6 ms·

Erowid - Documenting the Complex Relationship Between Humans and Psychoactives

215 points by slow_typist 1y ago

Canada 1y ago
When I was young, I looked at this site like a TODO list...
- neom 1y ago
  As did I, and I made a pretty good dent in it!
- reverendjames 1y ago
  Me still....
mitchbob 1y ago
Some previous discussions of Erowid: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports (263 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43171007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43171007 An Experience with Modafinil (343 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30067264 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30067264
- Windchaser 1y ago
  > An experience with Modafinil Well, there went two hours of my morning, and I only made it halfway through the comments.
nativeit 1y ago
This feels like a good audience for Erowid.
- handfuloflight 1y ago
  I'm sure there's already a significant overlap.
  - 0xEF 1y ago
    Likely. I spent a lot of my youth exploring the idea that the brain is sort of like a radio that could be tuned to different layers of reality using psychoactives. Also had a bit of a love affair with DMT for awhile, as well as trying to find the right combo of “soft” drugs that would induce hypnogogic dream states. As fruity as all that sounds, I learned a lot about chemistry and how to conduct (or not conduct, perhaps), verifiable research, which is an important part of my thinking today as we navigate an ever-increasing flood of claims about tech, medicine and mental health. I have to imagine HN attracts some pretty analytical minds by default, my own being novice, at best. I have a lot of great respect for the folks at erowid and I’m glad to see they’re still around.
  - sph 1y ago
    Erowid facilitated my deep dive into psychedelics in 2010 or so. Such a treasure trove on information about harm reduction, dosage, etc. My old bad trip was meticulously documented and is published on the site (don’t mix cannabis with psychedelics, yo! You don’t wanna get paranoid as the walls are melting) Funny aside: I think I spent 13 BTC to buy some LSD on the dark web at the time. Years later, the change from that transaction was enough to pay a month’s rent in London. Not only I spent what is a small fortune today, but the parcel was seized by the authorities so I never had the pleasure of trying LSD. Maybe one day…
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - kridsdale1 1y ago
      I hope your dealer held on to your million pounds.
      - sph 1y ago
        The exact figure eludes me, but it could also have been 130 BTC, as we’re talking 2010/2011 when bitcoin was around $1. In the 8 figures range today.
  - 1y ago
WD-42 1y ago
My friends and I used to visit this site a lot in high school and got kicks out of reading experiences for the more "hardcore" drugs like nightshade. Who knows how many of them were legit, but it was a great stoner activity. Glad to see this site is still around.
- phatskat 1y ago
  I first came across Erowid in college when my friends were getting me into psychedelics. It’s an incredibly informative site, and as a kid who read the warning labels on _everything_, it really helped me feel comfortable.
- spacechild1 1y ago
  We did exactly the same :) The thornapple trip reports were particularly nasty.
  - lorddumpy 1y ago
    I ended up trying them around 2 decades ago (I do not recommend lol) and learned so much from that site. The information about the long time for it to take effect (1.5 hours AFAIK), warnings to take the right dose and no more, and the vision side effects the next day, along with horror stories of what could go wrong, Erowid probably saved us a trip to the ER or even worse. Love those guys, incredible resource.
    - spacechild1 1y ago
      So you read the trip reports and decided to give it a try nevertheless? Wow...
- Nursie 1y ago
  I've spent a lot of time reading those. They are entertaining and terrifying. Erowid's a really good source of "Hey, you know, maybe I don't want to get involved in that" at times.
gnhustgames 1y ago
[dead]
temp0826 1y ago
This site is an "old internet" gem and I hope it never changes. I saw Earth and Fire (the creators of the project) speak at the Psychedelic Science conference a few years ago, quite a treat! Genuinely great people oozing integrity
- novaray 1y ago
  Do you have a link to the video?
  - temp0826 1y ago
    I'm not finding the exact one I was at (I saw them at the 2023 conference) but here is one from 2017- https://youtube.com/watch?v=lk9-PMKZPAY https://youtube.com/watch?v=lk9-PMKZPAY
    - novaray 1y ago
      Thanks!
- thatnerd 1y ago
  I ran into them at Burning \Man in the early aughts. They're awesome!
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
jbstack 1y ago
I'm curious how people go about finding safe sources for something like LSD (to be clear I'm not asking for anyone to give specific details, just an explanation). While psilocybin is easy to try safely (just travel to a place where it is legal), LSD is illegal in every jurisdiction as far as I know. The thought of ingesting some substance from dubious sources, that could be contaminated with absolutely anything, terrifies me and I honestly don't know how people bring themselves to take this kind of risk. Am I missing the point and there is some safe underground supply chain for this sort of thing?
- andrepd 1y ago
  - Buy on the darkweb. Marketplaces exist with established vendors, open forums, feedback, customer support, escrow... I could write a long text about how this is an infinitely better way to do things for all concerned than to "force" non-violent people to interact with violent drug traders and adulterated products, but let's leave that for now. You can pay with Monero for untraceability. - Test what you get. Some stuff being sold as LSD might actually be another synthetic psychedelic, potentially dangerous (unlike LSD). So test: even in jurisdictions in which LSD is banned, you can easily buy tests; for LSD, this would be Erhrlich's reagent. If it tests positive, and since there's no reason to have LSD and an adulterant (unlike other drugs such as cocaine), you're safe. Of course, this is what my friend told me.
  - jbstack 1y ago
    Interesting. Can you clarify this part? > there's no reason to have LSD and an adulterant Why is that? From what I understand LSD is pretty challenging to produce, so isn't there an advantage to an unscrupulous producer using something easier/cheaper?
    - echelon_musk 1y ago
      From my old and hazy memory (someone correct if wrong): There are few psychoactive compounds that work in the same microgram range as LSD. So if you're getting blotter then the size of the tab is important. The other compounds such as the NBOMe series use bigger blotters that are easy to spot.
redwood 1y ago
Absolutely critically experience vaults here. In my youth these were invaluable
ratelimitsteve 1y ago
when I was a teenager back in web pre-alpha erowid either put me in grave danger or saved my life, depending on whether you emphasize the drug use or the fact that I survived it relatively unscathed
progmetaldev 1y ago
This site helped me tremendously in my youth, with staying safe and giving me actual knowledge about different chemicals, rather than the complete abstinence information from programs like DARE. At one point, I found that a psychoactive chemical I was taking had a serious side effect with a prescription I was taking, and that information was nowhere to be found through web searches. Without Erowid, I definitely would have permanently damaged my liver! I don't think we should necessarily be marketing psychoactives to the youth, but I'm glad that this type of information is available for those that choose to search for it.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- Grimblewald 1y ago
  Without erowid I would have tried datura.
  - g0db1t 1y ago
    [dead]
  - progmetaldev 1y ago
    I would have as well. I remember in the 1990's seeing teens on TV that had taken it, and they were smoking imaginary cigarettes, and speaking to people that weren't there. I thought that sounded amazing until I read the trip reports about psychosis and the lethality of the dosage.
alessandru 1y ago
"news" ahahaaha you people just found out about this?!>?!
sans_souse 1y ago
This was my Most Valued Resource of the old internet.
edgineer 1y ago
And for the modern era there is Drugslab, a Dutch channel where the hosts describe drugs, take them on camera, and show their experiences. https://www.youtube.com/@Drugslab https://www.youtube.com/@Drugslab
psyclobe 1y ago
Ah Erowid, grew up in front of my computer and on irc chat rooms; that website taught me a lot. I submitted a few trip reports back in the day.
cantalopes 1y ago
I love erowid. It is a very thorouly handcrafted factual database of real information on any drug, including personal experiences, hepatoxicity, addixtiveness, etc. without any one sided agenda. I hope it stays for many years

