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Why does LSD get a bad rep?

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Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
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104
Don't let the title mislead you. Of course, everyone who is familiar with psychedelics knows that LSD is extremely safe, and a quality psychedelic.

What I'm asking is, why do non-drug users think of LSD in a bad or evil sort of way while they usually think of magic mushrooms as tolerable?

Couple examples:

My friend has tripped on a couple of the 2C-X's, and has taken methylone. Yet he doesn't want to try acid because of the connotation of the drug. He knows it's safe, he says it just sounds bad.

My mom was telling me a story about her college days when those silly kids used to take shrooms and act weird and funny. I admitted that I've done them and she didn't seem to care. However, she seemed to get really upset when I brought up acid.

Whats the deal? Is it because LSD is synthetic and shrooms are all natural?

Not like it matters too much- those who know the truth mostly dont care about the opinions of the ignorant, but any theories as to why LSD has a socially negative connotation compared to shrooms?
 
It most likely has a lot to do with the stigma associated with LSD in the 60's and onwards. The myths that have been circulating since those days is mainly what I'm talking about. I don't recall any of this anti-hippy myth bullshit about mushrooms, which is why I would say they are considered a much cleaner and natural experience, although personally I've always enjoyed LSD more.
 
I didn't know it did get a bad rep, to be honest. Not something I've ever come across myself. I've known a lotta people think of it as being a kids drug that you should have grown out of by the time your 15 but on the other side it's been massively popular in the rave-type scene for ages now so shook off the kiddy-drug label a bit. In mainstream culture it's not really considered anything more than a bit of a joke or novelty really. This is in the UK though and I'm guessing you may be in the US?
 
Shambles said:
...In mainstream culture it's not really considered anything more than a bit of a joke or novelty really. This is in the UK though and I'm guessing you may be in the US?
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LOL. After so many years of taking psychedelics seriously I'd actually forgotten about this.
 
Don't know where you are getting your facts bro, but psychedelics are not safe. it's not for the feeble minded. People are generally afraid of everything they don't understand, and LSD got this reputation after years of a scare campaign carried out by Nixon & company. Nixon used to refer to Dr. Timothy Leary as 'The most dangerous man in the US'. Back than there were rumors going around that if you take LSD 7 times, it's enough to make you legally insane.
You see, back in the sixties the government needed young men to go fight in Vietnam, and the Hippie counter-culture was raising serious obstacles to that. The government cracked down on everything acid related, and that impression remains today. LSD is controlled in the same legal category as heroin and cocaine.
In my opinion, ignorance is the hardest things to combat. hopefully time will take its course.
 
^ I assumed he was getting his facts from somewhere that knows the facts. So obviously not the ridiculous bullshit the US government spouts then. Psyches are not dangerous by any stretch. Slightly risky for a tiny minority, yes. Dangerous, no.

Survived Abortion said:
LOL. After so many years of taking psychedelics seriously I'd actually forgotten about this.
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Hehe. Still tickles me when folks think you're some kind of backward moron cos they don't seem to see why anybody past puberty would bother with it. Always put it down to the low price myself - only drug you could buy with your penny sweets money. Suspect that's changed somewhat now though. Mainly cos kids get way more pocket money :D

Don't think I've ever seen acid portrayed in the UK media as anything other than summat to joke about - "that thing wot hippies used to take and talk to fairies and stuff" seems to be about as bad a rep as it gets here. More something to snigger about than be terrified of.
 
That would be the slight risk to a minority. No drug is 100% safe, for sure. But psyches get pretty damn close compared to most. No comfort to those who do end up with problems but compared to the huge numbers who use them regularly those that do experience problems are a tiny fraction of a percentage. I'd struggle to think of many drugs that are safer, to be honest.
 
Shambles said:
^ I assumed he was getting his facts from somewhere that knows the facts. So obviously not the ridiculous bullshit the US government spouts then. Psyches are not dangerous by any stretch. Slightly risky for a tiny minority, yes. Dangerous, no.



Hehe. Still tickles me when folks think you're some kind of backward moron cos they don't seem to see why anybody past puberty would bother with it. Always put it down to the low price myself - only drug you could buy with your penny sweets money. Suspect that's changed somewhat now though. Mainly cos kids get way more pocket money :D

Don't think I've ever seen acid portrayed in the UK media as anything other than summat to joke about - "that thing wot hippies used to take and talk to fairies and stuff" seems to be about as bad a rep as it gets here. More something to snigger about than be terrified of.
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How much do you get LSD for? Blimey 1 liquid drop of acid costs me £5 its no wonder I have had better trips on Ketamine than acid with prices like these.
 
I think part of it is its pseudonym, and how (some) people refer to the experience. Acid and Frying both bring up bad connotations with many people...acid usually means something used to dissolve something else (and yeah, i know thats not the case, but im referring to media bullshit, like 'her bones were dissolved in acid') and frying brings up that famous psi from the 80s 'this is your brain on drugs'...people just get a little freaked out.
 
