Drug info - Red star microdots and the persistence of a Myth

[ThirdEyeFloond]

The Persistence of a Myth

The "problem child" at Boom was a red star-shaped microdot swathed in speculation and frequently sold as mescaline. This microdot was also hawked as LSD and less commonly as "2C-B", "MDMA", or a "DOx compound". After the festival, we even located an image of one of these stars misidentified as 2C-T-7 on Wikipedia.
Early in the week a sample was tested via TLC, and it was identified unambiguously as LSD. In at least one case where the correct identity of the substance was known, it was reported as containing "160-170µg" per star. A Dutch visitor who supported the substance's identity as LSD claimed that two tablets had been quantitatively tested in a lab in the Netherlands: one was 68 µg and the other 72 µg.
While no one reported how much they were charged for a dose of red star "mescaline", other examples of prices for this microdot included one as "DOx" for €10 (about $13.50 USD), one as "MDMA" for €9, and seven as LSD for €50.
The idea that these microdots were mescaline, was so widespread and persistent that Energy Control posted flyers at their booth explaining that they were actually LSD. Erowid has busted the myth of mescaline microdots before in the article "Myth Debunking: Mescaline in Microdots" (Erowid Extracts, May 2001;1:10), so we were well prepared for handling the topic. But we were less prepared for how strongly people wanted to believe that it was possible to fit an active dose of mescaline in a microdot!
One dealer of dots presented the theory that the mescaline could fit into such a tiny tablet through the process of "super compression". Then a couple insisted the tablets had effects that were distinctly different from LSD. And in a truly strange story confounding the issue, a man described how he knew "over 100" people who took the red stars and just went to sleep.
All of this is a testament to the power of the mind and the complex recipe of dose, set and setting. Lacking basic information about what constitutes an active dose of mescaline, a person is susceptible to the sales practices of an unscrupulous or uninformed dealer looking to make a buck. In a worst-case scenario, folks buying "substance A" with expectations of obtaining "substance B" might find themselves in dangerous or unpleasant situations. Fortunately, with LSD sold as mescaline, the psychedelic properties of both substances are similar enough that consumers would likely have an experience that was roughly what they expected.
Even people who know what constitutes a typical dose of mescaline may be so excited about having obtained this relatively rare drug that they overlook basic rules about the physical laws of mass and volume while clutching their miniscule tablets. The case above with the couple who was astonished to learn that the microdots they had taken were LSD nicely illustrates how strongly expectations can shape experience.

(Erowid Extracts number 15 / november 2008 :14)



These dots have been circulating in SWIM's country a while back and sold as mescaline, 2c-t-7, 400µg LSD and what not.

[Benga]

Originally Posted by ThirdEyeFloond

These dots have been circulating in SWIM's country a while back and sold as mescaline, 2c-t-7, 400µg LSD and what not.

in the mid to late 1990's similar red stars these were sold in France as LSD, no indication of dosage more than "stronger than most blotters".
the packaging novelty of microdots, micropoints, red stars and windowpane like, or even simple liquid LSD had a lot of appeal over "ordinary" blotter acid.
swim doesn't remember hearing that they were anything else but LSD at the time, though there was a lot of silly talk about differences in effects between differences in packaging, or even..... graphic design on blotter !!!!!!

auto-suggestion, bull, here are some of the funniest things swim heard back then :

"panoramix" ( the druid character from the Asterix comic) blotter acid "changed one's vision to a broad panoramic perspective"

"silver surfer" blotter acid had given "silver like hues" to one at least user's vision, everything covered in a "silver veil"

"strawberry" design blotter acid was "mellow and calm"

bicycle design "hofmann's" were more mental and philosophical- and double/stack/face/dipped/dropped ( it did seem that they were indeed often more highly dosed than most others available at the time)

"bart simpson" blotter acid was "more energetic and amusing", or, less silly, underdosed for use in rave like settings (...)

ah, the joys of the human psyche...

b

[yaba]

Swim had black round microdots in Amsterdam. They did the trick !!!

Seen things dubble...
Thats the only time swim got them, never seem them again.

Him and his friends where visiting someone and the whole room started shakinkg !!

yaba added 470 Minutes and 53 Seconds later...

Just got a warning for mentioning an afterhour club, where swims microdots where obtained/used. He just wants to make his apologies..(he wasn't thinking)

And please keep in mined that most drugs are illegal in Amsterdam !

[mofomanrich]

SWijm had loads of these Microdot's from various sources, and swim can definetly testify that these were real LSD.

