Greetings all,
I am currently taking a class on folklore (of all kinds - urban legends, myths, fairy tales, etc., etc., etc.) and throughout the class we are to develop a log of lore of our own, and toward the end of the class we are to develop our collections into a paper. I have decided (for the moment) that I would like to collect and study DRUG LORE. The funny thing, though, about lore, is you don't have to go to scholarly sources for information. You can literally get it anywhere. So, I realized what an incredibly amazing source of lore is potentially available to me at a site like tribe.net, where I can find a group of people who are enthusiasts about a certain topic, and collect data from them.
So, here it is, really a fun topic in general, and on top of that you would really be helping me out in my class, in my studies, and in my knowledge in general of drug culture. Who knows, information you provide me may one day be large enough and interesting enough to publish in a book of drug lore, which would be a nice and welcome addition to a psychedelic library. So, anyways, I think you get the idea. Feel free to determine for yourself whether a story counts as lore. Just make sure that drugs play a somewhat important role in the story, myth, legend, folk tale, etc.
Hope this thread takes off nicely and I'm sure this will make an interesting topic matter for all. Thanks for any help you are able to provide.
Cheers,
Kevin
I am currently taking a class on folklore (of all kinds - urban legends, myths, fairy tales, etc., etc., etc.) and throughout the class we are to develop a log of lore of our own, and toward the end of the class we are to develop our collections into a paper. I have decided (for the moment) that I would like to collect and study DRUG LORE. The funny thing, though, about lore, is you don't have to go to scholarly sources for information. You can literally get it anywhere. So, I realized what an incredibly amazing source of lore is potentially available to me at a site like tribe.net, where I can find a group of people who are enthusiasts about a certain topic, and collect data from them.
So, here it is, really a fun topic in general, and on top of that you would really be helping me out in my class, in my studies, and in my knowledge in general of drug culture. Who knows, information you provide me may one day be large enough and interesting enough to publish in a book of drug lore, which would be a nice and welcome addition to a psychedelic library. So, anyways, I think you get the idea. Feel free to determine for yourself whether a story counts as lore. Just make sure that drugs play a somewhat important role in the story, myth, legend, folk tale, etc.
Hope this thread takes off nicely and I'm sure this will make an interesting topic matter for all. Thanks for any help you are able to provide.
Cheers,
Kevin
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California
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Re: Drug Lore
Fri, September 8, 2006 - 6:15 PMThere's some myths that go around with drug use in the vein of incorrect assertations that make no sense from a chemist's point of view (and horrible run on sentances).
There's the one that strycnine can be in LSD and that there's heroin in MDMA, and such.
There's also the story that somewhere in the desert there is buried a case of original Sandoz LSD-25.
There's also the old fashioned notion that smoking pot turns you into a drooling maniac (see Reefer Madness).
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Re: Drug Lore
Fri, September 8, 2006 - 6:26 PMYes, this is the kind of stuff I want. I figured someone would mention the LSD strychnine legend pretty quickly. I'll be sure to include that one. However, as far as heroin in MDMA, though it is rare, I have definitely seen at least one pill on the dancesafe website that contained heroin, so it is possible. Oh yes, and to correct myself (and perhaps you, I don't want to be presumptious), ecstacy can have heroin in it, MDMA cannot.
Yea, I love the story about the case of Sandoz. I had forgot about that one. I remember Art Bell was obsessed with that during one of his Terence interviews.
Keep 'em comin'. -
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Re: Drug Lore
Sun, September 10, 2006 - 5:58 AMSo, is this a paper to understand how drug lores, and urban myths, get started? Have you already committed to the topic? Doing something on urban myths seems to be a bit broader and easier to reasearch, and may even be more fun. Sounds like an interesting class nonethelss. If it is on how lore gets started and is perpetuated, perhaps cross referencing memes would be a cool way to add body to your paper. gawd, I love Sue Blackthorne and her treatment of memes.:)
Cheers,
mind stuff -
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Re: Drug Lore
Sun, September 10, 2006 - 1:24 PMHey Mind Stuff,
Well, I haven't really committed to anything yet. It is just the direction I am thinking about taking, mostly because I'm a drug geek and I think it would be fun. The final emphasis of the paper will be determined by the content of the lore that I collect. I DEFINITELY intend to use memes as a subject matter in my treatment of lore. Urban legends are great, and I hope to come across or receive a bunch of them, which is what we are currently working on in the class, but throughout the course we are covering many more aspects including, folk tales/motifs, ghosts, life stories, moral tales, storytelling (generally), political stories, fairy tales, jokes, riddles, proverbs, songs, myth, poetry, etc., etc., etc.
We are supposed to try and have a generalized theme running throughout our collected portfolio, so if I choose drugs, it will likely cover how all or some of these aspects of drugs (in any guise - hard drugs, soft drugs, mind-expanding drugs, everyday drugs, pharmaceuticals, traditional plant teachers, etc., etc., etc.) and how the stories we hear about them affect us or how they are spread or whatever angle seems appropriate. So, those are my thoughts so far. I would happy to hear your further suggestions or any other information you may wish to share.
