11. Tripping on Hallucinogens
Tripping on Hallucinogens
Tripping on Hallucinogens is the continuation in a series of hubs in which I discuss my life of rebellion, dabbling in the Occult, drugs, crime and prison to life-changing conversion through Jesus Christ. Click here to read it from the beginning. In this hub, I will discuss experiences that I had hallucinogenic drugs and ecstasy.
Tripping Out
At around the age of 16 I began experimenting with LSD, commonly referred to as acid. It came in hits. A hit is a small square piece of paper dipped in acid. You put it under your tongue, where it dissolves. Then, in about half-an-hour, you begin feeling its effects.
I knew when it would start to kick in because I would get a feeling of euphoria followed by laughter. The laughter wore off after a couple of minutes, and then visuals (hallucinations) would start to creep up on me. They would get more and more intense over the next five or so hours. This is called an “acid peak”. Then, the visuals would gradually start declining over the next five or six hours.
LSD hallucinations could get really intense. I have seen things such as trails (from movements of limbs, etc.), walls breathing, plants growing and trees turning into animals. The most intense visual I ever had is when a girl I was doing acid with turned into the devil! The two of us had taken some really potent LSD called Blue Blotter. Each hit was supposedly triple dipped, making it three times more potent. I took three triple dipped hits (equivalent to nine hits of acid) and she took two.
Right in front of me, she morphed from toe to head into Satan! It scared the hell out of me —literally! I said to her, “You’re the devil!” She looked at me and said, “You’re an alien!” Apparently, she had been experiencing some hallucinations of her own.
The Science of Acid
LSD causes people to hallucinate by mimicking serotonin and targeting a serotonin receptor called 5-HT2A. This disrupts our senses because serotonin is believed to keep our perception in balance and keep us from hallucinating1. Some of the dangers and side effects of LSD include impaired judgment, acute anxiety or depression, sudden flashbacks (short acid trips, even after days or months of not using LSD), bad trips (hallucinations) and psychoses, such as schizophrenia or severe depression2.
Crazy Stuff
I knew a guy who went into a psychoses after taking acid. We tripped together. I took tow-and-a-half hits of acid while he only took half a hit. When the acid kicked it, he fell to the ground laughing hysterically with his limbs flailing. He was never the same again. As a matter of fact, it was discovered that the LSD had caused a chemical imbalance in his brain, leading to schizophrenia; and he had to start taking medication to counter it.
When I was in county jail, awaiting sentencing on federal drug charges at the age of 23, I heard that he neglected to take his medication one day. Then, he walked onto the train tracks and got hit by a train... He was killed, instantly.
Alice in Wonderland
Mushrooms (shrooms) are another hallucinogenic drug. The most intense experience I ever had with mushrooms is when I ate an eighth of an ounce between two slices of a pepperoni and cheese pizza (I did that because shrooms taste nasty). Like LSD, it takes mushrooms about a half-hour to kick in; although, I noticed that the effects of mushrooms do not last as long as acid. On acid, I tripped for up to 12 hours. Whereas, on shrooms, the high only lasted about seven hours.
Anyway, after eating that eighth of shrooms I started seeing all kinds of colors. It seemed like there were strobe lights in a rainbow of colors being projected around the room I was sitting in. Also, I remember looking at this dresser drawer and seeing the edges and borders of it lined with neon lights; and along those lights were different colors of animated flowers moving about in a conveyor belt fashion, growing, shrinking and spinning.
The mushrooms I had taken were called Liberty Caps, and they were supposed to be really potent; so I ended up buying a pound of them and selling them to my friends (at the time I did these mushrooms I was around 21 years old and selling drugs). I never had any really bad experiences as a result of using mushrooms; however, I only did them a few times. Nonetheless, they can’t be good for you because of how they alter your perception of reality.
Going Berserk
Ecstasy (x) was something I dabbled with too. It comes in pills of different shapes, sizes and colors; or in powder form callmed MDMA. It is really popular among ravers. Around the year 1998, the rave scene was exploding in California and ecstasy use was exploding with it. The euphoria of ecstasy is absolutely unbelievable. It incredibly intensifies the senses, and that is why people enjoy having sex on it. However, it can be cut with meth and heroin, which is rather dangerous. It also has a tendency to make people go absolutely berserk.
I could remember a couple of times when someone who was coming down on ecstasy acted extremely aggressive, moody and irritable. I knew this girl that completely lost it after taking x. Some of us crashed at the same house after a night of e-ing (being on ecstasy). In the morning, she swore that someone had raped her in her sleep! However, that’s not possible. There were around five people sleeping in a small, two-bedroom home. Someone surely would have heard or seen something.
Not to mention, her clothes were not tampered with. Nevertheless, she accused some guy that slept near her of being the rapist because she “felt” that someone had raped her. The police were called, but nobody was arrested. There was no evidence that a rape had taken place. Up until that point, that girl seemed relatively normal; although, shortly afterwards she moved to Nevada and started working at a brothel and began using meth.
LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms and ecstasy are not addicting. People take them for their psychedelic and euphoric effects. However, these effects can have dangerous ramifications, ranging from psychoses, being out of touch with reality and extreme degrees of aggression and moodiness. They are better left alone. After my experience with hallucinogens and ecstasy, I went through a serious cocaine phase. Click on the link below to read it..
What's in an Ecstasy Tablet
Sources
1. Rosling, Claire. "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide - LSD." School of Chemistry. University of Bristol. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/serotonin/LSD.HTM>.
2. National Institute on Drug Abuse. "What Are the Effects Of LSD?" About.com Alcoholism. About.com, 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/lsd/f/lsd_faq04.htm>.