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This song always made me wonder if people used to do strychnine recreationally. People do all sorts to get high.


As far as I understand, LSD is very unstable and will basically stop working when exposed to temperatures much above room temperature. So a 30 year old tab of acid is unlikely to still have anything left in it.
 
This song always made me wonder if people used to do strychnine recreationally. People do all sorts to get high.


As far as I understand, LSD is very unstable and will basically stop working when exposed to temperatures much above room temperature. So a 30 year old tab of acid is unlikely to still have anything left in it.
I'd sealed it in sellotape .. it was called a 'flying saucer', I can even rustle up the exact date I found it for research purposes only because I've still got the newspaper from that rave at Stanley Pugh's farm in Wales but there's few things more boring than listening to other peoples illegal rave anecdotes .. sort of like when all the people in their 50's wouldn't stop wanking on about when they saw The Clash or when they saw The Sex Pistols at The 100 Club .. who cares? .. so .. extremely NSFW

 
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Someone I used to know had a 'clever' money making scheme which was to take about £2-300 worth of acid from the UK to her home country and sell it there at 4x the price - where, bear in mind, that kind of act of smuggling is punishable by death. She put it on cigarette filters for roll-ups. Long story short, by the time she'd got it there, it didn't work anyway and so nobody wanted to buy it.
 
More about the misuse of ayahuasca.

The psychedelic powers of a traditional Amazonian plant medicine called ayahuasca are attracting more and more tourists. It's said to bring spiritual enlightenment and to help with addiction, depression and trauma. But a string of allegations suggests there's a darker side to the ayahuasca scene.

Experiences of sexual abuse seem to be widespread in this world. We've heard numerous allegations against numerous healers and read many testimonies of sexual abuse on online forums. One name that comes up repeatedly is Guillermo Arévalo, a well-known healer who's been honoured by the Peruvian Congress for his work on sustainable development.

"He came to Canada many times," says a woman in her 40s whom we're calling Anna. "It was quite lucrative - big ceremonies. They'd fill up fast, people paying C$300 (£175) to come and sit with Guillermo. He had kind of a status. It was an honour to sit in ceremony with him." ...

Around the same time, a group calling themselves Ayahuasca Community Awareness Canada - which included senior academics - put their names to a letter about Arévalo's behaviour and circulated it within the ayahuasca scene. The letter-writers say they took action because of the number of complaints made against the healer, citing reports of non-consensual or inappropriate sexual behaviour.

When further named signatories were added to the letter in 2015 and it was made public, Arévalo stopped visiting Canada to lead ayahuasca ceremonies.

But when we track him down it seems he's been active all around the world in the intervening years and is now based at a retreat centre in Peru. The place used to be called Anaconda but when we're there has its first group of foreign guests under a new name, Bena Shinan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-51053580
 
Psilocybin: Magic mushroom compound provides anti-anxiety effect that lasts years, study finds

The psychedelic compound reduced anxiety and depression in cancer patients, as well as improved their attitudes toward death.

Source: Sky News
Date: 28 January, 2020

A single dose of psilocybin, the compound found in magic mushrooms, can have anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects which can last for nearly five years after being administered, new research suggests.

Researchers at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine said that the compound, when given to patients alongside psychotherapy, resulted in improvements in emotional and existential distress in cancer patients.

The use of the drug was first detailed in a landmark study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in 2016, where the new research has also been published.

It found that psilocybin "produced immediate, substantial, and sustained improvements in anxiety and depression" in cancer patients, who can often be demoralised by the disease.

A follow-up assessment half a year after the dose found up to 80% of participants had clinically significant reductions in their depression or anxiety, as well as improved attitudes toward death.

https://news.sky.com/story/psilocyb...-effect-that-lasts-years-study-finds-11919791
 
Could psychedelics help us resolve the climate crisis?

Source: Matthew Adams, University of Brighton / The Conversation
Date: January 28, 2020

In recent years there has been a resurgent scientific interest in the psychological effects of psychedelic drugs. Consider the example of recent trials in which psilocybin was administered to people diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression. Those involved reported significantly positive responses even six months later.

