The Habitual Psychedelic User

[mushman1]

well I just think I over analyze my vision, when its dark occationally I get odd visual distortions, when I stare at things long enough they shift around, and i get floaters, but all my friends see these things too, i think you can make these visual problems come and go just by looking for them.

 

[ingo_2001]

I think psychedelics make people have more abstract ideas and thoughts. The more realist down to earth people will discard these thoughts as drug induced. Where as some are more willing to take these ideas on board usually beleiving it to be some revalation or spiritual intervention. I wouldn't say they make you insane.

 

[fastandbulbous]

I think what's more likely is that psychedelics increase the tendancy to see patterns in things. It's something that every brain does, just that in terms of the visual sense (the one we depend on most), psychedelics make you more inclined to search for patterns because of the way they alter ability to focus attention.

What we percive as uniformly random before ever taking psychedelics, may actually be percieved as containing patterns, but as it has no importance in terms of survival, it never reaches the level of conciousness, but once we've been exposed to looking for patterns in the visual field, knowledge of having seen them means that the input actually reaches the level of conciousness.

Sort of along the lines of"once learned, a thing cannot be unlearned" (can't remember where the quote originates from)

 

[jar4ever]

Anybody who has experianced things that others haven't and talks about them seems to be labeled insane. Obviously if you do a lot of tripping you will have seen things considered crazy by most. When in fact you are just wiser then most.

 

[Church]

You really gone on 700 LSD trips, Church? That's quite a number.

Well, I lost count after like 400 or so. But I'm guessing the number is somewhere around 600-700. This includes many low-dose adventures as well. I was getting vials for about 4 years. During that time I was tripping anywhere from once a month to 5 times a week. Sometimes they were low doses (a drop on some paper, then split into quarters), and sometimes they were high doses. I once went 2 weeks straight, taking about 50ug twice a day, just to see what it was like tripping for so long even after developing tolerance.

Yes, I used my fair share of acid, and I hope it comes back around to me again... I found my Prozac.

 

[rm-rf]

one trend ive noticed is people who binge psyches tend to think they are the smartest human beings on earth and it is impossible to argue with them because "you just dont get it, man"

 

[Neo1]

I've been tripping on and off for 16 years. I haven't tripped 700 times (hats off to you, Church ) but I would say maybe 4-500, plus many 2c's, shrooms, DXM, ketamine, DMT etc etc.

I don't feel that tripping's messed my head up at all. I'm more creative, wiser, more spiritual because of it. It could be argued that that we would develop naturally anyway, but I believe psychedelics have helped me in so many ways.

Other times, I'm a toaster.

However, the second part of ergotmccoy's post is, IMHO, good advice:

"One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards."
- Edward Abbey

Although I wouldn't say I'm a reluctant enthusiast. More like a "dive in at the deep end" sort of chap

Peace,
Neo

 

[FisheyeLens]

I'm a habitual psychedelic user...yet I'm sane and employable...and I haven't tripped myself retarded...some people even go as far to call me genius (now they're dillusional). Before psychedelics, I was a paranoid reclusive freak...nowdays, one could say that I am eccentric, normally I don't talk alot and I have ideas that may be considered unconventional ex: I feed my dog a raw diet...but I'm pretty damn sane if anyone really is and no longer suffer from the high levels of paranoia that fueled my actions and judgement. I really resent the LSD-permafry bullshit.

FisheyeLens %)

 

[Ximot]

I feed my dog a raw diet...

WOW!! sorry to be off topic, but I wanan know - does that include meat?

 

[Ximot]

one trend ive noticed is people who binge psyches tend to think they are the smartest human beings on earth and it is impossible to argue with them because "you just dont get it, man"

I have nice chats with a colleague now and then and he does NOT use ANY drug except for caffeine and alcohol. He has had cannabis 2 or 3 times in his life and it s not for him, he said. . . Despite that he's fairly switched on in many areas of life. And I asked him why he'd never even consider shrooms or RCs or anything of the sort. And he explained that when he was a teen lots of of his mates got into that and behaved exactly like the people described by THE WOOD - which put him off.

 

[Ximot]

Anybody who has experianced things that others haven't and talks about them seems to be labeled insane. Obviously if you do a lot of tripping you will have seen things considered crazy by most. When in fact you are just wiser then most.

I like what you say about the insanity label.

Though I certainly have met full-on trippers who were simply unable to have normal conversations any more, nothing beyond "wow you got nice shoes man" ... So I guess the "wisdom" bit doesn't go for everyone. Then there's the peopl who realyl THINk they're wise but actually they're delusional (e.g. "you know we don't actually exist..." - though who knows if we really do exist ;-))

I myself had a phase once where some psy experience had freaked me to the extent that I became totally anxious and sociophobic for months on end. This is a long time ago, though, but I was certainly not wise then. I had seen things i was not ready for and forgotten what my priorities in life were. I have seen other people to whom a similar thing happened.

