Psychedelics for Adults?

I'm in my forties with two kids and I suddenly have an urge to take about 3 grams of mushrooms the next time I have a weekend to myself.
By myself. Just watch El Topo or Koyaanisqatsi and listen to weird records and paint or meditate or whatever.
I haven't done psychedelics in about 20 years, but I used to like them a lot.
Is this lunacy? Midlife crisis? A good idea?
Can you trip out as a responsible adult, or is that something you need to do when you're free and still figuring things out?

maybe ecstasy would be better

does anyone still say ecstasy?

this really only occurred to me because i'm watching Samsara on netflix and it was all nice and trippy but it has just flipped to slaughterhouse scenes and now i'm rethinking my plan

tbh I wouldn't watch El Topo either

or Koyaanisqatsi

but they were both great on mushrooms when i was 17!

maybe this has answered my question.

Holy mountain is the better trip film! Or kenneth anger.

I say do it

Wouldn't even know where to start.

really not seeing why you're all so down on el topo
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews53/el_topo_blu-ray_/large/large_el_topo_blu-ray_1x.jpg

http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/el-topo-1970-movie-review-master-dead-rabbits-pool-blood-alejandro-jodorowsky.jpg

i would watch something w/ lots of saturated colors and sounds, like tales of hoffmann, or some stan brakhage films with a playlist of musical accompaniment.

i've never done any kind of psychedelics though.

I'd be up for Tarsem Singh's The Fall and some lysergic acid diethylamide.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5121/5257576328_444ce7b20c.jpg

I would keep the television turned off.

Remember when the old CRT televisions would absorb light and faintly have this really low-key silver glow in the dark after you turned them off?

Because thank God they don't do that any more, shit used to scare me to death.

go outside imo

I'm old too, but there's a little part of me that says, "Fuckit, it's only for two goddam minutes…"

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, June 30, 2011 4:06 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean, I could turn on Backyardigans for the kids and then go into the bathroom like I'm taking a shit or something.

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, June 30, 2011 4:07 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

From the Salvia thread. I think about that post all the time.

I had Samsara playing as a backdrop when I was DJing last weekend. Shame I was facing away from the screen. Don't know how 'Strandbar' would have gone down with pigs being force fed as visuals.

This strikes me as a terrible idea but I would say the same about taking any drugs on your own, especially hallucinogens, especially if you haven't done any in two decades. Maybe discreetly ask around and see if you have a friend who'd be prepared to join you in this.

I have similar thoughts.

Fantasy: the november/december run of the BFI Science Fiction festival makes me want to spend the festive s. in a warm cinema on half a tab.

Realistically: it's been so long best be safe - summer & outdoors for me, if ever. And 'take a friend' otm, I've got one or two from the old days who'd be game.

Yeah, I mean realistically I need to reach a stage of life where my adult responsibilities gave become significantly less panic - inducing before I drop a tab or anything again.

oh yeah that too

Speaking of summer, I'm getting married in July, that might be the day for it.

I've done this in the past year and am of a similar demographic and all I can say is, take it easy on the dosage and clear your schedule.

I have never seen so many OTM comments in one thread.

Well, except for my reposted "eat a handful and hide alone on the toilet" advice.

But how's life, just think, maybe we could all become the sixth backyardigan, the little green one who never had a doubt in the world he knew what was up.

"Well, except for my reposted "eat a handful and hide alone on the toilet" advice."

If you're thinking psilocybin, there's a good chance you'll be there for awhile regardless of your plans.

It wasn't psilocybin! It was salvia. Which I'm not really interested in trying anyway, but the ability to get out of your skull for anything under "several hours" is really appealing.

Maybe solo tripping is a bit risky but somehow TWO middle-aged men tripping seems somehow even more risky or inherently bummer-ish. I just want to have a mind-expanding afternoon and reconnect with the cosmic life-force. Tripping with another old dude feels more like a depressing John Updike novel than Carlos Castaneda.

why don't u and brio get together

woah

I definitely could not do psychedelics at this point in my life. I have way too much invested in the conception of myself that I've created, and taking acid or whatever tends to strip that away and while that was welcome and interesting when I was younger and had a more flexible ego, now I think it would just put me in the hospital. I mean, hell, sometimes if I think about ~life~ a certain way, kind of like the mental equivalent of screwing up your eyes to see a magic 3D picture, I can almost get back to that POV and it is unpleasant. Also how's life OTM re: adult responsibilities giving me too much panic to completely check out like that.

