Mondo Bungle

Stepping away from music talk and personal jabber is something I hope I can do here. There's a journal about movies/shows, so maybe I could have an off-topic one to go along with my main one.

Here I'm going do dive deep into the world of narcotics. This journal, I plan, will be much more organized then the other one, not just some jumbled mess. I'll cover first hand experiences or trip reports, articles, trivia, main figures and all that.

Here's a trip report I posted in my other journal. It's relevant here, too.

If this is approved, expect better output with this one.

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Mondo Bungle

I'd like to bet everyone, at some point in there life, has met at least one person who will tell you drugs are bad. I'd like to bet everyone has met someone who's been completely naive about some/most drugs and what they do. Both apply to me, for sure. Obviously, there are drugs that are bad for you, they can form bad habits and wear your body away. Abusing these drugs can lead to trouble. Amphetamines, opiates, prescriptions, these stupid things kids do to get high, (I hear they're drinking hand sanitizer? Yeah, sounds like a blast.) and others are nothing to mess around with. Really though, it's your body, if that's what you want to do to it, if that's what you want to spend your money on, be my guest. But so many people cast aside drugs because of stupid people who abuse them, or random instances of crime/bad behavior, and that's just plain silly. You're never gonna read a news article like "Crazed lunatic burns house;kills self because of marijuana ingestion". I don't condone drug use, but when someone tells me how bad all drugs are, I get a tad defensive.

"Drugs are illegal, so they must be bad." I think the legal issue is a factor in some people's minds. They associate drugs with crime. But come one, if you ask me, alcohol is one of the worst drugs out there, and it's legal. An alcohol habit drains one's well being, their money, causes them to make bad decisions, and can cause health problems and death. Yet it's a booming industry. The exact same thing can be said for cigarettes. People are finally beginning to see that weed is barely even "bad" these days, but as of now, it's still illegal in 48 states. But really, it's as beneficial as any over the counter prescription at the drug store. I know for myself, it relieves stress, reduces my terrible anxiety, relieves pain, and without it, I would be an insomniac, probably never get to sleep. Same goes for so many other people. I mean, yeah, I like getting baked, but it's also helped me on many occasions. But I feel it won't be a problem soon.

People have told me psychedelics like LSD and mushrooms are bad for you, too. I ask them why, and they have nothing to say. If anything, they're good for you. Well, not GOOD, like eating your veggies, but there's really no harming your body. I mean, after years and years of heavy use, you could go insane. But you're not going to overdose on psychedelics, and they're not gonna make you steal from loved ones for a fix. I don't think it's possible to OD on psilocybin mushrooms, because of the drug that is. Eat enough and you'll die of fungal poisoning. And it would take about 20,000 hits of acid at one time to kill you. No psychedelic is addictive or habit forming either.

This here's a cool article about mushrooms and others:
10 Surprising Facts About Hallucinogens, Psychedelics and “Magic Mushrooms” | Promega Connections

All of that's great, if you ask me.

When it all comes down to it, I think it depends on the person, no matter what the drug. Now I understand that there are negative effects, and you can't always control it, but it's just my opinion. I think some people can be smart enough to know what they are doing, and act accordingly. In most all cases of violence "caused by drugs", the person has had a history of mental issues and/or violent behavior. Those kind of people shouldn't be doing these drugs. People that become addicted to drugs are people that can't exercise self control. I've done a lot of oxycontin, and am not at all dependent. It's not even anything I ever think about getting or anything. I know someone who tried it a while back, and now he can't go a day without it. He steals money to buy. I've done more than him, never stolen anything from a person I know in my life. That attributes to my opinion. He loves oxy so much he's started fantasizing about doing heroin and stuff, that's never even crossed my mind.

It's up to you. The question "Are Drugs Bad?" can't be answered with fact. You can give countless facts supporting both YES and NO.

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Trollheart

Very interesting idea for a journal, Mondo (hey! Have you noticed your initials are MB?)
Personally I don't have any interest in drugs. I just don't feel I need them though here in Ireland we're a lot more reserved: I'm sure it's going on "on the streets" as well as in homes, but you just don't hear about it as much. Music is the only drug I need! And crack cocaine of course...

Seriously though, good idea and I'm sure if will attract a lot of comments and views. Certainly something different.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

djchameleon

I know this is your journal and you already have a clear focus for it but you can easily tie music in with drugs since they go hand in hand but even though I don't partake in recreational activities. I will sub to this thread and keep up with it just to see how it plays itself out.

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Fame, fortune, power, titties. People say these are the most crucial things in life, but you can have a pocket full o' gold and it doesn't mean sh*t if you don't have someone to share that gold with. Seems simple. Yet it's an important lesson to learn. Even lone wolves run in packs sometimes.

