I did not know about HPPD, although I’ve experienced it. After a bad trip (second time I’d ever experimented), I experienced minor hallucinogenic experiences for years. They were very minor (usually visuals when my eyes were closed) and would not have been unpleasant, except that I had the association with the bad trip.
I remember having so much regret on that trip. Almost everything in life, you have some level of control over. You can almost always change your perspective on things, or directly change your situation. On this trip though, I realized I messed with the ONE thing that I am always stuck with: my own point of view. I couldn’t BELIEVE I had messed with that so flippantly.
That said, the first time I tried hallucinogens, it was a very pleasant and eye-opening experience. The point is not to take it lightly, and not to assume there are no risks.
As another anecdote, I had a friend when I was 17 who sounds very much like you, John. He knew more about drugs then than I ever have during my life. His knowledge of what was ‘safe’ and what wasn’t didn’t stop his drug usage from turning into a huge problem for him. I am certain that he was better off than someone thoughtlessly snorting coke, but he was also certainly worse off than he would have been had he never been near any sort of substance. If nothing else, it damaged some of his relationships, and removed support beams that he needed when other things inevitably went wrong. It turns out, damaging your reputation actually can be bad for you.
If you decide to experiment with drugs (and I am not recommending that, just saying if), my advice is two-fold:
1) Don’t be in a hurry. You can absolutely afford to wait a few years (or decades), and it won’t negatively impact you or your drug experience. Make sure you are in the right headspace.
2) Don’t let it become a major aspect of your life. Having a couple trips to see what it’s like is completely different from having a bi-monthly journey and making it your personality to try as many different mind-benders as possible. I’ve seen that go very badly.
“His knowledge of what was ‘safe’ and what wasn’t didn’t stop his drug usage from turning into a huge problem for him. I am certain that he was better off than someone thoughtlessly snorting coke, but he was also certainly worse off than he would have been had he never been near any sort of substance. If nothing else, it damaged some of his relationships, and removed support beams that he needed when other things inevitably went wrong. It turns out, damaging your reputation actually can be bad for you.”
I have a friend similar to your buddy here. He was vastly vastly experienced with drugs and “should have known better” but at age 40, with a great-paying programming career, he started taking meth occasionally. Stupidest thing I have ever heard of someone doing. The story ends with him trying to “buy” a 13 year old girl and showing up and the FBI vans were there for a sting op, and now he’s sitting in prison. Because meth can seriously skew your perspective on reality after a surprisingly short while.
The weirdest part to me is he would have been the first person to say meth is the worst drug and can skew your perspective into something beyond your worst nightmares. But it didn’t help him. Maybe his knowledge made him overconfident. Who knows? I cannot ask him until he’s out of the federal pen.
I did not know about HPPD, although I’ve experienced it. After a bad trip (second time I’d ever experimented), I experienced minor hallucinogenic experiences for years. They were very minor (usually visuals when my eyes were closed) and would not have been unpleasant, except that I had the association with the bad trip.
I remember having so much regret on that trip. Almost everything in life, you have some level of control over. You can almost always change your perspective on things, or directly change your situation. On this trip though, I realized I messed with the ONE thing that I am always stuck with: my own point of view. I couldn’t BELIEVE I had messed with that so flippantly.
That said, the first time I tried hallucinogens, it was a very pleasant and eye-opening experience. The point is not to take it lightly, and not to assume there are no risks.
As another anecdote, I had a friend when I was 17 who sounds very much like you, John. He knew more about drugs then than I ever have during my life. His knowledge of what was ‘safe’ and what wasn’t didn’t stop his drug usage from turning into a huge problem for him. I am certain that he was better off than someone thoughtlessly snorting coke, but he was also certainly worse off than he would have been had he never been near any sort of substance. If nothing else, it damaged some of his relationships, and removed support beams that he needed when other things inevitably went wrong. It turns out, damaging your reputation actually can be bad for you.
If you decide to experiment with drugs (and I am not recommending that, just saying if), my advice is two-fold:
1) Don’t be in a hurry. You can absolutely afford to wait a few years (or decades), and it won’t negatively impact you or your drug experience. Make sure you are in the right headspace.
2) Don’t let it become a major aspect of your life. Having a couple trips to see what it’s like is completely different from having a bi-monthly journey and making it your personality to try as many different mind-benders as possible. I’ve seen that go very badly.
“His knowledge of what was ‘safe’ and what wasn’t didn’t stop his drug usage from turning into a huge problem for him. I am certain that he was better off than someone thoughtlessly snorting coke, but he was also certainly worse off than he would have been had he never been near any sort of substance. If nothing else, it damaged some of his relationships, and removed support beams that he needed when other things inevitably went wrong. It turns out, damaging your reputation actually can be bad for you.”
I have a friend similar to your buddy here. He was vastly vastly experienced with drugs and “should have known better” but at age 40, with a great-paying programming career, he started taking meth occasionally. Stupidest thing I have ever heard of someone doing. The story ends with him trying to “buy” a 13 year old girl and showing up and the FBI vans were there for a sting op, and now he’s sitting in prison. Because meth can seriously skew your perspective on reality after a surprisingly short while.
The weirdest part to me is he would have been the first person to say meth is the worst drug and can skew your perspective into something beyond your worst nightmares. But it didn’t help him. Maybe his knowledge made him overconfident. Who knows? I cannot ask him until he’s out of the federal pen.