I always hated watching TV while I was tripping, though. It made me feel trapped and that whole "see through the artifice down to the molecular truth" thing made watching anything incredibly distressing. Going outside is where it's at.

I have heard from bros in their forties that mushrooms are still fun at that age if you just plan the trip out right. whereas, like, I'd love to have a great time on acid again, just to be in that zone for an hour, to listen to music like that...but realistically suspect that acid in my adult-with-responsibilities brain would fuck me up so bad I'd be walking around like a zombie for months afterwards

I'd never do acid again. Mushrooms to me were always a much lighter and more joyful experience, with extended flashes of introspection. But yeah, of course my fear is that it would be unwise to experiment with this kind of thing as someone with dependants and responsibilities.

but then again it might be good to break out of that constructed reality briefly - to be open and empathetic and uncynical for a few hours at least

but then again, again... maybe there are wiser more adult methods of opening yourself up like exercise and meditation and concerted effort

none of which sounds as much fun & heavy as tripping out and listening to eno

I don't hear much about salvia anymore. I wonder if all those people never came back.

The bad stuff associated with tripping - the spasms, the chattering, the hangover - is something I can't ever repeat.

I watched the Vice video again of the dude who takes LSD, walks up the steps of Madison Square Garden, and proceeds to interview attendees of the Westminster Dog Show. Really envied the mellow trip he had.

just don't do a high dosage. you'll be fine

where do you even get shrooms in the UK these days? last few years i went out, i found zilch. are they spraying for them now?

i'd be wary of trying acid a second time. mind you the first time was on the last day of a festival so maybe not the best set and setting. it was fucking horrible though.

Mushrooms for me were always a truckload of existential distress dumped on my head, while I could take acid and go to bars or movies or whatever.

I only shroomed once but it was my first time taking psychedelics, I ate twice as much as my dealer told me to, I was alone in my house with my parents, and they were trying to cut back on heating bills that year or something, because I was freezing cold. Oh, and it was the day before my 15th birthday. Didn't go well, obviously. Would like to revisit it someday though.

Lol why do people always ignore dosage recommendations

I havent done psychedelics in 10 years or so but like others would recommend nature over film. Maybe nature first and then film during the comedown

pplains, the Vice dude tripping at the dog show is pretty great.

"nature" here is city parks full of people. i'm not driving to the country to do blair witch project shrooms by myself in the woods.

Brio, if you want to trip out like a "responsible adult", you could try ayahuasca maybe? Lots of positive vibes from that usually (if you're not emetophobic that is). Only downside is you can't quickly down it, it needs to be brewed by someone who knows the works.

i would maybe do this again. I used to do psychedlics by myself all the time through my 20's. I kind of felt like I hit a wall with it; it went from being amazing and life changing to just something to do to being really boring, the last time I did them. but it's been about 12 years now. however, I don't know when i'd ever have the time.

I was always way too scared to do acid so never have but I have done mushrooms. They never really did much for me tbh. I'd totally do them now if given the chance, i think.

Didn't do much in that it was always pleasant and fun but I was also surprised that I didn't feel "more" of something.

LSD will forever trigger me curious, but I know I don't have the guts to try it. I've a cousin who did it when he was 21, and he 'got stuck' in his trip. He's 42 and still lives with his parents, forever brain damaged and in a very sad state, unable to work or do anything worthwhile, like a basket case :(

Nephew, I meant

Carl Agatha's post otm in its entirety for me, but especially

that whole "see through the artifice down to the molecular truth" thing.

You should watch some nature documentaries instead. Jacques Cousteau or something.

"Connections" WAS pretty amazing, tbf.