These were amazing, not as good as hoffman's or Bart's, but SWim thought they were very powerful.

Swim would relish them appearing again, and maybe just one day, Swim might actually see LSD again,lol.

[Songcycle67]

In reference to all the things that Benga pointed out in his post:

Suggestion is a huge part of the LSD game, I'd say seeing what was on the blotters influenced a lot of the trip for many. All of the effects listed can be achieved by any batch of LSD, I'd say they were just highlighted by the subconscious. I'm sure most of you were already thinking along those lines, I just wanted to put it in print.

[nanobrain]

68 and 72 mikes LSD was what the gentleman tester reported to nano firsthand at Boom 2008 for the lighter and darker versions of the red stars, which were being slung far and wide as 'synthetic mesc' '500 mike doses' and even the 'mystical DOA' (sic) to educated, experienced users. gotta love accurate data and respect the fact that its not all about the mikes as seasoned people reported intensely strong experiences with these stars.

[Songcycle67]

Yeah 68 and 72 would be pretty boring for hardcore heads, so I'm told. I feel a purity debate coming on.

[MrG]

Ok, at the risk of being accused of going slightly off-topic, SWIM has a question about acid. He hasn't done any in yearrrrrrs but, when he did, he remembers the usual talk about how different blotters would give different trips.

E.G.
Strawberry blotter acid always gave him a fantastic night of social fun and laughter.
Purple-Ohm's (taken on two separate occasions) gave him 'the fear' and resulted in the dreaded "bad trip" for 8 hours or so on each occasion - not nice.

Is this purely down to the strength of the dosing? Or a mix of set, setting and dosing?

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good point/reminder in 73712

[Benga]

Originally Posted by MrG

E.G.
Strawberry blotter acid always gave him a fantastic night of social fun and laughter.
Purple-Ohm's (taken on two separate occasions) gave him 'the fear' and resulted in the dreaded "bad trip" for 8 hours or so on each occasion - not nice.

Is this purely down to the strength of the dosing? Or a mix of set, setting and dosing?

did you see my post up there MrG ? (nr2) I was mentioning something related, rumours circulating on blotter design and difference in effects.
yes, swim remembers hearing about strawberry blotter acid being "mellow" as well (Ibiza, 1994)
silly.
dosage related, setting and autosuggestion for sure.

b

[MrG]

So I'm guessing that the whole "strychnine" in the blotter thing was bullshit too?

It was used as an excuse for why people experienced stomach muscle cramping during their trip.

Christ SWIM was dumb back then! But hey, he grew up in an age where it was impossible to get objective information, or even half-true information most of the time. I guess that's what this place really *is* here for!

Kids today, they don't know they're born! <-- old person expression.

"We lived in't middle of the road in a shoebox and our rainbows were black and white!"

[Benga]

Originally Posted by MrG

So I'm guessing that the whole "strychnine" in the blotter thing was bullshit too?

It was used as an excuse for why people experienced stomach muscle cramping during their trip.

Christ SWIM was dumb back then! But hey, he grew up in an age where it was impossible to get objective information, or even half-true information most of the time. I guess that's what this place really *is* here for!

Kids today, they don't know they're born! <-- old person expression.

lol
yup, remember the strychnine one as well.... stomach cramp AND anxiety. hehe
also remember buying oh so many books in strange book shops, oooh, an original Claudio Naranjo's "the healing journey" in a second hand bookstore in lebanon ? oooh----Nichol's "E for ecstasy" in this weird parisian art library ? jump.... and losing time in libraries trying to find good info....yes, the pre-internet database and pre-online book vendor was something.
now one just has to hit a search engine and read, get references, read more, eventually order something from someone somewhere....

but the worst time was probably with first online search engines i got my hands on. Webcrawler...hits, references to books, but nothing online, and virtually no online stores to buy them. frustration deluxe

"Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife."

yeah, now it's more about filtering information than finding it.



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P.S.

On the issue of strychnine in LSD, a little paste job :

The following text was written byAlexander T. Shuglin response to the overwhelming misconception that strychnine is commonly found in street samples of LSD:

"The observation of strychnine as being present in any street drug, as a by-product, or a contaminant, or an impurity has never been documented. It is a natural plant product, as are the ergots which are used in the synthesis of LSD. But they come from totally unrelated plants; there has never been a report of strychnine and an ergot alkaloid co-existing in a single species. So if the two materials are together in a drug sample, it could only be by the hand of man. I have personally looked a large number of illicit street offerings and have never detected the presence of strychnine. The few times that I have indeed found it present, have been in legal exhibits where it usually occurred in admixture with brucine (also from the plant Strychnos nux-vomica) in criminal cases involving attempted or successful poisoning.

