Angleo,
I've heard this before and thought to clear up a few myths and "debunk" this before we start sending our hippy parent generation to the asylum - let's finally let them retire in peace
It's not a myth. I suppose one had to have been up close and personal with the people in the 1960's who used LSD. There's a reason why it was only widely used as a street drug for a few years. It was legal until 1968 but that isn't why it fell out of favor. It fell out of favor because of long term flashbacks, bad trips, suicide and drug induced psychosis - in many cases permanent and irreversible.
In California, for instance, the drug induced psychotics. mostly minors, who used LSD ended up swamping the County psych units so badly that most of them shut down their juvenile units. Why? The bad trips were so bad that the kids ended up seriously injuring themselves, law suits for malpractice followed and malpractive insurance rates went out of sight. The hospitals couldn't afford the insurance - not to mention that they had a very difficult time recruiting psych techs for juvenile units. California has never recovered. Try to get a minor into a psych unit in California - it's almost impossible. The county fire Psych Tech-Paramedics, juvenile halls and/or street law enforcement have to put out calls over several counties to find a bed. A lot of the time they don't find one. Santa Barbara County, population 500,000, has five juvenile beds on retainer at a Ventura County facility. That's it.
Flashbacks are real, long lasting and dangerous. I still see "kids" from the 1960's who tipped over in the 60's from LSD use and they're still just as debilitated today as then. Of course they aren't kids anymore. They're in their late 50's and early 60's. Great drug that LSD. They've had really nice lives for the past 40+ years. We don't have to worry aboput sending the "hippy grandparents" the the asylum. Ask 'em. In their lucid moments they'll answer, "Been there - done that."
JWGIII (initials): Class
valedictorian for a Santa Barbara County high school, Class of 1969. Slated for UCSB. In celebration of the class of 1969 he ingested 69 mikes of LSD at his class Disneyland "Graduation Night". Hospitalized for several months and nearly died. Never recovered and never attended college. Still lives on the street.
1974: Jumped from the second story balcony of his apartment in Isla Vista when he saw me walking bye. "Darby - watch me fly!" Plop! He survived with two broken ankles.
1975: Arrested by his father four times for burglarizing dad's house. Reason for the break in? Dad's black western boots.
1976: Darby is walking out of a restaurant in Isla Vista on a foggy morning at 0630. Voice out of the fog. "Draw!" "Wyatt Earp", black hat, black Levis, black western shirt, black duster and yes, black western boots, walks out of the fog in the middle of the street. Wyatt throws back his duster and draws a Colt "Peacemaker" .45 revolver. For some reason Darby didn't plant JWGIII on the spot. Darby vaguely recognized that it was JWGIII. It turned out to be a replica Peacemaker pellet gun. What Darby did do, instead of permanently terminating JWGIII's "command" was take the revolver, went to JWGIII's bush camp and confiscated JWGIII's brand new crossbow pistol and a dozen razor tipped hunting bolts.
One might wonder how a nutter came to possess a brand new crossbow pistol and razor tipped hunting bolts. Why, because the gunshop owner, a reserve Deputy Sheriff, knew that JWGIII was "crazy" from his field contacts. JWGIII originally wanted a real Peacemaker and had the money to pay for it and he was of age. Shop owner didn't think that it was a good idea to sell him a real revolver so he, instead, sold him the pellet gun replica and crossbow. Good call. I guess. Otherwise Darby might not be here witing this post because one or both of us would have been dead that foggy morning. (And no, it wasn't a good call.)
1998: Darby hadn't seen JWGIII for 10 years and it had been almost 24 years since he confiscated and buried the items. JWGIII is coming out of the County psych building, stuporous as ever, and sees Darby. JWGIII mumbles, "Darby - where's my Peacemaker and crossbow?"
JS "The Ghost" - An LSD user in 1967-68. He tipped over in 1968. Why the monniker "The Ghost"? Always dressed in white linen coat, pants, white shoes and hat. If he walked by a mirror or window and saw his reflection he didn't see JS. He saw Peter, Paul and John. And they didn't like The Ghost. So they would beat the crap out of him every time they saw him. Of course he was beating the crap out of himself. I saw him a couple of years ago. Only change - his face is more a ball of hamburger than a face.
B - a good friend when we were growing up. Tripped out in 1970 after DROS Vietnam, Republic of. Still see him on the street downtown Santa Barbara. Stuporous is an understatement. But he does recognize me.
RW - close friend growing up. Athlete and math genious. One of the most popular guys in school. Tripped out in 1970 after DROS, Vietnam, Republic of. Same-same as B. Permanent stupor. When he'd flip out in the 1970's I'd get the call because no one else wanted to handle him because he was extremely violent - and afterall he was my friend (thanks guys). A tiny guy who could bench 350. RW didn't make it to the 21st Century.
Unknown Name - Summer resident in Isla Vista, 1976. Ingested LSD. Later, while walking around Isla Vista that hot August night at about 2200 he saw pretty colors through a sliding glass window. Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt he walked through the glass door to touch the colors. Pretty colors? The building was on fire. The backdraft blew him 50 feet across the street into a field. I heard the explosion five blocks away. Field triage: 3rd degree burns over 75% of his body. I left him to go into the building (someone else was trapped inside). There was nothing that I could do for him. I don't know if he survived. Other circumstances landed me in the ER with him - and I will never forget the screaming. I didn't want to know if he survived.
Baby Blue - Born in 1969 to K & L S both upperclassmen when I was a high school freshman and both regular LSD users. Baby Blue didn't live to see 1970. No arms or legs due to genetic damage as a result of LSD ingestion by mom during her pregnancy; "Baby Blue" because of her blue pallor due to underdeveloped lungs (genetic damage). Cause of Death: Pulmonary failure. K & L knew why Baby Blue died and suffered for years - drug free but a day or two too late for Baby Blue.
So, trust me on this: I'm well educated.