"I've a cousin who did it when he was 21, and he 'got stuck' in his trip. He's 42 and still lives with his parents, forever brain damaged and in a very sad state, unable to work or do anything worthwhile, like a basket case :("

not to discount your nephew's experience, but did he have prior mental issues? because I've always felt these stories were apocraphyal and not supported by science.

@akm He didn't have any prior issues, at least not known to anyone or his family. I'm the first to accept he just got unlucky, ie this having nothing to do with "science", and that this will only happen to a tiny minority. I don't know. All I know - from expanded accounts of two other nephews who were there the night they did LSD - is that they both were fine, but B. was as they described "sliding into sadness". He was a bright buy, studying economics and doing really well, but never truly snapped out of it.

I don't know the science of it or whatever, just have this experience to go by. And seeing the guy once every three years at an odd family reunion or so, is just really weird.

That is bizarre

I know there's this myth surrounding being stuck in LSD trips and whatever, but it did turn him into somewhat of a veg. Afterwards he went through numerous test with psychs etc, and basically they said he was like an autist now. That he never fully recovered from his trip. He spends his time mostly playing a jigsaw puzzle, the same one, over and over. They tried to get him into some program with other people, but he detests other people around now. He gets health care now w/r/t personal hygiene etc bcz his parents are well in their 70s and can't do that any more. But this did change overnight: he was a student living on a campus and after doing LSD turned into a, quite frankly, useless, dependent person.

perhaps he just saw the uselessness of it all

maybe we're all stuck in our own trip man

I can see messing yourself up w too much lsd over time but after one trip...

well brio whatever you end up doing, trip report please.

he had other issues come on
also really questionable advice re: ayahuasca is good vibes and lsd has hidden dangers

maybe we're all stuck in our own trip man

― Brio2, Wednesday, November 26, 2014 8:02 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM, regardless

family's away for 2 weeks in feb.
if i trip balls i will report back.
i'm doing some home reno projects while everyone's away, could be a good idea to combine my tripping with working on the new kitchen closet.

you should do some PCP and play with a sawzall

Tripping and construction do not mix well

tell that to buckminster fuller

http://blog.sfgate.com/culture/files/2012/05/Buckminster_Fuller_02-600x471.jpg

my old next door neighbor was a dust-smoking hvac guy. I'm sure he had some power tool incidents.

Is it even possible to obtain high-grade LSD these days? Ever since that missile silo bust, the supply of Owsley-grade chemistry seems pretty thin. Also doesn't help that I'm following forensic-toxocology journals that document the new weird kinds of toxic shit suppliers are cutting things with.

I'm glad that I experienced at least 8 of my 9 acid trips, even the one where the paramedics were called in. I don't know if I'd say I enjoyed them, but they did partially give me a "new lease on life" in some ways.

Took shrooms once. Rode around in a convertible listening to Crooked Rain Crooked Rain and thinking the overpasses we were driving under were low-flying airplanes. I dunno, six of one, half a dozen of another.

If I don't do it sooner, I'll definitely look into it as soon as the kids are out of the house.

We should all have a big global fap

falsd

if you can handle life, you can handle psychedelics

I definitely could not do psychedelics at this point in my life. I have way too much invested in the conception of myself that I've created, and taking acid or whatever tends to strip that away and while that was welcome and interesting when I was younger and had a more flexible ego, now I think it would just put me in the hospital. I mean, hell, sometimes if I think about ~life~ a certain way, kind of like the mental equivalent of screwing up your eyes to see a magic 3D picture, I can almost get back to that POV and it is unpleasant.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, November 26, 2014 2:43 PM (Yesterday)

this is v otm
i have some nostalgia but i think i learned everything i can learn from it
one thing being that it takes a while to repatch your ego up
feel like that shit is fragile for me at best anyway

i would do 2ci again tho

there is some evidence that hallucinogens can aid the onset of schizophrenia in people predisposed to it

i suppose that makes sense and of course there are the syd barrett and peter green stories to go along with that.

