Marcus Surrealist
Greenlighter
So I am new here, but of course, no stranger to psychedelics. I just passed into my 6th decade as a planetary being, and have been psychedelic since about age 14. I come from the era of purple microdots, orange sunshine, and early blotters. Yes, I began tripping at a young age, but as I grew up in the SF Bay Area, acid et al were never far away, nor hard to find. I must have had about 80 trips my first year while a sophomore in High School. Of course, these extra-curricular activities took something of a toll on my grades (I admit it) - mostly because I liked tripping and cutting school a lot better than sitting still and 'learning') but I took a year off from acid in my junior year and did nothing other than but smoke 2 joints of grass a day (and the grades improved considerably.) I began impressing people who I had not impressed before, such as my counselor, teachers, etc. I was even able to graduate from HS a year and a half ahead of m original cohort (I got skipped from 5th to 6th grade) and left high school with m diploma in January of my senior year. Don't let anybody tell you that pot saps your ambition! OR that "acid wrecks your brain cells", etc. Ignorant bombast from people too chicken to drop themselves, so far as I am concerned. It's fine if you have the self-discipline. If your head is in a good place to begin with, you will be OK.
Anyway. I used acid on a much less frequent basis after age 17, maybe once or twice a year, if at all. That, I think, it a much more reasonable basis for indulgence. It allows time to integrate the experience. My early (first) year I was so enthusiastic about it, probably explains why I liked tripping ever week. But I survived it, and I've come out OK, all things considered. I have not tripped since the early 90's. I don't much miss it, in fact, I have many many cool memories to time-travel to, and where I have gone will take a lifetime unraveling (with pleasure) to begin with.
It heartens me to see there is still an active psychedelic community, even though these days I drop (and smoke) nothing. Maybe when we legalize pot in California, I'll take it up again, but for now, I'v been two and a half ears without a toke, and it's not really missed, either. Until then I am happy to ride the bench on the sidelines and cheer on everybody who is still in the game. I hope "our side" wins.
One of the things I would like to see occur, if psychedelics are ever respected as they deserve, is that maybe kids would be allowed the right to trip as an 18th birthday present, or a rite of passage for moving up a grade, going into college, or something. This is what you get if you do all the other stuff you dislike the rest of the year. By that age you have acquired enough of the societal BS that you can use a good interior window-cleaning. Before then, you're still developing a personality. Acid was easy enough to score in those days, don't let them fool you thinking it was just something available only to adults in the counterculture. Or that the authorities were ever any good at "protecting" those of us who craved the experience , from ourselves. Grass was everywhere too. (And cheap!) But look at it like letting your kid go off on his first solo vacation ski-trip with his buddies.
Well that's just my thoughts on it. Interested if anybody might agree!
Anyway. I used acid on a much less frequent basis after age 17, maybe once or twice a year, if at all. That, I think, it a much more reasonable basis for indulgence. It allows time to integrate the experience. My early (first) year I was so enthusiastic about it, probably explains why I liked tripping ever week. But I survived it, and I've come out OK, all things considered. I have not tripped since the early 90's. I don't much miss it, in fact, I have many many cool memories to time-travel to, and where I have gone will take a lifetime unraveling (with pleasure) to begin with.
It heartens me to see there is still an active psychedelic community, even though these days I drop (and smoke) nothing. Maybe when we legalize pot in California, I'll take it up again, but for now, I'v been two and a half ears without a toke, and it's not really missed, either. Until then I am happy to ride the bench on the sidelines and cheer on everybody who is still in the game. I hope "our side" wins.
One of the things I would like to see occur, if psychedelics are ever respected as they deserve, is that maybe kids would be allowed the right to trip as an 18th birthday present, or a rite of passage for moving up a grade, going into college, or something. This is what you get if you do all the other stuff you dislike the rest of the year. By that age you have acquired enough of the societal BS that you can use a good interior window-cleaning. Before then, you're still developing a personality. Acid was easy enough to score in those days, don't let them fool you thinking it was just something available only to adults in the counterculture. Or that the authorities were ever any good at "protecting" those of us who craved the experience , from ourselves. Grass was everywhere too. (And cheap!) But look at it like letting your kid go off on his first solo vacation ski-trip with his buddies.
Well that's just my thoughts on it. Interested if anybody might agree!
