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DRUGS - JUST SAY N!
We are living in a time when disillusioned punters are selling each
other fake E to beat the recession. Who are the victims and who are
the survivors in this latest stage of chemical warfare? If there
weren't enough risks with drugs already, now you don't actually know
what you're taking. The chances of finding an unadulterated E (pure
MDMA) is like trying to locate the proverbial needle in a haystack. In
recent years the drugs market has mushroomed (no pun intended),
bringing with it the inevitable problems of supplying the larger
demand. With more and more people wanting to buy, one large police
bust is all it takes to create a drug-drought, resulting in cash-
hungry dealers and manufacturers spreading them a little thinner by
inserting or substituting other substances. It's easy and cheap to
mess with a capsule. It's easier and cheaper to sell someone an
aspirin. Pills have been sold as Ecstasy containing caffeine, brick &
chalk dust, lactose (milk sugar), and talcum powder mixed in amongst
their diluted contents. Indoor fish tank oxygenating tablets, dog
worming pills, and American Excedrin headache pills (which have a
large E inscribed upon them) have also duped unsuspecting ravers. 15
is a lot to pay when you don't know whether it's an E or a Lemsip that
you're swallowing.
The sense of unity reminiscent of the revamped summer of love has been
dissipated by the recession. Instead of joining hands, people are
ripping each other off. Club-goers are forced to sell each other fake
drugs in order to pay for their nights out. Ecstasy is not the love
drug it once was...
The media and government seriously need to change their attitude. They
delight in telling people that they're going to die from taking one
tab of Ecstasy, whilst they should be recognising drug abuse in a more
realistic manner. In this day and age, most people are aware that the
lethal dose of cannabis is a 5 kilo block dropped on your head from
the 23rd floor of a high-rise building, and does not lead to a reefer
madness induced addiction to Heroin.
The "War on Drugs" campaign (as any conspiracy theorist will tell you)
is obviously a total sham. Public announcements on TV which promote an
anti-drugs stance are immediately followed by advertisments for drug
companies. It is not in the government's economic interest or true
political persuasion.
However, most of these agencies have been taken in by as much drug
disinformation as they have generated themselves. Parents, Doctors,
and school officials have been duped by a nationwide hoax perpetuated
by copying and circulating letters falsely accredited to a police and
health departments, warning of a new drug problem in the form of
tattoos impregnated with LSD (sometimes laced with Strychnine).
Described as having blue stars, red pyramids, cartoon characters,
clowns, and other brightly coloured motifs to entice unsuspecting
young children, it is claimed that they are hazardous even to touch
and could send a child on a "fatal trip". The reference to dependency
clearly shows that the instigators of this hoax know nothing about the
properties of LSD since the drug is not addictive.
Although no drug enforcement agency has ever seen a LSD transfer,
these chain letters describe horrific side-effects and fatal trips
that pose a constant threat to children. Like a virus they spread
throughout schools, health authorities and the police, as soon as
someone is duped by the false warning.
The alleged worldwide distribution of LSD stick-on tattoos has now
been around for two decades, or more. Such psychedelic disinformation
has existed ever since Dr Hofmann inadvertently discovered the drug,
and Dr Tim Leary expoused on it's virtues. Hence, we have apocryphal
horror stories appearing in the press from time to time. In stark
reality however, drugged students don't stare at the sun until they go
blind, and stoned babysitters don't put small infants trussed up like
chickens into microwaves. In fact LSD doesn't necessarily deaden the
senses or your sensibilities. You're more likely to feel sad for the
chicken and become a vegetarian.
The origins of this hoax seem to have surfaced in Canada and have
survived in much-xeroxed myth ever since. Scare letters and bogus
posters seem to have continually survived official denials and
debunking by the major press, resulting in it being firmly placed in
the public's consensus along with other contemporary fairytales such
as the Satanic Child Abuse Myth (or SCAM for short).
LSD - LBJ - FBI - CIA : lyric from the musical HAIR, 1968
The CIA waged a similar systematic assault on the human psyche
experimenting with drugs, hypnosis and a host of other behaviour
modification techniques in a bizarre series of tests on the
unsuspecting public. These methods had enormous implications for the
whole of society.
HASSAN I SABBAH
The first unintentional spiking of a drug could possibly be attributed
to the discoverer of LSD-25, Dr Albert Hofmann on April 16, 1943 when
he accidentally gave himself a large dose of the substance. The most
fascinating thing about LSD was that such minute quantities had such a
terrific effect. Dr Hofmann had gone off into another world after
ingesting less than 1/000,000 of an ounce (250 micrograms). He had no
way of knowing that because of LSD's potency, he had already taken
several times what would later be termed an ordinary dose.
