Serious implications of irresponsible use of psychedelics

I just thought it might interest some of you to know, that a friend of mine (not that close a friend, but we share some of the same group of friends, and I saw him quite a lot, went to some parties with him etc), has recently been comitted to a mental institution. They have the power to hold him for up to 6 months now - I don't know the exact circumstances regarding the situation, only that he woke up in the hospitalwith absolutely no idea how he got there.

He has been abusing psychedelics (acid, DMT, mushrooms, and all manner of lesser psychedelics, amongst other non-psychedelic drugs such as ecstasy, speed, ketamine, etc).

Over the past year or so my friends and I watched him deterioriate from being "a bit silly", through to the point where he was becoming truly mentally disturbed. He had voices in his head, he would fuck on about how everything and every one was connected to or controlled by The Masons, and all sorts of other bollocks. He caused a lot of trouble with his friends, and upset a lot of people with his behaviour.

Despite all this, and countless "incidents", he continued to abuse psychedelics. Most dealers who knew him reached the point where they refused to sell him any.

I hope this post will serve as a warning to those who take the notion of psychosis as a result of psychedelics lightly.

One trip won't do this to anyone, nor will occasional, or even regular experimentation, providing you stay sensible. Just learn to read the signs, and if you think your use of psychedelics is leading your mind in a direction that could possibly be detrimental to your health, please, step back and seriously reconsider your usage.

 

good post.

sucks for your friend =/

 

Hopefully the cold turkey will do him good. Honestly, I think he needs 6 months away. With any luck he'll take the time there to contemplate his drug use, and when he gets out, he'll be able to get his life back on track.

 

I had a friend who abused mushrooms daily. He got himself to the point where he thought Church was the answer to all the reasons why he as an individual was different and had a higher power. So much he believed that he was better then anyone. Unknowingly pushing all of his friends away. He would go about the day working and just going around town on mushrooms. He became addicted to them, to the point that he would eat 1/4 ounce every day before he did anything.

This lead him to major psychological problems. He completely seperated himself from all his friends and his family. For almost a year, no-one knew where he was, what he was doing, if he was in jail, or even dead. Totally dropping out of family ties and society itself. He drove himself to becoming homeless because he couldnt get a grasp on reality. His father found him in an old burned down trailer, sleeping on a piece of plyboard proped up on bricks. When I found out, I was in such shock that it hurt inside. He was my best friend and like a brother to me.

Hemisphere, you are right when saying abusing psychedelics can make you go menatlly disturbed. It almost happened to me personally from abusing acid, meth, MDMA, mushrooms, PCP and marijuana. It got so bad that I was constantly paranoid, I was being watched at the time from undercover vehicles infront of my home. And I would never walk the same way home from work everyday for 2 weeks. It sounds funny, but car alarms would freak me out. I almost admitted myself to an institue while that was going on. Watch out and take care of your minds. Although the substances we induce into ourselves are enlightening and may help us, they can be just as damaging.

 

I think the Masons conspiracy is a fairly common thing. My brother and a few people I know on another community website all ramble on about them, as well. Coincidentally (or not), my brother also abuses drugs quite a bit. As a matter of fact, my brother sounds very similar to the person you mentioned...very, very similar. The only difference is that he does mostly meth, though he's done the rest of the "standard" drugs, as well (acid, shrooms, weed, coke, etc.). I think it's just a matter of how easy to get/cheap meth is.

At any rate, I'm not so sure whether it's the psychedelics alone doing that to your friends mind, or a combination of all of the drugs. For my brother it seems to be mostly just the meth with maybe the influence of the other drugs from before. At any rate, drugs can and will mess with your head if you aren't careful. Sorry to hear about your friend, and I hope he returns to normality soon.

 

Abuse of acid can definitely drive many people to insanity. An acid trip is the mental equivalent of a train wreck. It's a very powerful thing, and it puts you in an extremely suggestible state. I don't think that a single trip could mess up a grounded, level-headed person for life, but who knows. It's not a toy. I personally have only tripped once a year since I started, and I don't plan on ever doing more than that. In fact, I'm not even sure if I'm going to trip again. I'm not sure if I need to. Some would argue I've been overly cautious, but can you really be overly cautious when it comes to these kinds of things? Certainly more than once a month for an extended period of time sounds like a bad idea to me. I'm sure people have gotten away with much more... but I think that it's asking for trouble. Just my two cents.

