Ask the [former] acidhead*

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

*(and user of other psychedelics)

I was not always as I am now. These days, a casual observer would make me for either an aging homosexual with subcultural and “street” tendencies or a somewhat eccentric 40-something from a blue-collar background; while s/he wouldn’t be too far off the mark with either assessment, I have a much more, errrmmmm, *colorful *facet to my history as well.

To wit: between the ages of 18 to about 35 (from 1977 to approximately 1995), I was a devotee and avid user of psychedelics (hallucinogens) – mainly LSD but also its close chemical kin like mescaline and psylocybin, the psychedelic amphetamine derivatives such as MDA and MDMA, and various more strange and uncommon substances [among them amanita muscaria and a. pantherina. DMT, and – *most unrecommended !! – *Jimson Weed ].

I thought of myself as somewhat more than a recreational tripper – I was basically a later-era hippie or what’s now termed a psychonaut, who believed that the psychedelic experience was a very positive and powerful thing, and a large part of my day to day life was concerned with matters of mind expansion and visionary experience. The social circles in which I was active included the Rainbow Family (whom I was a hard-core nomadic “regular” of for many years), the more counterculturally oriented phase of the Radical Faery movement, the DeadHead, Bluegrass festival and underground noise music scenes, and certain friendly-to-fried-freaks fringes of the Bay Area pagan/occultist community. During this phase I tripped anywhere from once or twice a month to once or twice a week.

When I was about 35, I pretty much stopped using psychedelics and haven’t touched any since (allowing for a few potential exceptions). While I don’t associate with the same circles anymore, and my thoughts and feelings on many things have changed markedly since that time, I have mostly positive feelings about my tripping years and few if any regrets.

So, in the hopes of an interesting thread and of sharing some information on a complex of subjects about which a good deal of ignorance, and mis- and dis-info as well, prevails, I’m opening the floor to any questions which interested Dopers might have for an unrepentant former acidhead – about the drugs, the mileiue, my own experiences, or anything along those lines. I’ll share my knowledge, views and thoughts to the best of my ability.

Fire away!

2

You could be my twin when it comes to this - it would be pretty funny if we knew each other from tour or gatherings because those were the same years that I was traveling around to the same places and doing pretty much the same things. If I wrote that OP it would be almost the same. I even stopped at about the same age. I’m sure I’ve tripped on various things close to 1000 times over the years and I’m very happy to have emerged with most brain cells intact after having that much fun.

I don’t have any questions but I probably won’t be able to resist some “'me too’s” along the way.

3

I’ve never had a classic psychedelic experience. Sounds like our ages are about the same. I have tried acid maybe a dozen times? But the experience was always one of giddiness not hallucinations. Sure it was nice to feel elated and laugh a lot, but given my demeanour alcohol does basically the same thing, and I actually get to fall asleep after, whereas acid tended to keep me awake until ungodly hours.

So, did your psychedelics actually give you the classic hallucinogenic experience: dripping faces, holes in the centre of the room, people morphing into animals and the like? If so, is this a reflection of the drug itself or perhaps the person taking the drug? I’ve always thought that I couldn’t experience hallucinations in much the same way that I’ve always felt that I could never be hypnotized into doing something I wouldn’t normally want to do.

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What did you do for money between 18 & 35?

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How often did you take a hallucinogen? Daily? Weekly?

Get any flashbacks still? Any of them memorable?

What was the most memorable trip?

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Why did you stop, and what things have you changed your thoughts and feelings on?

7

Yes, if they’re good enough. Street acid usually wasn’t.

I’ll resist the urge to comment on the rest of the question since it’s for him, not me.

8

A lot of it’s dosage-related. When LSD was first tintroduced and in its period of greatest usage, a standard hit was anywhere from 250 to 500 micrograms. From the mid 1970s, onward, the market was taken over by75-to-100-mike hits – nice fun for a [party, concert or day of museum-going, but nothing that would have you ga-gaing at the world like a newborn babe. If you wanted to go there, you took five or six, instead of two or three like your friends who had some sense about them did. Another thing to consider is that the effects of hallucinogens were often sensationalized and exaggerated in the media – and by some users out to impress with how “far out” they’d gotten.