Scientists had known about the mind-altering qualities of drugs like
Mescaline since the 19th century, but LSD was several thousand times
more potent. Hashish had been around for millenia, but LSD was roughly
a million times stronger (by weight). A suitcase could hold enough LSD
to turn on every man, woman, and child in the United States. Having
said that, the possibilities that the Yippies envisioned by their
spiking of the water-supply in major cities could not be accomplished
due to the sheer amount of dilution involved.
Inducing psychosis on unsuspecting people via exotic methods to take
possession of their minds dates back to the ancient desire to control
enemies through magickal spells and potions.
Mescaline tests held by SS doctors at Dachau were administered
covertly by spiking the prisoner's drinks. The subjects had no idea
that a drug was causing their extreme disorientation. Many must have
feared that they had gone stark raving mad all on their own. All in
the name of advancing science and helping their country gain advantage
in war...
Dr Harris Isbell kept 7 men on LSD for 77 consecutive days. Such an
experiment is chilling as it is astonishing - both to lovers and
haters of LSD. Sometimes giving triple and quadruple doses to the
subjects, who were nearly all black drug addicts. Isbell finally
decided "In all probability, this behaviour is to be expected with
patients of this type." These participants have long since scattered
and no one apparently has measured the after effects of these extreme
experiments on them.
LSD was not thought of as something that might enhance creativity or
cause transcendental experiences. Those notions would not come along
for years. They were testing a weapon; for their purposes, they might
as well have been in a ballistics lab.
If a drug showed promise, they felt no qualms about trying it
operationally before all the test results came in. In 1953 LSD was
slipped to a speaker at a political rally, presumably to see if it
would make a fool of him. Their insatiable need to try every
possibility led them to test hundreds of other substances, including
all the drugs that would later be called psychedelic. Their legacy of
unorthodox warfare continued by using the sacred mushroom of Mexican
Indians' religious ceremonies. Soon the legend of the Aztec holy
communion was forgotten as these plunderers lost track of the age-old
rites, thinking only of its use as a truth drug. The magic mushroom
never became a good spy weapon. It made people behave strangely but no
one could predict where their trips would take them. Agency officials
craved certainty.
It is ironic that law-enforcement officers frequently violate the law
themselves. The systematic use of LSD on "outsiders" who had no idea
they had received the drug took place. These victims simply felt their
moorings slip away in the midst of an ordinary day, for no apparent
reason, and no one really knew how they would react. In retrospect, it
seems bizarre that CIA officials, men responsible for the nation's
intelligence and alertness were sneaking LSD into each other's coffee
cups and thereby subjecting themselves to the unknown realm of
experimental drugs.
Sometimes they occasionally lost an unwitting victim in a crowd -
thereby sending a stranger off alone with a head full of bad acid. In
a larger sense, all the test victims would become lost. As a matter of
policy no records were kept, and those that did exist, were destroyed.
Along with the CIA's experiments with sex, men were enticed with
prostitutes. An unsuspecting john would think he had bought a night of
pleasure, go back to a strange apartment, and wind up zonked.
The CIA also made extensive use of practical joke novelties such as
stink bombs, itching and sneezing powders, and diarrhoea inducers.
"Harrassment substances" like these and delivery systems that
mechanically launched a foul-smelling object 100 yards, glass ampules
that could be stepped on in a crowd to release practically anything
that came to mind. Fine hypodermic needles were used to inject drugs
through the cork in a wine bottle, or to place a concentrated form of
marijuana in packs of cigarettes which would then be resealed.
Strangers were invited to parties where LSD would be sprayed from
aerosol cans and drinks served with drug-coated swizzle sticks, but
thankfully most of these plans never came to fruition. This approach
turned the public perception of a deadly serious program into a kind
of practical joke carried out badly by a bunch of bumblers operating
on the edge of madness.
The illegal, irresponsible and downright dangerous prescriptions to
unsuspecting guinea pigs still continues in most stratas of society,
and can backfire in unexpected ways.
