what would you do in this situation if you were I

Dear Abbey,

Or not actually if I were you but if you were I. Here is the deal. A group of my friends has recently gotten into smoking a little ganja now and then after a lifetime of sobriety. These guys are generally intelligent, sort of 'nerdy' types if you will although labels are wrong. They all come from very wealthy families and have a tendency to be a little (quite) naive. Anyhow weed is all most of these fellas have dabbled in, one or two of the guys has drank and maybe sneaked a painkiller from a parent or something. Anyhow with this new found attitude towards drugs, they have conjured up the idea to get together and 'trip' on Diphenhydramine, aka Benadryl. Now I've spoken glowingly of this drug in the lower dose recreational range, as I find it provides a unique form of euphoria and a generally interesting sort of stoning effect. However, I have never taken it in the Hallucination Inducing Range as my amigos are planning. When I say Hallucination Inducing Range, I mean they are taking at least 20 pills each. I know they do in fact plan on having trip sitters, yet even so I am feeling some anxiety towards this whole deal. I have read quite a few 'trip reports' on these high dose Diphenhydramine trips, and the general opinion is that they are incredibly horrific nightmare experiences which can leave one nearly shattered for days afterwords. They are planning this trip on Saturday. As I am quite known as the sort of drug guy among them, having been using/abusing a wide variety of substances for quite a long while, it would be quite silly and hypocritical of me to try to talk them out of their experiment. On the other hand I am almost positive that they will live to regret this decision. What should I do?

From,

concernedinIllinois

I have a theory that my experimentation with diphenhydramine in 8th grade resulted in a permanent change to my psyche, giving me a tendency toward extreme physical anxiety that disappeared and resurfaced gradually over the course of my recreational marijuana consumption...to the point now that smoking one hit off of a spliff plummets me into nightmarish depths of full body spasms and spiraling dysphoria. On the other hand, I found my experiences with the deliriant aesthetically inspiring albeit physically uncomfortable.

I think at the dosage that they are suggesting, they would probably all lapse out of consciousness, and might end up needing to be hospitalized. The only thing I could think that would be good about this experience is if it turned out to be such an ordeal that you all became extremely bonded in some bizarre way.

Like if you all ended up in some cornfield in the dark thinking your skin was being devoured by ants, suffered through that for the night, and then found all of you existentially shaken to the core.

Where in Illinois?

When I was 19 or so I took 17 benadryl and passed out.

I've also heard horror stories. Hallucinogen does not mean psychedelic. Your friends are fucked.

But my honest opinion is that your friends will be fine. They probably won't like it that much, but I think most trips make most people more interesting, at least to themselves.

  On 9/24/2010 at 3:20 AM, Lascaille said:

Where in Illinois?

Crystal Lake, Illinois

maybe you could try to redirect them to another kind of drug. That what i would try to do. You could maybe suggest them to take some ipomea seeds. It's pretty cheap around here (a 12gr trip costs 6€ euros, and you are guaranteed to have a fucking mental journey) and you can find them in every garden center, this way you'll be able to get them by saturday.

Here, seeds are not treated, but i've read quite a few stories about american people shitting their intestines out after having consumed ipomea: they must spray laxatives substances on the seeds, so you'd better rince them before consuming them.

what the fuck is wrong with kids these days? just get some fucking acid or magic mushrooms....fucking tripping off benadryl for god sake...fucking morons.

tell them they're a bunch of namby pamby wishy washy infantile fools and they should get some real drugs or not fucking bother at all.

over and out.

tis shroom season just now, i had my first wee trip the other day, god fucking dam do i love mushrooms. god fucking dam. they kick the shit out of acid.

as for your situation, tell them they are fucking idiots and they need to get a grip.

  On 9/24/2010 at 2:42 PM, BCM said:

they should get some real drugs or not fucking bother at all.

 

 

Tell them to stop being gay and get some LSD

At least, this is what the people who have taken recreational doses have told me.

tell them to research the chemical online or live with the consequences, because people abusing drugs through ignorance really deserve a slap in the face. i'm talking about the kinds of folks that take, for example, ridiculous amounts of robotussin cause they WANNA GET HIGH!! and then they end up in the hospital with stomach bleeding from the acetaminophen because they failed to comprehend what they were taking and relied on myth and word of mouth (all cough syrup is safe and gets you high!) instead of fact.

those kinds of people shouldn't be playing with drugs, at all.