Cheers,
Kevin -
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Re: Drug Lore
Mon, September 25, 2006 - 7:43 PMJust a note about the "heroin in MDMA" pills, as far as commercial theory is concerned, people "cut" drugs with things that are typically cheaper, thereby maximizing profits. Heroin has always been more profitable to sell as heroin, rather than as a "cut" for MDMA. One pill does not make for a statistical sample, but instead is a "statistical aberration".
Just a thought......
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Re: Drug Lore
Tue, October 10, 2006 - 6:50 PMKevin,
I'm glad to see your interested in this topic and even have the aspirations of putting it into a book someday. I have many tales that I have heard and that I have somewhere in my library, I'll find them later and get them to you. What I wanted to talk about now is one of the most well known folklore stories there is, and its origins are based in druglore. Santa Clause. You may have heard of this before, I'll lay out the basics. There is a mushroom that grows around the N Pole, Fly-Ageric I think, that the natives used for spiritual reasons. Anyway, it was rare and held in high esteem, and therefore they conserved this sacrament as much as possible. This entailed having one person consume the sacrament and the rest would drink that person's urine. For some reason (metabolic and now science proven I believe) the urine was more potent than the mushroom. Anyway, they take turns drinking each other's urine, and eventually this must come to an end and somebody has to pee outside. The reindeer were said to be waiting outside of their dwellings and would eat the yellow snow, the very potent yellow snow, and begin "flying". I forget how this ended up becoming a Santa Clause story, but you would have to agree that the Santa Clause story could only be made up by a bunch of guys tripping with a bunch of tripping reindeer. There is a much better explanation in Terrance McKenna's "Food of the Gods" if you want to look it up. I will find it within the week and get the story to you somehow if you do not have access to the book. There are also several more stories (in different books) that I will find over the next month and I will get those to you as well. What a great reason to get all those old books off the shelf!!
Good Luck,
Dave -
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Re: Drug Lore
Wed, October 11, 2006 - 2:51 PMDave,
Thanks a million. This is exactly the type of stuff I was wanting. It's funny that you should post that, because the santa/amanita connection was one of the ones that I have been strongly meaning to work on recently. I do have Food of the Gods and can easily check out what Terence has to say about it. If you or anyone else have any further reccomendations on where to look or with anything else to share, please keep it all coming.
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Re: Drug Lore
Thu, October 12, 2006 - 9:26 AMMaybe, some day we can say that the damage/change caused by MDMA is not permanent. And, that "myth" can fall into the category of drug lore. Perhaps, DMT will be shown to regenerate neurons. The future is wide open! Go for it, and thank you.
~fromthemindofgaleros~ -
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Re: Drug Lore
Fri, October 13, 2006 - 9:02 PMKevin,
You should check out "Breaking Open the Head" by Daniel Pinchbeck. If you don't have it, buy it, you will not regret it. Glad my post helped you remember the story.
As for the ecstacy posts, I thought I would just throw out some facts about the drug.
The primary damage, when damage is caused, is that neurotoxicity occurs in the brain and detiorates the axons (brain wiring). When these are gone that spot can never send a signal again, and it will not be replaced. This is different than "killing braincells", this is real and permanent. However, this does not have to happen.
Always try to take pure MDMA. You can tell if it is pure because in its pure state MDMA cannot bond. This means if you ever get a tablet, it has been cut with something (most common is herion), but if it comes in a capsule it has not been cut (you should be able to shake it around). Scientific research has shown that MDMA does not harm the brain, the neurotoxicity does. The best way to prevent this is too drink plenty of water!!! Also, try to aviod hot areas for long periods of time. I recomend drinking atleast half a gallon of water before taking the drug, and try to drink throughout the trip. Not only will this hydrate you, it will make you have to piss and when you go to the bathroom always splash your face or even your whole head with water. It WILL make a difference. Also, alcohol should be avioded. After all, why waste 2 drugs when you will be just find with one. Ecstacy does not have to be a harmfull drug, if the government were honest we would all know this, but they're not and we don't. The 2 primary causes of neutrotoxicity are dehydration and over-heating. Just take precautions and dammit, DRINK LOTS OF WATER!!!! -
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Re: Drug Lore
Sat, October 14, 2006 - 1:40 PMDave,
I must admit that MDMA is one of the psychoactive chemicals I know least about, but a while back (not too long, a few months ago) I searched through the dancesafe website tablet records and was only able to find 1 documented tab that contained heroin. I'm not saying there might not be more, but rather than your comment that it is the most common adulterant, my finding would seem to indicate it as one of the absolute least used as an MDMA adulterant. Without doing any extra research (sorry if this comes off the wrong way - it isn't meant as a put down) it makes me question the validity of your other comments. Does anybody else know? Is it true that pure MDMA can never be pressed? Also, and this is especially disputed by people that I know, but I have seen a BBC program with a doctor claiming that if you are dancing you should drink enough water to replenish only lost water, but if you're not dancing or engaging in sweaty activities you should not drink water at all. Any confirmation or refutation of this?
Aside from that, I don't expect to be purchasing Pinchbeck's book anytime soon. Anything specifically interesting to share from it? Does it say something particularly interesting about drug lore?
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