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Comment by thomasfromcdnjs | Hacker News Reader

I took LSD with a group of close friends, one of the guys didn't come "down" from the trip. It was a very off putting experience, watching someone you knew 24 hours ago never be the same again. (there was a history of other drugs, but this particular trip was day and night difference)

He was in and out of mental asylums for about 10 years, and recently has just went missing.

I still take drugs when I want to, and don't advocate against them.

My rough advice is to just wait until you are at least 25, follow the safe, sound, setting tips, and always premeditate on what you about to do before you do it.

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I had a bad trip, and wasn't the same for three years afterward (in a very specific way that didn't significantly alter the trajectory of my life, thankfully.). Still have echos of it about a decade later. LSD is not a toy and should be respected. I am of the opinion that it would be legal but only when be dispensed by a licensed professional, and it would be required to have a trip sitter. Not that I think that could realistically work, or be practical with where we're at currently.

Maybe but then I took LSD at burning man and had a lovely time wandering around and looking at big dusty art, and I believe such an experience should not be illegal.

To be clear, I don't think such an experience should be illegal.

At Burning Man, there is a place called Sanctuary, which operates essentially a psychedelic ER for people on bad trips. It is run by MAPS, in conjunction with the Rangers, and is located next to Rampart/traditional medical services. The problem with it is that a) it's not well known, and b) if you're having a bad trip, and can't get there/their help, they can't help. So my fantasy solution is that to have trip sitters assigned to people/groups going on an LSD trip to more fully mitigate the problem. Both on and off playa. I do realize this is infeasible since there is no such pool of experienced trip sitters to pull from, plus LSD is still a controlled substance, unfortunately.

It’s called Zendo, and they operate in places besides Burning Man as well. They’re great!

*should be legal

If you don't mind me asking, did you ever take LSD again?

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