LSD: Serious Discussion Please.

Who just gave you LSD? That’s pretty irresponsible. I’m not remotely anti-drug, but LSD should be taken with an experienced user in a safe, controlled environment. It’s not a bag of weed. OP, please be careful, and find someone you trust with LSD experience to be with you while you take it.

Find some good mushrooms instead. And never do them alone.

MIchael Pollan has a new book about it (How to Change Your Mind) that's supposed to be fascinating - it would probably answer a lot of your questions.

Have you thought about microdosing it, OP?

I had a bad trip over 30 years ago. A nice young man I worked with helped talked me down all night. I shudder when I think of that evening/night.! AYOY, OP!!

^^^ AYOR I meant

therapeutic LSD requires micro-dosing over several to many sessions. You drop a hit of acid and cure all your problems.

Is it blotter acid? How many hits do you have? After your respond I will tell you some things.

You DONT drop a hit of acid and cure all your problems.

missed the important word!

As long as it was stored in a cool, dry place away from sun and air exposure the LSD will keep fine.

I've had some really lovely trips with LSD and it did help me form my world viewpoint (and gave me some fun afternoons) but going into it expecting it to magically fix all your problems seems wrong.

Also you don't know how you personally will react, some people don't handle it well and have bad trips. I do think it is better to do with a couple of peope you feel comfortable with than alone.

R9 Thank you. That was the response I was hoping for. I hope you are right.

Forming my world, (but mostly personal), viewpoint is what I'm attempting to do. I know it won't be a magic cure, but if it at least gives me back some of the hope and clarity I believe I've lost, I think it's worth doing.

It is why I want to be as responsible as possible and why I've put it off until now. I've gotten a good, responsible friend to agree to be my babysitter.

Also,I figure, any bad trip I may experience couldn't be much worse than some I have gone thru with prescription psychiatric meds.

Try microdosing and then meditating.

R1 An old friend who had since moved away mailed it to me as a surprise. He was aware of my issues and sent it to me for that reason.

In response to others... Yes - it is blotter, the Michael Pollen book is on my Amazon list, (I've watched a couple interviews with him), and I have also read about micro-dosing. But I don't have access to micro-dosing. I have the blots in the envelope in my drawer.

You didn't answer how many hits you have.

If you have never taken LSD, this is what you do.

1) find a friend willing to trip with you. A cool person.

2) If you can't find a friend willing to trip with you, find a friend who will smoke a joint and be with you while you try your acid.

3) Cut your blotter acid into 4 pieces.

4) Cut one of the four pieces in half.

5) put that TINY little piece under your tongue. Now wait. Wait an hour. Anything? If you get something, and want to microdose. Then STOP. Continue again another day.

If you get something and want to continue - 6) put the other 1/8 under your tongue. Now wait. An hour. Anything? If a little bit. Cool. See what happens in another hour. If you like that short hour, you can take a 1/4 hit. Then again. Wait. YOU MUST WAIT.

If the 1/4 gives you a trip. That's maybe enough for your first time.

You want to get used to it before you really trip. You might like the very low dose. You might really NOT enjoy a hit or two entirely.

OK crossed messages.

You can discover your acids strengths and your reaction to acid, by following the dosing I described above.

The first tiny little notion of "trip" will show your acid works.

If you want to microdose, the NEXT time you take acid, you will take less than the smallest amount that gave you a little buzz. The buzz you will discover. For example - sky looks fab. Colours look fab. Or you are perceptive to things a bit more than usual. If you feel that. its OVER the dose of microdose.

But you might just want to trip. Again. if you have a number of tabs, you can experiment and work up to a good trip. Don't be greedy and try to trip hard, quickly. bad.

Where can one purchase LSD?

R15 ask your pot dealer :)

I did it 50 years ago (pills, though) once with four buddies and one who didn't. He drove and acted as our minder that afternoon and evening, a summer day shortly before we went off to college. It was an incredibly good experience that opened up so much more of the world to me at the tender age of 17. And the six of us laughed our asses off the whole time. There's an audio tape of us somewhere talking while tripping that was hilarious - to us, anyway: anyone else hearing would think we were blithering idiots - after the fact.