Such studies point with increasing confidence to the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for treating depression, addiction, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and enhancing palliative care.

Amidst this “psychedelic renaissance”, there is one recent study in particular that has grabbed my attention. This study, published in a reputable, peer-reviewed international journal, makes even bolder claims about the potential of psychedelics – not only for improving mental health, but also, remarkably, as a key to overcoming inaction in the face of the climate crisis.

On what grounds? The authors justify their claim by zooming in on one explanation for their apparently positive effect on well-being, established in previous research. As well as “resetting” key brain circuitry and enhancing emotional responsiveness, psychedelics commonly increase people’s positive feelings of connectedness – to one’s self and others, and to the natural world.

Connection to nature is something I’m interested in and have researched with colleagues, especially in relation to mental health. “Nature-connectedness” is now considered a research topic in its own right in the field of psychology, an individual quality that can be measured. It refers not just to the extent of an individual’s contact with natural settings, but the extent to which they report feeling connected to and part of the natural world.

https://theconversation-com.cdn.amp...ics-help-us-resolve-the-climate-crisis-129639
 
The authors justify their claim by zooming in on one explanation for their apparently positive effect on well-being, established in previous research. As well as “resetting” key brain circuitry and enhancing emotional responsiveness, psychedelics commonly increase people’s positive feelings of connectedness – to one’s self and others, and to the natural world.
Some of us could have told them that, back in the 70s...

Screenshot_20200129_050655_compress95.jpg
 
Newly published survey research indicates LSD usage is rapidly growing in the USA.
Americans Increase LSD Use—and a Bleak Outlook for the World May Be to Blame

Millennials and older adults lead the surge while Gen Z stays on the sidelines

In the years leading up to the roaring 2020s, young people were once again dropping acid. Onetime Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary died almost 25 years ago, after which some of his ashes were launched into space. But from 2015 to 2018, the rate of “turning on and tuning in” with LSD, to paraphrase Leary, increased by more than 50 percent in the U.S.—a rise perhaps fueled by a need for chemical escapism. Those results were published in the July issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The authors of the study suspect that many users may be self-medicating with the illegal substance to find relief from depression, anxiety and general stress over the state of the world.

“LSD is used primarily to escape. And given that the world’s on fire, people might be using it as a therapeutic mechanism,” says Andrew Yockey, a doctoral candidate in health education at the University of Cincinnati and lead author of the paper. “Now that COVID’s hit, I’d guess that use has probably tripled.” ...

The researchers found that past-year LSD use increased by 56 percent over three years. The rise was especially pronounced in certain user groups, including people with college degrees (who saw a 70 percent increase) and people aged 26 to 34 (59 percent), 35 to 49 (223 percent) and 50 or older (45 percent). Younger people aged 18 to 25, on the other hand, decreased their use by 24 percent. ...

Yockey calls for a depoliticizing of LSD, which would make studies of its therapeutic potential and its effects on recreational users possible. At the same time, he says, efforts to reduce drug use should focus on more harmful substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl—all of which also seem to be on the rise. “These drugs can kill you, LSD cannot,” Yockey says. “We need to rectify our messaging.”

FULL STORY: https://www.scientificamerican.com/...-bleak-outlook-for-the-world-may-be-to-blame/

ABSTRACT From The Published Study:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871620302362
 
Newly published survey research indicates LSD usage is rapidly growing in the USA.
FULL STORY: https://www.scientificamerican.com/...-bleak-outlook-for-the-world-may-be-to-blame/
ABSTRACT From The Published Study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871620302362
Humbug! You don't take LSD because the world outlook is bleak. You take it because a trip is as good as a holiday, and a lot cheaper. LSD is also great, as it is the least addictive drug ever. It literally breaks down compulsive behavior on a neuronal level, addictions included. In fact, it was originally marketed as a means for treating OCD.
 
Maybe they'll start prescribing LSD again, for psychiatric reasons. Although that could go either way in two drastic directions - I suppose it's the worry that someone fragile may take it and it will damage them irrevocably, or someone foolhardy takes too much, that's the reason it was made illegal.