What is 2ci?

looked it up. I am so old!

it is really wonderful; never a bad time

you are probably a narc but ok

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20061029233636/muppet/images/c/c1/Buyano.jpg

so

you guys playing cards?

http://i.imgur.com/u5CSUeV.jpg

"Everybody Knows You're Tripping! Shut up! Everybody Knows You're Tripping! Stop It! Everybody Knows –"

http://i.imgur.com/RdcZqBt.jpg

"The lines keep all the cars in place, and yet, you can drive right across them when the lot's empty."

http://i.imgur.com/yNzrWk2.jpg

"I can't let go of these. I have to take care of them."

http://i.imgur.com/tEHCquX.jpg

"Another one appearing out of the floor. Just keep ignoring them."

http://i.imgur.com/T3UjGi2.jpg

"I wonder if I know that's me over there. Or rather here."

http://i.imgur.com/4SiuJRc.jpg

"I shall always serve along your side."

http://i.imgur.com/QFLNpeL.jpg

"Are they still back there? Two of them?"

http://i.imgur.com/clEtknc.jpg

"Oh, God. No. We have to... –and there are people sitting there on top of it. Right?"

soon this will be you, wandering around the antipodes in search of wifi so you can talk shit about metallica

http://i.imgur.com/cMBOH0X.jpg

"TURN IT OFF! THE WIFI OFF!"

miserable_men

Is it even possible to obtain high-grade LSD these days? Ever since that missile silo bust, the supply of Owsley-grade chemistry seems pretty thin. Also doesn't help that I'm following forensic-toxocology journals that document the new weird kinds of toxic shit suppliers are cutting things with.

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 26 November 2014 23:17 (Yesterday) Permalink

i think u can but
ya i guess the worry is the potential unknowns unbeknownst dosing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25I-NBOMe or similar but even ten years ago ... there are a few tiny dose active psychedelics u can put on blotter
the flipside is u can get reliable pure new, and relatively new shit thats pretty good and research chemicals renaissance is here if u want it

https://www.erowid.org/ask/ask.php?ID=3183

The problem with 2ci is that I will never not think of the Mac Iici, which was the bane of my working life for awhile.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Macintosh_IIci.png

"I've a cousin who did it when he was 21, and he 'got stuck' in his trip. He's 42 and still lives with his parents, forever brain damaged and in a very sad state, unable to work or do anything worthwhile, like a basket case :("

not to discount your nephew's experience, but did he have prior mental issues? because I've always felt these stories were apocraphyal and not supported by science.

― akm, Wednesday, November 26, 2014 1:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I had one of these cousin's too! Well, it was my dad's cousin Jurgen. He was "normal" until his 20s when at some point he took acid and just snapped. He was never the same and never lived a normal life. I think that he probably did have some underlying issue and the drugs triggered it because according to everyone the difference was like night and day before he tripped and after. He was kind of hilarious though. One time my dad went out for a beer with him and everyone in the local was calling him Father. He'd had them thinking he was a priest for like a year. Less hilarious was when he disappeared for 6 months and then showed up at his mother's house in a cab which he'd taken from Hungary and expected her to pay the 1000 plus Euro fare.

Consciousness is such a fragile & precious thing to begin with. Don't mess with it.

"Are they still back there? Two of them?"

omg this happened the only time i took acid. in general i felt nothing or at most a sense of unease and awkardness; at one point we were walking down the street following or being followed by two guys dressed in identical beige trenchcoats. everyone found this hilarious & creepy, me less so i think but i just went along with their reactions because hey what else was i going to do?

what was the thing with daniel johnson? was that a drug-triggered mental health issue?

johnston

amazing photospread, pplains. grumpy old men tripping balls would be a great reality show.

daniel johnston did acid with caroline, and they both had a real good time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paAkUvxNZ7M

this is cool. i didn't know about a new wave of (reputable) psychedelic research. big effects on existential dread, anxiety, openness, etc.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/trip-treatment

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/chemo-for-the-spirit-lsd-helps-cancer-patients-cope-with-death/360625/

http://www.hopkinspsychedelicstudy.com/
https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02033707

6 study sessions (about 8 hours each)

"Oh, God. No. We have to... –and there are people sitting there on top of it. Right?"