The influence of hallucinogenic drugs on The Beatles caused a marked
change in their music and outlook. Although no strangers to illicit
substances (they smoked dope in the toilets at Buckingham Palace
before collecting, and then returning their MBEs on the 23/11/69)
their first encounter with LSD was at a dinner party held by a dentist
friend of George Harrison's. Unknown to the fab four, he had spiked
their coffee with acid, then advised them not to leave. As he was
basically a middle-class London swinger, they assumed he was about to
suggest an orgy and left. By the time the drug took effect they were
in a nightclub and became convinced, due to the multi-coloured
lighting, that the place was on fire. Eventually they realised they
had taken something - maybe opium, Lennon thought (having read about
it) - and Harrison somehow managed to drive them home. One of the
results was a picture drawn by Lennon of them in what seemed to be
just like a submarine...a Yellow Submarine? (All you Discordians,
please take note!)
Perhaps the best example of "spiking" emanates from Ken Kesey and the
Merry Pranksters' Kool-Aid acid tests of the mid-sixties. Begun in
August 1965, the tests continued until LSD was declared illegal on the
6th of October 1966. By this time, it was estimated that ten thousand
had ingested the drug in sugar lumps, punch, coffee or cookies. Part
prank, part gesture, they were a natural culmination of their
experiments. Acts of sheer inspiration and generosity, turning on the
whole world through love, fun, and understanding.
The Merry Pranksters planned to perform "The Acid Test Graduation" on
Halloween, 31/10/1966 at Winterland. This involved a "happening" where
all the doors, walls, chairs, and water system would be impregnated
with LSD. The following night it was scheduled that the entire
Democratic Party of California would be attending a big rally at the
very same venue and would get turned on, zonked out of their apples.
Eight thousand emphysematous fatback Senators, Assemblymen, National
Committeemen, Congressmen, and the Governer himself would be wailing
like Banshees, flopping around, gurgling and spitting and frying like
a pile of insane pancakes. Unfortunately, they never managed to pull
off this debacle, which would've made Jonestown look like a school
picnic. If this sounds irresponsible, you might like to consider that
the CIA at one time seriously proposed dosing an entire American
subway with LSD, just as a little experiment mind you!
The only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon - An Old Yipster
saying.
The Golden Rule (if any) about drug use (or misuse) must be that you
are ultimately responsible for your own actions. Give very careful
thought and consideration, no one wants a brain-damaged corpse on
their conscience. Most people take drugs - whether it's a cup of tea,
a joint, a glass of whisky or an aspirin.
There are many alternative ways to benefit your head and alter other's
realities without recourse to chemical means. You don't have to risk
your health, a large fine, or prison sentence to get high.
Anything that can be accomplished by chemical means can be
accomplished by other means.
- William S. Burroughs
Apart from the drug dealers who will run off with your money, or
alternatively, substitute oregano, parsley, catnip, an Oxo cube, or
camel shit for hash, there are those who are trying to readdress the
balance without unethical involuntarily spiking. The CIA originally
wanted LSD to be a control mechanism and it backfired. Instead, people
used it as a catalyst to deprogram themselves from everyday culture
and reprogram themselves into their own value system.
In New York on St Valentine's Day 1969, the Yippies mailed over 30,000
freshly rolled marijuana joints to people picked randomly out of the
phone book, with instructions provided on their use. The enclosed
disarming manifesto stated "Hi! Happy Valentine's Day! In case you
ever wondered what pot was like, here it is - go on try it!" The text
continued with directions on how to smoke, etc, and ended with, "Oh,
by the way, just holding this joint qualifies you for five years in
prison in this state." (Which isn't as bad as some states which give
forty years).
A group in Los Angeles placed over 2000 joints in library books and
then advised kids to smoke a book during National Library Week.
More underhanded (or slightly easier) ways to dose people such as
baking hash-cakes/biscuits, or using marijuana leaves instead of tea-
leaves have also been known to have been used from time to time.
In October 1968, Federal authorities were hunting an itinerant hippie
who was scattering marijuana seeds on land throughout the Midwest.
Sowing his seeds on abandoned farms, he posted a regular map showing
the latest pot plantings to fellow smokers.
Planting drugs (aside from growing them) has also been a favourite
occupation of both sides of the law. Even if it's as simple as
grinding up an aspirin into a plastic bag, placing it in someone's
pocket, and framing them.
Judge Pickle's clarion call to legalize dope may have already been
taken to heart by West Midland's Drug Squad. DC Crump recently refused
to prosecute a Stourbridge McDonalds when 5 pot plants (as in
Marijuana pot plants!) were found growing in its window boxes. He said
they'd been "planted". Obviously, they couldn't have just flown there.
Could they?!?!?
Finally, should we conclude that all pranks involving drugs are
dangerous? In fact, is electricity dangerous? Like everything else,
the danger lies not so much in the drug itself as in how it is used...