Tripping

Yes, I lived through the sixties and yes, I partook and survived.

Like most of the things we do as kids, it was more about peer pressure than personal curiosity. Driving fast, smoking, drinking, and fooling around with the opposite sex was the same experiments in conformity and being popular, so when drugs came along why not?

You’ve seen all the posters and the Haight /Ashbury pictures and the Dragnet episodes to make your opinion of those long haired hippies hopped up on dope, but it wasn’t like that in my town.

The east coast was at least a year behind the west coast on music, style trends and drug use. Now drugs were around for years and certainly celebrated in the speakeasy parties but mostly underground. I assume my parents had ‘mary jane’ along with their bathtub gin, but it was never discussed.

Only when kids started to feel rebellious with loud music, blue jeans and long(est) hair did the drug scene take hold. Like the previous generation of passing the flask around, someone would have a joint for everyone to share.

My history with drugs had been aspirin and shots of penicillin. The idea of getting stoned became a cultural change from the popularity of getting drunk.

Hallucinogenics was a different matter. People had written about losing your mind while others toted the use to free your mind, so when it arrived at our group of friends, people became apprehensive. Like a rite of passage or fitting in, one would lead the others into their trip.

No one talked about your present state of mind or the possibility of a bad trip due to quality of the drug or the experience. Unlike the pot high, LSD took some time to dissolve into the body and longer for its effects to wear off. The gatherings changed from darkened rooms rolling joints to light shows and pillows. Movies, artwork and music awareness was heightened and sex was always an excuse for physical freedom.

After that fad ended white powder became the trend and pill popping changed the love generation into the punks mosh-pits and disco strobe lights. Needles were always in the mix but only for the hardcore.

There became a paranoid fear of who was making the dope and the increasing fear of being busted. Titles were appearing to insure the potency of the product because it was becoming an industry.

Drugs did intensify some experiences like the total eclipse of the sun at the beach, listening to Pink Floyd underwater or tossing a piece of tinsel into a fireplace during a Yule Log ceremony. Like every high, in the end you come down.

I admit I did my share only when it was available and reliable. Does it change my perception of life? Maybe but I don’t know what my perception would have been without it.

Would you do it again?