I’ve never dropped acid, or taken any hallucinogen. I just can’t get the substance itself, and someone to session me, and the right environment and a block of time where I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything, all at the same time. So I wouldn’t know, personally, what someone who’s tripping could or might do or not do.
When I was in elementary and middle school, the propaganda was that if you took acid, you would jump out a window. Art Linkletter’s daughter dropped acid and jumped out a window, so E equals MC squared and acid equals window. :p. I’ve also heard people say that the Manson family were on acid when they did their murders, and of course there was the Fatal Vision guy, who claimed that his family was killed by people on acid. But everything I’ve heard from people who’ve tripped makes it sound like it would be impossible to get in a car, drive to a house, break in and subdue people in that state. I guess the way I worded the title is a bit misleading. Someone on acid could get violent with someone who was already in the room, but I’m not convinced that they could drive to another house if the steering wheel is turning into a turtle under their hands. And I also can’t see having the intent to do murder for the length of time it would take to act on it, because I’ve been told that tripping messes with your conception of time and space, and you’d probably forget what you wanted to do by the time you found your car keys.
Anyone? (I mean anyone who’s tripped, not anyone who’s done murder. :D)
I’ve dropped acid once several years ago, and I guess it doesn’t really fit with the driving somewhere to kill someone criterion, but I had to stop my best friend from beating her sleeping boyfriend about the head with a Jesus candle. She fully intended to bash his brains in.
Aside from that, and the talking tree outside who threatened me, it was a good time.
I haven’t dropped acid for many years, but there’s no doubt in my mind that you can become so incredibly focused on doing something (even murder) that you ABSOLUTELY have to do it.
I remember dropping (I think) purple microdot with one of my brothers while camping, and then going on a long hike. It must have been three hours or so one way. For those who care, this was in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba (Canada).
Anyway, the whole focus of our trip was to go and see Grey Owl’s cabin at the end of the trail. We had to see it, had to see it, had to see it. We got to the cabin, glanced at the outside of it, turned around and headed back. I don’t think we even went inside.
The point I’m trying to make is, for myself, I always had some kind of quest that I had to go on during these trips. IF you got it into your head that a certain person had to be killed for the good of humankind, I think you could definitely have that kind of fanatical focus. Messages from the Gods are not that uncommon while tripping.
This assumes, of course, that acid reacts with every person the way it reacted with me. Acid being acid, I doubt that this is the case.
I did a fair amount of acid in my mispent youth, and I can’t imagine killing anybody. If the thought of killing someone crossed my mind, it would seem so hilarious that I would probably roll around laughing for a few hours. Acid caused me to spend a lot of rolling around laughing time.
Almost all of those horrible things that happen on acid stories are in the realm of urban legends. Two points of caution I will mention:
It does tend to amplify whatever mental state you are in. If you are already mentally ill or a borderline personality type, it’s possible that acid, especially large amounts of acid over a period of time, could push you over the edge. Would that be the edge to homicidial mania? Well, I guess anything is possible, if you have those tendencies already.
What is sold on the street as acid these days can be very impure. I spent my last two trips vomiting profusely because the stuff was cut with strychnine or something equally nasty, which is why I quit taking it. It is very possible that a person could buy something as acid that is actually angel dust or speed or some other drug with a much higher “going crazy and killing someone” potential.
But overall, I wouldn’t say that acid makes people violent. From what I know about the CIA mind control experiments, the ones using acid failed miserably. Instead of producing bloodthirsty programed killers, acid produced people that just wanted to lie in the grass and feel the groovy vibes.
I SUPPOSE, if you were already inclined to do that sort of thing (murder), but I highly doubt it. If so, you’d surely be caught because you would be found in a puddle of blood marvelling at the color and texture of your victim’s hair.
Acid just really isn’t that way. It’s more of a laughing-your-ass-off, stay-up-all-night, sweat-profusely, hang-with-your-friends, don’t-leave-the-house type drug. There was only one time that I left the place I started and it was awful. It wasn’t scary awful, just open awful. Acid makes you want to be in a familiar place with familiar people.
I agree with Silvio on the amplification of moods…you don’t want to even try acid if you’re in a bad mood or around people you don’t know.
I also want to say that marijuana and acid are the only (illegal) drugs I have ever tried. Pot has never agreed with me and it’s been five years since I’ve done acid. I’m scared of everything else.
Sue Duhnym: It’s interesting - acid always reacted almost exactly the opposite with me. I can’t stay at home. I have to walk (and usually for two or three hours at a time.)
As I say, I haven’t touched the stuff for years (probably 15 years now) but even towards the end of my illustrious career, I refused to do it in the city. I had to be in the bush, so that my walks were among trees and animals, and not buildings and people.
