Coming back to actually read this thread after posting ages ago...
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Then there are the people who are completely dewired after a single trip, and never again leave that bad place.
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Undoubtedly, but it's a slim margin. I'd wager those folks (as well as most of those who have an unsettling experience but still make it back intact) are likely victims of set/setting/company. Hallucinogens are tricky business to do "right," especially in the hands of stupid or inexperienced users. I use the term "right" not to suggest there's a specific protocol or anything to follow, it's just that very rarely do the conditions spontaneously for a super awesome encouraging fist trip just fall into place. I met a gal one night who'd eaten some before going to a bar with some friends; un/fortunately they turned out they were super bomb ass shrooms and she started freaking out soon after, so a friend drive her back to an apartment where just me and a couple other (cool) guys were hanging out for the night. She spent a while in a room sprawled out on a bed, still very disoriented and unhappy. A little while later I got her out to come out and socialize with me/my buddy and listen to some good tunes; I was able to ease her out of her bad trip as quickly as it hit her. Got her comfortable, explained the pharmacological aspects of tryptamines, yada yada. We spent the next few hours just talking about school/crazy experiences/life in general, probably some of the most satisfying hours of conversation I've ever had. Coincidentally I ate some shroomies too that night in a completely unrelated event, my friend gave me the last of some chocolate bar'ified magic mushrooms he'd been flipping (because he's nice and I <3 psilocybin) so it felt like (scratch that,
was) one of those weird coincidental occurrences that turned out to be a bitchin time. Honestly, that was probably one of the most overall fun and friendly nights I can recall (note: that phrasing was not meant to indicate I've had wild blackout nights, I'm blessed with a mental tolerance that has somehow thus far resisted that occurrence at the hands of any drug- or maybe I'm just fucking crazy, who knows).
What I'm trying to get at isn't "U should try drugz they're fun lol!" because that's retarded. But assuming good choices are made and the situation is monitored by someone who can direct the happenings in a positive manner (and an excessive dose isn't consumed by someone unprepared), hallucinogens (referencing mainly lsd, psilocybin, 2CB and DMT) hold an unrivaled potential for bonafide satisfaction and beneficial, lasting perceptional changes. Some people are incompatible with a trip state, but that doesn't mean you should hold a grudge against the stereotypical "hippie" culture as a whole. Anyone who hates on drug users as a categorized whole needs to get their shit straight. I have a hard time not taking comments of that nature personally, because addicts (typically) deserve as much sympathy as scorn, and casual, responsible users of any substance aren't doing the world any harm.
The lack of substantial, real-world education regarding drugs is the biggest, badest and perpetual hazard of use. If someone kicks off an experimental night trying acid for the first time as casually as they would drink or toke, or even do a traditional upper/downer, needless to say something significant is gonna happen. It might be fun, might not, they're in fate's hands at that point. Blanket criminalized status also (though not
too commonly, thank god) leads to the inevitable tales everyone's heard about someone taking the wrong drug unintentionally. Hell, one night me and a couple of friends were dosed
very heavily with what was supposed to be liquid lsd by some cool (but fucking stupid) ecstasy dealers who should've known better. After the guy who dosed us started talking about the liquid a little more ("It's kind of weird acid..." "...sort of mild... "...takes a while longer to kick in..." etc) I already knew beyond a doubt it had to be one of the really nasty DO compounds that exist. DO compounds are really funky, really nasty, slightly trippy amphetamine derivatives that definitely aren't worth consuming. Long story/background info made short, in strong dose the buggers heavily constrict bloodflow to your extremities, shoot up your blood pressure and make you feel like death. They're basically hardcore stimulants with a hallucinogenic edge, as opposed to the very awesome LSD which is a hardcore hallucinogen with a stimulant edge. But the dealers were told it was acid, and remained skeptical of my insistence that whoever sold it to them was either sorely misinformed, or full of shit. Why were they reluctant to admit fault or immediately follow up on my input? Because people aren't told the shit they need to know, because it's taboo. Anywho, hell if I know what is was specifically, since it's impossible to know for sure (I'd loosely bet DOB, it's the most common), but the point I'm trying to make is that regardless of legality, people are going to be doing the stuff, and prejudicial attitudes only exacerbate the misinformation spawned from political system retardation.
Of course, I'm not a doctor or psychologist. You don't have to take my word for any of this. I'm just a 20 year old white boy college senior raised in the American suburbs who wants to teach high school English, be an active Rotarian and live up the middle class lifestyle. But I do know my drugs classes, substance pharmacology, and am (again, un/fortunately) pretty familiarized with the spectrum of commonly consumed drugs through some form of personal experience (PCP excluded, I'm reckless and impulsive, not suicidal). Don't assume that anything I say is from some misguided perception of the "coolness" of drugs or a tasteless recommendation of dangerous activity; the only reason I feel compelled to readily enter drug related discussion (both online and irl for the record, I don't pussyfoot around the issues to not offend) is to do the best I can to rationally discuss the subject matter for the benefit of both myself and anyone willing to to listen or read an unintentionally longwinded and wordy forum post.
I should wrap this up now. I've sort of lost my train of thought by trying to pick and choose what to say in an effort to keep an already lengthy post as succinct as possible. My bad on going off on tangents, it's a bad habit. To OANST, even though is was a back-in-the-day thing, grats on kicking the dope. My brother is almost done weening himself off his suboxone treatment for opiate addiction, that shit is a train wreck of awful. I dealt with benzodiazepine addiction myself earlier this year, not quite the same, but still similarly nasty on the body and soul. For anyone concerned or curious (aside from the oldies how many people around here even know me? lawl) it was spawned by careless self dosing to alleviate anxiety/depression symptoms, not popping absurd Xanax doses for fun like ignorant high school kids seem to take a liking to. Just had to get that out there, you never know when there's a cynical bastard familiarized with benzos ready to be Mr. Superior. And the anxiety/depression wasn't caused by weed, to any of you on-the-ball peeps who might've been tempted to try and call me out on that. Weed may have
mildly exacerbated some aspects sometimes, but largely it just helped to alleviate symptoms I've grappled with for quite some time, without the psuedo-zombification that so often occurs at the hands of prescribed antidepressants.
Good god, I'm going to go smoke now. My mind is all wound up and I don't want to go into my astronomy lab in an hour without being satisfactorily distracted by funny thoughts and a happy attitude. Anyone who read all of this with an actual degree of interest, you're all troopers and I <3 you.
Oh yeah, and Salvia isn't that impressive imo. Legal, yes. But so far as short duration trips are concerned of meaningful significance are concerned, DMT blows it out of the water. Unfortunately that stuffs a bit more esoteric... it's regretfully rare to know someone who can actually produce a quality batch of it, and it's pretty frickin illegal. Don't know why, it's not like people go around trying to hit it while driving, but whatever.