Kids book about hallucinogens
SilverJacket's Matt Hutson posted scans from a 1991 anti-drug kids book called Focus On Hallucinogens. According to Hutson, "It explains to 9-year-olds everything from neurons to shamans." From his post:
In some cases the book might be counterproductive: "Have you ever looked at yourself in an amusement park mirror? Look what happened to you! Now, try to imagine that the whole world looked that way to you."Link
Awesome! Where can I get some?
Previously on BB:
• Richard Evans Schultes's Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants Link
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But you can't focus on hallucinogens. That's the point.
In the early 70's we were bombarded with anti-drug information at my Pennsylvania high school.
Few of us had a clue what the drug culture was about, much less knowing slang terms, drug effects, tell tale signs, common stash places (for parents to check), etc.
By the end of this education most of us were intrigued by the bizarre explanations and promises of other-worldly experiences.
Long segments of educational films were given over to attempts to replicate the mind altering state of a LSD TRIP, resulting in classrooms that looked more like a Grateful Dead light show than a cautionary tale of deadly misadventure.
By the time we got to college we were well versed in dodges, pill identification and various junky idioms.
The end result being that our drug classes worked more as a primer rather than a deterrent.
Just as in poker, sometimes giving too much information can tip you hand.
Exactly! The first time I heard of LSD was when I was in DARE, and I knew from the very moment that I heard about it that I HAD to try some, and eventually I did some 10 years later.
There was a study that concluded that warning bodybuilders about steroids actually encouraged them to experiment and increased steroid usage. Isn't the basic rule of parenting that warning your kids against doing something guarantees that they'll do it?
I started taking drugs partially because I loved the best-selling anti-drug book "Go Ask Alice" (which was represented as being the posthumously published diary of a teenage girl who died of drugs, but is now commonly believed to be fiction written by an adult):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Ask_Alice
Yeah, I remember the whole "LSD makes you think that you can fly" thing. When I finally got around to trying acid myself, the main problem that I had with it was that the trip lasted so long. It's like, OK, I've re-read Watchmen, I've listened to Dark Side of the Moon and Aqualung and Holst's The Planets and I've even looked at the nice rainbow colors on the back of the CD... now what?
ah yes, the Linkletter case. One of the best exemplars of how truly evil organized religion can be.
And a star-making turn for the late Divine.
These kinds of books/pamphlets are always a big kick to drug users, and I've know of kids who kept drug pamphlets to use as guides. If "The MAN" wants to really scare kids off drugs then teachers should just read some of the more harrowing accounts detailed on the erowid site.
On a side note, I knew a guy who had been given acid by his older brother at the age of about 9 years. It's hard to say whether it effected him at all; he grew up to be a math genius AND a very good artist as well. I will always wonder if the acid was a benefit or a detriment or neither.
It pissed me off for years that the drugs were never as good as DARE made them out to be...
Yes I too remember the drug awareness filmstrip's and video's from the 80's that I watched in school. The LSD segment did fascinate me mainly because it painted a cool picture with colors swirly fx set to Safety Dance by Men Without Hats.
I didn't not think I wanted to do any at that point being 8 or so but many years later I never forgot the cool music video from grade school and when the LSD came around I did not say no. In fact that same grade school year some police officers came to our school with a briefcase filled with mock drugs and paraphernalia.
By 9 I think I knew what every street drug and controlled substance looked like. -Was that a good thing? I think I was more curious at that point.
When I did do acid I never thought I could fly. In fact there were many couches that I never wanted to get off of or bathrooms I would even step foot into. If anything it made me realize the negative things in my life that needed to be changed.
But I never knew what real LSD was until trying pure liquid from white fluff crystals. If you have ever read Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe on the adventures of the Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, you'll know exactly what I am talking about. It was quite a peaceful experience making me only for the better.
wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electric_Kool-Aid_Acid_Test
But I don't encourage doing mind altering drugs unless you are prepared to face everything that you are uncomfortable with. And after that taking acid is like pushing the restart button on your brain. It will run better.
I wonder if this book is targeted to too young of an age group. However just like my experience. But then again maybe this dude was tripping when he wrote the book!
-Thanks for sharing.
I got my school drug education in the late sixties and early seventies, and I was fascinated. One of the slides illustrating the effects of LSD showed a person sitting in the lotus position with a spiral galaxy filling the dark sky behind him. My reaction: "I have got to get hold of that!"
