[extropy-chat] baloney in the memetic superstructure

spike spike66 at comcast.net
Sun Dec 4 03:46:04 UTC 2005



When one has a deep-seated incorrect notion in one's
memetic infrastructure, one takes an interest in how
it got there to start with.  When Samantha chided me
into becoming educated on the dangers of drug overdose,
I did so and found I had worried for nothing.  I found
a bunch of other interesting stuff while I was at it.  What
follows is a short report, written mostly for your
Saturday evening entertainment.

A very credible looking medical research site claimed
there have been 8 known cases that can be classified as
fatal LSD overdose, with no other medical issues and no 
other drugs involved.  These were thought to have
occurred in those rare cases where the victim had a 
very large amount of LSD in the unusual form that 
could be mistaken for cocaine, and had ingested a very large 
amount up the old schnozzola.  In those cases the victim 
inhaled huge amounts, hundreds of times the ordinary 
LSD dose.  Even Timothy Leary would have dropped out
permanently.

So LSD has been around since the 60s.  Eight cases since
then, and those under very unusual circumstances: less 
risky than being devoured by an alligator.

As for those cooking up their own at home and accidentally
poisoning themselves, I found no cases of that.  The web
has been with us a dozen years and the internet for over
three decades.  If it hasn't happened by now, it evidently
isn't a risk.

So now I ask myself how I got the notion to start with.  One
site suggested that many newspapers report LSD overdose
incorrectly.  I heard of one a couple years ago because it
happened in my wife's home town of Spokane Washington.  Turns
out it was something else besides LSD, an experimental
substitute that the prole used and managed to poison 
herself.  Perhaps much of what is sold as LSD may be 
something else, such as strychnine.  Rat poison is cheap 
and legal.  Deaths from this might be reported as
LSD overdose, especially if the victim's friends
also thought they were getting acid.

A google search on fatal drug overdose reveals
some interesting findings.  Evidently the most 
common drug overdose is from heroin, followed by... 
alcohol!  I never realized how common that is.

Of course there are circumstances to muddy the
waters, such as deaths from a complicated mixture
of drugs.  Which pill slew Elvis?  And there are
other dangers to certain drugs, even if the substance
does not pose a risk of fatal overdose.  It is said
by some sites that LSD can cause flashbacks.  And of 
course with each hit, one runs the risk of becoming
more Howard-Sternlike.  That risk alone would cause
me to flee, horrified. 

To the question was how I got the idea of fatal LSD overdose 
to start with, I offer three suggestions:  

As an impressionable child I recall rock stars were dropping 
like flies on DDT:  Jimi Hendrix (who could play guitar with 
his teeth), Janis Joplin, who could imitate an actual rock
star if you have the sound muted, Jim Morrison of the Doornails 
for instance.  (I had heard of none of these before the news 
reports of their drug-related demise, with little detail
on which drugs were involved).  I did learn that Jim
Morrison, who was known to request infants to light
his fire, was from Melbourne Florida, Harvey Newstrom's
home town and just a short ride from where I misspent 
my own youth and childhood.

Another possibility is accidental or intentional 
misreporting of a cause of death in the news.  If a
hopeless junky is found perished, perhaps news agencies
would report it as a drug overdose without getting too
careful on which drug.  Possibly even the local coroner
would do little more than cite drug overdose, leaving
the local news agencies to supply details.  Perhaps the
local police chief is unwilling to admit that there is
heroin available in the neighborhood, or wishes to
scare the proletariat into eschewing certain 
pharmaceuticals.  In the case of rock stars, their
agents may have both the money and the connections
to influence the medics to list the cause of death
as something that may help protect the rock star's
legacy and the agent's cut of the future record
sales.  (Morrison's heart attack, for instance.)
   
Lastly, I figure it is all the fault of Hollywood 
Inc.  About 15 years ago, I saw a movie called 1969,
starring Wynona Ryder, Keifer Sutherlin and Robert
Downy Jr.  If you have not seen this one, rush right
out to the video place and rent something else.  Anything
else.  Even with that cast, it was the dumbest movie
since Easy Rider (which is truly difficult to beat in
in the stupid category).  Downy's character offers LSD to 
Sutherlin who refuses, then to Ryder, who also declines, 
perhaps to meet an appointment with the local clothing 
retailer to do some shoplifting.  Downy then devours all the
LSD, presumably twice or thrice the normal dose.  Bad
circumstances result.  He survives, barely.

But the all time classic is "Reefer Madness" which is
now available on DVD.  This alarming but strangely
hilarious docudrama warns of how clean-cut republican 
young people can be twisted into monstrous creatures, by
merely "toking" on these "reefers" of the devil's 
harvest.  (Picture Wally Cleaver showing up wearing 
only a tie-dye T-shirt and beating June:  take THAT 
pearl bitch!).  These "reefer" high schoolers soon
become "hep cats" engaging in such behaviors
as murder and really wild jazz piano playing.  Oh
dear. 

So I was wrong about the potential of death due to
LSD overdose, but it's all Hollywood's fault.  And
that Howard Stern thing still scares me senseless.

spike








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