Slog - Comments on The Bear Speaks http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks As part of their coverage of the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, the San Francisco Chronicle's Joel Selvin tracked down Owsley "Bear" Stanley during a recent visit to the Bay Area. Stanley is the first person to mass produce LSD in the mid-'60s--an estimated 1.25 million hits. He's notoriously private, Selvin writes, rarely allowing his photo to be taken and spending the last couple decades living in isolation on the tropical coast of Queensland, Australia, waiting out the ecological disaster he believes is impending. Owsley has subsisted on a meat-only diet for the past 40 years or... Copyright 2008 Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:59:55 -0800 Sat, 14 Jul 2007 06:48:03 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by kevin jones i remember back in the 90s when LSD was the new Cocaine... good times.

]]> kevin jones http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762430 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762430 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:15:01 -0800 Comment by Sally Struthers Lawnchair Growing up in Oregon in the 80's there was so much plentiful excellent LSD to be had cheaply. I have fond memories of a batch called Goonybird...it just made you laugh for hours. Playing music on it was so much fun. I cherish the psychedelic experiences I've had.

]]> Sally Struthers Lawnchair http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762439 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762439 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:23:25 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave LSD was the new cocaine? how does that even work?

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762448 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762448 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:26:49 -0800 Comment by monkey I've always wanted to try LSD.

]]> monkey http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762453 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762453 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:32:06 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe Acid is hard as hell to get nowadays.

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762465 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762465 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:44:19 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave see the bust of the silo

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762469 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762469 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:49:52 -0800 Comment by j in sea He needs to be put back to work to make a whole lot more. The world needs it.

]]> j in sea http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762471 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762471 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:50:33 -0800 Comment by Hernandez I want to drop acid and play the Nintendo Wii.

]]> Hernandez http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762472 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762472 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:52:41 -0800 Comment by jz @5--not so. at least, not in san francisco. you just gotta know people who know people.

]]> jz http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762478 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762478 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:01:05 -0800 Comment by Boomer in NYC My best dropping-acid story involves a couple bags of potato chips and accidentally running across Kingdom of the Spiders on late night TV.

Actually, all my dropping-acid stories involve William Shatner movies, in one way or another.

]]> Boomer in NYC http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762492 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762492 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:20:39 -0800 Comment by COMTE I hear that, BINYC, one of my best involved watching "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" - first time I ever experienced 3-D cinema without having to wear the red-blue sunglasses.

All the other good stories involve volcanic eruptions, however.

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762496 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762496 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:28:32 -0800 Comment by jz the ultimate--and ultimately cliche, but for good reason--LSD film experience is "fantasia." man. we had to stop the movie bt each segment bc it was so intense.

]]> jz http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762526 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762526 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:56:27 -0800 Comment by SteveR I dropped in Vegas once. Walked around the casinos, and up and down the strip. Horrible idea. The ugliest people I've ever seen. Who the hell invented stretch pants? The freakiest place I went was the bingo parlor at the Aladdin.

]]> SteveR http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762553 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762553 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:26:08 -0800 Comment by grumpypants @9, please explain how "you just gotta know people who know people", and be in San Francisco, is not "hard as hell to get nowadays" for your average college student/hippie/fun-lover.

]]> grumpypants http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762565 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762565 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:44:31 -0800 Comment by jessiesk I dropped acid at 16, before I had ever been properly drunk or even stoned. Substance abuse has been a huge disappointment since then. "Hmm, it's like tripping, except I'm yelling a lot and can't walk straight or talk right." "Hmm, it's like tripping, only I'm really stupid."

]]> jessiesk http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762584 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762584 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:10:32 -0800 Comment by jz @14--its never been easy to get, has it? i mean, its an illegal drug. but as far as these things go, its out there and can be found. its always a combination of being in the right place and around the right people.

]]> jz http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762585 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762585 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:10:55 -0800 Comment by Sally Struthers Lawnchair You could always make a special trip down to the Oregon Country Fair in Eugene and probably get a bunch o' acid there, if you don't mind hanging out with dirty hippies that is. Actually, one of the worst times tripping I had was from acid procured there. I sat in a field in the hot boiling sun, having a death trip on some kind of crappy strychnine acid with dirty naked hippies dancing around me with a paper airplane. So....um, maybe I can't recommend going there....although, buying acid is always a crapshoot.

]]> Sally Struthers Lawnchair http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762591 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762591 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:17:36 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe @16

Most of the drugs I use are illegal (imagine that). But I can get a sack of weed in less than 15 minutes. I could probably get shrooms in about an hour, depending on the season. Cocaine is easy to get, but it's most likely ether based and overpriced considering a lot of my runners, and when I use to run, do not want to deal with the type of people who sell the good stuff...ever.

Acid, from what I've been told, used to be easy to get. When I lived in Florida, all it would take was a commute to Miami. Here, I'm not sure. But my husband holds me back from trying at any great length to score hard dope, so I don't anymore. I guess you could say that's a good thing. But still...I wouldn't mind dropping acid annually. It is the only drug that has ever made me actually hallucinate. As in, you know, my door knobs melting and I'm having trouble opening the door. WOOT!

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762599 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762599 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:36:57 -0800 Comment by Jay Acid used to be really easy to get. When I was in high school in the early nineties weed, shrooms, and acid were pretty common place, and reasonably priced! I even sold bunk acid once because I wanted to buy dungeons and dragons source books. And then the faucet stopped, which is conspicuously noticeable in a drug city like Vegas.

