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Comment by spinlock | Hacker News Reader

I had a friend in college -- really smart physics major -- drop acid one summer and lose the ability to do math. He needed to take a year off and finally finished his degree but was never on top of his game again.

I'm not saying that always or even usually happens. But, acid is no joke and I just wanted to make sure that the inexperience reading this know that trips can go really wrong. Especially when you aren't using medical grade LSD but whatever you can buy from a stranger on SilkRoad/wherever.

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> Especially when you aren't using medical grade LSD but whatever you can buy from a stranger on SilkRoad/wherever

Ironically, in the heyday of Silk Road, you likely were buying medical-grade LSD if you were careful.

http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road#lsd-case-study

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/14/4828448/silk-road-lsd-ave...

spinlock is completely misinformed on this one. Like scott_karana said, the Silk Road was the place to get high quality drugs. If I'm not mistaken, many reputable sellers on the site had their products tested for purity.

The link scott_karana provided said that a group calling themselves the Avengers started rating the acid on SilkRoad because so much of it was not pure LSD.

> lose the ability to do math

What does that mean? (How did it play out and what did it look like?)

I have no idea what was going on inside his head but he just couldn't figure out things like making change for a dollar. He and my roommate were doing their calculus homework shortly before he left and he just couldn't do simple problems. He went from just getting math to being mistified by it.

Sorry, but that sounds like absolute bullshit.

It is true that LSD can mess you up if taken under certain circumstances, however, you shouldn't intimidate the inexperience. If all you ever heard about LSD is that it could mess you up, then there is a higher probably that it will harm you. Instead, I would recommend the following to all those who are inexperienced: Make sure you understand it's effects and try to find someone who has experience with LSD to guide you through your first trip.

The paradoxical thing about LSD is that you simply cannot understand its effects until you've already tried it.

This makes me incredibly curious and eager to try it.

just remember: knowing you don't know what you're getting into isn't knowing what you're getting into. :)

Definitely try it.

It's very difficult to know that you're getting good product though. I'm in the North Bay and have almost always had "real" LSD at my disposal. It's the geek's wonder drug for sure --> http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70015?...

I recommend everyone without serious mental illness try it, then continue to do it every year or every few years to clear out the cobwebs, as it were.

It's LSD, it can go one way or the other. My tip, if you're going to do it, do it. Take a full dose or don't do it at all. Doing "just a bit" is always miserable.

Even when it's bad, if you've got decent people around you, you can keep your shit together. But then if you've got decent people around you, you're unlikely to freak out.

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