Mondo Bungle

There's a lot of things I haven't tried, and a lot that I don't intend to. Stuff like crystal meth isn't interesting, in any way. That's why there's going to be a lot of psychedelic entries. I find these the most interesting. They're so weird. Anyway, starting off with a personal favorite...LSD.

Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid, is in my humble opinion, THE psychedelic drug. Made immortal over the years in music, film, literature, and counterculture. We've all read about Hunter S. Thompson's adventures, we've all read about Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, LSD can be found in countless items of media. And of course we all know about th 1960s acid wave, the hippies, the Summer of Love, Woodstock. All that back in the day, when acid wasn't sold for profit, but distributed among the population. These psychedelic experiences brought about peace and love and understanding, we believed that they were beneficial to life, bringing us closer to true enlightenment. Opening doors we didn't even know existed.It was changing lives, causing breakthroughs in the mind and mystical/religious experiences. In this time, LSD users were split into two groups. The first believed it was too powerful, and that it should only be disributed to those viewed as elite, this ideal was one that was advocated by Aldous Huxley (The Doors of Perception). The second grup was more casual. During the 1960s, casual LSD users evolved and expanded into a subculture that extolled the mystical and religious symbolism often engendered by the drug's powerful effects, and advocated its use as a method of raising consciousness.

A Brief History
LSD was synthesized by Albert Hoffman in 1938 from chemicals found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye bread. Hoffman was studying ergot for further use in pharmaceuticals, and while researching lysergic acid derivatives found from the ergot chemicals, LSD was synthesized. His original intention was for that of a circulatory stimulant. He set aside his doscovery for five years before looking at it again. He began to re-synthesize it, and absorbed some accidentally through his fingertips. This is where LSD's effects were first noted.

Three days later, April 19, 1943, he experiments more with LSD, this time intentionally ingesting 250 micrograms. He felt similar effects as before, and had to be excorted home by bicycle. April 19 is now known as "Bicycle Day", marking the first true acid trip, and an important discovery.

Brought to the attention of the US, LSD began being used in psychiatrics. Researchers used it to produce model psychosis, a temporary state of mental illness. After a pleasurable experience by Sidney Cohen, scientists began looking at LSD as having helpful effects in facilitating psychotherapy, increasing creativity, and even curing alcoholism. By the late 50s, unlicensed therapists were administering LSD to their patients. LSD was also given to alcoholics in AA, and after a year, 50% of the group had not had a single drink, a success rate that has never been duplicated by any other means.

Basically, positive uses of LSD were popping up everywhere, usually with success. But by the mid-sixties the backlash against the use of LSD and its perceived corrosive effects on the values of the Western middle class resulted in governmental action to restrict the availability of the drug by making any use of it illegal. It became a schedule 1 drug, "high potential for abuse". LSD became illegal in California on October 6, 1966. Other U.S. states and the rest of the world followed with the ban. Even so, recreational use had been increasing.

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Mondo Bungle

Didn't know you were from Ireland, Trollheart. About 50% of all adults living in Ireland have tried illegal drugs at least once, and 86% of the population drinks alcohol. I'm not discounting what you said, just bringing up a fun fact, take no offense , because I'm not even quite sure if 50% is a lot, I don't know the stats here in the states.

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Mondo Bungle

In part 2 of my LSD segment, I'll be exploring some major figures and media surrounding the substance. While there have been many LSD advocates and scientists, I'm going to limit myself here. In part 3, I'm going to give my personal insight, and maybe we'll hear some experiences

Some Key Players

Mondo Bungle

I understand and believe that LSD can be a truly helpful thing. Really, it's only downside is the possibility of having a bad trip. And the insanity, but you gotta work for that. I believe in acid as a therapeutic developement, and all of it's psychiatric purposes, but so many people are afraid. They're not necessarily against it, but just don't want to try it. I'm sure some people would be all over dropping some acid at their therapy sessions, but I honestly believe that more people wouldn't. And if you're going to therapy, or facing death, I don't think you should be doing LSD. That's just my opinion, I'm sure it would be regulated by doctors and all that, and even an optional thing i.e. a patient wouldn't have to do it if they didn't want to. So, while I believe in it's positive psychiatric effects, in my eyes, it's a recreational drug. I don't think we'll ever re-introduce LSD to the public hospitals, at least not in my lifetime. Although recently, I can't recall when, they began testing LSD's effects on humans for the first time in decades. I don't know how things will go.
While I find LSD to be mainly recreational, it's not like weed, obviously. It could take you somewhere you might not want to go, so people should exercise caution. LSD has brought me out of my body and mind, and to a void where only your conscience exists. Its showed me death (theoretically speaking), and made me fully aware of my own mortality. That's why when kids say stuff like "Dude, let's do a f*cking sh*tload of acid and just party to sh*t!". I've partied on acid, yeah, but you never know what will happen. It's completely unpredictable.

