Kevin's Watch

Reading and researching these things, I have determined that none of them has potential for anything other than making you drowsy.
I think, however, that I can create a blend of herbs and supplements that might give the mellow, euphoric kick of tranquilizers in the form of a palatable, quick acting, marketable drink suitable for all ages.

Kava--
actions: relaxing, euphoric
strengths: one of two closest ingredients to an intoxicant.
Disadvantages: terrible taste, does not dissolve in water-- needs oil based beverage (coconut milk?) or lots of lecithin in order to be absorbed in the body. Most drinks featuring this ingredient are not effective.

L-tryptophan--
actions: relaxing
strengths: safe, reliable sedative.
disadvantages: none!

Indian Warrior--
actions: sedative, muscle relaxant
strengths: powerful and quick acting
disadvantages: none

Magnolia bark--
actions: relaxing, tranquilizer
strengths: may enhance effects of kava-- both are psychoactive lactones.
disadvantages: none!

L-theanine--
actions: calming, promotes mental focus
strengths: useful in low doses.
disadvantages: none!

Hops--
actions: hypnotic, sedative
strengths: one of the stronger hypnotics
Disadvantages: bitter taste, desirable in beer, not so in a soda.

Phenibut--
actions: mood lifting, strongly relaxing
strengths: one of the two closest ingredients to an intoxicant. Phenibut is actually similar in effect to GHB, a banned nutritional supplement known for its intoxicating, euphoric, socializing, sexualizing, and addictive effects.
Disadvantages: extremely foul taste. tolerance to effects is very noteworthy. Causes nausea, especially when combined with alcohol!

Mexican prickly poppy--
actions: sedative, dream enhancer (oneirogenic)
strengths: produces strong dreams, contains no opiates.
disadvantages: tolerance develops quickly.

Passion flower--
actions: calming, dream enhancing (oneirogenic)
strengths: powerful ingredients.
disadvantages: mild mono-amine oxidizer inhibitor.

Lemon balm--
actions: relaxing, euphoric
strengths: tastes wonderful
disadvantages: none!

Clary sage--
actions: euphoric
strengths: enhances intoxicating effects of alcohol.
disadvantages: mildly toxic, can cause headaches.

Tagetes Lucida--
actions: euphoric, mitigates foul tastes.
strengths: thought to be mildly euphoric. covers up bad tastes very well.
disadvantages: none!

Wintergreen--
actions: headache cure,
strengths: tastes good, cures headaches.
disadvantages: has no psychoactive effects.

marketing it:
some possible names for this junk:

butterknife

monk's brew

dream sauce

liquid lullabye

Diamondraught

Narcoffee (only in a coffee flavored, creamy drink)

Coma-cola

Moon Juice

mixers:
if you want to get ripped up, combine this with alcohol.
combine this with O.T.C. cough medicine containing dextromethorphan.
combine this with antihistamines for a "lights out" effect.

Hi LZ
I spend half my life selling the other crap (the 'Energy' stuff) to schoolkids and adolescents. They can get the equivalent of 16 (so I'm told) cups of coffe into them in three swallows for 50 cents a can. No wonder they are climbing the walls when they get to scool. Maybe your stuff drunk in tandem would enduce a sureal normality into their lives - or it might rend the very core of their (already fragile) psyche's in twain! Want's some thinking about.

Climbing the walls at school from energy drinks? Pussies. I took the DXM cough medicine and went to school once...

I used to drink 8 oz of robo back in the day when 15 mg/tablespoon was their "regular strength" formula!

How much is 8oz? Bout two bottles?

One really big bottle. I would lay on my back seeing jaguars ripping through the sky while I had out-of-body visuals and rambled abstract poetry.

Sounds about right.

Yeah - I sat in class at the age of 15 with a brown microdot the size of a match-head doing it's stuff inside my head. Not a good learning aid in the usual sense of the words - but an invaluable lesson in the short term effects of altered states on the modern school curriculum.

