First off I think it's important to acknowledge the recreational aspect to all tripping, period, full stop. No matter how sincerely you view psychedelics as spiritually or psychologically healing tools, there is always going to be some aspect of recreation to any given trip, in some cases moreso than others. All too often I see recreational use denigrated as somehow being an improper use of these compounds, a failure to realize their intrinsic potential as self-healing or self-exploratory tools. And sure, if the only reason you're tripping is to get fucked up on something and see weird visuals, and this is your sole intent, you're missing out, but I think that this type of use is really uncommon, and the vast majority of us use psychedelics in such a way as to balance between the 'useful' properties of these drugs and the recreation – the 'fun' – that tripping encourages, with the ideal balance being different for each person. The issue isn't black and white; it becomes even more complicated when you realize that in some cases when somebody forgoes any intentional introspection or self-improvement in favor of merely experiencing the recreational aspects of a chemical, the resulting feelings of euphoria and love for oneself/the universe/mankind may be healing in and of itself!
So my point there is that it's good to see the subject of party tripping being examined without the knee-jerk disapproval that so often surfaces.
Anyway, onto the question at hand, one of the cool things about psychedelics is how you can use their sensitivity to set and setting as a tool, exploiting this property for your benefit. At low to medium doses there are many compounds that could produce a contemplative state in the peace and quiet of your own home or act as an adjunct to the wild intensity of a good rave. The dose would be the same, the end result very different. Certain compounds are more or less suitable to this dual-purpose – or more accurately multi-purpose – tripping, such that I would be more inclined to use LSD in a party or rave setting than perhaps 2C-E.
That's one of the awesome things about acid: it's powerful at pretty much every dose. In other words low dose tripping on acid is much more rewarding in my experience than low dosed phenethylamines for example. And I would suggest low to middling doses as the ideal for tripping at a concert or a rave or what have you. Sure, it may be fun to take a whopping dose at a show, I've certainly done that too, but it may not be for everybody, whereas I think that low to medium-low doses of acid are perfect even for people who are less sure of their ability to handle such a setting while tripping.
I don't know if I'd go so far as to call acid a 'party drug' though, because its simply so much more than that. Do I think that it can be used in a party setting? Absolutely, and you'll have buckets of fun too! But unlike, say, cocaine, which I would consider the prototypical party drug, acid is valuable in pretty much an infinite number of other contexts, partying being only a single one of these potential uses. As for commonality between local scenes, I can only really comment on Chicago and New York, where in both cases acid is indeed regarded as an ideal psychedelic for parties, moreso than any other psychedelic it would seem.
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