The same argument applies to the myth that occasionally surfaces, that strychnine occurs in the white tufts of peyote. This is equally fraudulent -- it has never been reported in that cactus or any other cactus."

Furthermore, it should probably be spelled out that strychnine is not needed to bond LSD to blotter paper, nor is strychnine a breakdown product of LSD. these are probably the two most commonly repeated gross misconceptions.

The source of the "strychnine is commonly found in LSD" myth may be somewhat grounded in truth. For example, in "LSD: My Problem Child" Albert Hofmann cites a case in the late sixties of Strychnine being found in an "LSD" sample that was a white powder. However, what is commonly claimed is that strychnine is found in a significant percentage of LSD, specifically blotter LSD, which is *not* true. Shulgin's note that he has analyzed many samples of LSD and never found strychnine is backed up by published analyses done by PharmChem and the LA County Street Drug Analysis program, which likewise never found any strychnine.

This is intuitively backed up by the fact that a 5mm x 5mm "standard" square of blotter LSD only weights about 2mg and if the paper itself was made completely out of pure strychnine it is still on the very low end of Strychnine's threshold of activity.

Strychnine is not the cause of tracers, cramps, nausea, or amphetamine-like LSD-effects. Its possible that poorly synthesized LSD might have other ergot derivatives in it, which might contribute to the harsh body load that some get on taking LSD. Also, the very close chemical relatives 1-Methyl-LSD and 1-Acetyl-LSD (which break down into LSD in aqueous solution) might be present in some street samples and might contribute to the harsh body load. (Petter Stafford has claimed in his Psychedelic Encycolpedia that 1-Acetyl-LSD is supposedly "smoother" than d-LSD -- thus "strychnine laced acid" may acutally be pure d-LSD, while "pure lsd" may be 1-Acetyl-LSD or some substitute). And the chemicals iso-LSD and lumi-LSD which are breakdown products of LSD might contribute to the body loading on some trips, particularly via a hypothetical synergistic effect. Given this plethora of possible chemicals in street "LSD", its not needed to look to a chemical which has hardly ever been found in analyzed samples to explain variations in the strength and "cleanliness" of street acid.

Its also possible that LSD itself simply causes adverse physical effects, particularly muscle cramping, in persons suceptible to it. The reported side effects of LSD (the nausea and apparent CNS stimulant effects) are commonly reported side effects of seritonergic drugs such as fluoxetine (Prozac) and buspirone (Buspar), and also are commonly reported (and typically more severe) with other psychedelics like Mescaline.

Or its quite likely that the "strychnine" reactions to LSD are entirely psychosomatic. Both Leary ("The Psychedelic Experience") and Lilly ("Programming and Metaprogramming...", "Center of the Cyclone") have each observed this reaction in people who cannot handle the surge of emotion associated with a trip.

Further advice would be to avoid methylxanthines (caffiene, theophylline in tea, etc) prior to dosing. Some have noted a possible synergistic effect between them and LSD causing, or contributing, to a harsh body load during a trip. And prior use of dramamine may alleviate the nausea sometimes associated with LSD, and other psychedelic drugs (although it may also effect the quality of the trip -- Shulgin has noted in PihKAL that he shuns the use of anti-nauseants in order to experience the effects of the psychedelic, both good and bad, with no possible interference).

In summary, it can't be said that we know specifically why sometimes acid feels "cleaner" than other times. However, based on the availability of plausible explanations, and the evidence of drug analysis, and general implausiblity of the whole strychnine concept, we can conclude that it isn't due to any concentration of strychnine. Also, while it can't completely be ruled out, the presence of strychnine in LSD is so minimal that the majority of LSD users will never once come across it.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Wonderful post and find. Great answer to MrGs question.

[eveilsteve]

This have been going around the psy scene billed as mesc for atleast a couple of years. Swim had one friend get them in India and another picked some at universal parallelo in brasil 2 years back both still to this day believe it to be mesc. Swim tried to explain the logic of an active dose and size but to no avail. Well they had fun and swim has decided not to ruin their memory of their great trip on "mescaline" any longer.

Strange thing is swim tells me that both were quite experienced with LSD so i though they would have noticed the drug they were taking. I guess its back to what third eye floond said about expectations shapeing the trip.