13: The drugs, man.....

Most, if not all ravers at some point have taken some recreational drugs. I always wondered why whoever coined that phrase felt the need to specify that these drugs are for recreation. I mean, who needs to take an acid tab to go to work? Anyway, like i said most of us have popped a pill, dropped acid, snorted cocaine/ket/speed and smoked a spliff. I take my hat off to those straight ravers, dancing for up to 10 hours a night without some chemical aids must be a bit tiring. Way back in the 1980's the term 'Acid House' was applied to the emerging scene but not because LSD was the drug of choice; far from it. The drug was obviously E, but to those people that didn't like the music, they gave it that name due to the sound it apparently reminded them of. If acid had a sound, then the TB303 must have been the source.

love dove pill

Ecstasy.

 The drug of the scene was ecstasy, and it came in various guises. Love doves, Cali sunrise, Disco biscuit... they all had funky names and all had varying strengths. The first E i took was a disco biscuit  and if i am honest, i think i was sold a bob martins worming tablet, as it had no effect on me other than my bum hole stopped itching. A week or two later i took a double dove and BANG! i never saw life in the same light again. E's are a perfect drug for creating the sense of Euphoria and making you talk utter cod shit to a stranger. Who remembers "where ya from, what you had.....?" starting most conversations? People would open up and tell anyone who was arsed to listen their deepest darkest secrets while off their noodle of illicit pills, and i heard a lot of depressing shit. I thought alcohol was bad for making you say stuff you would later regret but i heard stories of sexual and physical abuse, girlfriend/boyfriend secrets, you name it, some raver off his or her cake spouted all this out to all and sundry. I'm not making light of any of this but i bet more than a few people winced the following day after realising they told a mate their first sexual experience was with their step mum or half sister. Seeing people with eyes rolling, jaws swinging and huffing and puffing a lot are tell tale signs of being under the influence, but other drugs affect manifest themselves in other ways, for example...

A 'wrap' of speed

Speed.

Mouth chewing, jaw grinding, chain smoking and an ability to waffle endlessly about things nobody else has any interest in are the main tell tale signs of a speeding raver. The ability to dance in a service station 3 hours after the rave has finished and while no music is being played is another sign. Speed is a great drug to dance on, but by god does it make you chat. I used to take a couple of grams of speed for an all nighter, ensuring non stop dancing and guarenteed jaw ache the following day, along with total loss of appetite on sunday for dinner at your parents house. Mouth ulcers are common and annoying if swallowing speed and a fucked up septum if snorted. Great fun though!


LSD aka acid tabs

Acid.

This was the most mind bending drug i have ever taken. It is very hard to explain clearly what this drug does to you. Imagine finding your hand THE MOST INTERESTING THING EVER.... for 4 hours. It magnifies all of your senses to the point of madness. You will laugh uncontrollably at a photo of a pigeon. Or your dog. Or anything else for that matter. I'm not one for telling people to take drugs, madness lies that way but LSD is the most fun you can ever have...unless you have a bad trip. Bad trips are terrible, and any random thought can take you from hallucinogenic utopia to the depths of hell in an instant. Like your mum catching you watching porn, you will be convinced that the world is about to end, or worse still, anything evil you can think of will and does pop into your mind. I used to go raving on acid and have to say i had a ball, but there's no trips like bad trips so unless you are headstrong or comfortable in your surroundings i wouldn't suggest this as a party drug, really.