**DISCLAIMER: This post has been changed since its original content. Since I Believe the submitted story was fake, I’ve now made this a post about the possibility of developing LSD dependence**
Many of my readers claim that LSD addiction does not exist. Well, They’re simply wrong. LSD dependence (the clinical term for addiction) is certainly out there, though its no doubt rare. To understand why I can make that claim, let’s cover the specifics of what a psychological assessment of dependence requires:
The official definition of addiction
As far as the DSM-IV (the psychological assessment manual) is concerned, dependence on any drug require at least three of the following to occur within a year:
- Tolerance, as defined by either of the following:
- a need for markedly increased amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication or desired effect
- markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of substance
- Withdrawal, as manifested by either of the following:
- the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance
- the same (or a closely related) substance is taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms
- The substance is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended
- There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control substance use
- A great deal of time is spent in activities to obtain the substance, use the substance, or recover from its effects
- Important social, occupational or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of substance use
- The substance use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by the substance (e.g., continued drinking despite recognition that an ulcer was made worse by alcohol consumption)
Now, I’ve taken more than my share of LSD trips before. Actually, I used to sell acid, among many other drugs in my former life. I knew many people who loved acid, mushrooms, and other hallucinogens (including me) but a few cases stand out in particular.
LSD addiction – Hypotheticals and examples
Given the above definition of substance dependence, any number of combinations of symptoms could qualify someone as being dependent on LSD.
- Tolerance buildup for the drug is quick and significant. As anyone who’s ever tried to follow one trip with another knows, the second time requires a lot more acid, and any additional trips increase the amount of LSD needed greatly. Tolerance – Check!
- Withdrawal from LSD, especially in the wake of repeated exposures (the multiple trips I was talking about before), includes disorientation, difficulty thinking, fatigue, and sometimes perceptual difficulties (problems with hearing, vision). I’ve experienced this myself, but the best example I’ve seen is of a friend who tried to trip continuously for as long as possible – After about a week and a half, she was eating literally a sheet of acid to feel anything (her boyfriend was a dealer, talk about tolerance). When she stopped because her boyfriend cut her off, she had the hardest time finishing sentences, completing thoughts, or following conversations for nearly three months! Withdrawal – Check!
- With the above 2 out of the way, any of the other 5 symptoms can serve to complete the LSD dependence picture. Still, though I’ve never met anyone who tried to stop but couldn’t, I have:
- Known people who spent a lot of their time and resources (money) chasing down good acid, paying for it, or preparing for and getting involved in activities that involved LSD.
- Many of the people I knew began slacking off at work, sometimes being fired, getting far more lax at school, and neglecting any relationships they had with people who were not involved in their LSD use.
- Quite a few of the hard-core LSD users I knew told me time and again that they know their LSD use is causing them difficulties (mostly psychological difficulties) but that fact seemed unable to deter them from buying more acid and continuing down the same path.
So does LSD addiction exist?
Obviously, I believe that LSD dependence exists, though it is no doubt rare. As I’ve stated time and again, I am NOT against the use of drugs. However, I think that drug users’ naive approach to many of these issues, including their constant desire to ignore all signs of the negative consequences of drug abuse, is a big part of the problem here. Ingesting drugs is harmful, but knowing that, I believe people should have the choice to harm themselves, though not others. People with drug problems need help, not jails.ย Still, to make this a reality, we need to do a much better job of educating ourselves about the true effects of drugs.
I’ve seen LSD destroy lives that took years to rebuild. I’m not talking about people locked away in mental institutions thinking they’re an orange (we’ve all heard that story). But I had friends who became completely unable to live and function in society who gave up friends, significant others, and family for a drug that eventually made them crazy. Some of them are back, some aren’t.
All I’m saying is be careful.
16 responses to “Addiction stories – LSD addiction: AN LSD trip down the wrong path”
this is so fake, you can not be addicted to acid like this, the person who wrote this has never done a psychedelic drug
Well, since I’ve personally known two people who abused acid for months before essentially losing their minds, I think that while acid addiction is certainly not common, it’s possible.
I’ll leave you to be the final judge though. If anyone who reads this knows of similar experiences, please share them.
You did that to your self, not the acid. Also if you had any physical addiction it could be cut with stimulants or other shit. Any wise person should know not to abuse psychadelics, they are powerful and not for the naive, which you are.
completely untrue, it is not physicaly nor mentally possible to use lsd repeatedly…..this is all a lie…either dea propoganda or filler for this site, but it is misinformation and you harm our collective intelligence by spreading as factual data……
I used to do LSD every Friday myself, so I know for a fact the using LSD frequently is indeed possible. I’ve also had friends who did it even more often.
And yes, I’m an undercover DEA agent disguised as a UCLA grad student. The job security is great!
