
Hacker Dosed with LSD While Restoring Historical Synth (2019) - wglb
https://hackaday.com/2019/05/28/hacker-dosed-with-lsd-while-restoring-historical-synth/
======
Stratoscope
Related discussion, including a story of how I met Art Garfunkel on the way to
visit Don Buchla:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19992038](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19992038)

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dang
That's a great thread! Far better than this one. Everybody go there.

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sigstoat
the forensic toxicologist and biochemist sitting next to me, who also has at
least as much experience with LSD as any of you lot, sees nothing at all
improbable about the events described.

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YeGoblynQueenne
I am struck dumb with awe in the presence of such eminent authority as your
friend :P

I have a serious question for someone with your friend's expertise, though. I
always thought that LSD "blotters" have a use-by date after which they lose
their potency. Word was that they evaporate or some such.

Is that true, or is it just an urban legend? I don't reckon any of the people
I've had this kind of conversation with would have kept any LSD blotters
around for long enough to really find out.

Obviously, having heard this rumour I was surprised by the article. Friends I
read it to also thought the LSD should have expired by then.

~~~
capableweb
With the right conditions, you can store LSD indefinitely (well, until the end
of the world or similar). I've certainly managed to keep my own LSD still
potent after ~2 years of first getting it, by storing it in a cold, dark and
dry place. Some older friends have described to me finding ~5 year old LSD
that still worked, but not sure I trust that.

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thought_alarm
Let me tell you about the time I got chalked up on blow, dusting out the pots
of an old Yamaha DX7.

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emptybits
70s, check. 80s, check. Who has a 90s synth dosing experience?

~~~
oofabz
Presumably involving MDMA in an MC-303

~~~
fit2rule
2000's: caught a virus from a Virus.

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qntmfred
> We’ve learned this lesson ourselves cracking open broken laptops. You might
> find anything from coffee to soda, to pet urine or worse.

or black beans [https://youtu.be/4HhPK8XC75A](https://youtu.be/4HhPK8XC75A)

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peterkos
I thought it was going to be that baked beans meme but no, they literally
brought some random repair guy over to "fix" a computer Full of Beans

~~~
mercer
Love how the repair guy didn't respond to the guy's confusion over it being
Windows 7 and him only having like five windows open at a time.

After years of helping people with 'computery' stuff, I've just stopped
explaining things (when I can) if I notice there's no way they'll get it.

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dleslie
LSD ought to be legal.

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ashtonkem
I suspect that LSD and other psychedelics will be the next area in the drug
legalization war, now that weed is basically down to rearguard actions.

~~~
centimeter
It’s already easy enough to acquire relative to the low frequency with which
people want to use it. As an entirely non-habit-forming drug, you’re unlikely
to find a population of people motivated to get easy access to it.

~~~
ashtonkem
Weed is relatively low habit forming, significantly less than a lot of other
legal drugs, especially nicotine.

I’m not sure if the difference between weed and psychedelics in the habit area
is enough to affect the formation of a reform movement.

~~~
ajzinsbwbs
It’s a controversial statement to describe weed as addictive or habit-forming,
but in any case, many people use it daily. The same isn’t true of LSD.

Anecdotally, I saw a lot of friends get cranky when their weed supply was
briefly interrupted by covid-19. The public reaction was strong enough that
dispensaries got to reopen almost immediately.

~~~
quickthrowman
Agreed, weed isn’t addictive like alcohol or opiates/stims, but there are
plenty of daily users (including myself). LSD is my favorite drug but I could
never use it daily, at least recreational doses.

I pretty much always have some lsd around, but the urge to use it frequently
is not there. I usually go months without tripping, not days.

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palijer
Seeing how fond the Dead were about dosing people without their knowledge
(which is horrible and despite being a deadhead, I find abhorrent), I'm sure
Bear would be glad he got someone tripping from beyond the grave.

~~~
ashtonkem
While extremely unethical, there is something to this as a social strategy. We
know that exposure to psychedelic drugs alters one of the “Big Five”
personality traits, openness to new experience, permanently.

A large group of people doses by LSD without their knowledge would actually
emerge from the experience markedly different than they went in. Also,
probably more than a little freaked out or pissed off.

