
My never-ending acid trip - rosser
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/12/05/my_neverending_acid_trip.html
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throwaway105988
Rant warning:

It really disturbs me that people on sites like Reddit and Hacker News, and
young people in general, seem to idolize psychedelics so much. Whenever I see
an article about hallucinogens pop up on my news feed, it's always some
pseudo-scientific BS about how psychedelics can bring about powerful insights,
cure PTSD, and open minds.

Psychedelics are extremely powerful drugs that can and will alter peoples'
minds permanently. Speaking from experience, one does not simply experience
ego death one day and then go on living their life as if it never happened.
For better or for worse those intense experiences stay with a person forever.

I used to be a big believer in the psychedelic culture. I read books about
Timothy Leary, practiced my own half-baked version of Buddhism, attended
numerous festivals, and grew and consumed copious amounts of drugs. While I
didn't take nearly as much as the author of this article, I can truthfully say
that I tripped at least 50 times combined on LCD, mushrooms, DMT,
dextromethorphan, MDMA, ecstacy, 2c-e, 2c-i, salvia, and DET.

I believed that these drugs were giving me valuable insights, making me more
intelligent and observant, unlocking parts of my psyche that normal people
would never understand. In my drugged out state of mind this was completely
reasonable to believe. The world is like totally interconnected, man! Reality
is just perceived in the mind!

It took me a least a year of hallucinogen-sobriety to realize that my insights
were really quite banal and meaningless. I hadn't learned anything, and worse
yet my mild social anxiety had transformed into a debilitating social anxiety
that nearly gives me panic attacks even during 'safe' social encounters like
visiting family friends. Even now that I've been sober of psychedelics and
weed for years I still struggle with the damage that has been done to my
mental health.

Fortunately everything turned out OK for me. I have a well paying job as a web
dev, a great girlfriend, a loving family, and my financial house is in order.
I can't say the same for some of friends though, two of which have gone
completely psychotic after years of mushroom usage and one who became, for
lack of a better word, completely retarded after one too many ecstasy rolls.

I understand that my current state is my own doing. I accept full
responsibility for my life. All I'm trying to is be careful with your mind.
Psychedelics can change your life forever.

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g0atbutt
This was an interesting read but be aware that it's only a snippet of the
story and the rest is behind a paywal.

~~~
JasonFruit
Why weren't you here five minutes ago?

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tsomctl
Note that the ebook is only 40 pages long, and the above article is 1/4 of it.

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stevejohnson
Flagged for being just an excerpt from the beginning.