For just that reason, I never did it again. I never thought I could have had a better experience than I did and didn't want to risk a bad trip, probably thanks to anti-drug propaganda back then. Anyone who had any psych issues was alleged to have them as a consequence of drug use which in white sixties suburbia was weed, amphetamines, or LSD, not coke or heroin or what's come later like meth, crack, ecstasy, etc.

If you need a dealer, ask a friend in the restaurant business, or in the arts, or a cool young person in college; cool meaning artsy and chill and not your republican nephew studying for Business Administration or some right wing shit. Someone cool that you trust who won’t freak out and get all “DRUGS??!? ARE YOU INSANE??!?” on your ass.

It is not remotely hard to find drugs if you are cool, or at least know someone cool.

I’ve been very interested in this for a few years.

[quote]An old friend who had since moved away mailed it to me as a surprise. He was aware of my issues and sent it to me for that reason.

He mailed LSD through the United States Postal System?

Is he a fucking moron!?!?!?!

Don’t ask R20 if he knows any dealers. R20 is not cool.

LSD strengthens with age, if you take it you will likely have a psychotic break.

Drugs can kill you. Mother says they’re even worse than sex!!!

I was conceived during an LSD binge and I fear it's the root of all my issues.

Forget micro dosing, one hit wont make you freak out if that is what you have (and no it doesnt get stronger with age, like anything else it gets weaker).

it was first formulated as a psychotherapy aid, because it can unearth buried thoughts in the patient, thus saving time. I took it in my early 20s and discovered I wanted to do something with music, which I had studied as a pre-teen and abandoned (piano lessons & composing). I'm glad I took it because that led me to move to NYC, start singing and composing pop songs and performing in nightclubs. I wasn't commercially successful, but I now have about twenty pop songs I composed myself, music & lyrics.

If LSD “strengthened with age” people would be selling it by vintage. “I’ve got some great 2012 that’s been fermenting for years, it’s just about to reach its peak...”

No. Don’t listen to idiots online, OP. They’re fairly easy to spot if you break down what they’re saying.

Take legal THC instead. you ate nuts to take lsd and not know what you are getting. NUTS.

Go buy the CBD/THC OIL THAT IS LEGAL AND TESTED.

ask the clerk for the product that artists are buying. That will be the borderline trippy stuff.

Where can I buy CBD/THC??

Gas stations these days, or so I'm told. I just pump my own gas and never go inside. Look for them next to the bath salts.

In addition to the good advice you’ve received above, I would strongly recommend - at least for your first experiences - to be either at home or out in nature, as opposed to out in city streets or stores or crowded bars. It can be overwhelming to be tripping and be surrounded by people or traffic.

[quote]Gas stations these days, or so I'm told. I just pump my own gas and never go inside. Look for them next to the bath salts.

Will look next time I get gas. I’ll ask the clerk where the bath salts are.

Michael J Pollard?

If you have psychological problems, I do not recommend experimenting with acid.

I did it in college in the 1970s. Not a lot, but a couple of times a year. I enjoyed it, but I don't think it changed my perspective on anything.

I did acid twice in the Summer 1986. My two friends wanted me to do it with them, so I finally agreed.

The first time was three hits (squares) of acid. This was super-intense visually and aurally. It begins and you have your normal mind. You're hallucinating but you realize it is the drug. After time, your mind becomes part of the trip as well, which was scary because I thought "I'm going to be stuck this way forever!"

But it was amazing to experience a reality different from the regular one. To see patterns in everything that are maybe really there with just a slight perception shift. This was a full-on visual trip. My friends had black-light posters and those things were mind-blowing. All the while we were listening to music that I soon realized was made for acid: 'Dark Side Of The Moon' by Pink Floyd, 'The Dreaming' by Kate Bush, 'The Changeling' by Toyah Willcox...

Also 'Hounds Of Love' by Kate Bush which, strangely enough, had me coming out of the trip as the final song on the album began, "The Morning Fog," almost like it was planned that way. "Waking The Witch" is TOTALLY an acid song!

The three squares lasted eight hours.

So, it terrified me eventually because of my worry over it not ending but the visuals and sounds were nothing I regretted.

One month later, my friends convinced me to try it one more time but to take less so I wouldn't be so overwhelmed. They gave me one hit which I barely touched to my tongue and then threw the square away.

