Thursday, July 31, 2008

That Old Entheogenic Protocol

I'm going to bet that most of you are too old for this to matter--old as in experienced. But as something not nice just happened to a friend of mine, I thought I'd take the time to put it down here, just in case there are some younger readers who might not know these simple things about sharing medicines. And I don't mean prescription medicines, though those could just as easily be included here.
And if this doesn't relate to you, it might be something some of your kids might need to hear. It's written for them so pardon the tone.

A friend of mine just called to relate the story of how she was recently dosed at a very hip event in New York City. She was working the event when someone gave her some chocolate. Half-an-hour later she thought she was getting a good contact high, but when it persisted and grew immensely stronger she realized she’d been dosed.
And the hosts were not sympathetic. No one took her—by now having a very bad trip as well as being lost in her anger over being unwittingly dosed—aside and tried to calm her down, no one sympathized with her. No one even gave her a glass of water. From what she told me the essential response to her wretched condition was "Well, it’s your karma. Deal with it." Which she did, over the next 18 hours.
Now dear kiddies, I’m going to take a minute as an elder—that means old guy who’s been hanging around a long freaking time—and go over a couple of ground rules for entheogens and pot cookies alike. Call it stoner protocol 101.
First rule: Never dose anyone without them knowing what you’re giving them and how long it will last and what the effects are likely to be. No fuggin exceptions! No game playing with pot cookies ("Hey, man! You know what I just gave you? You’re gonna be real high pretty soon….") or chocolate covered shrooms ("Try one of these, man; they’re delicious..."), LSD or anything else. This rule is the heart of old-fashioned hippie consciousness. If people want to expand their consciousness and you’ve got a tool that can help them, fine. If they don’t, then don’t sneak ‘em something to get your rocks off. People who do that need their own consciousness expanded.
Second rule: If someone you are with is having a difficult time, help them deal with it. That means when your best friend’s wife is crying in a corner because everything looks like spiders to her, you don’t stand in front of a light and make spider shadows with your hands. It means you sit with them and very calmly ask what’s wrong. Listen to them. If they want their hand held they’ll tell you. Don’t just assume they want you to put your spider hand on them. Just be there and get them water, or a banana to calm them down a bit. And if you have to sit there all night and lose your own buzz over it, that’s cool. You’ll get another chance. And you’ll have those good karma points too.
Third rule: Each one, teach one. That’s what was printed on the buttons they put in each seat back in the old Filmore East in Greenwich Village in New York (along with buttons that read Pass It On) and what it meant was respect. Respect for the medicines, respect for your friends. You’ve done something someone wants to try? Walk them through the experience. Make it joyful for them.
Last word on this: Remember that no one gets their consciousness expanded when they’re fearful or have been surprised by a ‘gift’ of being dosed when they were not open for it. And the point of the whole thing is to expand consciousness, right?

2 comments:

The Grudge said...

How unfortunate. It is sad that there are plenty of those who use drugs in ways that are destructive to others and themselves.

The Grudge said...

How unfortunate. It is sad that there are plenty of those who use drugs in ways that are destructive to others and themselves.