Anyone ever done LSD?

[damn-I-Suck]

DISCLAIMER: If you are under 18, you should not read this. The subject matter is taboo.

So, I was listening to Pink Floyd's album, Meddle, the other day. I haven't heard any Pink Floyd in years, and then it hit me.

I had a genuine "flashback" that old hippies talk about. The walls started to melt, moving objects left trails behind, and my body felt all the old sensations that I thought were long forgotten.

In my teen years, I was a modernized hippie. I smoked pot (I still do, BTW), did acid, ate mushrooms, whore hemp necklaces with glass beads, and had long hair, and basically was a total fuck-up with life. I ditched school to get high regularly. Yeah, I was "that guy" in high school that people only knew me as the guy to party with.

Those days are over now.

Looking back now, I justified my hallucinogenic use because I believed that it can potentially expand the mind, in creativity if nothing else. Hallucinogenics forces you to think about the world in ways you never thought possible. According to the US government, I've done LSD enough times to be legally insane 10 times over again. Am I crazy? Perhaps a little, but definitely not "insane" and absolutely functional as an adult in my late twenties. I might have a few emotional problems, but who doesn't?

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if it weren't for psychedelics, I would have never become so philosophical. At age 20, I took basic philosophy in College just for kicks. The truth is, I was always philosophical, long before I even knew what it was. I was always asking why, much like a child's curiosity. This one class changed my life forever, nothing in my entire life had such a profound effect on me, not even drugs.

I should probably say that I don't believe hallucinogenics should be taken by everyone. There is a VERY good reason why it's illegal, and despite the fact that something good can be gained from it, I support it's illegality. Some people can't handle it, take too much, and jump off a building because they think they can fly. Not to mention that fact that the doses are measured in micrograms, which is a millionth of a gram (yeah, it's THAT powerful). Also, there's too many quasi-chemists who don't really know what their doing. Pure LSD-25 actually requires someone with a PHD in chemistry to achieve, and even then, the recipe is very secretive because of the dangers of LSD.

I am actually quite lucky that I never took enough to send me "over the edge", because there was a couple of times when the doses were VERY strong and I was on the verge of losing my mind. The line that shouldn't be crossed is the line where you no longer know what's real and what's not. One time, the only thing holding me together was this : I knew I was at glen's house, and I knew who was in the room with me, other than that it was all just colors and patterns moving around, I could barely make out specific objects. Other than that my experiences have been nothing but a blast.

So, my question is, do you think LSD has the potential to be a good thing, or do you think it's all bad? What if it were legal in a controlled environment, where you couldn't hurt yourself or anyone around you? Also, I think a person should have to pass a psychological exam, to make sure they have a firm grip on reality, before they attempt to dissolve reality right in front their eyes. Obviously people with ailments such as schizophrenia and bipolar should be automatically banned from doing LSD.

The entire 1960's movement was strong evidence that people believe that something can be gained from doing hallucinogenics. Think for a minute about cultures around the world: Native American tribes occasionally do Peyote and Mushrooms for spiritual enlightenment, Chinese monks did opium to achieve something similar, and I believe that Irish Celtics did Mushrooms for pagan rituals and what not.

"Careful with that axe Eugene, one of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces!" Pink Floyd

 

[lobo]

 

[Dullyanna]

Whether it's illegal or not, dumb people are inevitably gonna get their hands on it and get themselves killed or seriously injured, no amount of legal fuckery is going to keep them from doing that. As much as people rag on LSD I feel it's a lot more tame and "controlled" than mushrooms or harder stuff , unless your source is super fucking sketchy or something or you go way fucking overboard. I hate to be "that guy", but government "tests" are frequently a load of crock (They've tested the "danger" of pot smoke by literally smoking rats to death with excessive amounts). If it's very frequently abused, I can see LSD having potential long-term effects, but from my exp it's difficult to ascertain whether it's due to this or abuse of other drugs (Or both). I can confidently say though that as long as you have a reasonable grip on reality, there's far more personally harmful things you could do than LSD... like robotripping and whippits.

k rant over I'm gonna go slowly destroy my liver some more.

 

[Ghengis_John]

I've never done it so that hardly makes me the authority. It's not for me. And I say this as somebody who is A: Pretty straight laced. and B: Has a family history of psychosis (I'm fine btw, but let's not take any chances). I will say though, the amount of ego that some of the people have who take it, ie: being full of themselves or seeing themselves or their actually fairly mundane thoughts as somehow mystically increased in significance is enough to make me dislike it. "We're all connected, I never realized that till I took LSD." One friend in highschool told me. "Wow, good job." I said, "You risked your life to find out something you could have by cracking open a greeting card." Another friend of mine was once contemplating it and asked me, because he thought it would make him "more creative." I don't think however that a drug can give you anything you don't already posess within you. I don't want to be completely closed minded, it might help someone find something buried in their subconscious for instance, but it's a dangerous way to find it. It can't make you more than you are and the idea that it can is selling yourself short.

The truth is, I was always philosophical, long before I even knew what it was. I was always asking why, much like a child's curiosity. This one class changed my life forever, nothing in my entire life had such a profound effect on me, not even drugs.