^ Horrid terminology like "frying" don't exactly help any image problems either. "This is your brain on drugs" indeed ;)

bighooter said:
How much do you get LSD for? Blimey 1 liquid drop of acid costs me £5 its no wonder I have had better trips on Ketamine than acid with prices like these.
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When I first got into acid it was 50p a pop at most. Dunno how much it would cost now cos I actually don't recall the last time I had to pay for it. £5 seems common at parties but thought it would be cheaper from dealers. Depends where you are, I suppose.
 
I hate how people who aren't so act knowledgeable about lsd. The answer to your question is hands down because of the constant smear campaign after its popularization in the 60 and 70s. The HUGE amount of myths about acid are so built up.

So many times random people I meet try to bring up their bullshit myth. How they swear they knew someone who took so much they never came down, or other bs. They always try to act all "OOOh I know, I Know" Type of attitude that I don't even bother arguing because they will just swear they are right.

Its the most annoying thing about talking about drugs. If I bring up lsd they will all of a sudden look at me odd and act like I'm suggesting meth or something. UNLESS They have tried it, in which case we can actually discuss the drug.
 
I'm not sure either?

I know people who have taken psychedelics before even LSD and they believe that acid makes your brain bleed or fucks up your spine. Or they LOL believe all of the myths and urban legends about the drug.

I know people who aren't into psychedelics or drugs really at all and they think that acid is somehow a "hard" drug. I've even had medical professionals who told me about how they smoked pot when they were younger think this about it.
 
Leary and his cronies sabotaged genuine psychiatric study into psychedelics when he tried to publicise the crap out of it to a world that wasn't ready yet.
 
Timmy Leary definitely has to bear much of the blame for the demonisation of acid in the US, I'd say. I'm sure he meant well and I'm sure he was a lovely fella... but he did make a bit of a mess of things in his over-zealous proselytising :\
 
because people are easily brainwashed and hold no truth of their own:

have you ever tried to explain the absurdity of god to someone religious?
or the science behind sports to the non sports watcher?
or what TRUE and absolute freedom is to the democratic nation?

people have no minds of their own because the generation before us takes it away. just as the generation before that generation has done the same. and so on.

freedom + knowledge + enlightenment = the path to wisdom
introspection + openmindedness = growth
wisdom + growth = the Tao
 
I agree that people are dumb and will believe anything they hear from the media. I am personally afraid to take acid because I have a deep dark fukked up subconscious and i prefer to stay in reality where i can keep it subdued.
 
HeavilySedated said:
Don't know where you are getting your facts bro, but psychedelics are not safe. it's not for the feeble minded. People are generally afraid of everything they don't understand, and LSD got this reputation after years of a scare campaign carried out by Nixon & company. Nixon used to refer to Dr. Timothy Leary as 'The most dangerous man in the US'. Back than there were rumors going around that if you take LSD 7 times, it's enough to make you legally insane.
You see, back in the sixties the government needed young men to go fight in Vietnam, and the Hippie counter-culture was raising serious obstacles to that. The government cracked down on everything acid related, and that impression remains today. LSD is controlled in the same legal category as heroin and cocaine.
In my opinion, ignorance is the hardest things to combat. hopefully time will take its course.
Click to expand...

Ok. So what about the people who have taken acid many times beforehand, and gone to the armed forces to fight?
 
It must be the supposed unpredictability, as if the trip is something that befalls you - they imagine you are victimized by the drug and its ungodly intoxication, ironically enough the opposite seems to be true if you learn to realize your own potential, be mindful aware and awake.

Loss of control is something that gives people fear with a capitol F... and well surrendering to the experience, sober or on acid, that can be a hard thing to do but an ultimate victory in life.
 
People are scared of LSD 'cuz they don't understand it. I mean, mushrooms, they grow in the ground. You put a spore in some dirt and sugar water and you end up with mushrooms. LSD, where's it come from, anyway? I mean, some grain fungus, and then these chemists mix it up with all this toxic shit, right? Man, that's a really big and funny-looking molecule. And what the hell is phosphoroyl chloride? Sounds really toxic. And the DEA told me it's the most potent hallucinogen known to man!

What I'm saying is, the chemistry of acid is complicated, the supply-chain of acid is complicated, the pharmacology is pretty damn complicated, so even though it is, for all intents and purposes, a totally benign substance, it's the unknown for most people. It also has the reputation of being hard to make; plenty of drugs are harder, but since LSD is produced in huge quantity by a tiny few it's generally believed there are some arcane secrets involved in its production (arcane secrets available here for the low low price of zero dollars and zero cents).

Plus, whenever cops come into schools to give that little joke of a lecture they call DARE, they don't really know their shit (it's not their fault; it's not their job) and so any story about any hallucinogenic drug becomes a story about LSD. This results in hilarious made-up tales about the guy who thought he could fly and jumped out a window (smart people usually try to take off from the ground).
 
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