From my understanding, LSD is not physically addictive, meaning that hypothetically it should be easier to kick than cigarettes) The problem is that we come to associate acid with being happy and eventually you would only think you are happy on LSD. Its the same deal with weed and chocolate, I smoke weed a bunch but when I go on a ‘binge’ (get really high every 2/3 days) after I finish I still get ‘cravings’ and I can only imagine how bad it must be for a drug like LSD
Hi Sheep,
Thanks for your comment. If you read some of my posts on here, you’ll notice that I question the distinction between physical and psychological addiction people often make.
When you think about it, the brain is as physical as any other part of our body. If what you mean to say is that LSD does not produce withdrawal symptoms like some other drugs, I may agree, though I’ve heard that LSD withdrawal can be pretty bad.
A friend of mine tried to stay high on LSD for a while and seemed to have serious difficulties concentrating or forming coherent sentences afterwards. Still, that is a very different experience than feeling like you want to die.
I am calling BS on this story. One of the first things that strikes me besides the idea of being addicted to acid is that the person claims to have been a sleep while tripping. I don’t know about the rest of you, but sleeping while on acid is next to impossible. Blacking out during a trip also seems very strange. Like I said I am calling BS.
I doubt that doing LSD once a week would be enough to make anyone to go broke.
load of shit, acid leaves me with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that i dont feel like doing it untill i feel trapped inside a box and want to break through again.anyone who knows psycadelics is that they cleanse your mind and are extremely healthy for your headspace when you do them in moderation and in the right situation for yourself.
ideot, open your mind, anyone who has tripped would know your one of those dudes trying to convience people to conform to society’s standards..like come on! look at who formal you are with this. if youd been doing acid that long youd be a space cadet and would be way more to the point shame on you closed minded people trying to stop others enjoying life to the fullest, scared that psycodelics will open everyones mind and make them unique.
tripping has made me a better person and look at the positives in life. i enjoy simplicity above all else note i could go on and on about the things tripping has done to my head with 0 negative aspects…
at mushrooms, natures portal into time and space
I believe that if you abuse anyting that sooner or later it will catch up with you ruin what you were before you abused it. If you let youself go then plan on your life as psychedelics themselves because what you will be a pro at is tuning out and into your own false reality or is it actual reality? You decide. Making everything perfect in your own way. Or are you? Nothing is wrong with that if you arent worried about losing touch with reality, society, “norms”, etc. Dont be the statistic that when someone says “I once knew this guy…” and they are talking about you. Thats just not cool ya know? Trips are wonderful when done in moderation. and especially in large amounts at all at once but in moderation as to the the time and place. Someone can be psychologically addicted to trips without a doubt. Love to trip thats all. Peace everyone!
I have never had enough acid to do more than every once and I while, but I am currently psychologically addicted to tripping, and specifically to 2c-e.
I ordered a gram off the internet, and I’ve been tripping 4 or so times a week. I used to be a great student, great grades, but now I’ve become somewhat depressed and lost all motivation.
In the past week or so, I’ve regained most of my motivation and I’m pretty happy, but I think tripping so often made my life significantly worse. Why deal with life and all of it’s problems when you can trip? The problem is for me, I started to take high doses and trip really hard on this stuff and had some pretty intense introspective trips. The good thing about abuse of psychedelics is that they don’t make good escapism drugs. They take all of your problems and throw them back at you without warning (if you take enough, that is).
But I also feel like my recent trips have helped me cope with a few things in my life. Just treat psychedelics with respect. They’ve done a lot for me, so even amongst this psychological addiction (I CAN choose not to trip, but I don’t unless there’s a good reason), I’m still in love with tripping.
Max-
When you take 2-c-e tolerance builds within 2-3 days, as it does with most psychedelics. Therefore it is impossible that you were taking it 4 times plus a week, simply because it wouldn’t do very much. Also 2-c-e trips don’t last as long as acid or even shrooms and I’ve found through personal experience that the after-glow period is a great time to get schoolwork done as my thoughts are more organized and lucid than when I’m sober.
Also if you were able to just stop and get your life back on track, you clearly weren’t psychologically addicted. Maybe you should talk to people with real addictions to discover the actual meaning of the word. It’s people like you that are feeding into the mass-propaganda machine that is the DEA and the United State government and are preventing the use of psychedelics for people with cluster headaches, alcohol addiction, cancer, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, and the plethora of other things that can be treated with psychedelics.
Much of this does not feel authentic. If you do acid all the time you just feel stupid. Plus it trivializes the trip, and that’s something experienced trippers (or psychonauts or whatever those smelly heads want to call themselves) generally don’t do. No offense intended, but it sounds like the reason you had a bad experience with psychedelics is that you’ve used them irresponsibly. They’re definitely not addictive in any way, they’re by far the least addictive of any drugs. I’ve tripped several days in a row before, and by the third or fourth trip, I just want it to end. I feel like if you go and spend some time being mindful and trying to live in an awake state, you’d get a steadier grasp on it.
i think it is definately possible, you know when you can tell you’re tripping an irresponsible amount but you choose the trip over reality….