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Psychedelics

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  • As you said, doing drugs doesn't have any real negative effects by themselves.
    What are you on about? Yes they do. Prolonged use Marijuana decreases sperm count, arrests emotional development, and decreases short term memory. Heroin is damaging to kidneys, the nervous system, and actually causes physical dependence. Cocain isn't as addictive, but it causes a slew of side effects that can range from fevers to cartilage degradations, strokes, and hemorrhages.
  • edited September 2010
    Cocaine isn't as addictive, but it causes a slew of side effects that can range from fevers to cartilage degradations, strokes, and hemorrhages.
    Also, prolonged cocaine use causes the little divider between your nostrils to shrivel up and collapse. Having only one large nostril is kind of weird.
    Post edited by progSHELL on
  • Cocaineisn't as addictive, but it causes a slew of side effects that can range from fevers to cartilage degradations, strokes, and hemorrhages.
    Also, prolonged cocaine use causes the little divider between your nostrils to shrivel up and collapse. Having only one large nostril is kind of weird.
    That would be the "cartilage degradation".
  • However, support for legalization is at something like 44% nationwide, and rising.
    Citation needed :D
  • edited September 2010
    As a future student of medicine, I hold an intense interest in how psychedelics work and react with the human body (it's part of why I'm working on becoming an interventional neuroradiologist). However, between the amount of brain power needed to get where I'm going, the either questionable legality or outright illegality of all these substances, and the fact that I might still be epileptic (the other part of my interest in interventional neuroradiology), I won't use them. There's a shit-ton at stake, and I don't like the chances on it. I will, however, hold forth on the topic for hours; I'm really knowledgeable about it and find it all quite fascinating.

    My only chemical vices are nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and adrenaline.
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • As you said, doing drugs doesn't have any real negative effects by themselves.
    What are you on about? Yes they do.
    *sigh* Once again I write something with a context in my head and fail to explain it. The context in my head was doing drugs responsibly. Obviously abuse and prolonged use of any drug is bad and will fuck you up. And there are drugs that are harmful even with just one use. And I was responding to Sail saying that doing drugs does not automatically make someone a bad or stupid person, which is what I meant by negative effects.
  • edited September 2010
    You and Funfetus are two people that I greatly respect on this forum, and I know others do too, so I hope that by having conversations like this it will help people to realize that their stigmas really aren't as true as they originally thought.
    Awwww, thanks. You know, the feeling is quite mutual. Anyway, I do try to be a good ambassador for these kinds of drugs when it comes up. I'm not trying to encourage anyone to use them, but I do want people to have a realistic idea of what they're all about.
    It took some time to realize that "doing drugs" doesn't make you a bad or stupid person, and a lot of people that have great significance in my life use substances
    You know, I suspect that most people have significant people in their lives who use substances, but they don't even know it. So many people use drugs, especially cannabis, on a casual basis. I have several friends who have masters degrees and smoke weed regularly. The thing is, the stigma is such that most of these people keep it a secret from all but their closest friends -- so the only people that you know smoke weed are the ridiculous stoner caricatures.

    EDIT: In case you didn't know, Carl Sagan used cannabis, and wrote this essay about it under a pseudonym -- his authorship was revealed after his death. It's very interesting.
    Prolonged use Marijuana...arrests emotional development,
    Do you have any references for that? I've read that cannabis use by kids can have a negative effect on brain development (I don't know the details), but I've never read anything that suggests that anything like this is an issue for adults. Of course, you need to make a distinction between cannabis arresting emotional development, and people with arrested emotional development abusing cannabis.
    Citation needed :D
    Here's one. Also, to add on to my earlier post on the subject -- in ten years, a whole lot of "no" votes will be dead, and a whole lot of new "yes" votes will be of voting age. All indications are that a sea change is coming.

