Can the war on drugs be over now?

Goddamn, Pareene. Between this, the absinthe and the visions from space, Gawker really wants me to get fucked up today!

Instead of being lowered into the grave, his casket will be dropped.

@Bell County: like they said on the wire this surely can't be a war because wars end

also, i'm still trying to decide if i want to try acid, mushrooms and LSD but the thought of hallucinating scares me. anyone care to share their experiences?

That kid is quite the salesman. Forget becoming the next pope, just give me some LSD!

@bess marvin, girl detective:

Start with mushrooms first. Trust me on this one.

"And then I said, 'Gee whiz Mr. Anderson, this methamphetamine sure does make me feel sparkly!' And Bud said he felt the same way, but then Bud and I got to feeling strange and, well, I don't know what happened right then but when I woke up I had Betty's blouse on my face."

@Gayyker: Seconded.

@bess marvin, girl detective: Go camping with friends this summer and do some mushrooms around a campfire. You'll laugh all night and it will be hella fun.
Gayyker is 100% correct: DO NOT START WITH ACID!

Wait, I've taken acid and am not more important than the pope! That kid is a fucking liar.

I've never tried LSD, and probably never would in a casual setting. But I've met several psychiatrists who think it has far-reaching therapeutic potential. The fact that their research has been hamstrung by government regulations is a crime against science.

@Gayyker: thanks for the advice. it took my two months to get a regular marijuana contact here in l.a. i could only imagine how long it will take me to find mushrooms.

Ecstasy cut with mescaline provides a smooth reentry.

I took a class in college titled "Magical Mushrooms and Mischevious Molds" I got a C... it was not what I thought it would be...

And that little boy grew up to be dead.

@Gayyker: I dunno. I think as long as you're under 24 (and over 18, of course!) one hit can be pretty worthwhile in safe surroundings (ie not near a city anywhere) with friends... the only real nightmare trip I ever had was in HS when we stole a sheet from the dealer's locker and didn't know what the proper dose was so i ate like three tabs at once and had never taken acid before. Hilarity did not ensue.

@Astrolabe: I prefer to candy flip (E followed by a hit of acid).

Did that kid grow up to become Pope, or is he still languishing as a mid-level monsignor somewhere? Don't leave us hanging!

@bess marvin, girl detective: With acid/LSD (same thing, btw) it really, really, really helps to have a tour guide (someone who's done it at least a few times before). They need to be a trusted person who's not just going to freak you out because they think it's funny - that's a major breach of drug ethics, IMHO.
A good tour guide should advise you of a couple of things: 1) be clean before you drop - dirty hair, skin and wearing makeup will not feel nice later, 2) have comfy, non-restrictive clothes on, 3) do NOT look in the mirror unless you want to spend 3 hours there getting weirded out by your crazy eyes, 4) do not drop less than 10 hours from when you want to go to bed, 5) be in a place with a door you can lock and a phone you can turn off (dealing with authority figures on acid takes a few trips to get used to).
You won't care about food, you'll probably be able to drink more, and you'll really enjoy sensory things (like a cool washcloth or a purple marker that smells like grape! So BEST!) Avoid yucky things, because you really can't un-see some shit, especially on acid.

Finally, it is really all about the dose. For a small-framed female like myself, I find less is more, and ultimately more enjoyable. Might sound wussy to some (I'm a tank with weed, so shut up), but just half a hit gives me all the fun of air paisleys and tracers but lets me snap right back to reality when I need to - awesome for big parties like New Year's, because you don't keep having to re-up your drugs! (Guess who still has half a hit in her bag for "emergencies"?)

I'm not the biggest fan of LSD but I can assure you it beats the crap out of reading the Bible six times.

The Bible does beat Reader's Digest, though.

@Hez: Take it on New Years? You're tripping right now! No outsiders, ever! They are poison to a healthy trip!

@ian spiegelman: It was only half a hit, and it was almost as fun as the blender drinks, hot tub and coke party this year.

@Hez: Apparently they don't make real acid in Canatica.

@Hez: oh my, i feel like there should be a handbook for taking hallucinogens. i was planning to do it memorial weekend in malibu but i think my dad is visiting. can you tell if someone is on acid/LSD? i don't think i've ever been in the presence of someone doing it?

p.s. i can smoke myself into oblivion. i did once. liked earth better.

