Introduction
Everyone knows at least one: the walking encyclopedia of trivia about baseball, film or some other miscellaneous topic.
Even those with no connection to the psychoactive research and user communities are likely to be familiar with the stereotype of the uneducated "druggie" blithely stumbling from one drug experience to the next. But the pantheon of characters who spend their time immertsed in the intricacies of the interface between body and mind is surprisingly diverse. The lay person can easily fail to recognize the "druggie" in that pharmacology or chemistry student intimately familiar with serotonin-transporter research, or perhaps in the exceptionally green-thumbed forensic pathologist.
Character Sketch
"Drug Geeks" are individuals who self-identify (either publically or privately) as being knowledgeable about psychoactives. Their deep interest in the topic makes them avid learners. When sitting around talking with friends, they get up to find an answer to a question. They do a web search or look up information in a book. More than that, they are the ones with the reference books to begin with. Within any group of friends, they are the individuals whom others go to for questions about psychoactive drugs. They attend psychoactive related conferences, meticulously document their own experiences in a journal, read scientific articles, subscribe to psychedelic magazines to keep up with the latest knowledge, or browse trip reports "for fun"
The Collector
One of the drug geek sub-types is the Collector. This is the individual who collects samples of as many different psychoactives as possible. They may not care if they have enough for a dose and they may not have any particular interest in ingesting the substances they collect (they often don't). Their primary interest is in having a reference sample for their collection.
The Taster
while the collector collects objects, the Taster collects experiences. Tasters are the people who want to have tried everything. They pride themselves on trying as many substances as possible, seeking out and being the first to experiences new substances, as well as trying uncommon and interesting combinations. Often the tasters don't ingest any given substance very many timers and have no intention of doing so. Instead, they are connoisseurs of variety.
The Daredevil
The Daredevils hares some characteristics with the Taster, but this type wants to push the limits of experience (and often of safety) by doing higher doses and having more mind-bending experiences than others. Some daredevils don't qualify as Drug Geeks at all and are simply thrill seekers, but there are those Daredevils who are actually looking to accumulate knowledge—part of the definition of a Drug Geek-- by their willingness to push the boundaries even further. This type should not be confused with the Hard Head (who requires higher doses than others to reach comparable effects), although they do sometimes overlap.
Plant Geeks
Plant Geeks are those who focus their attention on the plant kingdom. Some grow a wide variety of psychoactive plants, while others specialize in a particular genus or in those containing a specific substance, Plants may be chosen because of their academic, historical, cultural, or metaphysical significance, and again, may not be intended for ingestion. An earlier interest in ingesting psychoactives may have been transmuted into a longer-term interest in botany, chemistry, and the spirit of the plants. The relationship between humans and power plants or plant allies is important to many Plant Geeks.
Chemistry Geek
One of the more prominent geek types is the Chemistry Greek. Everyone involved in studying psychoactives for long will eventually meet one. They range from the undergrad who dreams of mastering LSD synthesis to the professional PhD with 40 years of bench experience. They can often be identified by the bits of paper in their pockets covered with arachnoid scribbling of new molecules, analytical results, or synthesis steps.
Photo Geek
There are also those who prefer photographs of psychoactive plants and chemicals to the substances themselves. Like mainstream mycological photographers we've met who don't particularly care for eating mushrooms, there are those who spend their time and energy seeking plants with psychoactive properties to capture as images. One of the benefits of this flavor of obsession is that it avoids some of the potential legal risks incurred by the geek types that like to handle, collect, or procure controlled substances.
Generalist who is at heart interested in how psychoactives are (mis)used and (mis)understood by society, and who enjoys discovering and promulgating factual information.
Supplement Geek knows just the right combination of vitamins, minerals or nutraceuticals to pre-load for trips, improve effects, soften the comedown, recharge the day after, or rebalance the system.
Law Geek reads every related court opinion, monitors ongoing cases, knows the flaws and vagaries of every psychoactive related law, and stays abreast of the minutiae of Federal Register filings by the DEA.
Music Geek collects traditional music like icaros and songs from the ayahuasca churches, tracks which music is best to accompany each type of experience, or writes their own to fill in where lacking.
History Geek knows the origins of specific substances, which plants were traditionally used by which culture, who first synthesized psilocybin and in what year, when mescaline was schedule, and what government organization was in charge of drug laws at the time.
Art Geek keeps their finger on the pulse of the psychoactive art: who keeps the best collections, where there are current showings, whose art has been used on LSD blotter. And the list goes on and on.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
