264 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
264 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
From: mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Mike J. Brown)
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Newsgroups: alt.drugs
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Subject: RESULTS: LSD Survey
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Date: 2 Aug 1993 23:23:46 GMT
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Message-ID: <23k7m2$4ea@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
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Here are the results of an informal survey to get an idea of why people
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decide to stop using LSD. All I did was post four questions to alt.drugs
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in July 1993. The questions are quoted in most of the responses below.
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Mike Brown (mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu) 1 Aug 1993.
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[RESPONDENT 1]
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Mike, thinking of using LSD in a controlled, serious fashion. Its been 20
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some years since i last took it. Not a bad time, but I am trying to have
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a fairly religious experience in the pagan/nature is alive sense.
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Everything is alive. Read Learys "Politics of Ecstacy" Good overview of
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his experinces. Also Burroughs "Naked Lunch" has a great listing of all
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drugs and what their effect is. IF I can find the time and find the drug
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fram a reputable source It could be interesting experience.
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[RESPONDENT 2]
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> 1. If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
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> why? What led up to this decision?
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I suppose I plan on using it again, sometime, but these days it's hard
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to find the time. You really need a good two days with no obligations
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to enjoy, and recover from, a major trip.
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2. How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
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the dosage (# of hits)?
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I'm a proud member of the 100+ club, thank you. There was one year that
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I tripped at least every weekend.
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> 3. If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
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> what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
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> decision? (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
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> allergies, etc)
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I have a full-time job (at a major state-funded supercomputer center, as
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they say on TV), which I will be leaving shortly to go back to school to
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finish my Ph.D. in physical chemistry. I'm also rehabbing a 90 year old
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house (that can be a full-time job in itself), and I'm very slowly doing
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the ground-work to set-up a software company. Then, of course, I'm also
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active in the Libertarian Party. And I spend some extra time getting my
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right margins to line up.
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[RESPONDENT 3]
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>1. If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
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> why? What led up to this decision?
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I'm not done yet, but I'm close. Reason- lsd works mainly because
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of the subjectivist in you. I am very 'Objectivist' and in order
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to see hallucinations, you must believe in the lsd created non-reality,
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which I could never do.
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>2. How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
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> the dosage (# of hits)?
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Perhaps a dozen, mainly 3 and 4 hit trips, a few 1's and 2's.
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>3. If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
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> what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
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> decision? (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
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> allergies, etc)
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Work- Lazy ass arcade attendant, and college student.
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Interests- Programming and philosohy, i.e. Objectivism.
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Family- 18 years old, only family is 'above' me in the tree
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and I dont give much of a fuck about them.
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Responsibilities- Not a whole hell of a lot. The fall semester
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will add to my reasons to cut down on or quit lsd.
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Allergies- none.
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[RESPONDENT 4]
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>1. If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
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> why? What led up to this decision?
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Normal LSD usage will be *very* infrequent in my future. Perhaps once
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every five years or so? On the other hand, LSD and heroin taken together
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is currently my drug of choice. LSD gets annoying after a while, and heroin
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gets mundane, even a bit boring. But together.... it's even better than
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peanut butter and chocolate! (Imagine smoking opium with sentient Fungi
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on the planet Yuggoth. That's the effect I'm talking about!)
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>2. How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
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> the dosage (# of hits)?
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I tripped around 150 times before getting sick of it. Mostly in high
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school.
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>3. If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
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> what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
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> decision? (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
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> allergies, etc)
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My favourite trips were actually what would generally be considered
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"bad" trips - monsters and paranoia, flirting with insanity, etc. I
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enjoyed that greatly, after being experienced enough to control a
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serious trip. Later a more subtle "bad trip"ness appeared, much more
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mundane (worldly - social/intellectual delusions of pathos instead
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of otherworldly horrors) and which I couldn't deal with.
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Plus the feel of the LSD high just annoys me now.
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One last point - after playing with reasonably high dosages (5-10 hits)
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it becomes too scary to trip that hard, but milder trips seem like a
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boring tease.
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[RESPONDENT 5]
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Used it 50-60 times over about 10 years. 2-4 tabs normally.
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Bad setting and feeling like shit the next day have turned me off.
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My body freaks when I taste blotter. It says 'oh no, not again'.
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Will probably use it about once a year.
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[RESPONDENT 6]
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>1. If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
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> why? What led up to this decision?
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I will use it again. I loved it and still does. The problem is that it is
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hard to get here in Sweden at a descent price and quality.
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>2. How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
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> the dosage (# of hits)?
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One, a half trip. Best trip ever.
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>3. If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
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> what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
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> decision? (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
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> allergies, etc)
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i use lsd to help me grow as an individual. if you take small doses for a
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long period i think you can learn more about yourself and the world than
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taking a single big hit.
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[RESPONDENT 7]
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>1. If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
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> why? What led up to this decision?
