Is LSD safe?
- Thread starter Anarcho Union
- Start date
As opposed to two people that became mentally disabled and just happened to use LSD.
There is an awful lot of paranoid hysteria hype outputted on the subject of the drug. I will tell you what I know from what I've learnt about the substance from before and after use (many years ago).
Firstly the "hype", LSD is a drug that alters the chemistry of brain to the point where neurological stimulation becomes re-pathed to neuron's not necessarily trained for dealing with the stimuli. This is the main reason for altered sensory occurrences and the main reason for all the initial fears of the drug itself.
The hallucinations themselves can be anywhere from mild to strong depending on the overall dosage and one of the main problems with the drug is there is no way to speed up the removal of it from the system, due to it's effect on the brain it can't be "watered down" and passed (urinated or sweated), vomited up or outputted through excrement.
This is the main reason why it's suggested that if you "experiment" that you will be at the beck and whim of your own mind. If you already suffer a paranoid personality then it's possible that such psychotropic (and occasionally used as psychiatric) drugs aren't for you. (in fact if you suffer from Epilepsy I would really suggest staying clear of it)
Psychiatrists will harp on about the potential effects of "Flashbacks", this is where they believe that some random point in the future you could be effected similar to how you were on the drug. Now in the usage of MDMA, it's known that certain "Positive" but incidentally wrongly stimulated neurons can react when stimulated under conditions that were occurant at the time (a bit like triggering an old memory), I've had such "positive" incidences with certain euphoric or trance music played from that decade (if anything it just buys into the whole nostalgia of the period)
Negative occurrences I would suggest would mirror something that "dyspraxics" suffer, where particular materials or sound will cause a nausiating or anxiety effect.
The sorts of flashbacks that the Doctors seem to think occur are like reliving past lives while driving your car home, or forgetting to feed your pets or baby because you were on a different planet. (They seem to have some seriously extreme reasoning for something that they apparently are suppose to understand)
I'd suggest if you are going to experiment with this, you need to do so in the right atmosphere, for instance it's not best to do it alone (but don't peer pressure anyone into joining you), it's best to make sure you are outside for the most part (This lessens any aggrophobic effects caused by visual stimuli concerning room size, shape or patterning), it's best not to be anywhere too crowded with "Normal" people. (The last thing you want is stumbling mis-stimulated words in incoherent rants at people that you might have to deal with the day later.)
Above all it's best to do it where you feel safe, secure and can feel that you can have fun. (This will lessen the any chance of neurological anxieties shaping your "trip".)
The best place I actually found back in the day was spending the evening/night and morning at the beach, but this could also work in the countryside etc. Just don't lose your car!!!.
Obviously such "Experiments" are best not done too Scientifically and are actually better more sporadically since it's more spontaneous and more fun. (try an icecream
Just one thing to note, I don't support drug use, however the one off experiment is what it's all about because it's a personal experience builder and should some pain in the ass spike your drink in the future or some foreign "spy" (okay, it might happen if you happen to be doing something worth spying on) slip you a mickey, you'll be prepared and capable of handling yourself.
spidergoat
Valued Senior Member
Who says I needed to? I'm an explorer. :shrug:
This is something of a nitpick, but the perceptual effects of psychedelic drugs like LSD, mushrooms, etc. are not actually "hallucinations." A true "hallucination" is not distinguishable from reality to the person experiencing it, which is almost never the case with psychedelic drugs. True hallucinations are associated with dissociative and deleriant drugs like ketamine or PCP.
spidergoat
Valued Senior Member
I've had true hallucinations on LSD, they are hallucinations that reveal something fundamental about reality.
In fact:
True Hallucinations, subtitled "Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise," is an autobiographical recounting of Terence McKenna's improbable adventures with psilocybin mushrooms in the Amazon Basin. In 1971, McKenna, along with his brother Dennis and three other companions, ventured by plane, boat, and foot to the paradisical Colombian mission town of La Chorrera, where they hoped to encounter the elusive psychedelic oo-koo-hé.
http://www.enlightenment.com/media/bookrevs/truehalu.html
In fact:
True Hallucinations, subtitled "Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise," is an autobiographical recounting of Terence McKenna's improbable adventures with psilocybin mushrooms in the Amazon Basin. In 1971, McKenna, along with his brother Dennis and three other companions, ventured by plane, boat, and foot to the paradisical Colombian mission town of La Chorrera, where they hoped to encounter the elusive psychedelic oo-koo-hé.
http://www.enlightenment.com/media/bookrevs/truehalu.html
then they are not hallucinations.
"Life is a preparation for a transition to a higher dimension." T.M.
If you say so. I've seen some crazy shit in my day, but nothing that I didn't know wasn't real at the time.
