Subject: RESULTS: LSD Survey
From: [email-masked] (Mike J. Brown)
Date: 2 Aug 1993 23:23:46 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.drugs

Here are the results of an informal survey to get an idea of why people
decide to stop using LSD.  All I did was post four questions to alt.drugs
in July 1993.  The questions are quoted in most of the responses below.

Mike Brown ([email-masked])      1 Aug 1993.

[RESPONDENT 1]

Mike, thinking of using LSD in a controlled, serious fashion.  Its been 20
some years since i last took it.  Not a bad time, but I am trying to have
a fairly religious experience in the pagan/nature is alive sense.
Everything is alive.  Read Learys "Politics of Ecstacy"  Good overview of
his experinces. Also Burroughs "Naked Lunch" has a great listing of all
drugs and what their effect is.  IF I can find the time and find the drug
fram a reputable source It could be interesting experience.

[RESPONDENT 2]

> 1.  If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
>     why?  What led up to this decision?

I suppose I plan on using it again, sometime, but these days it's hard
to find the time.  You really need a good two days with no obligations
to enjoy, and recover from, a major trip.

 2.  How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
     the dosage (# of hits)?

I'm a proud member of the 100+ club, thank you.  There was one year that
I tripped at least every weekend.

> 3.  If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
>     what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
>     decision?  (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
>     allergies, etc)

I have a full-time job (at a major state-funded supercomputer center, as
they say on TV), which I will be leaving shortly to go back to school to
finish my Ph.D. in physical chemistry.  I'm also rehabbing a 90 year old
house (that can be a full-time job in itself), and I'm very slowly doing
the ground-work to set-up a software company.  Then, of course, I'm also
active in the Libertarian Party.  And I spend some extra time getting my
right margins to line up.

[RESPONDENT 3]

>1.  If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
>    why?  What led up to this decision?

I'm not done yet, but I'm close.  Reason- lsd works mainly because
of the subjectivist in you.  I am very 'Objectivist' and in order
to see hallucinations, you must believe in the lsd created non-reality,
which I could never do.

>2.  How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
>    the dosage (# of hits)?

Perhaps a dozen, mainly 3 and 4 hit trips, a few 1's and 2's.

>3.  If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
>    what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
>    decision?  (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
>    allergies, etc)

Work- Lazy ass arcade attendant, and college student.
Interests- Programming and philosohy, i.e. Objectivism.
Family- 18 years old, only family is 'above' me in the tree
and I dont give much of a fuck about them.
Responsibilities-  Not a whole hell of a lot.  The fall semester
will add to my reasons to cut down on or quit lsd.
Allergies- none.

[RESPONDENT 4]

>1.  If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
>    why?  What led up to this decision?

Normal LSD usage will be *very* infrequent in my future. Perhaps once
every five years or so? On the other hand, LSD and heroin taken together
is currently my drug of choice. LSD gets annoying after a while, and heroin
gets mundane, even a bit boring. But together.... it's even better than
peanut butter and chocolate! (Imagine smoking opium with sentient Fungi
on the planet Yuggoth. That's the effect I'm talking about!)

>2.  How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
>    the dosage (# of hits)?

I tripped around 150 times before getting sick of it. Mostly in high
school.

>3.  If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
>    what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
>    decision?  (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
>    allergies, etc)

My favourite trips were actually what would generally be considered
"bad" trips - monsters and paranoia, flirting with insanity, etc. I
enjoyed that greatly, after being experienced enough to control a
serious trip. Later a more subtle "bad trip"ness appeared, much more
mundane (worldly - social/intellectual delusions of pathos instead
of otherworldly horrors) and which I couldn't deal with.

Plus the feel of the LSD high just annoys me now.

One last point - after playing with reasonably high dosages (5-10 hits)
it becomes too scary to trip that hard, but milder trips seem like a
boring tease.

[RESPONDENT 5]

Used it 50-60 times over about 10 years. 2-4 tabs normally.

Bad setting and feeling like shit the next day have turned me off.
My body freaks when I taste blotter. It says 'oh no, not again'.
Will probably use it about once a year.

[RESPONDENT 6]

>1.  If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
>    why?  What led up to this decision?

I will use it again. I loved it and still does. The problem is that it is
hard to get here in Sweden at a descent price and quality.

>2.  How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
>    the dosage (# of hits)?

One, a half trip. Best trip ever.

>3.  If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
>    what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
>    decision?  (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
>    allergies, etc)

i use lsd to help me grow as an individual. if you take small doses for a
long period i think you can learn more about yourself and the world than
taking a single big hit.

