Only once have I run across somebody who wanted to trip twice in the same week, and I think he was just following habits ingrained in him by his previous cocaine problem.
Still, there would be outliers. If availability were higher, I would be worried about the few for which this isn't the case. They might cause some significant harm to their sanity.
I'm not trying to demonize the drug, just saying that there are definitely people who can and do abuse it, and those people are a not-insignificant portion of users. Just go talk to any OG deadhead if you don't think people used LSD as a party drug.
But drugs are so remarkably different from each other. I wish we treated them as such. If there wasn't already the drug <-> party association I don't think a first time LSD user would be very likely to rediscover it.
Is that possible?
The drug counselor at my college, when asked by someone in the audience at a presentation he was giving about drug history, which drug would be the least harmful to use if someone wanted to, said immediately, "LSD."
A collective gasp was let out by the crowd, especially considering he'd just said earlier it would take smoking 15 pounds of marijuana in 30 minutes to OD on it. That seemed pretty darn safe.
I've had a few bad trips. It's a bit like being seasick. At first you worry you're going to die, then you worry you're not going to die.
Psychedelics are amazing and life changing but they can also put you through mental torture in ways you can't imagine until you've experienced it.
That is not the way 99% of people drug-taking people approach drugs. They get offered it and they go 'yeah ok!'. Bad trips would happen all the time if it was as popular as weed or booze.
Several fellow psychonauts agreed that a certain friend could reap great benefits from it but after he tried it he was like, "meh". Over the following four years we did it together six times and on the last one he was like "woah, ok, now I respect this chemical". Similar dosage each time.
Different trips take you different places.
Alcohol hangovers are not getting better with age and I don't enjoy weed at all. LSD in small doses is safe, controllable and, for myself, replaces alcohol. Get 10 tabs - test+try in advance and it will last for a long time when used like this.
What is or is not a party drug is really down to the individual (and the party...)
Why don't you warn the readers of the chance of dying on it because you think you can fly? Or acid-flashbacks? They're scary! Giant insects are everywhere. Whhooooooo!
I said "powerful", because it is. The means that it should be approached in a thoughtful and respectful manner, just like other powerful things.
I'm not disagreeing with your larger point, but I wanted to point out that neither of the "risks" you're talking about are real.
1. The "LSD makes you think you can fly" story originates with the story of Diane Linkletter[1], who jumped to her death from her kitchen window. Her father, Art Linkletter, was a famous radio/TV personality, and he spread the story that she had died due to LSD. But she had a history of depression and there's no evidence she was on LSD when she jumped, let alone evidence she thought she could fly. So it's more likely her death was an ordinary suicide.
2. Acid flashbacks--where LSD is stored somewhere in the body and released unexpectedly at a later date--don't even make sense. LSD is an unstable molecule which decomposes easily, and cannot survive in the human body long-term. HPPD[2] is a real risk of LSD, but doesn't exhibit the symptoms people usually attribute to an LSD flashback. Additionally, flashbacks are a diagnostic criteria for PTSD, acute stress disorder, or OCD[3].
[1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-scarlet-linkletter/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_persisting_percep...
> Eh, I think it's pretty good that it's only really taken by enthusiasts. It's not really a party drug, IME it's for drug nerds who want to 'expand their mind' etc. If everyone and their dog was taking it on a friday night to have fun, the world would be a much worse place IMO.
It completely misrepresented my initial comment:
> It's a pity that such a powerful drug has been demonized.
What is untrue about that statement? 1. LSD is a powerful drug 2. The public has been taught to be afraid of it without understanding it. 3. For those who have experienced moments of "enlightenment" on it, could lead a reasonable person to think that there is value in the drug, they might reasonably concur that it is a pity that a powerful drug that could possibly change millions of lives for the better.
I don't know why you started ranting about people thinking they can fly etc. If you know anything about the drug you know that a bad experience can involve no physical harm.
My argument is that it's naive to think that the average punter should start casually taking LSD. It's powerful, as you yourself thought out.
If people think they can fly on acid, I would suggest they try it out and take off from the ground first
Getting flashbacks to that SP episode where the San Fran people smell their own farts with that sentence.
The means that it should be approached in a thoughtful and respectful manner, just like other powerful things.
Cars are incredibly powerful too, and used by the masses. The result is endless suburbia and drivers killing people because they are distracted or reckless or impaired.
Best to keep it to the enthusiasts. It's good that acid has avoided success at all costs.