I’ve also never killed anyone, or seriously contemplated it while tripping. It seemed to heighten my sense of morality.
In terms of physically being able to? Nothing about Acid would have prevented me from going and driving and murdering someone. Although I do get distracted very easily, and would probably end up staring at the bushes in front of their house. But, if I was really set on it, I could do it. Does acid make one more homicidial? I would say more so than pot and asprin, less so than cocaine and alcohol. Some acid is cut with PCP too, so that would have an effect.
I’ve also done a fair bit of tripping in my time, having been a Deadhead while in college. I agree with both Pipe and Sue. IMHO, LSD is best enjoyed in the company of close friends – say, 20000 or so fellow Deadheads, also all tripping, and dancing in rapturous ecstasy to “Feel like a Stranger,” for example. (Sorry, oldscratch, I know how you feel about us hippies.) Bar that, the absolute best way to enjoy it is to go for a nice long walk in the woods, also with good friends.
As for killing someone, I’ve never had the slightest urge, and would probably be horrified if I even thought of it while high. Having said that, people use LSD in all sorts of different ways, and it affects them all differently. I don’t doubt that you could kill somebody on LSD and even use it to heighten the experience if you were disturbed enough. However, the idea that LSD somehow induces that kind of behavior in otherwise “normal adults” (whatever that is) is ludicrous.
Finally, I just want to add that I think you were lucky to get to talk to a friendly tree, RD. That doesn’t just happen to just anyone, y’know. I never got to talk to a tree, but I did go for a ride on a UFO once (kinda), and it was very happenin’.
One of the reasons I never believed Jeffrey’s MacDonald’s story about hippies killing his wife and kids was that he said they chanted, “Acid is Groovy. Kill the pigs.”
Oh, puh-lease! That’s exactly the hilarious sort of thing a strait-laced Green Beret in the late '60s would THINK hippies would say!
I’ve never had a conversation with a tree, per se, but I do recall speaking to a forest once. Never ridden a UFO either, to my knowledge. I did, however, see one of the Little People once (leprecaun/elf/fairy/troll/whatever). As clear as anything, he was standing there beside a tree, looking at me looking at him.
Silvio, “2) What is sold on the street as acid these days can be very impure. I spent my last two trips vomiting profusely because the stuff was cut with strychnine or something equally nasty, which is why I quit taking it. It is very possible that a person could buy something as acid that is actually angel dust or speed or some other drug with a much higher “going crazy and killing someone” potential.”
LSD is fairly unstable and degrades. It is dirt cheap to make and the strychnine thing is all myth. If you get bad acid (aka it degraded) you will become sick. It is the difference from synthetically made LSD and getting LSD from a morning glory seed. The morning glories are the degraded version and thus make you sick. This was discussed from here to the pit a while ago. So you know, strychnine is fairly expensive and most dealers/manufacturers will cut any costs they can so it is even unlikely from that standpoint. As said before, it is cheap to make with a minimal amount lab equipment.
I’m somewhat of an expert on this because I’ve had a relative killed by someone on acid, and a seperate relative that killed someone while on acid. One of the killers did it because he thought the victim was Satan (not our beloved), and the other killer thought Satan told him to.
I have never taken acid personally, but from what I hear, your personal fears manifest themselves in some animated form. If you are really far gone, or just weak willed, sure death might ensue.
Also, then window thing, I’m told that when the Exorcist came out, a lot of people jumped out windows because they thought the were possessed.
And, if I’m not mistaken, both killings were attributed to bad acid, as if it wouldn’t have happened if they had the good stuff.
LSD degraded will not make you sick. The molecule is unstable over long periods and light, heat, and air will cause molecular decomposition of the chemical (Storing it in the freezer is the best way to store it–from what I’m aware). The LSD from morning glory seeds is actually called LSA–about 10 times weaker in potentcy than LSD and can make you sick.
Strychnine is present in todays LSD–though not as much as it’s talked about. It has an effect on the nervous system which does amplify the experience. Then again stimulents and/or amphetamines are also found in LSD sometimes. They have roughly the same effect of intensification on the trip as Strychnine.
Also, the acid (LSD) these days is, dose wise, extremely weak stuff in comparison to what was going around in the 60’s.
Your mindset going into the trip will usually determine the outcome of your trip. So it’s not a good idea to take it if you’re stressed out, depressed, mad, having bad thoughts, or are mentally ill/ unstable.
Yes some people while under the influence of LSD have jumped out of windows and walked into rush-hour traffic. But most of these people thought they could fly or were invisible. They didn’t understand that the thoughts were a product of the chemical.
When I took LSD I had studied everything you could possibly know about the drug (for many months) before I did it. And when under the influence I was well aware of what was going on. I’ve tripped about 20 times, but not anytime recently.