I, too was 17....it was one of the best experiences in human/robot existence I'd had, and after repeating numerous times with varied results, definitely altered me for the better. For quite a while though i was very unhappy, as i didn't fully let myself open up but htat I am learning to do.... the problem with having a psychedlically influenced thought structure is the difficulty in applying it to our current world; this sort of alienation (as it can be seen) is difficult to deal with as a teenager. It takes time to realise that its not isolation that has/is occurring but a connecting of everything/all concepts. In a sense it would be safer to take acid when neural plasticity is lessened after puberty, but it could also bring about upheaval that no prior experience hass set a precedent for.
The context i tried LSD first in was dreadful- at a huge, chaotic drunken house party after a schoolday/into the night with a new girlfriend of a week, and strong acid, but turned out fine- indeed I repeated it most weekends for the rest of the year because of the euphoric elevation above earthly matters and concerns that I was experiencing, and the sense of unity between trippers so to speak.
But the potential for disaster was huge that whole time, and except for dealers comments of "take half at a time" (invariably ignored), there was no guidance, no direction as to where to run with these hyper-cosmic thinking, and a lot of my fellow trippers of that era have subsequently, at one point or another, been down and out/fucked up-including me. The danger that we faced and were ultimately defeated by was difficulty integrating the trips- not so much a concern in the structure of school etc. but with the wideworld looming, definitely trying. We had no guidance, which is like using a submarine with no instruction; possibly do-able but very likely to sink. As ones brain settles as life proceeds, the likelihood of developing social difficulties or whathaveyou decreases with an increase in self-recognition and stabilising of the self. But the chances (perhaps) of a beneficial life-changing exp. decreases too....
Most of me and these old friends, in one way or anot'er, use psychedlics to bring ourselves back to the motherly embrace, since the year (8 years ago) we first ventured forth. Interesting...
