Drug research

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  • Drug research

    Alright, I'm rewriting my ghost pilot, and thinking of including one character who can only see and interact with the ghost character while he's under the influence.

    Short version: I want something with a downer and/or hallucinogenic effect, which can create an altered state that he may or may not remember clearly the next day.

    Long version (with story context): The character is Psychic Phil, who's big into healing crystals, homeopathy, and also reads tarot and palms and believes he's a channeler. He runs a storefront psychic shop that barely makes enough to get by, with a side business renting an apartment to the protagonist who lives above him. He's mostly a hack, as evidenced by the fact that he can neither see nor accurately sense the ghost who's haunting our protagonist (plus his psychic predictions don't tend to work out). When he's high, though, he's able to interact with the ghost character and can even deliver limited psychic hints or advice. The problem is he never remembers these episodes (or what he does remember, he believes didn't happen), and so he goes on believing he's a failure.

    Do you think large quantities of weed would do it? Or should I be moving more toward something hallucinogenic like mushrooms? He's probably selling whatever he takes on the side to make ends meet.

    Anybody else have an idea? Being a psychic, he's also a fairly hippie-ish type, so I'm less inclined to have him do anything too processed or chemical.

  • #2
    Re: Drug research

    interesting! good luck with it. a lot of good words in there.

    i don't know anything, and sure this won't help, but when i quit tobacco, i had to stop drinking beer as well (the two are in love with each other). it took several attempts over a period of a few months. and each time i was pretty much nuts for a few days, couldn't sleep, temperamental, ornery...the world seemed quite a bit different and i didn't like it, to sum it up.

    you could flip the hourglass upside down and remove something in your story too, etc. maybe it is when he stops eating or drinking or smoking or doing something (some strange, yet personal and understandable thing or habit), etc.

    the completely sober and no tobacco effect. i felt drugged in a bad way, and did not like it. it altered my state.
    Last edited by AnconRanger; 07-03-2017, 12:08 PM.

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    • #3
      Re: Drug research

      Originally posted by AnconRanger View Post
      interesting! good luck with it. a lot of good words in there.

      i don't know anything, and sure this won't help, but when i quit tobacco, i had to stop drinking beer as well (the two are in love with each other). it took several attempts over a period of a few months. and each time i was pretty much nuts for a few days, couldn't sleep, temperamental, ornery...the world seemed quite a bit different and i didn't like it, to sum it up.

      you could flip the hourglass upside down and remove something in your story too, etc. maybe it is when he stops eating or drinking or smoking or doing something (some strange, yet personal and understandable thing or habit), etc.

      the completely sober and no tobacco effect. i felt drugged in a bad way, and did not like it. it altered my state.
      Oh, that's a fun twist. Like he's high all the time, and once he stops, his psychic vision clears. I'll have to think about that.

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      • #4
        Re: Drug research

        i never did it myself but DMT could fit the bill

        https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5...experience-365

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        • #5
          Re: Drug research

          I've seen some pretty knowlegeable drug sites on Reddit that might be a useful resource for you if you want to check that out.

          Alternatively, what if he had some kind of medical condition that would put him in and out of reality, i.e. narcolepsy where he falls asleep and thinks he's dreaming? Of course, there are lots of medical reasons that memory might be impaired (dementia, early alzheimers, even a special one related to alcoholism), or for less drama, what about plain old blackouts from alcohol?

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          • #6
            Re: Drug research

            Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
            i never did it myself but DMT could fit the bill

            https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5...experience-365
            I've heard of DMT, but didn't know the details. I'll read up on it, thanks!

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            • #7
              Re: Drug research

              Originally posted by SBdeb View Post
              I've seen some pretty knowlegeable drug sites on Reddit that might be a useful resource for you if you want to check that out.

              Alternatively, what if he had some kind of medical condition that would put him in and out of reality, i.e. narcolepsy where he falls asleep and thinks he's dreaming? Of course, there are lots of medical reasons that memory might be impaired (dementia, early alzheimers, even a special one related to alcoholism), or for less drama, what about plain old blackouts from alcohol?
              Good call on Reddit. I know they have some pretty active drug communities.

              The disease idea is an interesting one - maybe narcolepsy would fit. Hmmm.

              You guys are always so good at coming up with ideas.