~~~
deathgrips
Some of the OG psychologists working with LSD wanted to mail samples to world
leaders so they would achieve world peace.

~~~
ashtonkem
Mailing unmarked drugs to world leaders seems like a good way to get a
ballistic response.

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rendall
I'm glad the hacker is ok. Getting dosed is no joke, especially with no
previous experience. It can cause long-lasting psychological effects. Context
is key. Fortunately, the hacker recognized what was happening.

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zapzupnz
The article isn't interesting for the content so much as the comment section.
Check that out immediately after reading the article, it's much more
entertaining and informative.

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artursapek
Imagine accidentally taking the same acid that Jerry Garcia might have taken
60 years ago. That's wild.

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kotutku
This story is almost too good to be true.

I can confirm from my own experience, that it's pretty easy to accidentally
absorb LSD by skin contact.

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girvo
Thats... unlikely. LSD is not particularly active transdermally (despite it
being "well known" that it is), so unless he tasted the crystals... It's also
a remarkably unstable molecule for a well-known drug.

And anecdotally, I can say that administering a number of drops from a vial of
dissolved LSD did not give me anything remotely approaching a trip.

~~~
craigmcnamara
You can absolutely trip from a transdermal dose. The kind of prying and
jimmying required to disassemble a vintage synth unit could easily spread any
film or sludge all over a significant part of a person's hands without gloves.
Then all it takes is a bit of sweat or touching your face and you'll be
unintentionally tripping.

~~~
warent
The hardest part for me to believe isn't the transdermal application. I've
definitely known of people who who handled LSD and learned to wear gloves the
hard way. What is difficult to understand is how a molecule that unstable was
able to survive for... over half a century?

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esperent
What makes you think it's unstable? UV light, heat, chlorine, (and perhaps
some other things) degrade the molecule. In the absence of those it should be
stable for a long time, in salt form (as it's usually made).

~~~
LilBytes
I've had tabs of acid sitting in a fridge which is naturally light and heat
controlled, in a sealed container (within the fridge) be absolutely benign
when consumed after being left for over a few months. The only way I've
managed to keep LSD protected/improve shelf life is to keep it in it's liquid
form and store it in a dropper.

I don't doubt that LSD could survive for some period of time on a natural
surface but to provide a big "trip" after it was on a surface like a Synth
seems a stretch.

I'd love to find out the half life of LSD in an open atmosphere like a Synth,
I imagine it wouldn't be very long at all.

~~~
01100011
and I've had tabs of acid wrapped in tinfoil inside a small ziploc inside a
filing cabinet with questionable temperature stability work just fine after
several years. Some of that acid, if I remember right, was taken into a rave,
lived in my pocket for a few hours inside... foil or a ziploc, I forget, and
then came home to rest in that filing cabinet.

~~~
LilBytes
Fair enough! Maybe the LSD I'm referring to was always shit/weak. :)

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jdkee
“Turn on, tune in, drop out.”

~~~
bredren
“Buy the ticket, take the ride.”

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bashinator
> Hacker Dosed with Historical LSD While Restoring Historical Synth

Sounds like the acid had been in there since the get-go.

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staticautomatic
I would just like to say how pleased I am that Hacker News is the kind of
place where you can have a conversation about drugs and not a single person
refers to themselves as SWIM.

~~~
SenHeng
I'm not sure I want to google what SWIM stands for.

~~~
nefitty
SWIM is "Someone Who Isn't Me". People use it instead of "I" as in "I
committed the crime" becomes "SWIM committed the crime."

Presumably people really believe that this is some sort of legitimate infosec
behavior. I like that it makes infosec important, but it might trick people
into thinking infosec is as easy as just using an acronym.

~~~
baby
A lot of people did it for fun.

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mastrsushi
Woah so cool he was on drugs while he did it??? That amplifies everything, so
meaningful.

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monadic2
LSD is volatile; there's a reason you store it away from moisture and light. I
find this narrative unlikely. Even the moisture in the air will reduce the
potency very rapidly.