 

I'm sure a lot just depends on the person, too. It's never a good idea unless your life is pretty stable, and the "long term" effects of acid are more pronounced on some than others. Plus, some people are really good at shrugging things off, and some are more susceptible to the things that acid makes you think. I'd say once a month is probably a good, safe rate of use, but I can definitely see that screwing someone up, as well. You hafta know yourself enough to know when you are reaching a bad place, I suppose. It's just like the OP said.

 

I love acid, and if i could do it everyday i would. Acid is my #1 drug over anything else i have ever done. But me knowing that, makes me more cautious of my own use. And I will never abuse it. I dont want to take myself to the point that i would be scarred for life mentally. Reality can trip someone out, and acid is the gateway into all matters of truth and reality. I dont know if this makes me sound like a crazy person, but I think the Government is inserting subliminal messages into our brains everyday. Especially through music.

Lol, top 40 stations that only play 12 songs repetitivly for brainwashing purposes. But i dont know, thats just me. I dont know if anyone thinks the same way i do. Ever wonder why when you go to like music stores to try to find a CD either Underground or electronic. It wont be there. In my case, whenever i try to find some electronic music - UK Hardhouse CD's, I cant find any. But there is like 10 different selection on Hardcore (happyhardcore). Back in the day Hardcore was Hardcore...now they call it Gabber and Happy Hardcore name has been replaced with just Hardcore. Anyways ,back to my point of the matter. My opinion on this types of music having subliminal messages inbedded in them by the government would make most people think i am a nut case. I am not basing anyones sexuality or lifestyles, but, to me, Happy Hardcore will make you gay and most of the top 40 will make you think you have to be gangster, will turn your little girls into hussies who have babies at age 14. Again, call me crazy. but, this is the way i think because i have abused acid at one point in time.

This is only the tip of the iceberg on how my thought process is forever damaged. To me and alot of other, the world is one big huge conspiracy.

 

Yea.. after a few weeks of regular acid use I was getting those thoughts.

Haha in my case it was the Brazillians! Inserting subliminal mind control through their psy-trance parties! I even believed myself for a while and did a couple of searches on Google. Complete bollocks in retrospect and very much a product of the acid.

Psychedelics just give you that mindset that there's something MORE to everything than meets the eye

That's not subliminal messages that's called social conditioning, and it's not government controlled, or even premeditated AT ALL. It's just a result of society itself.

Rappers like Eminem and 50 Cent etc, create their style music to shock and excite listeners, but as it grows in popularity, what was once shocking and exciting, young kids grow up with as "normal". It's all quite easily explainable.

As for Happy Hardcore making you gay.. I have no idea, really, but I would attribute it to the scene that the music has. It's a chicken/egg scenario. Perhaps gay people like Happy Hardcore, so people exposed to happy hardcore are also exposed to a lot of other gay culture/people, and it just grows on them.

Logic beats conspiracy theories hands down

 

lol, noted. think logically. But, i like to think conspiracy theory all the time.

 

Oh it can be fun, don't get me wrong.. it's just as I say, if you start to take it all too seriously.. well, see my original post

 

if they put him into the hospital against his will it is wrong! i dont care what some doctors or friends have to say about his sanity.

locking someone up before they do anything is unfair. saying that the way a person is acting is an indication that they are a danger to anyone is premature.

i dont know much of this situation. but i realize that people are put into the hospital when they should have been given a chance all the time.

i know of a girl who got put away because when she smoked weed she talked to birds. they said that someone like her has no place in society - she is probably still locked up.

too bad for your friend - this could fuck him up for life, not so much the drugs but what is going to happen when he gets out of the hospital... everyone will treat him like he is crazy or less of a person. it will take a long time to change peoples minds if he ever will.

at least he will know who his friends are.

 

I can't imagine acid making me believe more in a conspiracy theory. I'm a little puzzled by all of the posts about freemasons and subliminal messages. What does that have to do with acid? To me that's just called bizarre, unjustified paranoia, and acid never made me feel that. Believing you are god or that all reality is subjective or that we're all one... that I can see, but conspiracy theory?