May the day come to you when you realize " reality" is the ultimate trip of all. Perhaps , rather than escape from it, I suggest to escape into it...Whats the saying..you can change places or place the changes. Expanding ones perceptions btw of induced altered states does little if one continues to think and thus perceive, the same way. What you escape from remains the same. Change how you have been taught to " think" and thus perceive, and you may find the best apothecary is your mind.

lurch wrote:May the day come to you when you realize " reality" is the ultimate trip of all. Perhaps , rather than escape from it, I suggest to escape into it...Whats the saying..you can change places or place the changes. Expanding ones perceptions btw of induced altered states does little if one continues to think and thus perceive, the same way. What you escape from remains the same. Change how you have been taught to " think" and thus perceive, and you may find the best apothecary is your mind.

not enough punctuation... for the activation that this is more lurch than worker. that is my ultimate reality show.

not enough punctuation... for the activation that this is more lurch than worker. that is my ultimate reality show.[/quote]

thats the trouble with these dot coms

Why can I suddenly not get the phrase
"Puppy Uppers and Doggie Downers"
out of my head?

lurch wrote:May the day come to you when you realize " reality" is the ultimate trip of all. Perhaps , rather than escape from it, I suggest to escape into it...Whats the saying..you can change places or place the changes. Expanding ones perceptions btw of induced altered states does little if one continues to think and thus perceive, the same way. What you escape from remains the same. Change how you have been taught to " think" and thus perceive, and you may find the best apothecary is your mind.

I applaud the sentiments, and should point out that reality is at this point indeed my only "trip"- I haven't done any psychedelics in over a year now.

But I look back fondly on my psychedelic experiences as just that- experiences. Some of them were profound and edifying experiences. Some of them were just good ol' fun experiences. There is as much inherent value in them as there is in any intense experience. I never saw drugs as an escape from reality, even though some sure do use it that way. It's looking at reality in a radically different way, which can be appreciated for what it is, or used to develop philosophies, worldviews, etc. as you please. Think the kids standing on the desks in Dead Poets Society.

Oh, and speaking as one who meditates, I've found that inducing altered states of consciousness on a regular basis cannot help but change the way you think and perceive.

Maybe I should have made it clear Lurch - that was 35 years ago. We had fun with psychotropiics for a while and then moved on.
I well agree with you that by far the best experiences life can offer come not by way of altering your conciouss but by heightening it's level of 'atunedness' (that can't surely be a real word can it?) to the world about you. Like Cambo above I had some entertaining experiences and some truly enlightening ones, but (and it's a big BUT if you'll pardon the expression) I am now vehemently against LSD et al because of the inherent - and in my view too large - dangers in their use. I saw people seriously damaged - permanently - by the use of hallucinogens when things went wrong. I had some very nasty moments myself and so, though I regret nothing of what I have done I could never reccomend it to anyone else or commend (as some inexperienced would) it's legalisation in our societies.

I'd confess my sins but I can't remember them, so I must of done my share. It is with a circuitous perspective that I posted my view. I too feel very fortunate that years ago I did not fall victim to the various down sides of " recreational" drugs as did family members, friends and acquaintances. Having gone thru that, somewhere , I witnessed a stranger than fiction moment, and I realized then that reality was pretty darn trippy on its own. Life has been pretty much magnificent in that regard ever since.

I suppose, as a young person, stuffed with how everything is or has to be as shoved into our heads by parents, educators, and religious and social leaders, rebelling against all that is some what expected, but the realization that seeing things an other way is sooner or later dawned on. I;m just saying, at some point, may it be realized, the next step..one doesn't require drugs, natural or not, to simply change how one " thinks" and thus perceives,,to see things in a different way.

You're right- drugs are not required, they're just one of a multidute of experiences that can- not will - change your perception and thought process for the better.

And Peter, I don't want to turn this into a Tank thread, but I was almost commited into a mental ward partly due to drug use, and I still support legalisation of all drugs. It's not just the inexperienced who hold these views.

I was a straitedge punk rocker for ten years. I took benedryl for insomnia and smoked the occasional pipe or cigar. During this time, my wild uninhibited stage presence constantly garnered the query: "What are you on?"
This all changed on my last tour with SUCKDOG when I realized that working your ass off and driving from venue to venue was hard work, for which a hard reward might be of some benefit.
So I decided to unwind with a drink or two. Within a year I was back on track with my gift for finding and utilizing psychedelics as an important learning tool.
To me, banning psychedelics is akin to banning books.

Agreed guys - It is with sadness that I hold my very 'anti' stance; but something tells me that the unrestricted acess to any and every drug - but mostly the hallucinogenic/world altering group - could only result in disaster for many of the unwitting users not cognisent of the very real risks associated with psychoactives. But we must agree to differ on this. I am not so sure that my position is correct that I would disparage the views of people who do not agree with me on this.