In a similar vein this relates somewhat to what I was talking about. You always possessed that curiosity and the intelligence both to ask questions and to appreciate the answers even when they're just more questions. The discoveries people make about themselves under hallucinogenics can be fleeting or illusory. When your brain is wired so that you can "taste colors" for instance it's hard to say what of meaning you can carry away from that high. It's far more valuable when you encounter things that change your perspective even whilst you are sober. Well just my opinion on it anyhow.

 

[damn-I-Suck]

For the record, I haven't done acid in about 4 years, and I don't plan on doing it anymore.

I just wanted to see if other people had similar mind-opening experiences as I did.

Thanks for reading and responding!

 

[mkl]

Dropped a lot in the four times I did it. All were pretty unique circumstances. I think if you can handle it a trip is well worth taking once in your life. It will almost force you to look at your world in a different way than you ever though and come to grips. And it removes pretty much any inhibition, albeit in a weird ass "am I going to die" way that makes you want to tribal dance.

 

[acefrost]

While I barely even drink anything with caffeine in it, I do love hearing peoples stories of their drug experiences, thanks for a good read.

 

[Rikuto]

No matter how rational you are as a normal person, there really is no safe way to do drugs.

Anything that truly forces you to view the world a different way is going to render you dumbfucked and make you just as likely to march right out a window. If you're the type of personality thats going to just sit in one spot the whole time then you are probably a lot safer, but you'll never know until you do it and thats the risk.

Drugs are kind of like a temporary, false enlightenment that carry a very substantial risk attached. Everyone's experience is going to be very different. Some will give positive ideas, some will just give nightmares...

Personally I won't try anything like that again. The subconscious is a powerful thing, and if I need change I can put it in the mental queue.

 

[CarteBlanche]

The entire 1960's movement was strong evidence that people believe that something can be gained from doing hallucinogenics.

I will generalize by saying that I believe people who do drugs are people who have too little imagination to keep themselves entertained otherwise. Those drugs probably don't have much of an effect on the person, but it does affect negatively the people who are around and don't do this shit, especially if they are under age.
If a minor sees that, then clearly the adult doing it has a problem in the brain... And taking drugs doesn't make them any smarter. That alone should be a strong argument against the theory that is expands your mind or whatever.

When you're young, someone offers you to try drugs and you say yes, what does it say about you? Is it that you're open minded, or is it that you're a sheep and you let the others do the thinking for you?
(It sounds like something they'd say in an anti-drug campaign, I know.)

So, my opinion for the topic question is neither, doesn't affect who you are, but it can affect others in many ways, some more subtle than others.

 

[Destinizish]

And taking drugs doesn't make them any smarter. That alone should be a strong argument against the theory that is expands your mind or whatever.

That isn't the point that was made, despite the fact that it's what he had said to preface the rant.

Expanding your mind? No, drugs aren't going to do that. Rather, it temporarily messes with thinking and perception. This can open new avenues for creativity, because much of human creativity is inspired from experience. The same goes for pretty much everything human. We learn from experience, even if it's not an experience of our own. The more experiences you've had in life, the more ways you have to look at the world. And while the topic is largely centered around hallucinogenics, which heavily alter perception, I'd say the same goes for most drugs. Yes, they can effect your outlook on life and your perception of the world, as can most any kind of human experience.

 

[SpaghettiViking]

That isn't the point that was made, despite the fact that it's what he had said to preface the rant.

Expanding your mind? No, drugs aren't going to do that. Rather, it temporarily messes with thinking and perception. This can open new avenues for creativity, because much of human creativity is inspired from experience. The same goes for pretty much everything human. We learn from experience, even if it's not an experience of our own. The more experiences you've had in life, the more ways you have to look at the world. And while the topic is largely centered around hallucinogenics, which heavily alter perception, I'd say the same goes for most drugs. Yes, they can effect your outlook on life and your perception of the world, as can most any kind of human experience.

I agree with Destinizish here. While drugs can open one's mind to creative and original thinking, they do not necessarily "expand" or improve the overall state of one's mind.

I used to be a mild user of certain hallucinogenics, but permanently quit after about 10 experiences total. I've tried Salvia Divinorum, Dimethyl Triptomine, Psylocybin mushrooms, and Amanita Muscaria.

When I used Salvia (which I later found out to be a drug that is ideally ingested through chewing fresh leaves, not by smoking "extract"), I experienced a violently intense series of visuals that took me back to my childhood home while including the sensation of being "guided" by two spectral beings. The experience was interesting, but I feel like I ultimately gained very little from it other than a scare and some pretty things to remember.

DMT gave me a very interesting view on my own life and changed my perspective on things a bit, but I still feel that the risks ultimately outweigh the benefits of using it. Of all the drugs I've tried, it is definitely the one I feel holds the greatest potential for personal gain, but it is dangerous when used by those uneducated in its potency and effects, and it is quite illegal.

Psylocybin and Amanita Muscaria were both "high-like" experiences that gave me no insight or knowledge whatsoever, but simply made me feel varying amounts of good and bad while being in an inebriated state of mind. Amanita gave me a good night's sleep, but that's about all I say in its favor. It was otherwise quite weak and ineffective. Psylocybin gave me a roller coaster-style trend of emotions, while colors and patterns were more interesting to look at.

All in all, the only drug I can ever see myself ever doing again is marijuana, and I don't plan on using that more often than once a month at most. The experiences and sensations of drugs don't appeal to me now that I've tried a few, and I value the health of my mind and body over a temporary high or awe-inspiring experience with no real lasting value.