My advice for people who are considering trying mind-altering drugs:
1. Do it the first time with someone you know and like who's done that drug before.
2. Lay in supplies. Make sure there's lots of pleasantly rehydrating liquid involved.
3. Turn the phone off. At some point it may seem like a good idea to call someone. It will not be a good idea, unless you're in trouble and need help. Going outside is also a dubious idea. Many things can happen there that you're ill-equipped to deal with.
4. Useful question: "Would this worry me if I were in a normal state of mind?" If yes, deal with it. If no, think of something else for a while.
5. Whatever you do, don't start cleaning. There will be no end to the process, and you're not competent to even start it.
6. If some unpleasant idea is preying on your mind, distract yourself. For the duration, you are your headspace. Don't spent it in a place you don't like.
7. Unless you've found something good and useful to play with, don't mess with your autonomic nervous system.
8. The normal laws of the physical universe still apply. Respect them.
Personally, I wish they would start LSD testing again. Like way back when, controlled, medical doses. "Clean" drugs, without additives. Since we have identified so many new diseases and disorders, I think this drug may have new uses. Low dose tests should be tried for people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, other forms of late-onset dementia. LSD is an untapped well that could be quite beneficial to the medical community. Of course, you'll have to watch out for the Feds.
Personally, I've never tried it. Not that I don't want to, I just don't trust anything off the street. If I do try it, I want it to come directly from the Medicine bottle, from a reputable pharmaceutical company.
9. Don't eat a whole jar of mayonnaise with a spoon.
10. Don't stare at yourself in a mirror. Unless you're really, really stable.
11. Don't contemplate the fact that the masses of cockroaches you killed when you moved in probably left some survivors running around inside the walls.
#11. No matter how tasty it appears a pillow IS NOT a marshmallow, and will NOT dissolve, no matter how much hot chocolate you pour on it.
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12. If you do go out, do not take any more money than you can afford to spend on Hello Kitty souvenirs which you will not be able to return later because you have dissected them.
13. Glitter is not food. Neither are sequins. Eating them will not make you fart rainbows.
fly like a linkletter. that kid did the darndest things.
something i learned; BANANNAS! eat a few before you dose. it helps with potassium levels and mellows the feeling. the same airplane has been following me for fifteen years.
"Because of acid, I now know that butter is way better than margarine. I saw through the bullshit."
"Acid really messes with your mind, man. When I was on acid, I'd see things that looked like beams of light... and I'd hear things that sound an awful lot like car horns..."
(RIP Mitch Hedberg)
As many commenters have echoed - we got the usual drug propaganda fed to us in elementary school. It was so alarmist, I concluded then and there we were being lied to, and began to do my own research, experimentation, and then a fair bit of assisted mental exploration, along with the typical highschool silly mild drug abuse.
I really don't know if I would have started without all that propaganda we were fed. I certainly would have started a somewhat later, and I probably wouldn't have done as much research and seeking after harder to find psychedelics.
I did that on my first trip. I sat crosslegged, held a midsized mirror in front of me, and rolled around in slow circles, like one of those dolls you can't knock over (Daruma dolls?).
When the light fell on my face, the brightness made my reflection look cheerful, and I smiled, then laughed like crazy. When my face passed into shadow, the darkness made my reflection look sombre and sad. I quickly stopped laughing, frowned, felt deeply melancholy. I must have looked some kind of dumb.
A good thing I was (and am) fairly stable, I guess, as I had too much youthful cockiness to have arranged a sitter.
Sonny: very true. No matter what drug you're doing, maintain hydration, electrolyte balance, and blood sugar levels. Bananas are good for two out of three.
I may never know, or care, how the final episode of Dharma and Greg turned out. Been there. Done that. Wished cess on a few bad boys who let their girlfriends take the rap for the shit they were selling.
Came to my senses as far from New York as I was from Santa Monica, alone as a discarded diaper, covered with regrets.
I damn myself for believing "Doors of Perception" and damn the whole crock of rocks for never realizing that "Crown of Creation" is the screed from John Wyndham's Rebirth. Fair use, I guess.
Fried eggs are ok. Eating your brain thirty years later requires a little pepper, a little salt. Get real.
Grikdog, I always find it irritating when people tell me to "get real." I am real. To the best of my knowledge, so is everyone else in this conversation.