My First Experience
I think it was about 2 years ago, during winter break. A friend got a spontaneous text saying "got fry for sale" and just like the wheels were in motion. It's been a while, and I didn't write an account initially, but I'll try my best. I think we got 15 hits, because there were 5 of us and most did three. We were warned to be careful, apparently one and you're tripping hard, two and you're done. We were in the car driving to a friend's house after we picked it up, I took two right away. We hung out in my friend's garage, just shooting the sh*t and sh*t. It took a while for it to come on, like an hour and a half, maybe less. I didn't even really get those shivers and tingles I've become accustomed to. I was sitting in a chair, looking for any feelings or hallucinations. At first they were very subtle. The walls were breathing, and scrolling downward like the credits at the end of a movie. My friend's dad told some of his own acid stories, he's had some REAL stuff. This acid called 'stars and comets', he says he took one hit and was tripping for two days. Damn.
I was barely in the midst of anything crazy, but I was hallucinating, just slightly. My friend who was holding the acid offered me my third hit, and I took it. Would this be bad? We were told not to do more than two. We went inside, in the living room, and began playing video games until we decided to walk back. I was completely aware of myself and everything, the acid hadn't jumbled my brain at all. This was one of those 'party' nights. We didn't actually party, I just say that because we were all functioning properly and not even the slightest bit confused. My hallucinations grew stronger in the living room. Everything breathed, colors were bright and playful. It was more like being really, really, REALLY, baked, plus some visuals. It had been about two hours. Be careful my ass. I was kind of still waiting, though, sometimes it sneaks up on you. Two others were sitting on the couch, talking about the walk home, one was playing video games, and I was conversing with another. These were the people on acid.
It had been about two and a half hours now, and it was late, I think about one in the morning. Us five said goodbye and started the walk. The walk might be interesting, it was an hour to get to our destination normally. We laughed raucously the whole time, still just making jokes and whatnot. We very well could have done more acid. But this was cool for a first time. The city lights shined and glared, movement was wavy. When I looked down, stars sparkled around my feet. It felt like I was walking on a trampoline. I would occasionally stop down hard for no apparent reason. We were all starving, this happens to us, acid munchies. We got at the bottom of the hill we were walking down, and came to a shopping center. My friend remarked, "It's like we're on an island floating in space, and we and this Jack in the Box are the only things on it". and I'm glad fast food places exist, for situations like this. I don't eat fast food often, but it's wonderful. You can walk in at anytime, and get some cheap food, that may or may not be good, but can cure your hunger. We stopped at the Jack in the Box, and ordered two tacos each. I looked across the table, and my friend was cracking up at me. This made everyone laugh hard. The restaurant was giving everyone a weird vibe. There was strange and discordant whirs, and loud drones coming from behind the counter. It felt like the building was about to take off into space. There were two other's in the dining room, both homeless. One sat in the corner talking to himself, the other was in the center of the room asleep. But we ate our food and minded our own business, and left.
The rest of the walk was pretty much the same. When we got back to the neighborhood, we made a stop on the jog/workout trail behind my friend's house, and smoked some bowls. It kinda facilitated to the acid high. We were all decently high, it came on very slow, I guess, but at this point we all reached our peak. I love looking up at the sky on psychs. Swirling, colorful, vibrant, infinite. We all laughed our way to the house, settled in the bedroom, and tried to find something to watch. We all wanted something mind-blowing, so we put on Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking. In one episode, he explained in depth how large the universe is, and zoomed out and back, from the earth. God damn, we all laughed intensively about it, because it was just so crazy.
Anyway, that's not really a trip report, I don't remember too well. The link in the OP is better, and I'll post some more.

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Mondo Bungle

I haven't given up on this journal, don't worry. So I started school last week and am doing a research project on DMT for English. I've decide my next section will be dedicated to DMT.


To be honest, I don't have anything written yet. But I recently interviewed Dr. Rick Strassman, a pioneer of DMT research, and I'd like to make that my first entry.

Me: Do you agree with recreational use of DMT?

Rick: No. DMT is a powerful and potentially disorienting drug experience and its recreationally use is full of difficulties, or least possible ones. Be that as it may, people use drugs and the best possible way to use them is to be as well prepared as possible.