    By the way, anyone interested in the subject of cannabis legalization, and the dirty details of how it got to be illegal in the first place should check out a documentary called The Union: The Business Behind Getting High. You can find a torrent no problem.
    Haha. You guys don't have to if you don't want to.
    Well, my story about sex on E is actually a story about not having sex on E. White texted for those who don't want to read sex stuff: I've done E with my girlfriend a couple of times, and both times, as soon as it started kicking in, I got a raging boner, and really wanted to have sex. However, we didn't get around to it right away (I found that we had a tendency to get distracted just talking about how much we cared about each other and all that stuff), and after about 45 minutes I lost my boner, and no force on earth could bring it back. Drugs have a tendency to do that sometimes. One of those times, we had sex the next morning, and I couldn't come.
    Post edited by Funfetus on
  • edited September 2010
    Prolonged use Marijuana...arrests emotional development,
    Do you have any references for that? I've read that cannabis use by kids can have a negative effect on brain development (I don't know the details), but I've never read anything that suggests that anything like this is an issue for adults. Of course, you need to make a distinction between cannabis arresting emotional development, and people with arrested emotional development abusing cannabis.
    Unfortunately, no. The information I stated on the adverse effects of marijuana use was taken from lecture notes I took during my psychology class a year ago.
    Post edited by Victor Frost on
  • edited September 2010
    I've never used psychedelics, though I have mushrooms and am waiting for some friends to get them so we can do them together. That's probably the furthest I'll go in that direction though. I contemplated doing acid, but after having to babysit my roommate through a bad trip I pretty much lost all interest in doing it.

    On the subject of marijuana, I enjoy it. I feel it relieves a lot of stress and allows me to relax. It also helps me write when I'm feeling blocked sometimes. I smoked a lot more when I was in college then I do now, mostly do to it's easy availability and the fact that at any given time it was usually pretty easy to get a group together to go smoke.
    I've only had an edible once: the first time I got really high (I'd smoked before, but only gotten a buzz) was when I ate a weed cookie from Humboldt at my friends house. I was uttetly useless the rest of the night. It was fun, but in the future I'd probably limit it to half a cookie.

    As for other drugs, I drink alcohol when I party with my friends, and I'm curious about both ecstacy and molly, but that's pretty much it.

    *edited fir readability*
    Post edited by WaterInThere on
  • Drug geeks and nerds are still geeks and nerds. ;^) Talk about it all you want: that's not illegal nor is it against our rules. Neither, to wit, is it incongruous with my personal sensibilities.
  • Drug geeks and nerds are still geeks and nerds. ;^) Talk about it all you want: that's not illegal nor is it against our rules. Neither, to wit, is it incongruous with my personal sensibilities.
    Yeah, we might not be big on doing drugs ourselves, I don't think a single FRC person thinks they should remain illegal.
  • Oh man, edibles areway too muchfor a first-timer.
    I'll tell you, I've never slept like that before.

    I'd be willing to try pot in a non-smoked form. I dislike inhaling smoke of any kind.
  • I'd be willing to try pot in a non-smoked form. I dislike inhaling smoke of any kind.
    This is very true. I understand why people do drugs, but why use such poor delivery mechanisms? If you want to get high by inhaling the smoke of burning THC, that's one thing, but the smoke of all that plant matter is just hurting you. Extract that shit. Likewise, why snort cocaine through the nose? There has to be another mechanism that won't result in the one-nostril problem. At least the heroin people have it right, if they have a supply of clean needles that is.
  • @Funfetus

    That's an amusing story. I recall an old coworker once told me of his experience with E and his girlfriend. He said it was phenomenal. However, his gf was just kept wanting it, but he was too exhausted and told her, "Naw, baby. My dick hurts." I couldn't stop laughing from that story.
    I'd be willing to try pot in a non-smoked form. I dislike inhaling smoke of any kind.
    This is very true
    I would pay good money to see Scott high. Well, I'd at least pay to supply it.

    As for the other drugs like cocaine, heroin, or meth, I will NEVER try. I've seen and read too many horrible stories about them. It's very sad reading about Veterans getting into that sort of thing after they come back from the war and how it ruins their lives as well as their families.
  • If and when prop 19 passes, and the the rest of the country sees that the sky doesn't fall
    I said the same thing about gay marriage seven years ago when my state (Massachusetts) legalized it. So far, what do we have? NH, civil unions in Vermont, Connecticut, RI (?), and freaking Ohio of all places. It's going to be a long road, is what I'm saying.

    Also, expect Massachusetts to be the first or second state to legalize. Possession of less than an ounce is already basically nothing worse than a traffic ticket in this state.