― pplains, Wednesday, November 26, 2014 8:03 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

omg i haven't laughed this hard in at least two weeks

that series of pics and captions is my favourite thing on ILX in a long time

Using psychedelics to treat mental issues is something we could have been doing for the past 50 years. Timothy Leary was working on these types of experiments when the War on Drugs started and pretty much shut out all research from then on out. In light of the extreme profitability of the pharmaceutical industry and medical industry in marketing psychoactive drugs in recent years, it seems more and more like a huge mistake. Legitimate research was halted and the general populace was left to self-medicate, often resorting to dangerous/underground sources. Drugs were explicitly tied to the counterculture in the media, tho obviously lots of authority figures used/abused/profited from these substances.

How come alcohol is legal and mushrooms are illegal? Both impair judgement, both shouldn't be consumed while operating a heavy vehicle. There is some deliberate propaganda at work for why certain substances are legal and others are not. Alcohol tends to make users less trustworthy and self-aware than psychedelics. Alcohol makes users territorial and violent compared to psychedelics. The main study Timothy Leary was working on when the War on Drugs began and his career cut short was on treating violent criminal populations, and he found the recidivism rates were significantly dropping. The study ended largely due to the influence of the California private penal system.

I've been reading a little about microdosing LSD and psilocybin and it sounds interesting but I wouldn't even know where to start looking for psychedelics today.

http://phish.com/tours/
http://umphreys.com/tour/
http://stringcheeseincident.com/tour/
http://www.moe.org/tour_date/
http://allgoodfestival.com/

Try asking these guys

http://telesmaband.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/slide-bandimage2.jpg

Wait, Phish didn't break up?

For about 4 years. They came back in 2008.

But which guy to ask?

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide – Risks, Micro-Dosing, Ibogaine, and More

https://vimeo.com/211758157

Been thinking about this guy all weekend.

http://i.imgur.com/dy4zUZb.jpg

lol^^

anyway i have had a strong urge to do psychedelics lately

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2019/05/08/denver-becomes-the-first-u-s-city-to-effectively-decriminalize-psilocybin-mushrooms-outlawed-by-the-u-s-government-since-1970/

most important element there is the opportunity for clinical testing to happen.
was talking with a psych nurse a few nights back who said that intranasal doses of ketamine were the first major new drug for clinical depression in years and that stuff can only be given under heavy supervision, strong possibility of addiction, genuine dangers for long term use. with psilocybin, there's something cheap, easy to make, non-habit forming, impossible to od on, that has thousands of years of testing and immense potential benefit but nowhere to legally run trials. here's hoping docs jump on that immediately.

there is lot of phase 2 and 3 clinical testing for psilocybin already happening

https://maps.org/other-psychedelic-research/211-psilocybin-research/psilocybin-studies-in-progress/research/psilo/passiepsilocybin1.html%7D

not seeing anything there for long term use as an antidepressant which is what I'm hoping happens

that bob ross vimeo, holy shit

There are a bunch of psilocybin studies going on as a treatment for depression! FDA approved clinical trials in U.S. last summer, but it was already underway in UK/Canada/Netherlands

Ok then glad to hear! I think doing them with a broader test group over a lengthy period is going to produce some convincing studies!

https://newatlas.com/science/psilocybin-major-depression-mdd-usona-breakthrough-therapy-fda
maybe we'll see something on the market by 2021? Or at least a revamping of the laws.

This is excellent news

with psilocybin, there's something (...) impossible to od on

I've been wanting to do some psychedelics again for a while but yeah, it's been well over 20 years. I took acid probably a 100 times before that and only ever had 2 bad trips and I used to take it alone a lot as well. But I don't think I'd do that these days.

Man I'd do acid every night if twere possible

would be great if it only lasted like 4 hours and you felt fine afterward

There's an LSD-like research chem that lasts about that long, I think.

hook me up milo

https://i.imgur.com/6QrayiZ.png

https://i.imgur.com/7bAuQ50.png

https://i.imgur.com/XnF3ZRF.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/55S5jYS.jpg