When nothing is real then nothing can be a Hallucination. (At least based by Johns quote)
Obviously there is alot more people looking towards the universe being Simulated or Emulated (in actual fact there is at least one interation of the universe simulated at the very least, since any Scientific Physics experiment takes actual record values and applies mathematics in an attempt to replicate the "real" world.)
As an Emulation (or simulation) what technically is real?
Yeah, the flipside is that, while I've never seen anything that I didn't understand "wasn't real" at the time, I've also been in states where I wasn't particularly interested in the distinction between 'real' and 'not real' in the first place.
I wish I could go into more detail about it. One of the scientific no-nos is to attempt to back up fact with anecdotal personal experience. I don't have any relevant data about the pathology of what actually happened to them (were there pre-existing conditions for example). The only thing I have is are two "in the flesh" observations of people who were significantly permanently impaired after LSD use.
Here's what I know about them (one male one female).
1. Their conditions started from a single "trip" .... meaning it wasn't from habitual use. They took the dose and were not healthy afterward.
2. Their conditions are similar in that they were both -for lack of a better word- retarded. It wasn't anything cute like being on a permanent trip or anything. More like a hard nasty debilitating psychosis where their intellects were wiped out, and they were similar to toddlers or something. I wouldn't say they showed any signs of neurological damage (like motor skill problems) , but they couldn't exactly speak coherently, and couldn't do much without supervision.
3. They were not large doses. I think the guy only took 3 hits and the girl took one.
I've personally taken a lot of LSD when I was younger and turned out OK. I also know a guy who ended up eating at least a quarter sheet when he got pulled over by a cop and he turned out OK. However, since I know people who aren't OK, then I'm certain its not safe.
This can be problematic though, while it can be handy to tell a scary story to keep people off a drug, it's usually best to stick to things that aren't necessarily going to mess with their head. I mean for instance if you said "I knew a guy that swallowed his tongue while tripping", some idiot tripper out there might start on a paranoid "my tongue is swelling.." or "I mustn't swallow my tongue" trip.
Like I mentioned in my explanation, it's really dependent on if you feel safe, secure and capable of just "riding" it out (Which is why they get referred to as "trips").
In the case of the two people you know, they might of ended up with a dodgy batch, they might have mixed other drugs or had the remnants of other drugs in their system, they might have even fallen foul of an anti-drug spiking. (Sometimes the drugs people get are spiked by the establishment to spread fear and hysteria with that particular drug. In the case of LSD, there are variants used in Psychiatry to attempt to trip people out of various drug induced psychotic states which can be used for spiking.)
Obviously discussing all this will however bring about a well rounded view on the subject, which is what this is all about. After all it's not just about experimenting but what experimentation can mean as a whole.
LSD strips away your inhabitions and allows you to see yourself without your mask on. We all wear our masks to prevent ourselves from being to well known as to who we actually are. Taking this drug over time allows you to actually become at peace with who you are after you come to realize that your not really much different from anyone else around you for the most part but only think that others see you differently because you wear your mask to much.
I'm not trying to convince people to stay away from it. I'm just posting a case in point where I've witnessed LSD causing some sort of actual harm. I'm not posting to sway public opinion.
If anything, my whole personal philosophy on the issue is similar to skydiving. It isn't safe, but I'm not against skydiving.
I think that the salient point here is that you do not know for sure exactly what the substance these individuals took was in all actuality. It may have been LSD or it may have been something else that was passed off as LSD.
Many years ago there was a lot of PCP going around, marketed as everything from synthetic THC to "1 hit weed" and mescaline. No doubt some was passed off as LSD as well. I am well aware that PCP can permanently mess you up. I do not have that same information on LSD. While I have known people who really got messed up with just 1 PCP experience, I cannot say the same for acid. To the contrary, it has helped a lot of folks when used correctly.
Again - the claims that LSD 'makes your brain bleed" or swell up like a balloon or any other fun and interesting stuff need to be backed up with serious research sources or they will be dismissed offhand as..."hallucinations".
Many years ago there was a lot of PCP going around, marketed as everything from synthetic THC to "1 hit weed" and mescaline. No doubt some was passed off as LSD as well. I am well aware that PCP can permanently mess you up. I do not have that same information on LSD. While I have known people who really got messed up with just 1 PCP experience, I cannot say the same for acid. To the contrary, it has helped a lot of folks when used correctly.
Again - the claims that LSD 'makes your brain bleed" or swell up like a balloon or any other fun and interesting stuff need to be backed up with serious research sources or they will be dismissed offhand as..."hallucinations".
Again - the claims that LSD 'makes your brain bleed" or swell up like a balloon or any other fun and interesting stuff need to be backed up with serious research sources or they will be dismissed offhand as..."hallucinations".
At a guess I would suggest it's possible a person could suffer a bleed, but they really would have to lose the plot. They would have to become so paranoid and anxious that their heart rate accelerates to a point where their body can't handle it and to be honest that's such a super-extreme.