Magic mushrooms - A brief guide to alternatives.
I also used to do mushrooms before f ucking NEW LABOUR made them illegal. We used to camp out in the various orchards around Canterbury, and use the fallen wood to make impressively-sized bonfires. Camping and tripping is nuts. Eventually, the hills, the trees, yourself, all becomes linked, and pulsate with the healing light of the universe. But the government would prefer that we were miserable, and have shut this window onto the answers forever.

So the search has been on ever since to find a replacement. I was told about something called San Pedro cactus, which contains mescaline. It's totally legal - have a look on Ebay for either fresh cacti or dried stuff. Basically, you chop it up in a blender, boil it in water for a few hours, strain the mush through an old shirt and you're left with thick green 'cactus juice.' It tastes foul, but I found adding lots of ice cubes froze out the flavour.

Compared to a mushroom trip, it's much less frantic - just very smooth, relaxed, calm, and gently trippy.

However, you don't get the philosophical effects of mushrooms. That's what makes them so revolutionary. Too many people regard hallucinogens in the same way they'd regard a good night out drinking - lots of shits and giggles with a couple of funny stories to tell afterwards. That's fun, but it's not the half of one percent of what you can be and do on mushrooms. You can take them by yourself in a quiet room, put on some music, trip gently all night, and realise things about yourself that you would never have realised otherwise. Compared to shrooms, San Pedro is just a lightshow.

I've tried salvia davinorum a time or two - it's kind of like a herb that you smoke via one huge bong hit. Salvia tends to produce true 'out of body, out of mind' experiences, which is what I definitely got. The first time I got it right - one big bong hit, held down for at least 30 seconds - was mind f ucking. In the space of thirty seconds, I'd gone from my normal persona and mindset to believing I was back in secondary school, was late for a lesson that was about to begin, and for some reason all the girls in the class knew all my incredible secrets. That, and the room I was in seemed to be full of spider-web style serrations. The trip lasted about three minutes, and my best friend who was watching me said I was laughing like a loon all the way through. All in all, highly recommended, but take heed - you tend to feel tired and confused for the rest of the evening. Something which could probably be put right with - More drugs! - but take it easy.

I've also tried Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds, which contain a natural homologue of LSD. The idea is that you crush them and soak them in water for a few hours. We followed the method to the letter and got - nothing. Not recommended.

Lastly, you can buy herbal highs like Druid's Fantasy, a herbal mix that includes the aforementioned Baby Woodrose, but again, we took a good pop, and felt only very slightly trippy.

I guess the conclusion is that a mushroom high is very unique, and there's nothing that will give you that same experience. Goodbye forever.
(CerberaSpeedTwelve, Thu 15 Dec 2005, 16:57, Reply)