Ooh, yeah, they did that sometimes…:wink:

9

A lot of the time I was at events like Rainbow Gatherings, where everyone shared food and lived in tents, or on the road, so money wasn’t really an issue. Other times I’d do about what you’d imagine – odd jobs of various sorts, a little panhandling and can/bottle recycling, selling handicrafts and Tarot readings on the street and at flea markets, and occasionally selling the odd hit to my friends.

10

I only ever took one at a time. Too chicken to push it any further.

11

It varied wildly for a lot of reasons. When I first started, acid was a rare and infrequent commodity, so there was a period when it was like every two or three months. Later as my circumstances changed it became more available and more of the folks around me were using it, thus I was tripping more and more often. During Gatherings some of us (including me) tried to stay up there for a couple days or more.After I got way into it there was a spell lasting maybe a year when I would do acid or mushrooms two or three times a week on average – that was pretty unusual amongst my circle though.

Nope. Never had one, nor has anyone I’ve ever known. Indeed (someone will be along to dispute this point momentarily, but I’m speaking only of what I know first- or second-hand), I don’t believe they actually exist for the most part; the notion that "it’ll recur when you least expect it!"was something fabricated to scare people away from taking psych’s

That’s like asking someone about their most memorable orgasm – kind of impossible to say, really.

12

Same here.

13

We have Jimsom weed/Datura around here. I’ve heard it’s damn dangerous to mess with. Tell me about your experience.

14

It began to be less pleasant and positive for me; my experiences started being more about anxiety, sadness, fear and self-critical introspection insyead of giggle fits and cosmic awe. After a couple of fairly unpleasant intervals I decided that it just wasn’t what it used to be anymore. You might say I just lost interest, but with reinforcements.

I’m a lot more cynical now than I used to be, for one thing, and I gradually became disillusioned with some of the mystical perspectives I once held. Some of my priorities have radically altered too. Also I lost interest in going to gatherings and living a nomadic life, and my aesthetic tastes have become a lot less trip-compatible.

15

Until this thread, the first and only occurence in my life of the term ‘psychonaut’ is in the computer game of the same name. (with an ‘s’ on the end).

Was that game written by and/or inspired by the pyschonauts as defined by the OP? Or was the name borrowed? or is it just a co-incidence?

Or was the borrowing done in reverse (the OP says ‘now termed’ so it could have been borrowed from the game)

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It’s not only damned dangerous, it’s also a pretty nasty experience subjectively. J-Weed and belladonna (before I was hip to the fact that they and related botanicals share the same active principals) were the only substances to ever make me hallucinate in the usual sense of that word – experience sights and sounds with no basis in the external world, which was experienced as real at the time. The alkaloids found in JW, datura, nightshade, mandrake and henbane – scopalamine, hyoscamine and atropine – aren’t psych’s; they are poisons which cause a vivid state of delirium. You don’t remember half the experience, but what you do recall is enough to convince you it was …very strange. People who are foolish enough to do this shit can die of the toxic effects themselves, or from injuries sustained acting on their visions. And after it’s all over, you’re generally sick, weak, dizzy, burningly thirsty and blurry-eyed for a few days afterward.

Terrible, terrible shit, that.

17

Yeah. I was running a shelter once and a bunch of the street kids made tea from some plants they found and it took us all day to figure out what the hell was wrong with them when they started freaking out and getting sick all at once. At least half a dozen of them ended up in the hospital.

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Did you ever have any run-ins with the police? How did that go?

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Are any of those drugs addictive? Do you think you were addicted to them?

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Do you know any “burnouts”? I knew a guy in college who was really bright - our freshman year he was in all honors classes - but was also a full-time druggie. I bumped into him our senior year and he was a shell of his former self. That was a very sad sight, even though the guy was often a huge jerk.