The entire era was defined by LSD. I'm too lazy to explain, just take my word for it.
Yep, I was there. It was very cool. It had much to do with culture, and little to do with politics.
Why did LSD just basically disappear? If anyone offered any today, I'd assume it's fake because people are doing so much other shit and no LSD, but back then it appears to have been common.
It's pretty hard to make and degrades over time and while hiding small quantities is easy, the feds will absolutely annihilate your ass for producing it. It's been a long time since I've been involved in this shit but synthetic mushrooms (psilocybin analogs) were going around for a bit and I'm pretty sure E is what people do these days... it's got the psychedelic feel good thing, creative energy thing going on without the tripping. You used to be able to get pretty wild stuff at festivals or on the dark web (including good ol Lucy) but these days you probably have to be more careful.
For me Acid was always the mother of all Psychedelics, I've done stuff with stronger visuals but there is nothing like the introspection of an acid trip. The way you can see things with almost instant clarity and detachment. How you can process your past and yourself and even life and death and make peace with it and feel connected to everything. It's hard to even do basic math and money just seems absurd on acid... It's hard to explain how much the hippies were influenced by it unless you have tripped on it. It permeates all of the art, music, culture and politics of the era either directly or indirectly.
I don't do drugs any more, either, but mushrooms were reasonably popular when I did. I wish we had LSD. LSD is something I might actually do. I could use the introspection, and it seems like something one wouldn't get addicted to.
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