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              • #8
                Re: Drug research

                Originally posted by omjs View Post
                I've heard of DMT, but didn't know the details. I'll read up on it, thanks!
                Joe Rogan has a couple of fascinating podcasts on DMT

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJn00vnX6iY

                And Graham Hancock

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT3NQDgnMG0

                And... both of them together

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMpOhqqO4PE

                and just for good measure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndBjraV-3UY
                I heard the starting gun


                sigpic

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                • #9
                  Re: Drug research

                  Here's a short video of portraits an artist made during an LSD trip:
                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Sb8jCJUTw


                  Also, Ambien has been rumored to cause sleepwalking in rare cases. Maybe you could come up with a fictional sleeping pill that fits the bill.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Drug research

                    Honestly, there's really only one way to find out...

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                    • #11
                      Re: Drug research

                      And speaking from (ahem) experience, I'd say your best bet is LSD. Hippie psychics won't discriminate because it's chemically processed. Mushrooms aren't as likely to trigger hallucinations unless you eat a metric ****-ton. Again, you know, experience.

                      I'd also look into peyote.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Drug research

                        Originally posted by Mitchell McLean View Post
                        Here's a short video of portraits an artist made during an LSD trip:
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Sb8jCJUTw


                        Also, Ambien has been rumored to cause sleepwalking in rare cases. Maybe you could come up with a fictional sleeping pill that fits the bill.
                        Ambien's a great call.... I took one once and was shocked at what it did to me, mistakenly just thinking it to be a gentle sleeping pill.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Drug research

                          These are awesome resources, thanks!

                          The one time I took Ambien all it did was give me a massive headache, but I've known other people who had minor hallucinations - bricks on a wall seeming to melt together and create swirly lines, stuff like that. I could take that a little further for a fictional sleeping pill if I want something more minor than DMT or LSD. Or maybe he was trying to microdose LSD and threw in a couple of regular doses for good measure. That could be fun too.

                          I don't personally do many substances because they tend to have wonky effects on me (example: caffeine makes me tired), so it's good to have research sources out there.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Drug research

                            To state the obvious, another way to deal with this is an unanticipated reaction to a more common substance, a reaction that might be rare but in the larger picture it is why doctors tell us that for some people certain drugs are contra-indicated. It is not like your audience will be full of nurses and pharmacists sitting on the front row taking notes. I mean, probably not. They usually sit toward the back on the aisle seats.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Drug research

                              probably won't help but could have him wake up one night, like at 3 am, and he feels like someone is in the house/apt. calls for his cat or ex-wife or whatever. looks beside him and there is a half-empty bottle of vodka on the table beside his bed. it is sweating from coming out of the freezer. he didn't get it out of the freezer. he doesn't think, anyway. still seems like someone is in his house. checks. no one. gets back in bed. doesn't feel drunk. gets a call from neighbor who asks if he can come back up for a minute. he was there over a week ago. no, he is told, he just left. he goes. it is disturbing to him. he says he is not feeling well, goes back to his place, takes a drink of the vodka, puts it back on the nightstand. it knocks over the picture of his ex, etc. we have no idea what she looks like, because he has cut her head out of the picture.

                              goes to sleep again, wakes up again with fear that someone or something is in his house. looks at the nightstand. his ex in the picture is staring at him. he grabs the picture. her face dissolves in the foggy focus of his eyes. the bottle of vodka is not there. it is now empty in the bed beside him.

                              -just an example. basically, start weaving things for them to come together later. and people follow trails they tend to like traveling, even if hazardous.

                              i wrote a story once about an old fellow who thought he had a ghost in his house. with all the daily confusion, etc, he had to go through, trying to hold on to living freely in his own home, it seems the ghost is simply conjured from his dwindling faculties...there is no ghost...the old man leaves lights on but when he awakes in the morning thinks the ghost turned them on, etc. he becomes more and more terrified of this ghost as a reader would become more and more sorry and concerned for the old feller, who begins to find things like an old revolver on his nightstand, etc, and is losing his mind. but then one night at the end of the story when the police and rescue squad and the old man's son and daughter are moving the old man out of his house to a nursing home, the ghost opens the curtains as they pull away and looks through the gap.
                              Last edited by AnconRanger; 07-07-2017, 07:32 PM.

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