    I'm mostly a liquor and caffeine guy myself. I used to hang out with some stoners in high school, who seemed like pretty cool people. So I know more than I let on.
    This is very true. I understand why people do drugs, but why use such poor delivery mechanisms?
    Basically, because it's cheap. You can make a reasonably working pipe out of a soda bottle, a pen, and tin foil. Cigarette rolling papers are cheap and at every convenience store, pretty much. Extraction is difficult, and at least on the home level, not perfect. For example, what you do when you make a brownie is extraction: you cook the pot in butter, because THC is fat soluble. However, it takes significantly more pot to get you high if you extract it, because it's really tough to get all the THC out of pot.
  • Basically, because it's cheap. You can make a reasonably working pipe out of a soda bottle, a pen, and tin foil. Cigarette rolling papers are cheap and at every convenience store, pretty much. Extraction is difficult, and at least on the home level, not perfect. For example, what you do when you make a brownie is extraction: you cook the pot in butter, because THC is fat soluble. However, it takes significantly more pot to get you high if you extract it, because it's really tough to get all the THC out of pot.
    It's true that it's more work. However, there are many many pot geeks who do a great deal of work already with the lamps and the growing and the breeding. Yet, they still just set it on fire in the end.
  • My guess would be the same reason that anime club presidents don't watch that much anime: the fun for them is in the planning and growing, and the last part is more a reward than another thing to be geeky about. That's just my random idea, though.
  • I'd be willing to try pot in a non-smoked form. I dislike inhaling smoke of any kind.
    This is very true. I understand why people do drugs, but why use such poor delivery mechanisms? If you want to get high by inhaling the smoke of burning THC, that's one thing, but the smoke of all that plant matter is just hurting you. Extract that shit. Likewise, why snort cocaine through the nose? There has to be another mechanism that won't result in the one-nostril problem. At least the heroin people have it right, if they have a supply of clean needles that is.
    You could shoot coke, but have fun with your addiction.

    By far the best way of ingesting cannabis is vaporizing.This thing is the cheapest and most stealthy one if you don't feel like spending 400 dollars to have a giant volcano. I personally still prefer smoking as my ROA however.
  • This is very true. I understand why people do drugs, but why use such poor delivery mechanisms? If you want to get high by inhaling the smoke of burning THC, that's one thing, but the smoke of all that plant matter is just hurting you. Extract that shit. Likewise, why snort cocaine through the nose? There has to be another mechanism that won't result in the one-nostril problem. At least the heroin people have it right, if they have a supply of clean needles that is.
    Smoking/vaporizing is quick and easy. Brownies take a lot more planning and prep time. Snorting cocaine is fairly quick, easy and effective manner of getting the drug into your system. You can also rub cocaine on your teeth to get high, but it's a less potent delivery method then snorting. Smoking crack is the most potent for of cocaine use. Free basing... not so much.

    I've seen some impressive drug paraphernalia. 1st place goes to Phish fans. The nudity helped. 2nd place goes to Med students...
  • 2nd place goes to Med students...
    Oh fuck, I used to live across the road in headingly from a house full of Med students and Pharmaceutical chemistry(whatever the hell you call it) students - Jesus helium christ. You ever drank eiethyl ether? Don't do that. Or at least, don't do it twice.
    I understand why people do drugs, but why use such poor delivery mechanisms?
    In places where Medicinal pot is legal, such as california, you can actually get it in the form of THC strips from some dispensiaries, which are like those little breath-mint melty shit things that you can buy. Except, they get you really, really high.
  • In places where Medicinal pot is legal, such as california, you can actually get it in the form of THC strips from some dispensiaries, which are like those little breath-mint melty shit things that you can buy. Except, they get you really, really high.
    Sounds like the way to go.
  • I'll tell you, I've never slept like that before.

    I'd be willing to try pot in a non-smoked form. I dislike inhaling smoke of any kind.
    Yeah, I'm 100% vaporizing these days. The smoke didn't bother me that much, but I know it's not good for me. Vaporizing is more efficient, too -- you use less weed to get to a given level of high.

