From: mason@dante.uucp (Mason Jones)
Subject: Re: LSD The facts!
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 20:56:03 GMT
Organization: Charnel House

edd709psft@vx24.cc.monash.edu.au writes:
: Evidently there is a freaked out raver wandering around Melbourne who has
: fried his brains from too much drug use (Love Doctor I THINK his name is!)
: and has produced a three page document detailing the hazards of LSD usage.
: He has been going around to all the raves distributing the letter on ravers
: car windscreens.

Okay, you should probably gather information and put out an answering sheet.
If you do that you should be quite serious about it and matter-of-fact,
since you probably want people to take yours as seriously (or more so)
as the original.

: "Provided in these pages is detailed information on LSD usage and its effects
: so as to provide the user with an understanding of the drug and facts about
: it. Please read it carefully as it will provide information for you safety.
: NoteL  This has not been written by some government organisation or the 
: drug offensive (BIG ANTI DRUG DEAL IN AUSTRALIA), but I am one of you (close
: to the scene) who has finally realised the gravity of such drug use and my 
: realisation and concern has lead me to research which has uncovered facts
: that may make you think...

[note that his 'research' looks as though it consisted of reading some
PDFA propaganda from the U.S.!]

:     - usual doses of LSD in humans are approx. 1-2 micrograms per kg,
:       to produce a mental and emotional experience, even though most
:       trips contain 15-90 micrograms of acid; thus making it one of the 
:       most potent pharmacological agents known to mankind.

What the hell is a 'usual' dose?  Does he mean the amount in order to
produce an effect?

:     - LSD causes distortions in thinking and feeling and its chemical 
:       structure causes hallucinations and delusions and changes, permanently
:       the chemistry of the brain.

Nice of him to provide proof in the form of reliable sources, isn't it?
LSD causes no permanent changes in brain chemistry.  No reputable studies
have demonstrated anything of the sort.

:     - dizziness, weaknesses, tremors, nausea and parathesis are prominent
:       bodily symptoms

If he thinks so, he probably has not been doing LSD.  It causes some
occasional dizziness (less than heavy drinking); some nausea if you
eat something you shouldn't while doing it; the others aren't usual
symptoms.

:     - bluring of vision, distortions of perspective, organised visual 
:       illusions, less discriminent hearing and a change in the sense of time
:       are common abnormalities

Abnormalities?  No, those are common effects of taking it.  If he doesn't
like it, what the hell's he doing trying the drug?

:     - LSD produces central stimulation, dilated pupils, increased heart beat,
:       mild elevation of blood pressures and alertness

Not always; the physical effects are extremely variable, and depend pretty
much entirely on what you're doing at the time.  LSD-25 itself does not
produce any heart rate increase, blood pressure elevation, or anything else
of the short.

:     - psychological aspects include paranoia, irreversible personality
:       changes, depression after and during use can bring on suicidal thoughts
:       to escape traumatic feelings and emotions

Raise your hands if you've ever known anyone or even heard of anyone
(besides Art Linkletter's daughter ;-) committing suicide while tripping
or soon thereafter.  Right.  Doing any drug a lot can cause personality
changes.  Alcoholics are not pleasant people, for instance.  Doing almost
any drug in moderation, on the other hand, is generally safe.

:     - physical damages include depletion of brain cells thus brain damage,
:       chromosomal mutations and damages to the nervous system

Well, now we hit the fiction section.  Physical damages due to LSD
use include: none.  No reliable studies of LSD have ever produced
proof of any physical changes as a result of its use.  The old 'damage
to chromosomes' myth is a popular one among the ignorant, and is
based on an old, severely-flawed study which has since been discounted
(sorry I don't have the sources handy).

:     - LSD is used in experimentation to produce a state of hyper arousal
:       of the central nervous system. It is used to induce psychotic 
:       reactions and other such feelings akin to psychosis and madness

LSD is not used in experimentation, because it's a schedule I drug and
thus unavailable for scientific experimentation.  It was used in
psychiatric studies to temporarily *reverse* psychosis, and showed
great promise in treatment of schizophrenia before the government in
its (not-)wisdom took away the opportunity to study it further.  Se
_Acid Dreams_ for more information on this.

:     - LSD is tastless, odourless and invisible thus you can never tell if
:       it actually is a trip you are getting, or something stronger like PCP

Finally something intelligent, although it should be noted that LSD on
blotter tabs apparently cannot be contaminated with anything in a
sufficient quantity to cause any noticeable damage.  Because LSD is so
powerful in small quantities (as he pointed out earlier), it is a
relatively safe drug to buy as compared to many others.

: ...I have tried to research and put onto paper facts about LSD usage and 
: related hallucinogenic drugs. I have provided you with only medical facts
: excluding medical opinion, thoughts and personal experiences;

He may have tried to put onto paper facts, but he mainly failed.  He
put down unsubstantiated myths and parroted propaganda.  If he had
facts, he would probably have cited sources.

: But I will say this, you are dealing with one of the most powerful drugs in
: the world, and it is being taken as 'if it was candy'.

That point might actually be worth discussing, rather than using tired
old scare tactics and falsehoods.  Anything taken as if it were candy
could lead to trouble.  He might as well be talking about alcohol in
the above paragraph.

: Once you reach your ultimate experience, your personality will change 
: dramatically and there is nothing you can do to change what you encountered.
: You will go through serious difficulties adjusting and returning to the 
: 'real world' because your experience is so real that people will think that
: you are going crazy. It is called a mind altering drug because the experience
: alters the entire personality and it is irreversible, the experience cannot
: be changed or reversed ever.

Yeah, right.  I used it a fair amount in college, and he's talking out
his asshole.  The experience is real, moron; anything you 'experience'
is 'real.'  All experiences alter your personality.  Why is that
necessarily bad?  There are no difficulties adjusting and returning to
the real world if you had any grasp of it in the first place.  If you
didn't then you shouldn't be using drugs like LSD until you can manage it.

: You will never know what you are buying, it may be labelled a trip but you
: don't know what it really is, where it comes from, who made it or what is in
: it.

Obviously, though I wouldn't recommend anyone buy illegal drugs because
it's a good way to get busted these days (I wouldn't post something in
public if I still did them), you shouldn't take anything that hasn't
been 'play-tested' by someone reliable.

: Even though a lot of you out there may know most of these facts I thought
: I'd post it anyway. I'd appreciate any comments because I think it's 
: important for the ravers of the world to atleast come to terms with what
: they are doing. (LSD and Ecstacy taking ravers that is - some people just
: like the music!)

Hopefully they'll come to terms by reading something reliable, instead
of taking as gospel a bunch of nonsense someone put on their car.  Go
out and read _Acid Dreams_ or _Storming Heaven_ or _LSD: My Problem
Child_ and get real facts with sources to back them up.


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