Cary Grant took medical LSD, and notoriously made a diary about it. He thought it did him good. Syd Barrett and Brian Wilson took too much and ruined their sanity. I suggest if it is legalised, it needs heavy restrictions, but even then, tricky to police.
 
Maybe they'll start prescribing LSD again, for psychiatric reasons. Although that could go either way in two drastic directions - I suppose it's the worry that someone fragile may take it and it will damage them irrevocably, or someone foolhardy takes too much, that's the reason it was made illegal.

Cary Grant took medical LSD, and notoriously made a diary about it. He thought it did him good. Syd Barrett and Brian Wilson took too much and ruined their sanity. I suggest if it is legalised, it needs heavy restrictions, but even then, tricky to police.

I think they'll go to Psilocybin first. As CN posted above. https://www.sciencealert.com/scient...epression-antidepressants-psilocybin-amygdala
 
Maybe they'll start prescribing LSD again, for psychiatric reasons. Although that could go either way in two drastic directions - I suppose it's the worry that someone fragile may take it and it will damage them irrevocably, or someone foolhardy takes too much, that's the reason it was made illegal.

Cary Grant took medical LSD, and notoriously made a diary about it. He thought it did him good. Syd Barrett and Brian Wilson took too much and ruined their sanity. I suggest if it is legalised, it needs heavy restrictions, but even then, tricky to police.
When they use these things therapeutically these days I think it tends to be in very small quantities, not enough to get a decent trip off of. Of course self medicating in large doses isn't going to work for everyone.

Interestingly, ibogaine, a very powerful, long lasting and unpleasant hallucinogen, is apparently effective in treating heroin addiction.
 
When they use these things therapeutically these days I think it tends to be in very small quantities, not enough to get a decent trip off of. Of course self medicating in large doses isn't going to work for everyone.

Interestingly, ibogaine, a very powerful, long lasting and unpleasant hallucinogen, is apparently effective in treating heroin addiction.

I suppose going "cold turkey" can bring about hallucinations in some cases anyway, so controlling them would not be such a bad idea. But how would the control be managed? Or does it not matter?
 
I suppose going "cold turkey" can bring about hallucinations in some cases anyway, so controlling them would not be such a bad idea. But how would the control be managed? Or does it not matter?
I looked it up and it's not as cut-and-dried as I thought it was. It's actually a potentially dangerous alternative therapy, and not much official research has been done on it. It also can lead to death by cardiac arrest. Here's an article: www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/10/ibogaine-heroin-addiction-treatment-gabon-withdrawal-danger-death

The idea came about when a scientist who was already addicted to heroin came across the drug in his more recreational experiments, and found that it reduced his heroin cravings. The drug is supposed to have to phases, a 'dreamlike' hallucinatory phase, and then an introspective mental state, during which anti-addiction therapy can supposedly be applied.
 
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Humbug! You don't take LSD because the world outlook is bleak. You take it because a trip is as good as a holiday, and a lot cheaper. LSD is also great, as it is the least addictive drug ever. It literally breaks down compulsive behavior on a neuronal level, addictions included. In fact, it was originally marketed as a means for treating OCD.
Right. When things are bleak and upsetting that would be the very last thing you'd want to do; that would be known as a recipe for a "bad trip". Not that folks always do wise things, though.. Okay, pass the Kool-Aid to the academics with the funny ideas :p
 
'Psychedelic 'Trips' Really Are Similar to Religious Experiences in Many Ways

Source: sciencealert.com
Date: 8 September, 2020

A growing body of drug research has shown that experiences with psychedelic drugs can be both positive and negative – scary and uncomfortable for some, but leading to improvements in well-being and relationships for others. These substances also show promising early results for treating mental disorders, in controlled doses.

So why the disparity between the good and the bad experiences? A team of researchers questioning 288 individuals on their experiences with psychedelics has found that having a mystical or religious experience on drugs might play an important role.