@bess marvin, girl detective: about the fungi: make damn sure everybody you are with are people you are comfortable around. being uncomfortable is just a terrible experience.

Experiencing acid is more meaningful than becoming Pope? What about experiencing acid and thinking that your dog has become the Pope? Hell,the paper clips on your desk are starting to resemble an open-air mass...

@bess marvin, girl detective: Bess, dear. I'm going to have offer a different opinion than @Gayyker I took quite a bit of acid at various times (and sometimes all at once) before I ever did shrooms. And although shrooms are nice, for me anyway, they can only be done outdoors. While LSD is the gift that gives no matter what the environment, including dinner with my family.

Actually, come to think of it, you probably shouldn't take any drug advice from me.

i want to see that little boy naked in vanity fair.

My grandmother smoked cigarettes for 75 years and then she died of it at the tender age of 90.

Does anyone know anything that will get me high and screw up my kidneys? I don't want it going to my grave in perfect condition.

My liver and lungs are jealous.

@bess marvin, girl detective: I too hope to try LSD, this weekend most likely. When I tried ecstacy, after the first 2 hours, I started thinking about stuff that usually makes me really anxious, and I got an anxiety attack. Now, do you suggest I try LSD, or wait till I get my shit together.

I like turtles.

@bess marvin, girl detective: @Gayyker: Or, if shrooms aren't easily obtainable, a bottle, or two, of robotussin. DXM is the hallucinogenic of the lower class, holla!

@bess marvin

there is a handbook, of sorts. www.erowid.org

@Bell County:

i disagree. personal preference, but for me... mushrooms bad, bad, bad. acid goood.

(although its been a few years since either.)

Oh man, I must be tripping. I could swear there were two Albert Hoffman threads last night. Did anyone else have the same vision?

@Jaguares: If you had a bad time on X I'd stay away from all drugs!

I'll tell you this: nothing on this green earth compares with reading the bible 6 times while on acid.

I don't do hallucinigens anymore, but one thing to remember is that drugs work differently for different people. I did acid scores of times, and mushrooms only once or twice, and the 'shrooms were much more disorienting for me.

But that's me. I also have intense panic attacks about 5% of the times I smoke pot, but since the other 95% is so pleasant I'll take the odds.

My first trip, age 18, I got tuned in to my circulatory system & muscles, and started to appreciate my body from the inside out.
At 25, previously unathletic, I took up street skating along with quarter hits of blotter, an hour before the end of the workday for a few weeks, plus full hits on Saturdays. Acid gave me the stamina, courage and gyroscopic effect I needed to go from gym class loser to street cruiser.
I'm 52 now, in great terrific shape, thanks in part to the lessons learned on LSD.

RIP Dr. Hofmann. You gave the world a wonderful gift.

@Carol Gardens: Yes! I commented on that one, and I still have a link to the redacted post on my profile page. It wasn't a comment that I'll miss, but I still find this practice disorienting. It's happened to several posts before. The powers that be probably decided it was redundant and then, whoooosh, down the memory hole!

Just a quasi-PSA:

While I've done my fair share of LSD back in the day (last trip I just remember being bored and waiting for it to end and subsequently gave it up), and ultimately see it as recommended on the tin by Dr. Hoffman, but also please realize it CAN fuck you up.

I know another who used it for a while and I'm pretty sure that it set his head off on a bad course for several years. He seems better now, but your results may vary and the "bad" was pretty serious for a while for him. Those interested be forewarned. It's not a "whee fun!!!" (not all of it anyway) kinda weed high. At worst you're damaging your psyche, at best you're opening it up.

As others have said. Keep your environs in check, have someone that knows the ins/outs with you on your trip. Triply so that they're not mean-spirited, you do NOT need your head fucked with on something like this and definitely need someone who can "talk you down" should you head off on the wrong direction. Don't do it if you're in a foul/bad mood. Keep an open mind and remember "you are on drugs, this will end". And, for the love of god, do some research on yer drug (hell, any drug) before sticking it in your gob.

@Jaguares: wait.

On death, Hofmann said, "I go back to where I came from, to where I was before I was born, that's all."
On April 19th, 1943, Hofmann created the most powerful psychotropic substance: LSD, and experienced the first LSD "trip". He was a chemist who valued a drug as a way to understand people's oneness with nature. For the complete story on "Bicycle Day", be sure to watch this amazing documentary Hofmann's Potion