 

[Church]

I believe psychedelics have helped me in so many ways.

Other times, I'm a toaster.

LOL! Thanks for the laugh!

 

[ergotmccoy]

RC psychosis

The natural trips, even acid don't do much toxcity to you, but in habitual terms drugs like..........

DPT, 5meo-dmt(natural),2ci, 2ce, AMT, and other RC's I have seen people who used daily go into crazy withdraws of just everyday reality whether they are arguing defending irrational divine views, or slipping into a dream state of flying in hyper space.

Dissasociative such as PCP, ketamine, and DXM leave a habitual user pretty damn psychotic with repetitive use.

 

[StagnantReaction]

Set, setting, behavior, habits, risk factors ALL shape the way individuals turn out in the midst of drug use.


As for my opinion of people who use psychedelics, there will always be a small minority of people who will abuse it, as with ANYTHING (porn, food, caffeine, you name it..).

Then there are, like many people first exposed to acid in the 60's, very unadapted individuals who get blown away and never return quite the same because the presented psychedelic knowledge smacked them the wrong way.

Then there's your crowd of people who take psychedelics because they're doing a nice sweep of all the tasty drugs and just pass it off as a phase.

But then there are also extremely capable individuals who seem to have already had one foot in the deep end of psychedelia (many of whom I enjoy in this forum) and find tripping close to home.. I would put myself in the latter category.


But that's just my opinion.

 

[Ximot]

Re: RC psychosis

The natural trips, even acid don't do much toxcity to you,

I have doubts about this statement. Because stuf like datura has caused many people to admit to difficulties later. When I read the reports on erowid, I just shudder, sometimes, and think of all those who have perhaps lost all power to even write about what "happened" to them.

But it was Acid (man-made) that had caused the difficulties I described above, actually.

And any difficulties that mushrooms gave me at the time of being under the influence actually never did linger for too long afterwards. Because it somehow isn't that intellectual an experience, and so my thought patterns never really went so haywire that they wouldn't mend again easily. Emotionally, though, it can leave some burden with one for some time.

 

[Neo1]

The (very few) bad trips I have had, have been on high doses of acid, and once on mushrooms.

I was pretty much ok afterwards, it didn't linger.

There was one period in my teens when I was doing high doses of acid approx every 6 days, I guess "semi-permafried" would be the word. During that time, my waking life started to become consumed with metaphysical thoughts. I would sit for hours (sober) staring into space, thinking about the nature of existance and life and all the rest of it.

Now in retrospect I would say that that was unhealthy in one way but useful in another. It gave me the opportunity early on in life to think about deeper issues. On the negative side, I lost interest in everyday social situations and conversations.

It was simply a state of losing balance between everyday and spiritual life, and I got over it when I took a break from acid.

The RC's are very benign in general. Used too often, they just stop working and its just a waste of time, money, and precious compound.

 

[austior]

Is there anyone who would say their vision hasn't changed at all from hallucinogen use? I know plenty of folks who have eaten hallucinogens and quite a few have some sort of visual problems and I don't think they have hppd or anythhing?

My vision is certainly changed from something, my guess would be cannabis or indoles. Basically the same symptoms as you, I just call it static. Kinda makes me paranoid sometimes (don't want brain damage), but certainly not insane. I don't think it's HPPD, and my vision gets much clearer after abstaining from drugs for a month or so.

Also, IMO, as has been stated, everyone posesses a degree of insanity. BUT, no way is insanity something subjective that can't be measured at all. Health professionals have gone to great lengths to avoid subjective (aka, useless) medical definitions, even in the field of psychology.

 

[thejesuslizard]

I definitely have visual hallucinations when sober if I close my eyes or it's very dark, but they aren't distracting. It's more something that you can find if you look for, rather than something that interferes with day-to-day activities.

 

[Dreaming With Dope]

The (very few) bad trips I have had, have been on high doses of acid, and once on mushrooms.

I was pretty much ok afterwards, it didn't linger.

There was one period in my teens when I was doing high doses of acid approx every 6 days, I guess "semi-permafried" would be the word. During that time, my waking life started to become consumed with metaphysical thoughts. I would sit for hours (sober) staring into space, thinking about the nature of existance and life and all the rest of it.

haha dude thats the funniest shit ever because im 18 and i swear to god thats all that a bunch of my friends and i do hahah

 

[Ximot]

this discussion reminds me of this thread. lots of talk there, and Love and Narrative are the two words I remember the most. They must not be forgotten.