]]> Jay http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762607 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762607 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:50:19 -0800 Comment by Jay Acid used to flood the market after Dead shows. I hate the Grateful Dead, but drugs increased and prices fell anytime they played- the parking lot at their shows had a whole smörgåsbord of hallucinogens. Good times.

]]> Jay http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762610 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762610 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:53:26 -0800 Comment by gnossos @ 20...yes and the DEA knew about this as well and for the last four or five years the band toured probably half the people doing deals in the lots were feds.

There used to be newsletter about Deadheads doing serious time in the federal system. There were hundreds of them.

Bellevue Ave referenced the silo bust...that's a good example of what has happened to LSD in the US over the past 15 years or so. For all intents and purposes, in many areas of the US LSD does not exist these days.

]]> gnossos http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762627 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762627 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:33:58 -0800 Comment by Dianna When I was in hs in the late 90's acid was really easy and cheap to get---about $4.00 a hit. Ecstacy was also easy (but never cheap)...but there was a whole summer where no one could get their hands on weed, so everyone was tripping.

]]> Dianna http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762657 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762657 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:59:25 -0800 Comment by gnossos Ahh, a great example of context.

While Dianna was paying $4 per hit, friends were paying $25 for a sheet of 100 hits or vials of liquid with anywhere from 100 to 150 doses per vial.

Not trying to one-up Dianna or prove I'm cooler than she is, just trying to illustrate differences in perspective and make a point about the failure of drug war policies. Folks could pay as low as 25 cents a hit (and much lower for higher volumes) and easily sell them for $4 per hit (to folks who thought that was cheap), thus turning a $25 investment into $400. Not bad.

Now translate that to other drugs. Take heroin. Costs $1.00 for a pure gram and by the time it hits the streets of Seattle that gram is now worth about between $350 and $650 per gram.

Legalize it.

]]> gnossos http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762680 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762680 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:05:39 -0800 Comment by Dianna Well said, gnossos.

]]> Dianna http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762682 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762682 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:25:14 -0800 Comment by Jay How could the DEA not know about the Dead LSD pipeline? I mean it was right out there in the open. Damn these wasteful federal agencies and their bullshit enforcement strategies, damn them to hell! Seriously.

]]> Jay http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762684 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762684 Drugs Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:29:59 -0800 Comment by PdxRitchie Hey Sally Struthers, I grew up in Oregon in the 80's too. Used to go to the City Nightclub, buy acid downstairs, head up to hollyrock for an hour or so and head home with a brain full. It was everywhere back then, I don't remember the last time someone said they had or did it. Then again, I don't hang out with the same people I used to?

]]> PdxRitchie http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762736 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762736 Drugs Fri, 13 Jul 2007 03:38:32 -0800 Comment by old dog My teenage years involved LP's. The first Dead album I got was Live/Dead. Owsley gets a credit on that album jacket.

]]> old dog http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762794 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762794 Drugs Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:04:43 -0800 Comment by Sally Struthers Lawnchair Hey PdxRitchie--I used to go to the City Nightclub/Hollyrock all the time, probably around 87-89 or so. What an awesome place that was! I got quite a headfull there as well many times. You might have gotten acid from my friend Jim who sold there if you went around the same time...super tall skinny blonde guy. He ended up getting busted at one point and I lost track of him. They weighed the acid along with the metal box he had it in, I believe they used to do that because they'd charge you based on weight, since blotter is just bits of paper or something. Conspiracy to overthrow the government charge too for LSD or something.

I can't imagine taking that trip again at this point in my life, but it's sad that so many people are denied the psychedelic experience. I can't imagine not having those experiences.

]]> Sally Struthers Lawnchair http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762814 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c762814 Drugs Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:28:45 -0800 Comment by jz agreed, SSL. and i guess my experience is a bit of an exception. it was readily available in south florida when i was in high school (where are you from, poe? i was in west palm beach and was getting good window pane blotter all throughout my senior year) but its still readily available from the peeps i know in san francisco. i just have friends who are into it, i guess, and who do it often. which is a bit unsettling, bc many of them are into their 30s. acid is, in many ways, a young mans drug. but just about every time i go back to SF i end up sitting on someones front step watching the sunrise and laughing my ass off on "family" liquid. these are always wonderful experiences, but at this point in my life, a bit taxing on the brain.

]]> jz http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c763088 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c763088 Drugs Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:50:48 -0800 Comment by Sally Struthers Lawnchair JZ--I think it is a young person's drug. But, mainly because the young state of mind is so flexible. I'm afraid my mind is so rigid now that it'd break from LSD! But, that'd probably good therapy...I don't see what my somewhat firm grip on "reality" is doing for me anyway. I have an older friend that does it yearly...to "clear the cobwebs".


I wish someone would dose the hell out of Seattle though....it really could use it here.

]]> Sally Struthers Lawnchair http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c763176 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c763176 Drugs Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:22:38 -0800 Comment by Reminiscing My God! Look at his jacket! He is the cutest! Oh, my! He is THE COOLEST!!! ( I am not being sarcastic.) He is totally Fuckable, acid or not. (Suppressed memories from the sixties.)Oh, my gosh!!

]]> Reminiscing http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c763398 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c763398 Drugs Sat, 14 Jul 2007 06:27:59 -0800 Comment by Reminiscing That guy looks hot. I don't care that it was forty years ago...I want to have sex with that guy. Acid or not, that jacket is cool!

]]> Reminiscing http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c763400 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/the_bear_speaks#c763400 Drugs Sat, 14 Jul 2007 06:48:03 -0800