215 points by slow_typist 1y ago

Canada 1y ago

When I was young, I looked at this site like a TODO list...

neom 1y ago
As did I, and I made a pretty good dent in it!
reverendjames 1y ago
Me still....

mitchbob 1y ago

Some previous discussions of Erowid: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports (263 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43171007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43171007 An Experience with Modafinil (343 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30067264 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30067264

Windchaser 1y ago
> An experience with Modafinil Well, there went two hours of my morning, and I only made it halfway through the comments.

nativeit 1y ago

This feels like a good audience for Erowid.

handfuloflight 1y ago
I'm sure there's already a significant overlap.
- 0xEF 1y ago
  Likely. I spent a lot of my youth exploring the idea that the brain is sort of like a radio that could be tuned to different layers of reality using psychoactives. Also had a bit of a love affair with DMT for awhile, as well as trying to find the right combo of “soft” drugs that would induce hypnogogic dream states. As fruity as all that sounds, I learned a lot about chemistry and how to conduct (or not conduct, perhaps), verifiable research, which is an important part of my thinking today as we navigate an ever-increasing flood of claims about tech, medicine and mental health. I have to imagine HN attracts some pretty analytical minds by default, my own being novice, at best. I have a lot of great respect for the folks at erowid and I’m glad to see they’re still around.
- sph 1y ago
  Erowid facilitated my deep dive into psychedelics in 2010 or so. Such a treasure trove on information about harm reduction, dosage, etc. My old bad trip was meticulously documented and is published on the site (don’t mix cannabis with psychedelics, yo! You don’t wanna get paranoid as the walls are melting) Funny aside: I think I spent 13 BTC to buy some LSD on the dark web at the time. Years later, the change from that transaction was enough to pay a month’s rent in London. Not only I spent what is a small fortune today, but the parcel was seized by the authorities so I never had the pleasure of trying LSD. Maybe one day…
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - kridsdale1 1y ago
    I hope your dealer held on to your million pounds.
    - sph 1y ago
      The exact figure eludes me, but it could also have been 130 BTC, as we’re talking 2010/2011 when bitcoin was around $1. In the 8 figures range today.
- 1y ago

WD-42 1y ago

My friends and I used to visit this site a lot in high school and got kicks out of reading experiences for the more "hardcore" drugs like nightshade. Who knows how many of them were legit, but it was a great stoner activity. Glad to see this site is still around.