Me: Do you believe DMT to simply be another mind altering drug, or do you believe in the spiritual aspect of it?

Rick: I don't think that the two descriptors are necessarily mutually exclusive. In other words, mind altering drugs may allow access to spiritual experiences. If by spiritual experience you mean the apprehension of something outside of ourselves, I do believe that this is a strong possibility with respect to DMT. In other words, DMT by changing how the brain works may alter our ability to perceive external things which are normally invisible.

Me: The term entheogen(ic) means “Generating the divine within”. Do you find this a fitting term for DMT? Would you believe users to have religious experiences, or have found god, per se?

Rick: I don't like the term entheogen. What if somebody does not believe in divinity or God? And not everybody experiences these types of effects. Thus, I think it is too exclusive the term. I think psychedelic is the best term because it incorporates the widest range of possible experiences. Despite the fact that it has accumulated a lot of baggage from the cultural turmoil of the 1960s, that doesn't mean we can't use it. For example, a lot of people have misused the word "love," but that has not precluded us continuing to use it. I think psychedelic is a good term for DMT. Psychedelic may mean mind-manifesting or mind-disclosing. Even here, the term is broad enough to incorporate either the effects of the drugs on allowing us to access things within our mind, or providing the garb that enclothes external verities if they indeed do exist outside of ourselves.

Me: DMT is chemically similar to psilocin, one of the active psychedelic compounds found in psychedelic mushrooms. But while under the effects of psilocin, users can still function (walking, talking, etc. (for the most part)), but while under the effects of DMT, a user may be found completely immobilized, not able to articulate thoughts. Of course the effects are similar, and higher doses of psilocin will cause more powerful effects (though it varies from person to person), what causes DMT to be so much more powerful?

Rick: I think a lot of this has to do with dose effects. People can still walk and talk on low doses of DMT, and as you note high doses of psilocybin can be totally immobilizing. For example with respect to smaller doses of DMT, one of the Brazilian ayahuasca using churches, the Santo Daime, drinks the tea all night and dances and sings the entire night.

Me: DMT is not to be taken lightly, but many people, intronauts as well as those without experience, are on the lookout for it. What may have been some causes for its rise in popularity?

Rick: Probably that the three most salient reasons are Terence McKenna's work popularizing the drug in the early 1990s, my research and subsequent book, and the increasing popularity of ayahuasca.

Me: Has it yet been scientifically proven that DMT is produced in your pineal gland? And/or psilocin?

Rick: I collaborated with the two groups at LSU and the University of Michigan in the publication recently of a paper demonstrating that DMT is found in rodent pineal gland in living animals. We still don't know about humans. Psilocin is not endogenous in humans or other mammals.

Me: Is DMT always effective? I myself have had an experience in which absolutely nothing happened. It was indeed DMT, as it worked at later times.

Rick: We had two volunteers with no or nearly no reaction to DMT. However, this was consistent. That is, it was not the case that they were resistant once and then the next time not. What you describe is a little difficult to make sense of. One might suggest that there were other medications or drugs on board, technical problems in inhaling, or other delivery and/or metabolism issues.

Me: Related to the question above, when vaporizing DMT, is it essential to hold it in for as long as possible? My experience where nothing happened may have been a result of not holding it in, I inhaled and immediately exhaled.

Rick: See my answer to the above question.

Me: Does DMT have any proven therapeutic effects? LSD and psilocybin mushrooms have been shown to cure/help such ailments as alcoholism, cluster headaches, cigarette addiction, and depression/anxiety. Can DMT be used in a medical sense?

Rick: I don't know of any well-controlled studies using DMT by itself to treat any medical conditions. I have heard a number of anecdotal reports regarding ayahuasca being of help as well as pure DMT in a variety of conditions but there are no data from any medical research teams out there.

Me: Do you agree/disagree with DMT's current legal status?

Rick: When I began my DMT work in 1990, I wrote to the then Attorney General of the US suggesting that she consider rescheduling DMT because the criteria for its placement into Schedule I no longer held. Those three criteria are: highly abusable, unsafe even under medical supervision, and no known medical use. The fact that I was beginning research with this drug obviated the second two criteria; that is, they were being used safely under medical supervision and they did have utility for explicating certain features of brain function in a research setting. One of her assistants wrote back suggesting that this would require an act of Congress. A similar argument could be made in the case of psilocybin. I think what may turn out to be the case is that a new schedule needs to be developed. This might be something like schedule I A which would restrict the sale, manufacture, distribution, etc. of these drugs but allow qualified researchers and practitioners to use them after having obtained specialized training and certification without having to reinvent the wheel every time he or she desires to use these compounds.


September, 15 2013

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