    Anyway, as for edibles -- there are a few reasons that most people recommend against them for newbies. First of all, they're usually just fucking strong, and getting higher than you want to be (or expected to be) is not much fun. If you didn't make it yourself, you have no idea how much weed is actually in it, so it's hard to judge how much to eat. And it takes a long time to kick in -- up to an hour, compared with almost immediately with smoking -- so people often think they didn't eat enough, and eat more. And if ALL THAT isn't enough, THC, when eaten, is actually converted by your liver into a different, stronger metabolite of THC. Eating it also tends to result in more a of "heavy", sleepy, body high than smoking or vaporizing.
    I understand why people do drugs, but why use such poor delivery mechanisms?
    A lot of it is just tradition -- smoking is how it's been done for thousands of years. A large part of it is that smoking is generally the quickest and most convenient method, and since these things are illegal, people are often having to do them quickly and surreptitiously. And aside from the obvious disadvantages of breathing smoke, smoking has advantages in that the effects come on very quickly, and it's easy to regulate how much you're getting. Vaporizing has those advantages too, but most vaporizers are expensive, slow, and not portable. Another thing is that different methods of consumption produce different effects. Like I mentioned above, eating it tends to produce a heavy, sleepy high. Smoking generally produces a more energetic, mental high (it's still really dependent on what strain you're smoking), and vaporizing produces the lightest, most mental effects, without much of the body effects, because a vaporizer doesn't activate many of the more "heavy" cannabinoids in weed.
    I said the same thing about gay marriage seven years ago when my state (Massachusetts) legalized it. So far, what do we have? NH, civil unions in Vermont, Connecticut, RI (?), and freaking Ohio of all places. It's going to be a long road, is what I'm saying.

    Also, expect Massachusetts to be the first or second state to legalize. Possession of less than an ounce is already basically nothing worse than a traffic ticket in this state.
    I understand what you mean, but I think cannabis is a very different issue than gay marriage. First of all, it doesn't break down along party lines the same way -- there's actually a fair amount of republican support for legalization, mostly from more "libertarian" types. Second, while this is an emotional issue, it's not on the level of gay marriage. It can also be fought by actual facts -- you can make cogent arguments and produce studies that demonstrate that cannabis is minimally harmful, and that prohibition is maximally harmful. No amount of logic can convince a Christian that god doesn't hate teh gayz. Then, there's the whole "tax it" issue -- that's a strong argument in this economic climate. I don't know -- you may be right, but I hope not.

    Maybe you guys can be the second state -- we've got first on lock. We're getting our chance to legalize in 39 days, and polls show it has a very good shot.
  • Scott, you should listen to Hooked if you don't already. So should everybody else, for that matter; it's very educational.
  • edited September 2010
    At least the heroin people have it right, if they have a supply of clean needles that is.
    According to Alison on her drugs podcast Hooked. If you are going to to do heroin it's better to just smoke it. If you are all are curious about recreational drug use listen to Hooked.
    Allison is a drugs worker and her co-host Nigel is one as well. They give a lot of great advice.

    So yeah I've tried LSD and Mushrooms. I never had hallucinations of imaginary creatures or anything like that. The experience I had were as follows...

    1. Patterns of anything would float and move. I never had so much fun just staring at wallpaper with floral patterns on them.

    2. My senses and touch were heightened. If feels like life had gone in super HD mode or something. Visual, smells, and sounds are ratcheted up . My heart rate beat faster and touching stuff with interesting textures was amazing.

    3. My emotional state was also dialed up by many degrees. I went from giddy to ecstatic to being a freaked out a bit. If you are going to do LSD you really need to be in environment you feel safe in. If you around people they should be people who you can trust.

    The drug is not for everyone. If you sway on the control freak side you will not like this drug. It's really one of those just let yourself go experiences.
    Post edited by Josh Bytes on
  • If you are going to to do heroin it's better to just shoot yourself now.
    FTFEveryone.

    Heroin ruins people. Don't do it. Even Lemmy fucking Kilmister agrees, and that man has done all the drugs.
  • Heroin ruins people. Don't do it. Even Lemmy fucking Kilmister agrees, and that man has done all the drugs.
    If Dennis Leary is to be believed, it's Keith Richards that has done all the drugs and we'll have to wait for him to die so we can cremate him and smoke his ashes. Personally, I think Keith Richards has been dead since 1980 and Mick Jagger is really a necromancer that's keeping him animated by unholy means, but that's a story from a different trip. ;-)

    In all seriousness though, I've never really experimented with first-hand contact with weed. Had plenty of low-grade buzzes going on thanks to one of my roommates back in the early '00s who would basically turn the house into a giant hotbox every weekend with some help from his buddies, but never actually partook of the herb myself. I keep thinking one of these days I need to get around to rectifying that.
  • I used to live across the road in headingly from a house full of Med students and Pharmaceutical chemistry
    Med students are insane. It's the workload.
  • Brownies take a lot more planning and prep time.
    But brownies have the added advantage of being delicious.
  • Brownies take a lot more planning and prep time.
    But brownies have the added advantage of being delicious.
    Ironically enough, I've heard pot brownies are disgusting.
  • This thread simultaneously makes me feel incredibly worldly compared to many of you, and incredibly non-worldly compared to others. ;^)
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