 

It to me is just knowing the truth. Like a realizement. Things of this nature can cause severe mental damage. Its hard to explain the way one thinks. If you really truely believed in something and it stuck to you for the rest of your life, trying to explain it to someone else is very diffcult. They might think you are mentally disturbed. A theory is just a theory, but revealing any situation for the truth (theory) in ones opinion can lead themselves into believing this and they would in turn trip off it. What some people would consider a "bad trip", I would consider it to be a harsh reality and accept it, then move on. Most people dont know how to move on.

The subliminal message thing was just something i have personally tripped off of. It doesnt pretain to anything but the simple fact that in my mind, I had realized the truth behind the music we listen to daily. But for the freemason thing, that one of the things Hemispher's friend tripped off of in his mind as a truth (theory).These are just some of the personal experiences that drove us to a temporary insanity. All things theory could quite possibly be true.

 

I dunno, I started to kind of get vibes of conspiracies and subliminal messages once I was doing acid fairly often, as well. It just sort of happens, lol.

 

Not true..is all dependent on the indivisual...i have tripped alot for extended periods, constantly reddosing and not sleeping, waiting 2 days still feeling tripped out then doubling or trippling the origninal dose again. Aside from my hppd, i still feel mentally "with it" in all aspects of life. Anyone who experience deterioration of their mental state with acid has some sort of condition anyway tht acid makes worse. Personally, while acid still insipers mystical moments that transcend religious experiences, once you get fimiliar wih the drug and the effects, these experiences begin to slowly looose meaning and importance...for me anyway. This is what gets people who are not all there before the trip "flippin' cakes" for a while evenm after they come down. While I've had my fair share of ego-loss, nowadays when I trip super hard I usually chalk all the revalations up to the effects of a VERY strong psychoactive chemical...dont get me wrong, LSD still shows me alot, but i dont entertain the notion that a high enough dosee of LSD could inspire the realization to the magnitude of...for example; what does it mean to be human?. Ive moved beyond that. The drug as a whole is the best and most rounded tho recreationally and spiritually so it shall remain my favorite forever.

P.S. The freemason theory is a legitimate conspiracy supported by many, even Historians...in fact out of all the crazy theories out there, this one is one of the few that could possibly hold some legitimacy....To chalk this up to drug use is an absurdist statement.

 

I'd say acid can definitely mess with people that are perfectly sane before usage. That's not to say they can't function in a normal society, or that other people can tell a difference in them, but it can definitely change you and the way you think. To say that anyone who experiences a deterioration of their mental had something wrong in the first place is a bit of a strong statement, imo.

 

I don't think that is a strong statement at all, it has been fairly well established through scientific and medical studies. Before psychedelics were outlawed, there was a lot of research done, with many thousands of people. In fact, some of them suggest exactly that. More recently, there have been studies done with various tribes and religious groups that use psychedelics on a regular basis for their whole lives. These groups did not have any higher rates of mental or medical problems then other people.

 

Maybe so, but that's respectful, spiritual use, not hedonistic abuse.

 

Well, I guess it depends on what exactly you are calling a "deterioration", then. I'm not claiming that someone will develop a mental illness or an inferior capacity for learning, I'm simply saying that it can interfere with their normal patterns of thinking, which can therefore cause someone to think about things they wouldn't normally think of, and quite possibly not pay as much attention to other things.

I would certainly say that a lack of interest or ability in doing every day things and thing such as school or career work could be a "deterioration". It's also a pretty commonly occurring thing, so to say that it can only happen to people that aren't mentally together in the first place is kind of silly.

In other words, I think it's quite possible for very "normal" people to suddenly (or maybe not so suddenly) experience what many outside viewers would consider a mental degradation.

EDIT: I think it's very similar to what people commonly think about weed. I would say a very large percentage of people think that weed causes a general apathy towards life. On the other hand, reputable sources claim that there is no physical effect of weed on motivation, and back this claim with studies. Does this mean that smoking weed will only cause people to stop "trying" in life if they already had a mental problem of some sort? No, not at all. What it means is that it might just be the stimulus needed to produce that reaction in the person, even if it doesn't physically cause it to occur. It's kind of the same as a mental addiction. It may not be a physical thing, but it happens.