  On 9/24/2010 at 2:42 PM, BCM said:

tell them they're a bunch of namby pamby wishy washy infantile fools and they should get some real drugs or not fucking bother at all.

never tried benadryl at all so can't really comment.

wouldn't ever take 20 pills of anything though! that's, errrr, kinda stoopid.

is it particulary hard to get some good'ol acid where you live?

or, like somebody else said, it is pretty much shroom season now.....

just tell them your opinion on it, if they don't listen they can swivel on your extended pinky finger like some sort of bizarre drug addled fleshy record

Tell them what you know about it.

Offer to trip on shrooms with them.

If they decline,

Stay at home or do what you normally would have done.

just dont be around for it.

Then, a few days later over a meal, hear about how much they cried or resorted to primal dispair.

"I'm glad I wasnt around for that!" You'll say.

Knowing a few of these types, $5 says it'll be heroin by next spring.

offer to sit the trip for them instead of whoever they had planned. When they are at their most primordial, vulnerable state, play some gay porn for them with snoop dogg's "sensual seduction" on a loop for backing music.

Friends let friends have a bad time. I suggest you let them have their strange time talking to shoes and seeing cockroaches etc. Nerds will be nerds.

yeah the fact that this is a 4-man nerd endeavor into self-induced schizophrenia makes it pretty IDM actually.

  On 9/24/2010 at 2:42 PM, BCM said:

what the fuck is wrong with kids these days? just get some fucking acid or magic mushrooms....fucking tripping off benadryl for god sake...fucking morons.

 

tell them they're a bunch of namby pamby wishy washy infantile fools and they should get some real drugs or not fucking bother at all.

 

over and out.

This attitude is silly but you're likely just being difficult. Being so elitist about something so complex and mysterious as altered states of consciousness is 'infantile', my friend.

In truth, they seem to know what they are getting into from an intellectual standpoint. They understand what the trip curtails and even that the majority of people who experience this trip have a terrible time. They are set on trying it anyway, it seems.

Well, I wish them luck. That's the truth of the matter. Maybe they'll hallucinate beautiful naked ladies.

  On 9/25/2010 at 1:30 AM, Salvatorin said:

yeah the fact that this is a 4-man nerd

p.s. I ask for no reason other than curiosity but why did you make this assumption? Weird, Phil! You're weird!

I took a pill of concentrated DXM once (they told us it was ecstasy but it didn't take long to figure out what it really was) and I had a pretty bad trip, I felt woozy like being drunk and the hallucinations were like that of being sleep depraved so I would recommend against doing it to anyone.

Oh, if I'm being honest I love DXM as much as it's possible for a man to love a chemical. Maybe that's part of the reason the whole "WTF tripping on Benadryl wat FAGZ" attitude doesn't jive with me is the fact that I use cough syrup as a holy sacrament. If you're taking drugs for the experience and not the social implications, something like that shouldn't be all that significant. Do I feel strange about the aesthetics of drinking a glass of cough syrup? Well of course I roll my eyes at myself.

  On 9/25/2010 at 3:23 AM, The Pod said:

  On 9/25/2010 at 1:30 AM, Salvatorin said:

yeah the fact that this is a 4-man nerd

 

p.s. I ask for no reason other than curiosity but why did you make this assumption? Weird, Phil! You're weird!

This is a strange mystery you have illuminated. My brain entirely fabricated me having read '4 of my friends' when I wrote that comment.

  On 9/25/2010 at 3:36 AM, The Pod said:

Oh, if I'm being honest I love DXM as much as it's possible for a man to love a chemical. Maybe that's part of the reason the whole "WTF tripping on Benadryl wat FAGZ" attitude doesn't jive with me is the fact that I use cough syrup as a holy sacrament. If you're taking drugs for the experience and not the social implications, something like that shouldn't be all that significant. Do I feel strange about the aesthetics of drinking a glass of cough syrup? Well of course I roll my eyes at myself.

gel caps, my son.