[RESPONDENT 7]

>1.  If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
>    why?  What led up to this decision?

Well I have previously taken LSD on 4 occasions. The first occasion I had a
'bad trip' and on the 3rd and 4th occasions I got 'flashbacks' from the
previous trip, experiencing the same effects.
My 1st bad trip was probably caused by excessive amounts of LSD. I had taken
3*1/2 trips spaced at roughly 1 hours interval. The acid sheet was unmarked
since it was straight from source and was considered by the others I was
tripping with to be quite strong. Added to this I had finished with my
girlfriend recently and I had been looking at art-work by the person who
designed the alien in ALIEN (the movie) (this art work is VERY disturbing
even while straight). Initially the trip was really good however I had a very
rough ride when I was coming down.
The only reason I don't really plan on taking it again is that I simply do not
enjoy the trip since I always get the same effects i.e. increased insecurity,
everything feels wet!(weird huh?), attempt to fight against the drugs effects
and a general feeling of fear. However I might be interested in doing very low
dosages just to receive the enhanced colours and the wierdness. These are the
effects I received on my 2nd trip after taking just 1/2 a 'tab'.

[RESPONDENT 8]

> 1.  If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
>     why?  What led up to this decision?

1. I might never use it again or not for a long time if ever. The reason is
that I am a nervous person to begin with and it was aggravated. I wish I could
enjoy lsd and I understand its potential but I think I have to deal with my
own psychological problems before I can even think about trying it again.

> 2.  How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
>     the dosage (# of hits)?

2. I used it only once, one hit, but god knows how much a dosage it was.
A friend who tripped with me said it was the strongest stuff he ever had.

> 3.  If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
>     what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
>     decision?  (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
>     allergies, etc)

3. same as 1.

[RESPONDENT 9]

>1.  If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
>    why?  What led up to this decision?

I used LSD in an uncomfortable situation, with people I didn't feel safe
with, and decided there was really no such thing as a predictable situation.
I found the effects of the drug itself unpleasant in several respects,
quite aside from having had a 'bad' trip (which did, however, prove useful
in some things it forced me to look at about my life at the time).   LSD
is a powerful stimulant, and I don't even do caffiene; I felt really out of
it and depressed the next day; the "trip" lasted much too long and I couldn't
lucidly control it (unlike some minor hallucinations I used to have when I
was younger, without drugs) and the hallucinations themselves weren't very
interesting.  The *way* we used it - carelessly, recreationally, with a
number of other drugs being passed around - also concerned me that the context
of my life might be inappropriate for hallucinogenics.  In any case I plan
to try psilocybin and DMT in the future (have done mushrooms once; dose
was too low cause I was hesitant) since they are less harsh in nature and/or
much briefer in their effects (DMT= about five minutes) as well as being
botanical in origin, thus having been field-tested on humans for thousands
of years whereas LSD was made in a lab relatively recently.  (altered form
of another botanical compound, i know)

>2.  How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
>    the dosage (# of hits)?

once; one hit.  also several tokes of good hashish and a fair amount of
vodka, not to mention all those B vitamins oscar was passing out.

>3.  If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
>    what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
>    decision?  (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
>    allergies, etc)

I have peculiar reactions to several drugs, and do not take/drink any
caffiene or alcohol because of their profound negative effects on me
physically and emotionally.  I weigh less than 100 pounds and have a
few metabolic  peculiarities of an indeterminate nature.  I don't enjoy
pot, either; that disjointed feeling just seems unpleasant to me and
I don't like being unable to alter or affect - control - my mental state.
A lot of my friends used to take drugs like candy, numbing themselves
or freeing themselves up to do other self-destructive things or just
for 'fun' and I have fun in other ways.  I have, or used to, rather
violent mood swings (unrelated to my menstrual cycle, fyi) which were
exacerbated by any substance I might casually ingest.  MSG makes me
grumpy.  I like being able to think clearly.  (reasons and trivia not
sorted out particularly here.)  I am not interested in a regular use of
a substance so much as experimenting with several once or twice each,
barring cocaine heroin crack etc which don't appeal to me. (ahem.)
and, last night I heard a young woman say that she'd ACCIDENTALLY smoked
some crack when she took and toked what some guy passed to her at our
local cafe.  I don't trust drugs that I can't verify the quality and`
purity of absolutely, and it's at least possible to predict some uniformity
(of content, if not strength) of a botanical drug.  I don't enjoy strychnine
hangovers.  et cetera.

----------
end of survey
-- 
                                                            Mike Brown
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