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Three Ways Psychedelics Saved My Life
I started dropping acid at fourteen during the Timothy Leary era, and for two years I tripped regularly on LSD, mescaline, and mushrooms. At that time, psychedelics were readily available to me and affordable. A hit of Mr. Natural or Purple Haze went for two bucks, which I could panhandle in less than an hour on Boston Commons. If you bought in bulk, it cost even less.
Weed was very cheap then, too, and if you know any old school pot heads, you’re probably sick of hearing about those fat, one-ounce bags of Acapulco Gold they bought for fifteen bucks. But you had to keep smoking it all day if you wanted to stay high. One dose of LSD could keep you high for twelve hours. It was a one-and-done situation.
For me, it was also a transcendent situation. I was influenced by people who were older than me who used psychedelics for spiritual growth. They were followers of Richard Alpert (later Ram Dass), Alan Watts, and Leary, who all touted psychedelics as a way to connect with the heartbeat of the universe.
They gave me drugs they said came directly from Alpert, and they gave me books, and they gave me ideas. Even though, or perhaps because I was very young, I tuned in to the idea that I was part of the universe. Growing up in a troubled home, it was reassuring to feel I was not alone.
