Thought I would finally get around to my introduction essay, my apologies it has taken so long.
I have had an interest in changing my state of consciousness from a very early age. This stems from an insatiable inquisitiveness, coupled with an advanced level of reading comprehension since third grade. I had a friend that had smoked marijuana since the age of 8, while I myself dident start regularly smoking till I was 12. When I started smoking, I tried to learn everything I could about cannabis, which was quite a bit due to my unrestricted Internet access. I learned of course of the benevolence of cannabis and how the government lied about its negative consequences. This was one of the first things that began to make me truely question authority. It shook my trust in the goverment, which I was raised to have faith in and abide by it's laws.
While learning about weed on erowid I started to also research other drugs, and psychedelics were easily the most intriguing. Due to my young age and lack of experience and black market connections, I started to abuse Over the counter hallunicinigons such as dxm and diph, or bendryl. The benedryl experiences still rate as some of the craziest and most unpleasant experiences I've had to date. Completely real hallunicinations, seeming in nature similar to what ive read of Datura, in which I would talk to people who weren't there. Shadow people would lurk with malevolent intent around corners and outside my door as I tried to sleep, looking at me through the crack in the doorframe. I would also have crazy sleep paralysis-like symptoms in which I would get up and go and do crazy things only to realize I was still in my bed. This only begins to scratch the surface of all those crazy experiences, as unfortunately I dabbled quite a bit, due to inexperience and a teenage desire to rebel. I highly reccommend against any trying these substances out for themselves, too similar to Datura
Very fortunately for myself, at this time I moved to southwest Florida. I very quickly took full advantage of my environment, and began to pick the Psilocybe Cubensis that grew abundantly a mile from my house whenever it rained. In a short time I was an expert mushroom hunter,sustainably harvesting, and the field where I went produced an extremely large amount of mushrooms. And I would go at least weekly. I had some extremely spiritual experiences through fasting and very large doses of fresh mushrooms. One time I ate more than an ounce worth dry weight, my ego completely dissolved and I merged with nature. For instance I would have no problem filling 2 or 3 large paper shopping bags full each time. Needless to say I had an extreme excess of mushrooms. I began to give them to all my friends, and eventually had an open invitation for anyone at my school who wanted to try them. I was almost class president junior year, but lost by 2 votes, or so the administration, who of course weren't fond of me, said
I was unfortunately,expelled my senior year with a 3.6 for being too much of a drug influence at the school. At about this time I happend on the book Be Here Now by chance, and it changed my life and started me on the path I'm on today.