The study plugs some gaps in our knowledge about how drugs such as LSD and psilocybin induce religious-style experiences, and could tell us more about how to use these substances in treatments.

It also shows that drug highs and spiritual highs can produce the same sort of feelings and moods in people.

[...]

https://www.sciencealert.com/psychedelic-experiences-share-many-features-with-religious-experiences
 
'Psychedelic 'Trips' Really Are Similar to Religious Experiences in Many Ways

Source: sciencealert.com
Date: 8 September, 2020

A growing body of drug research has shown that experiences with psychedelic drugs can be both positive and negative – scary and uncomfortable for some, but leading to improvements in well-being and relationships for others. These substances also show promising early results for treating mental disorders, in controlled doses.

So why the disparity between the good and the bad experiences? A team of researchers questioning 288 individuals on their experiences with psychedelics has found that having a mystical or religious experience on drugs might play an important role.

The study plugs some gaps in our knowledge about how drugs such as LSD and psilocybin induce religious-style experiences, and could tell us more about how to use these substances in treatments.

It also shows that drug highs and spiritual highs can produce the same sort of feelings and moods in people.

[...]

https://www.sciencealert.com/psychedelic-experiences-share-many-features-with-religious-experiences
Magic mushrooms are milder with some visions and elation. Magic mushrooms and peyote produce much milder effects and are not likely to produce a bad trip. Strong LSD can.
LSD is F_cking dangerous. It can produce uncontrolled hallucinations that appear real to the user. I.E.: you can see music, motor vehicles appear as animals, to name just a few. Based on such hallucinations the users can become out of control and dangerous. Personally I've seen the milder forms of LSD: microdot, blotter, ozlies, that have milder effects which only last ~ 6 hrs. The sugar cubes were another story.
 
Magic mushrooms are milder with some visions and elation. Magic mushrooms and peyote produce much milder effects and are not likely to produce a bad trip. Strong LSD can.
LSD is F_cking dangerous. It can produce uncontrolled hallucinations that appear real to the user. I.E.: you can see music, motor vehicles appear as animals, to name just a few. Based on such hallucinations the users can become out of control and dangerous. Personally I've seen the milder forms of LSD: microdot, blotter, ozlies, that have milder effects which only last ~ 6 hrs. The sugar cubes were another story.
I've had friends who say that the worst experiences they had were on mushrooms but never had any issues with acid.

It all depends on the mindset and how experienced you are at controlling it.
 
I've had friends who say that the worst experiences they had were on mushrooms but never had any issues with acid.It all depends on the mindset and how experienced you are at controlling it.
I had a friend who took mushrooms and couldn't see himself in the mirror anymore. That was a good one.
 
I may or may not recall a hazy summer long ago that involved periodic, close encounters with controlled substances. It seems a particular product would be readily available for a while (various colors of "ahcid" usually) only to be replaced by something else a few weeks later. As others have stated, there were the associated body aches which, at the time, were erroneously attributed to strychnine from some bathtub production process.

There was, however, something that showed up called Windowpane. It came in little chips that were so small, the purveyor usually attached them to a piece of masking tape so they wouldn't get lost. They were two bucks a hit and yielded 6-8 hours of other-worldly entertainment. For example. listening to A Day In The Life through an ancient pair of Koss Pro4AAs generated a euphoric flight up walls and across ceilings.

The downside was that the substances made sleep impossible. There were nights when watching your ceiling breath and your pores erupt like tiny volcanoes became tiresome. After seeing a few bleary sunrises, one quickly learns that all of it is a dead-end and that there is no cosmic consciousness down that path.
 
After seeing a few bleary sunrises, one quickly learns that all of it is a dead-end and that there is no cosmic consciousness down that path.
Terrific read and I remember 'window pane' exactly as you describe!

Speaking as a child of the acid age and sufficiently.... erm... 'qualified' to comment on same, any religious aspects were indeed a mere illusion.

Since I highlighted that recent article, the fascinating responses have brought one particular, personal experience to mind.

This is, dare I say, a 'trip' down 'memory lane'.