This horrifying trip lasted 26 hours! Okay, it was mostly mind-fucking, not so much visuals or audio, although those aspects were there. I was paranoid beyond belief, and worried I would stay that way forever.

TIME HAD NO MEANING. The clocks sped up, slowed down, went backwards. I was watching MTV (this was September 1986) and I was watching a video which seemed familiar but I couldn't place it. Eventually, time sort of took a breath, and I realized I was seeing "Missionary Man" by Eurythmics, "Typical Male" by Tina Turner, and "Stuck With You" by Huey Lewis - all at the same time, melded together.

Paranoia was just awful. I was suspicious of everyone and actually "heard" the voice in my head. Not someone else's voice but my own actual real thought, but I heard them with my ears somehow. The speeding up and slowing down was so scary. Also, I guess there was a lot of speed in it, because I kept getting the feeling like there were steel rods in my arms and fingers (one of my friends said that is common on acid and it has to do with dehydration).

As the effects subsided mostly, I drove home (no problems) and on my car's cassette player was Berlin's "Masquerade" which had the lyrics, "So you reach for tomorrow, but tomorrow's more of the same", which, to me, meant this acid trip would last forever! It took a few more hours for the mini-hallucinations to stop. These were little things like hearing the phone ring in a different room in the house, where there was no phone. Or a piece of paper on the table next to me fluttering in the wind, but there was no wind at all. But my mind was better so I knew it was just a little hallucination.

I never did it again but I still completely catch references to acid or notice when things are made or meant to be observed/heard while on acid. It totally changed my perspective on reality and I don't regret it a bit, despite the terror both trips eventually filled me with.

OP, I tried acid for the first time in 2015, and for me, it was a life changing experience. I’d struggled with severe, pervasive depression for the vast majority of my life and that one trip in many ways “cured” me. It allowed me to view myself and my perceived problems in a truly objective manner, which I never knew I so desperately needed to do. Cutting through all the self-imposed bullshit was a great wake up call for me and exactly what I needed to move forward. I’ve done it a handful of times since then, and each experience has been a blessing that’s taught me new lessons. To this day, my depression, and to a lesser degree, anxiety, is about 90% better than it ever was pre-acid. I’m now a massive proponent of the benefits of psychedelics and other plant medicines because they’ve positively impacted my life in ways I never could have believed prior to trying them.

That being said, I would strongly encourage you to listen to the advice previously given and not try it alone your first time. Mindset and setting will both influence your experience to a certain degree, so make sure you’re with someone you trust in a safe, familiar, and comfortable environment. I’d also recommend setting an intention of what you’d like to learn during the trip—I know it sounds “woo woo” but doing that has always seemed to help me and I’ve gone from being a very angry, cynical person to much more in tune with my spirituality and mostly at peace with my life (I’m stil a cynical asshole, though).

Best of luck to you. I hope you find the peace you’re looking for.

Does LSD help with depression?

Discussions like these have come out of the shadows in recent years and there’s tons of info online. For the curious & cautious, posting here may be useful but you should def seek out more and broader info.

How old are you OP? Some of the biggest concerns re psychedelic drugs apply primarily to teenagers / young men, whose brains are still developing. EG suggested connection between LSD use (overuse?) and emergence of schizophrenia in guys who are predisposed to it - schiz emerges naturally late adolescence/ early 20s, so teen drug use looks problematic there (tho the actual connection is unknown - maybe young guys with nascent schizophrenic twinges are more likely to choose to take acid?).

Traditionally people with history of psychological problems are advised to stay away from psychodelic drugs. But new thinking is that these drugs can be a goldmine for treating psychological problems, which is obviously inconsistent with earlier thought. So that risk seems like a balancing act & a judgment call, tho less risky as you get farther from youth / brain development stage.

R13, 14

OP here. FIrst chance I've had to check this thread since I posted yesterday. I have 3 blots. So divide the first one into 8ths? ... Thanks if you're still around and reading this.

Everybody else: Great posts. Very helpful. Thanks so much.

I haven't decided that I'm definitely doing it. But if I do, it will only be if I can manage the ideal circumstances: A safe environment, (like a weekend beach or cabin retreat): and yes, a trusted, responsible friend to monitor and babysit. A couple have given me strong maybes depending on the timing.

I am 55 years old.

