Updated 1 week ago
Discover the journey of a former Ketamine enthusiast as he explores the highs and pitfalls of party drugs, offering insights into alternatives like LSD, 2CB, and Marijuana.
There’s a button in the brain in everyone’s head. Every time you take something to feel good, whether it’s chocolate, gambling, cocaine, or whatever, the button gets pressed. The more you press it, the weaker your willpower becomes, and it becomes all about that shot of dopamine, no matter the source.
From 1997 to 2004 I was a major Ketamine head. Piles of plates in the sink, giving way to getting bitched at by an irate pharmacist for buying needles, telling her it’s for diabetes. Yellow eyes. A concerned call to my parents from Timothy Leary’s nephew in Austin. Daniel Pinchbeck showing up at my Tribeca squat in 2001, back from Tulum, giving me some new age hocus pocus about if you do Ketamine, when you die, your soul will be trapped on the earth for hundreds of years. When the Lord of the Rings movie came out I had a jar in my pocket and couldn’t stop thinking about Bilbo, Gollum, and the Ring. I was even interviewed on the Discovery Channel and took part in brain studies at Columbia.
You obviously get into that cosmic K-hole, that silver strand connecting your current, high-speed consciousness wayyyy back to your body, somewhere, on the galactic astral plane. A dragon you’ll chase for years. I did it once last year after 16 years off, half a 40 jar at once, and I realized that one time doing it again, while mildly interesting, wasn’t gonna suck me back in. It takes practice. Like yoga, as it were, a learned response. One you achieve that cosmic union though, you’re one step further on the road to complete mental enslavement.
No wonder it’s a highly profitable industry today.
Many if not most K heads, if/when they do stop, turn to alcohol. I’ve seen it happen with myself and others. It’s because the thing you’re hiding from, isn’t going away when you stop, and alcohol is the lowest hanging fruit afterwards. This is particularly problematic as it’s so easy to get. When I was homeless for several months in New York City I kept a bottle of whiskey around with me just to get me through the day. Such an easy habit to get trapped in, especially a 24 hour party place like NYC with no need to drive a car.
I’ve known people – people who had before taken part in the psychedelic “sacrament” – who have actually drank themselves to death. What an ignominous, boring pedestrian way to leave this life. It’s dark. A little bit of drink on special occasions is a wonderful bonding experience, but to quote Alan Watts, beyond that, it’s really not so good. And alcoholics are everywhere.
And with so many on Ketamine now, we’re facing a generational ticking time bomb of rabid alcoholism. We’re one recession/depression away from that happening.
Fortunately, as bad as K can be if abused, it’s safe for most people (some have kidney/liver issues) Like cocaine, which rarely kills unless pre-existing heart condition, most of the downside is the cost. It’s very hard on the wallet, and even worse on all the opportunity costs in your life.
And it’s not very social. In fact, it’s the very definition of antisocial.
What, then, are the alternatives then for party drugs, besides sobriety?
Obviously, not gonna mention COMP (Cocaine Opiates Meth PCP) as none of those drugs are good in any circumstance. Cocaine may seem lightweight, but unless you refresh your dopamine with the exact dosage) or you’ll get a stomachache) of plants with L-Dopa, such as the ayurvedic herb mucuna pruriens, you’re facing harsh aftereffects. And it turrns you into an asshole. God knows how many harebrained NFT schemes were concocted under a couple rails.
MDMA is LIFE CHANGING…. but only the first couple times you do it. Scenes built around it (progressive house, mainstream trance) fizzled out faster than others. Any revivals of those genres only happen because a new generation of kids enter the scene. But repeated MDMA use, it’s basically a money pit to feel a little up. Basically very expensive Adderall.
Mushrooms, while great, are best outside. But as the years progress, it’s shown to have an uncommon but persistent murder problem, as seen with Akshaya, the MMA murders, Amsterdam tourists post-legalization. It’s not prevalent, but it’s there. All it takes is one time to ruin someone’s day forever.
DMT is too insular and short to even be considered in a social setting… Ayahuasca should never be used in a party situation. You are sitting anyway.
That leaves LSD, 2CB, and Marijuana.
Many people have massive tolerance to marijuana, to the point where they take it just to be baseline. For the rest of us, it’ll do.
LSD and 2CB can be very hard to find, but are, in my opinion, the most optimal party drugs for most people that aren’t latent schizophrenics or are otherwise mentally unstable.
2CB is, by far, the most effective 6 hour social drug. It was known as Nexus in the 90s, andit lies in the nexus of MDMA, psilocybin, and a stimulant, but not too much of either. Very sensuous and colorful. One of the rare party drugs with which you can have great sex.
Sasha Shulgin discovered something truly wonderful. The only downside is its scarcity, because most newcomers to rave drugs are expecting molly, and when it’s not really molly, they’ll complain to the dealers.
I was once in a conspiracy with a scientist at the NIH to make 2CB. He had seen something on my website about BASE jumpers and the “T” high risk personality. The thing is, he was a BASE jumper.
I got some rave kid to order the bromine, separately, to mitigate tracking. The fucker ended up taking off to Hawaii and partied at a Carl Cox party with his stash.
Ultimately, the glue that holds enduring scenes together is people. Cliques, even. It took me so far to say this most normie of things – I think keeping a quality group of friends that isn’t built around drugs is ultimately far healthier than basing it all on some occultic alchemical drug ritual.
Though that can be fun, too… but remember Aleister Crowley ended up penniless and drunk in a poor house.
Don’t be that guy.