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Well I have previously taken LSD on 4 occasions. The first occasion I had a
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'bad trip' and on the 3rd and 4th occasions I got 'flashbacks' from the
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previous trip, experiencing the same effects.
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My 1st bad trip was probably caused by excessive amounts of LSD. I had taken
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3*1/2 trips spaced at roughly 1 hours interval. The acid sheet was unmarked
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since it was straight from source and was considered by the others I was
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tripping with to be quite strong. Added to this I had finished with my
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girlfriend recently and I had been looking at art-work by the person who
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designed the alien in ALIEN (the movie) (this art work is VERY disturbing
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even while straight). Initially the trip was really good however I had a very
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rough ride when I was coming down.
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The only reason I don't really plan on taking it again is that I simply do not
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enjoy the trip since I always get the same effects i.e. increased insecurity,
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everything feels wet!(weird huh?), attempt to fight against the drugs effects
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and a general feeling of fear. However I might be interested in doing very low
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dosages just to receive the enhanced colours and the wierdness. These are the
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effects I received on my 2nd trip after taking just 1/2 a 'tab'.
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[RESPONDENT 8]
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> 1. If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
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> why? What led up to this decision?
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1. I might never use it again or not for a long time if ever. The reason is
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that I am a nervous person to begin with and it was aggravated. I wish I could
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enjoy lsd and I understand its potential but I think I have to deal with my
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own psychological problems before I can even think about trying it again.
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> 2. How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
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> the dosage (# of hits)?
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2. I used it only once, one hit, but god knows how much a dosage it was.
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A friend who tripped with me said it was the strongest stuff he ever had.
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> 3. If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
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> what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
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> decision? (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
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> allergies, etc)
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3. same as 1.
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[RESPONDENT 9]
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>1. If you have used LSD before, but don't plan on using it again,
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> why? What led up to this decision?
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I used LSD in an uncomfortable situation, with people I didn't feel safe
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with, and decided there was really no such thing as a predictable situation.
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I found the effects of the drug itself unpleasant in several respects,
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quite aside from having had a 'bad' trip (which did, however, prove useful
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in some things it forced me to look at about my life at the time). LSD
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is a powerful stimulant, and I don't even do caffiene; I felt really out of
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it and depressed the next day; the "trip" lasted much too long and I couldn't
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lucidly control it (unlike some minor hallucinations I used to have when I
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was younger, without drugs) and the hallucinations themselves weren't very
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interesting. The *way* we used it - carelessly, recreationally, with a
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number of other drugs being passed around - also concerned me that the context
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of my life might be inappropriate for hallucinogenics. In any case I plan
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to try psilocybin and DMT in the future (have done mushrooms once; dose
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was too low cause I was hesitant) since they are less harsh in nature and/or
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much briefer in their effects (DMT= about five minutes) as well as being
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botanical in origin, thus having been field-tested on humans for thousands
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of years whereas LSD was made in a lab relatively recently. (altered form
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of another botanical compound, i know)
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>2. How many times did you use LSD before this decision, and what was
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> the dosage (# of hits)?
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once; one hit. also several tokes of good hashish and a fair amount of
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vodka, not to mention all those B vitamins oscar was passing out.
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>3. If you didn't already say this in your answer to the first question,
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> what else can you tell me about yourself that may have affected your
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> decision? (line of work, interests, family, responsibilities,
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> allergies, etc)
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I have peculiar reactions to several drugs, and do not take/drink any
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caffiene or alcohol because of their profound negative effects on me
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physically and emotionally. I weigh less than 100 pounds and have a
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few metabolic peculiarities of an indeterminate nature. I don't enjoy
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pot, either; that disjointed feeling just seems unpleasant to me and
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I don't like being unable to alter or affect - control - my mental state.
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A lot of my friends used to take drugs like candy, numbing themselves
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or freeing themselves up to do other self-destructive things or just
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for 'fun' and I have fun in other ways. I have, or used to, rather
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violent mood swings (unrelated to my menstrual cycle, fyi) which were
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exacerbated by any substance I might casually ingest. MSG makes me
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grumpy. I like being able to think clearly. (reasons and trivia not
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sorted out particularly here.) I am not interested in a regular use of
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a substance so much as experimenting with several once or twice each,
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barring cocaine heroin crack etc which don't appeal to me. (ahem.)
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and, last night I heard a young woman say that she'd ACCIDENTALLY smoked
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some crack when she took and toked what some guy passed to her at our
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local cafe. I don't trust drugs that I can't verify the quality and`
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purity of absolutely, and it's at least possible to predict some uniformity
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(of content, if not strength) of a botanical drug. I don't enjoy strychnine
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hangovers. et cetera.
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----------
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end of survey
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--
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Mike Brown
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_ _ __ ______________________________________Approach and Identify
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