Eh, I think it's pretty good that it's only really taken by enthusiasts. It's not really a party drug, IME it's for drug nerds who want to 'expand their mind' etc. If everyone and their dog was taking it on a friday night to have fun, the world would be a much worse place IMO.
As one of those enthusiasts, I don't think that's a situation you really have to worry about. It takes a little while to reconstruct oneself to the point where you'd want another deconstruction. For most people, it's not going to be every day or even every month.
Only once have I run across somebody who wanted to trip twice in the same week, and I think he was just following habits ingrained in him by his previous cocaine problem.
Still, there would be outliers. If availability were higher, I would be worried about the few for which this isn't the case. They might cause some significant harm to their sanity.
As a former enthusiast, I know many people who used it frequently until the "psychic harm" caught up with them. I've had binges where I was doing it every week... sometimes more if I'm at a music festival. Same with mushrooms.
I'm not trying to demonize the drug, just saying that there are definitely people who can and do abuse it, and those people are a not-insignificant portion of users. Just go talk to any OG deadhead if you don't think people used LSD as a party drug.
Oh it definitely happens. I think it would happen less if there was less of a taboo. We vilify drugs similarly, so people who just want to get messed up start to see them as all the same. I've been approached by people at raves who seemed like they would take anything I was willing to sell.
But drugs are so remarkably different from each other. I wish we treated them as such. If there wasn't already the drug <-> party association I don't think a first time LSD user would be very likely to rediscover it.
> They might cause some significant harm to their sanity.
Is that possible?
The drug counselor at my college, when asked by someone in the audience at a presentation he was giving about drug history, which drug would be the least harmful to use if someone wanted to, said immediately, "LSD."
A collective gasp was let out by the crowd, especially considering he'd just said earlier it would take smoking 15 pounds of marijuana in 30 minutes to OD on it. That seemed pretty darn safe.
it's nearly impossible to cause physical harm with lsd, but not difficult to inflict psychological harm, especially in people who would are already vulnerable or predisposed to mental illness
You're probably the kind of person who researches LSD, maybe you were on erowid, you knew how long it would last, what rough dosage to take, what to expect etc etc. You'd know you need to be in a good 'setting' to have a good time.
That is not the way 99% of people drug-taking people approach drugs. They get offered it and they go 'yeah ok!'. Bad trips would happen all the time if it was as popular as weed or booze.
Set and setting play a huge part. I've gone pretty hard, dosage wise, and still felt like the same ol' me after. I've also had a pretty life-changing ego death experience that lasted a few days after a pretty low dose.
Several fellow psychonauts agreed
that a certain friend could reap great benefits from it but after he tried it he was like, "meh". Over the following four years we did it together six times and on the last one he was like "woah, ok, now I respect this chemical". Similar dosage each time.
Be aware that most (more than 50%) of the 100ug tabs are actually not even 50ug according to recent studies, especially the one found in western countries. Usually, "real" 100ug shakes your world.
Funnily enough myself and friends find LSD a great party drug when in low doses. 1/8th of a tab - you stay up longer, feel more energetic, slight barely noticeable buzz. 1/4th - fairly noticeable buzz, slight vividness of vision, excitement, silly laughing, no need for alcohol. Half tab - quite strong change in vividness of vision, many other changes, but still very controllable. But we rarely do that, while full tab or more is left for safe environments instead of partying.
Alcohol hangovers are not getting better with age and I don't enjoy weed at all. LSD in small doses is safe, controllable and, for myself, replaces alcohol. Get 10 tabs - test+try in advance and it will last for a long time when used like this.
Worth keeping in mind that Shulgin, the guy who popularised MDMA, strongly believed it should only be used for therapeutic purposes. In his view, MDMA wasn't a party drug. I can't remember the quote in PiHKAL but he had a mini-rant about hippies "ruining" the drug by taking it recreationally. To be fair, he was right that it led to MDMA being criminalised, but I remember thinking his view was incredibly close-minded.
What is or is not a party drug is really down to the individual (and the party...)
In Aldous Huxley's "Island", he uses guided psychedelic journeys as a rite of passage into adulthood (among many other sensible lifestyle adjustments). That would make the world a much better place if done correctly.
I didn't specify context because it wasn't necessary.
Why don't you warn the readers of the chance of dying on it because you think you can fly? Or acid-flashbacks? They're scary! Giant insects are everywhere. Whhooooooo!
I said "powerful", because it is. The means that it should be approached in a thoughtful and respectful manner, just like other powerful things.
> Why don't you warn the readers of the chance of dying on it because you think you can fly? Or acid-flashbacks?
I'm not disagreeing with your larger point, but I wanted to point out that neither of the "risks" you're talking about are real.
1. The "LSD makes you think you can fly" story originates with the story of Diane Linkletter[1], who jumped to her death from her kitchen window. Her father, Art Linkletter, was a famous radio/TV personality, and he spread the story that she had died due to LSD. But she had a history of depression and there's no evidence she was on LSD when she jumped, let alone evidence she thought she could fly. So it's more likely her death was an ordinary suicide.
2. Acid flashbacks--where LSD is stored somewhere in the body and released unexpectedly at a later date--don't even make sense. LSD is an unstable molecule which decomposes easily, and cannot survive in the human body long-term. HPPD[2] is a real risk of LSD, but doesn't exhibit the symptoms people usually attribute to an LSD flashback. Additionally, flashbacks are a diagnostic criteria for PTSD, acute stress disorder, or OCD[3].
The flashbacks/flying/spider stuff was sarcasm. I was responding to this gem of a comment:
> Eh, I think it's pretty good that it's only really taken by enthusiasts. It's not really a party drug, IME it's for drug nerds who want to 'expand their mind' etc. If everyone and their dog was taking it on a friday night to have fun, the world would be a much worse place IMO.
It completely misrepresented my initial comment:
> It's a pity that such a powerful drug has been demonized.
What is untrue about that statement?
1. LSD is a powerful drug
2. The public has been taught to be afraid of it without understanding it.
3. For those who have experienced moments of "enlightenment" on it, could lead a reasonable person to think that there is value in the drug, they might reasonably concur that it is a pity that a powerful drug that could possibly change millions of lives for the better.
My comment was very simple. The fact that it's demonized mean less uninformed people take LSD.
I don't know why you started ranting about people thinking they can fly etc. If you know anything about the drug you know that a bad experience can involve no physical harm.
My argument is that it's naive to think that the average punter should start casually taking LSD. It's powerful, as you yourself thought out.
I didn't specify context because it wasn't necessary.
Getting flashbacks to that SP episode where the San Fran people smell their own farts with that sentence.
The means that it should be approached in a thoughtful and respectful manner, just like other powerful things.
Cars are incredibly powerful too, and used by the masses. The result is endless suburbia and drivers killing people because they are distracted or reckless or impaired.
Best to keep it to the enthusiasts. It's good that acid has avoided success at all costs.