I've mentioned that I've done psyche drugs, now regrettably. I have done very few recreational drugs, (I kind of wish I had now. I think they would have benefited me more than the prescription!), As previously mentioned, I had a couple of really bad experiences from the psyche drugs that I believe could easily match or be worse than any LSD bad trip. But if I commit, I'm mentally prepared for all that could happen as a result. I'm also mentally prepared that there'll be no result at all making all of this moot.

Although I have little experience with recreationals, I did do mushrooms on two occasions many years ago. Both times were with a group of friends on a camping trip, Both were great experiences. The only bad side effect I recall was the feeling I had to constantly floss my teeth. The mushrooms, positive experiences I've read about similar to a few you guys posted above, the Vanity Fair article I posted, interviews with Michael Pollen, and a few other assorted articles all convince me I should go thru with this. But again, only if I can create the appropriate environment.

LSD isn't really that different from mushrooms, the main difference is it is a longer trip. The intensity of the experience depends on the dosage of each.

R37 Funny, your experience was very similar to one I had many years ago but had forgotten about until reading your post.

I was at a college party and someone brought out a plate of steaming, freshly baked brownies. I devoured three at once. THEN, I was informed that might not have been a very good idea. I had no choice but to shrug it off at that point. An hour later, I was feeling fine and had completely forgotten about it. Three hours later - SMACK! It was like someone had slapped me hard on the back of my head. Then everything you described. Fortunately, a buddy realized what was happening and walked be around the block for three hours until I was finally calm. So yeah, I'm prepared for that, too!! :)

^^sorry, that was meant for R36. I hope I have an experience more like R37.

R20 You wrap it in foil so no odor can be detected. Slip it in a greeting card. No return address.

R26 Yeah, that kind of experience is rare but does happen. It's why I'd rather go for one good trip rather than micro dosing.

R34 I wouldn't say psychological, (although I may have used that word upthread), I'd say emotional. A few traumas in my past have caused awful setbacks, ongoing anxiety, and fear to move forward. I want to regain at least a portion of the fearlessness I had once upon a time, otherwise, I'll never climb out of the pit I've fallen into.

I never did blotter but I used to drop tabs in the late 60s/early 70s like candy. Expect to get very high with hallucinations. Listen to music.

I did it a few times with a trusted boyfriend, but not until I was almost 60. He was very experienced with lsd and I could find no reason not to explore it with him.

It was a great experience. Each time, we fucked for about 8 hours. I don't know if lsd is good for depression, but it is great for sex with soneone you care about.

I know someone a bit older whose dick isn't the party size it used to be and obviously it doesn't get as hard, though it still gets hard enough to have sex and cum. Also, this gentleman is peeing more than he used to. And he's got ear hair. Oh by the way apparently he is invisible in public. Well, would LSD help with these?

I've tripped a couple of dozen times on acid and mushrooms, and I've done plenty of other psychoactive drugs. The best experience I ever had with LSD was when I took "too much", perhaps 1000 micrograms. It was a wild experience that started off fun, unsettling, scary, but then proceeded to destroy my ego, such that I didn't have the ability to think about who I was or what was wrong with me and all of that other bullshit that can make a trip go south. I was one with the universe and I realized there was no god, just a singular "all". It was a beautiful experience that was enough for me, enough to not ever do it again. During the peak of the trip I basically had no sensory experience of reality--couldn't see or feel what was really outside of my body, just totally overpowering hallucinations. During less intense trips I had the usual "don't look in the mirror because your face is peeling/melting" or worries about never "becoming sane again". But, no, that stuff was obliterated by the overwhelming force of being "on the other side".

Never trip alone, but with somebody you trust. Ideally, do it in the wilderness, in a safe place, in good weather, with no serious problems nagging you (although a troubling conflict might get resolved while tripping). Somebody mentioned driving while coming down, and of course that's a terrible idea. I once found myself driving by myself downtown in a large city because of my bad judgment and had the curious experience of recognizing where I was when I was stopped at an intersection, but being absolutely lost when on the move. It was a terrifying experience, compounded by the "fact" that it seemed the police were everywhere.

^Liked your advice for the most part, but the "never trip alone" opinion is bullshit. Some people can, some can't. I have enjoyed several trips with friends and several in solitude. Never had a bad trip and never attempted anything stupid or risky, nor did I know anyone who did. It takes experience to know who you are in this regard. Naturally, novices should always dose in good company and then see for themselves what they can handle.

