This is jarring my memory. I remember that some entomologist was giving LSD to web-building spiders.
The zonked-out spiders made some pretty weird webs as a result.
Anyway (for those who have taken it)-is it really mindbending experience? Or just some pleasant hallucinations, for a few hours?
I read this book - Acid Dreams - in the early '90s and I remember in particular one passage in which the authors stated that LSD had been marketed under the brand name Delysid as an aid in the treatment of schizophrenia. (Having just read the relevant passages again, I find what I read to be incorrect. Sandoz was trying to figure out what the hell to do with it and provided it free of charge to researchers across the globe so they could get more data on it.)
So no, apparently it has not yet shown itself to have any medical use. Doesn’t mean there is none, but the current stigma surrounding it certainly prevents further investigation.
I never had the chance to do a lot of it - mostly when the dead were on tour. And I was always very cautious as to dosing. The only times that my normal reality disappeared was when doing it in combination with other drugs like MDA or nitrous oxide. Most of the time it was like being extremely stoned on very strong hashish. The hallucinations were more hypnogogic - as in waking dreams. But it definitely changed your perspective.
The problem was that if you were the least bit apprehensive, there was a good chance of having a bad trip. Since being apprehensive is SOP for me, it was always a crap shoot and so I had to be careful.
If I had taken higher doses (like the liquid acid some so-called friends got and kept to themselves) it certainly would have been mind bending. I’ve heard numerous stories from other people more adventurous (and better connected) than myself and the experiences can run from it feeling like dying over and over and over again to absolute bliss.
I think this might be what you were thinking of.
It made me believe in God. Some people would consider that a good thing.
(I almost misspelled “in” as “im”. That would be a completely different kettle of fish.)
mindbending experience!!!
Make that plural.
mindbending experiences.
I’ve got a book on LSD and psychotherapy. Unfortunately, at the moment I’ve lent it to my therapist. IIRC, The author felt that LSD was very useful in bringing about moments of insight and making unconscious feelings and conflicts conscious.
There is http://skeptically.org/recres/id8.html, accessible from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_LSD#.22Bicycle_Day.22, footnote 7.
It’s extremely useful for tripping balls…
I think the author got it right on both counts. 1.Moments of insights (like you wouldn’t believe!) Things you might have thought about hundreds of time and then suddenly with LSD, you look at them in a *completely *different light. Mind blowing, yes.
2.making unconscious feelings and conflicts conscious. This is where some individuals may experience problems with LSD. Its a little like a mirror held 2 inches from your face. There’s no escaping it. Everything about you, good and bad, comes to light in your mind. If you are generally a good person, seeing yourself as you really are isn’t a problem. But say you go through your life lying to yourself and justifying you bad behavior with some convoluted logic, like you’re cheating on your SO or stealing from your employer. If this is you, you could very well have a “bad trip”.
Environment is also very important. Going out to the desert with a SO or out to a deserted beach with a couple of friends is how it should be done. I can’t believe some people take LSD at a party.
Not that I am recommended anyone try LSD, peyote, mushrooms, etc.!
I was able to control time and space. Is that mind-bending enough for you?
There was also a time when a friend and I took mushrooms and had virtually the same visual hallucinations. The sky and the clouds appeared… faceted, is the best term I can give for it. All these years later and I’m still not sure what to make of it.
Just an FYI, Ralph. I really did enjoy my acid trips, but I wouldn’t do it again. They really took a toll on my body, basically took over my body for a whole weekend. The trip would last anywhere from 8-20 hours (usually on the shorter end of that), and I would feel totally wiped out the entire next day. Some people told me that was probably because my acid had a lot of speed in it, and maybe it did, but if so ALL the acid I took did, because the wiped out feeling happened every single time.
Mushrooms felt far less stressful, the trips didn’t last nearly as long – maybe 2 hours, and I would basically just float back down to normal without any wiped-out feeling after.
Note to self: First acquire alcoholism.
It’s a pretty powerful drug even in low doses. It’s not so much about actual hallucinations, it’s more about how your brain interprets what it’s seeing, hearing, touching etc. When I’ve done it, it’s I’m not seeing things that aren’t there, it’s seeing things that are there and seeing them very differently.
Oh, and you’re talking 12 hours or so.
I’m not sure I’d call it a good chance. Definitely an increased chance though. I know I was a bit apprehensive the first couple of time, and I never came close to a bad trip. But yeah, mindset definitely plays an important part in what kind of trip you have. That and where you are. It’s all about set & setting.
Heh. Hard to beat. I wish it wasn’t so hard to get nowadays.
It’s fun. I agree it’s not the best party drug, but candyflipping at Coachealla was a blast. But yeah, there are probably better options for recreational substances for parties (like many phenethylamines).
I think this is mostly, if not completely, a myth. If you’re talking blotter acid, you can’t get enough speed onto the blotter to feel it.
The speed part might be a myth, an attempt to explain the wiped out feeling after the trip. The wiped out feeling, though is definitely not a myth, and it does feel like coming down from a speed trip. Though I hardly ever did speed on its own.
And yes, it was blotter acid.