Artist on LSD

Linky

I had a roommate who was a huge acid-fiend. This pretty much sums him up:

quote:

Upon completing the drawing the patient starts laughing, then becomes startled by something on the floor.

There was a six-month period during 1998 when my life was acid. The entire focus of my existence was to make enough money at whatever menial job I was working at the time to buy dose. I spent 90% of my non-working hours (and, in truth, maybe 10% of my working hours) either under the influence of or recovering from the effects of LSD. At one point, I was consuming so much of the drug that it would take anywhere from three to nine hits for me to "get off," depending on the quality of the mixture.

I say that not because I'm bragging, but because I want my comments to be taken from the context of what I consider to be pretty extensive experience. With that out of the way...

I was very skeptical at first, but from the comments alone it definitely looks like the artist was legitimately under the effects of LSD (either that or the person who forged the article had some experience with the drug themselves). This quote especially is very reminiscent of some of my experiences:

quote:
I feel as if my consciousness is situated in the part of my body that's now active - my hand, my elbow... my tongue.



It's hard to explain how that feels to someone who hasn't experienced it, but that's about as close as you can get it words. That is one of about a dozen things that happen in your brain when you're on LSD.

I heard it best explained on the History Channel, of all places. They ran a special on illegal drugs and during the segment on acid a psychologist who had some experience with LSD said something like this: "When your senses communicate with your brain, it's like plugging into a telephone switchboard. Tom sees something, so he picks up the phone and calls Mary. The switchboard makes sure he gets connected. When you're on acid, Tom gets connected to Mary, John, Pete, Pet's dog and the tree in the yard."

It's important to clarify some things, though. Firstly, LSD more than any other drug is very personality-dependent. It reacts very differently with each individual who tries it. I personally had great experiences and never once had a "bad trip." I also knew friends who had nothing but bad trips and stopped using it after two or three times. I knew one friend who got sick to his stomach whenever he took LSD.

Also, regarding the "it is bad and uninteresting, I want to go home" part - I can see how that sounds to someone who's never tried LSD. When you start to come down from an acid trip, you enter a phase that I used to call being "spun out." You brain is still reeling from the experience and everything around you seems remarkably dull compared to what you saw, felt and heard the previous several hours. For me, this phase always lasted until I ate something and slept for at least eight hours. Then I could wake up and things seemed normal again - at least until I dosed again.

I'm not saying all this because I think everyone should try acid or that I think it was the greatest thing in the world. I don't regret my decision to take it, but I definitely won't be doing it again.

One man's mind-expanding euphoria can be another man's nightmare, I guess.

Ars