December 1972...

Green's Playhouse, Glasgow...

Led Zeppelin...

Tab of microdot acid beforehand...

Next day, could not remember anything about the concert... or indeed that entire night... nothing.

After a gig, mates and myself would naturally stay together for so long as possible, before necessarily going our separate ways home.

There were no late night buses and vastly expensive (for us) taxis never an option.

Unfortunately, for myself it was a good hour's walk from city centre back to Maryhill and you had to be, 'on your wits' as the route went straight through bandit territory, with 'ducking and diving' prerequisite.

Seriously, you had to literary check around every corner for gangs roaming those streets before making a move!

So how the f... I got home that night...


Fast forward...

12 September 2020 and wonders... checks YouTube and yes, astounding... there is a bootleg recording of the entire concert.

To just leave it be, or... not...

No chance and having listened to a few tracks, y'know what, a delicious irony is that of all the live concerts I have ever heard - no video, audio only - this is the one seminal recording which is just like, 'being there'.

Perturbing realisation re the year being '72... is that we were all schoolmates, in fact classmates, around the same age...

...and I would only have been14 years old.
 
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So how the f... I got home that night...
I think you've just added to medical understanding by proving there's an autopilot that works with lsd as well as beer.
Glad you finally got to see the concert :)
 
... however LSD has the edge in strength as an hallucinogen. PCP is another that can induce a very bad trip.
At the time, I had a theory about this.

As I understood, the brain would seemingly filter our daily thoughts, subsequently 'cleared out' at the end of each day and we experienced same emission within dreaming.

An acid trip was as if that filter had been forced open too early and whatever the resultant spillage, there was your trip, good or bad.

However, can indeed the chemical composition of one drug batch differ from another, even in minute detail, to an extent it determines your outcome.

Surely so, as in the phrase, 'bad acid'.

I was fortunate, in terms of experience looking back, to have one tablet of the legendary, 'Orange Sunshine', which had the reputation of a guaranteed good trip.

Whilst so long ago it's remarkable I can remember anything related, I definitely recall a day of endless euphoria, laughter and a natural world of such vivid colours.

That was the time we spent all day in Glasgow's vast Botanic Gardens, which undoubtedly played a part!

I once read a fascinating article on the history of, 'Orange Sunshine' and if of interest, it's still online:

In heyday of LSD, secret Windsor lab produced millions of Orange Sunshine pills


https://www.pressdemocrat.com/artic...ced-millions-of-orange-sunshine-p/?artslide=6
 
Why do LSD hallucinations feature Paisley patterns?

Are there any definitive articles online you might suggest?

In search of an explanation, I did come across the following, which may be of interest:

Uncoiling the spiral: Maths and hallucinations

By Marianne Freiberger
Submitted by plusadmin on December 1, 2009

https://plus.maths.org/content/os/issue53/features/hallucinations/index
 
At the time, I had a theory about this.

As I understood, the brain would seemingly filter our daily thoughts, subsequently 'cleared out' at the end of each day and we experienced same emission within dreaming.

An acid trip was as if that filter had been forced open too early and whatever the resultant spillage, there was your trip, good or bad.

However, can indeed the chemical composition of one drug batch differ from another, even in minute detail, to an extent it determines your outcome.

Surely so, as in the phrase, 'bad acid'.

I was fortunate, in terms of experience looking back, to have one tablet of the legendary, 'Orange Sunshine', which had the reputation of a guaranteed good trip.

Whilst so long ago it's remarkable I can remember anything related, I definitely recall a day of endless euphoria, laughter and a natural world of such vivid colours.

That was the time we spent all day in Glasgow's vast Botanic Gardens, which undoubtedly played a part!

I once read a fascinating article on the history of, 'Orange Sunshine' and if of interest, it's still online:

In heyday of LSD, secret Windsor lab produced millions of Orange Sunshine pills

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/artic...ced-millions-of-orange-sunshine-p/?artslide=6

I was also "lucky" to try extremely pure LSD and although not quite as pleasant it was very vivid until the ego-death kicked in.
 
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