Of course it’s ideal to have someone committed to you and/or the experience there to help with anything that might arise or just prevent feelings of isolation or confusion. But being psychologically undressed in the company of the wrong person sounds much worse than being alone.

AFAIK it’s very hard to actually “OD” on LSD, meaning take a dose so high it’s toxic. Even extremely high doses, which produce insane trips, seem to fade away when their time has come & leave the user with no physical damage. Given that a minder’s one irreplaceable role would be calling 911 if necessary, maybe he’s not that essential after all (if you have 100% certainty that what you’re taking really is LSD, faith in your source etc).

Recent experiments with LSD to treat mental distress had patients sit on a bed blindfolded with music on headphones the whole time (with watchers nearby for safety of course). Lots of patients had blissful, life-changing experiences in that environment, so obviously the company of another person isn’t necessary as long as there’s comfort and some stimuli.

[quote]I was given some as a gift

Skin is a gift.

My partner has done it in the past. From the stories he's told me, I'd never want to do it. Mostly because of how you lose control of your world, and also because of how he describes the panicked feelings that the trip will never end.

Acid has an anorectic effect. Also, trips will last hours. So, after hours of not drinking or eating anything, one dehydrates. I recommend being fully hydrated before tripping. And make sure there's some Gatorade or apple juice around to drink when it's over.

I had a better experience with mushrooms than LSD, but I would do either again.

For the first time, definitely have a trusted minder or trip with a close friend.

Ego dissolution can be frightening but later incredibly freeing. I think that happens only with a major trip. It did with me.

Also, the two times I had major trips, I also got sick to my stomach. The shrooms went better because I threw up and then lost any sense of connection to my body. With acid, I felt an apple sitting in my stomach for what seemed like forever.

Good luck, OP. I think this could be good for you when done with foresight.

[quote]Also, I guess there was a lot of speed in it, because I kept getting the feeling like there were steel rods in my arms and fingers (one of my friends said that is common on acid and it has to do with dehydration).

This is what prevents me from trying it. You have no idea what you're getting. Until it's made in a regulated legal lab and available for doctors to prescribe, it's a big risk, like any street drug.

You can order mushrooms legally from the Netherlands.

I don't know what the lawis like in the US, but when magic mushrooms were banne din the UK in 2004, the didn't ban the spores, so you can still buy them in headshops to grow at home.

OP, I only did it twice, during undergrad. The first time we hung out at a friend’s apartment, five or six of us, and I had a great time. I could hear myself breathing in binaural sound, the walls were cycling through pastel colors in psychedelic patterns, and I went for the most magical walk by myself around 4:00 a.m.

The second time the stuff was laced we think with PCP or something otherwise terrible. I remember escaping the noise of my friends’ chatter to my roommate’s bedroom floor, and sitting in the dark. First the wall changed to a star field, and the potted plant by his door transformed first into a spider, then a wasp. I remember quoting SouthPark to myself: “This is some fucked up shit, right here.”

It did give me a heightened sense about the world around me. As another friend said, you start noticing things that were always there, but somehow overlooked: the particular shade of the leaves in our college town by streetlight, the way the air shudders when the garbage men empty a dumpster blocks away.

You won’t know if you don’t try it...

I liked mushrooms the best. A friend had a friend in Austin who grew them hydroponically, so no bad taste. He'd show up with a baggie of freeze-dried mushrooms. They make for a happy trip.

No problem with acid, but it wasn't off the street. Some chemistry student at Rice cooked it up in the labs there. Clean, long-lasting trips. I remember chugging a quart of apple juice after the first trip. I was so thirsty. I was in my 20s then and could burn it off.

There was one bad trip, but it wasn't with acid. It was some other designer hallucinogen they cooked up, TMH?. I holed up at my friend's house in Montrose till we all came down. We all got pretty paranoid. One friend decided he wanted to go home. While driving back, he stopped at Safeway because he figured he'd be safe there. He called his parents back in NYC to tell them he was going to die and he just wanted them to know he loved them.

I stuck with shrooms after that.

OP here. Two questions: 1) Should I take it on an empty stomach? 2) What is the best time of day to take it?