LSD: A trip down memory lane

Source: David Clode / Unsplash. 

*Names have been changed. 

LSD is a psychedelic drug which many take because it makes you hallucinate and distorts space and time. Due to the psychedelic nature of the drug, you cannot guarantee what you’ll experience upon taking it. 

For this article, I interviewed two UC students: Kat*, who has taken the drug three times, and Nate*, who has taken it five times. Both individuals have had vastly different experiences while on LSD, with Kat’s experiences being mostly negative and Nate’s being mostly positive. 

Kat’s history with LSD has not been great. For the most part, her trips have mostly started out fine: “Feeling a deep connection to the world, and seeing shapes and colours on wall and in trees.” 

She said that after a couple of hours, “It changed, it was like the world shifted into something dark, or I become hyper aware of the bad within the world. Rather than hallucinating shapes and colours, I started to hallucinate people and voices. It made me feel extremely scared, like something bad was going to happen to me.” 

She said that that feeling happened to her on all three trips, with varying levels of intensity. Kat spent most of the time hanging out outside, talking to her friend who was also tripping, looking at walls and watching music videos. 

Nate’s trips, on other hand, have been positive experiences. He said that “all but one were super fun” and “everything was really cool”. 

His one experience that wasn’t super fun was described as “average, not necessarily bad, but not great”. He spent most of his trips listening to music, looking at fractals, drawing, and most importantly, “sitting in the sun photosynthesising,” which he identifies as one of the best things about doing LSD. 

Source: NZ Drug Foundation. 

All three of Kat’s trips happened at night. Her first two were done at a friend’s house with a large group of people – some friends, some not – who were also tripping or who were heavily intoxicated. Her third trip was done at her house with a friend who was also tripping. 

Nate’s trips were done during the day, starting in the morning. All five times he has taken LSD, he has done it with the same group of close friends at one of their flats. Each time, he made sure to either have a trip sitter or an experienced person tripping with them.  

LSD is an intense drug. Many cannot fall asleep well on it, as an LSD trip can last anywhere between five to fifteen hours. Therefore, when you take LSD, you are locked in for at least half a day. 

Kat’s trips usually lasted from eight to 10 hours. She described this length as “intense, especially doing it at night, as you can get tired and want to sleep – but you can’t sleep it off like other substances, so you are stuck tripping until it’s over.” 

Nate has done some long trips around 12+ hours. “I didn’t mind the length, because I was prepared for it.” 

Kat said she didn’t do anything to prepare before she took LSD the first two times. The first time, she didn’t plan on doing LSD – she just did it. The third time, she and her friend prepared food, and let her sister and another friend know that they were doing it, just in case something happened. 

To prepare, Nate made sure to buy a testing kit and tested his LSD before he took it. He also made sure he had nothing to do for the day because “having something to do and being on LSD does not mix well”. 

He made sure to minimise uncomfortable situations. He did this by making sure he had everything he needed for the trip, food for example, and was tripping in a safe space. Therefore, he minimised the need to go out and interact with other people, while making sure he was safe. 

I asked Kat and Nate what people should know before doing LSD. They advised to start out with a smaller dose, then work your way up, and only do it with people you are comfortable around – and have a trip sitter. They said that the comedown is often not fun, and that if you get paranoid from cannabis, LSD might also make you paranoid. Nice weather can make a trip even better.  

And finally: test your LSD!