phatskat 1y ago
I first came across Erowid in college when my friends were getting me into psychedelics. It’s an incredibly informative site, and as a kid who read the warning labels on _everything_, it really helped me feel comfortable.
spacechild1 1y ago
We did exactly the same :) The thornapple trip reports were particularly nasty.
- lorddumpy 1y ago
  I ended up trying them around 2 decades ago (I do not recommend lol) and learned so much from that site. The information about the long time for it to take effect (1.5 hours AFAIK), warnings to take the right dose and no more, and the vision side effects the next day, along with horror stories of what could go wrong, Erowid probably saved us a trip to the ER or even worse. Love those guys, incredible resource.
  - spacechild1 1y ago
    So you read the trip reports and decided to give it a try nevertheless? Wow...
Nursie 1y ago
I've spent a lot of time reading those. They are entertaining and terrifying. Erowid's a really good source of "Hey, you know, maybe I don't want to get involved in that" at times.

gnhustgames 1y ago

[dead]

temp0826 1y ago

This site is an "old internet" gem and I hope it never changes. I saw Earth and Fire (the creators of the project) speak at the Psychedelic Science conference a few years ago, quite a treat! Genuinely great people oozing integrity

novaray 1y ago
Do you have a link to the video?
- temp0826 1y ago
  I'm not finding the exact one I was at (I saw them at the 2023 conference) but here is one from 2017- https://youtube.com/watch?v=lk9-PMKZPAY https://youtube.com/watch?v=lk9-PMKZPAY
  - novaray 1y ago
    Thanks!
thatnerd 1y ago
I ran into them at Burning \Man in the early aughts. They're awesome!

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

jbstack 1y ago

I'm curious how people go about finding safe sources for something like LSD (to be clear I'm not asking for anyone to give specific details, just an explanation). While psilocybin is easy to try safely (just travel to a place where it is legal), LSD is illegal in every jurisdiction as far as I know. The thought of ingesting some substance from dubious sources, that could be contaminated with absolutely anything, terrifies me and I honestly don't know how people bring themselves to take this kind of risk. Am I missing the point and there is some safe underground supply chain for this sort of thing?

andrepd 1y ago
- Buy on the darkweb. Marketplaces exist with established vendors, open forums, feedback, customer support, escrow... I could write a long text about how this is an infinitely better way to do things for all concerned than to "force" non-violent people to interact with violent drug traders and adulterated products, but let's leave that for now. You can pay with Monero for untraceability. - Test what you get. Some stuff being sold as LSD might actually be another synthetic psychedelic, potentially dangerous (unlike LSD). So test: even in jurisdictions in which LSD is banned, you can easily buy tests; for LSD, this would be Erhrlich's reagent. If it tests positive, and since there's no reason to have LSD and an adulterant (unlike other drugs such as cocaine), you're safe. Of course, this is what my friend told me.
- jbstack 1y ago
  Interesting. Can you clarify this part? > there's no reason to have LSD and an adulterant Why is that? From what I understand LSD is pretty challenging to produce, so isn't there an advantage to an unscrupulous producer using something easier/cheaper?
  - echelon_musk 1y ago
    From my old and hazy memory (someone correct if wrong): There are few psychoactive compounds that work in the same microgram range as LSD. So if you're getting blotter then the size of the tab is important. The other compounds such as the NBOMe series use bigger blotters that are easy to spot.

redwood 1y ago

Absolutely critically experience vaults here. In my youth these were invaluable

ratelimitsteve 1y ago

when I was a teenager back in web pre-alpha erowid either put me in grave danger or saved my life, depending on whether you emphasize the drug use or the fact that I survived it relatively unscathed

progmetaldev 1y ago

This site helped me tremendously in my youth, with staying safe and giving me actual knowledge about different chemicals, rather than the complete abstinence information from programs like DARE. At one point, I found that a psychoactive chemical I was taking had a serious side effect with a prescription I was taking, and that information was nowhere to be found through web searches. Without Erowid, I definitely would have permanently damaged my liver! I don't think we should necessarily be marketing psychoactives to the youth, but I'm glad that this type of information is available for those that choose to search for it.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
Grimblewald 1y ago
Without erowid I would have tried datura.
- g0db1t 1y ago
  [dead]
- progmetaldev 1y ago
  I would have as well. I remember in the 1990's seeing teens on TV that had taken it, and they were smoking imaginary cigarettes, and speaking to people that weren't there. I thought that sounded amazing until I read the trip reports about psychosis and the lethality of the dosage.

alessandru 1y ago

"news" ahahaaha you people just found out about this?!>?!

sans_souse 1y ago

This was my Most Valued Resource of the old internet.

edgineer 1y ago

And for the modern era there is Drugslab, a Dutch channel where the hosts describe drugs, take them on camera, and show their experiences. https://www.youtube.com/@Drugslab https://www.youtube.com/@Drugslab

psyclobe 1y ago

Ah Erowid, grew up in front of my computer and on irc chat rooms; that website taught me a lot. I submitted a few trip reports back in the day.

cantalopes 1y ago

I love erowid. It is a very thorouly handcrafted factual database of real information on any drug, including personal experiences, hepatoxicity, addixtiveness, etc. without any one sided agenda. I hope it stays for many years