more times and it rings hollow and seems wasteful now and I tend to not recommend people doing it but, it was very formative in my life. Hope this makes some sense. 5-MEO-DMT on the other hand... I understand what the color white feels like as an entity.
  • I only drop acid on rocks, since that's how you tell the carbonates from the non-carbonates. However, as I've never done a drug, nor have I ever had much alcohol (I'm allergic), I can attest to the most interesting life-long sleep phenomena and strangely useful synaethetic information coding. So yes, even without mind alteration, my mind is altered on its own. It's like a free trip, man.
  • That hypnosis piece is fascinating, H-Dogg. A non-chemical means to replicate some of the best states of mind you can imagine? I needs to find me a hypnotist.
  • Joe Rogan explains life (or at least DMT).
  • i saw that joe rogan thing. dmt sure does sound interesting. i plan on trying it when i'm 80. that's when i'm gonna try all the drugs i didn't try before i turned 30.
  • Damn, that's too bad.
  • That sucks.
  • Alcohol is ranked much more harmful than the Class A drug ecstasy in a controversial new classification system proposed by a team of leading scientists. The authors proposes that drugs should be classified by the amount of harm that they do, rather than the sharp A, B, and C divisions in the UK Misuse of Drugs Act. The new ranking places alcohol and tobacco in the upper half of the league table. These socially accepted drugs were judged more harmful than cannabis, and substantially more dangerous than the Class A drugs LSD, 4-methylthioamphetamine and ecstasy.
  • > At 66, his gray hair, neat beard, and rimless glasses give him the look of a seasoned intellectual. Well, there you go.
  • Feldmar's offending paper: Entheogens and Psychotherapy
  • Nice link! Schultes work is classic; I've been planning on reading One River by Wade Davis for some time now.
  • Ayahuasca trip from Blueberry Possible spoiler for the movie "Blueberry" (aka "Renegade").
  • Thanks for that Homunculus. I often wondered what became of Owsley, nice to see that he's still fighting the good fight.
  • I wish I had some. :(
  • Sometimes I miss it, but that stuff really fucked with my head after awhile. I think I liked it a bit too much. Probably was best for me that most of the dealers I knew when I was using were too afraid to carry it.
  • I haven't had any in years, but lately I've been researching ayahuasca and other ethneogens and have become interested in tripping again, but this time for serious self discovery/analysis reasons, rather than the just for a laugh trips I used to have. My problem now is more pressing: I've just dicovered that I'm going to be urine tested for a new job.
  • ayahuasca is too hard to get to work. Plus, those fucking self-replicating machine elves really get on my nerves.
  • I'll remember to bring my psychedelic self-replicating baseball bat.
  • From that Owsley article: "Any time the music on the radio starts to sound like rubbish, it's time to take some LSD." That's wisdom, any way you look at it!
  • I'd be on LSD all the fucking time, then. However, something must be wrong, because I dug a John Mayer song the other day. /shiver
  • Find a dealer, man. STAT!
  • Great read, h-dogg. Thanks for linking. Oh, the days...
  • I believe it's Hoffman's birthday, as well.
  • I was at a barbecue almost a month ago where one of the hosts was holding. Most of us ended up dropping and I walked home with black shoes despite having arrived with white ones.
  • Give thanks that you had foot coverings.
  • Next they'll criminalize frog-kissing. Then where will we be? Glut of unhappy and dissatisfied princesses on the market, that's where. And we'll all suffer.
  • I am an unrepentant frog-kisser.
  • Cary Grant on acid. Via this MeFi thread.
  • Heh, that would 'splain a lot.
  • Anybody here ever try Salvia Divinorum? If so, how was it? /derail
  • Albert Hoffman Passes ON RIP, Dr. Hoffman.
  • "Anyone who does it more than once a month should literally have their head examined." So, why doesn't he describe the head examining he got after doing it three nights in a row?
  • "Compared to brain surgery,” ... “taking a couple hits of LSD looked a lot more attractive.” Well that certainly was the operative credo in the late 60's.
  • Ah, now that explains everything!!
  • THIS is an advertisement for not using LSD.
  • I love that this stuff is being considered and that humane considerations toward alternatives prevail among the scientific community when it comes to the idea of drugs, suffering, and death. Unfortunately, when things enter into the political arena, the attitude seems to be EVIL!! OH NOEZ WAR ON DRUGS!! Somebody might get addicted or have a good time!! Republicans especially are all about let 'em suffer, they'll get over it eventually.