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From: glenn@c3pe.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Urinalysis...Lie Detectors...all th ( really drug safety )
Message-ID: <126@c3pe.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Jun-86 01:03:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: c3pe.126
Posted: Tue Jun  3 01:03:24 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Jun-86 06:49:22 EDT
References: <402@bu-cs.UUCP> <108@gumby.UUCP> <1239@dual.UUCP> <287@gumby.UUCP> <9857@ucsfcgl.ucsfcgl.UUCP>
Organization: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Lines: 38
Summary: Flashbacks

In article <9857@ucsfcgl.ucsfcgl.UUCP>, arnold@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Ken Arnold%CGL) writes:
> user of LSD who does not work under its influence will not have
> hallucinations on the job.  An irresonsible user (of any drug) may,
> indeed, have job-affecting problems, but there is nothing unique about
> LSD in this regard.  (The much-touted "flashback" is a myth; it has
> never been experienced by any person of my acquaintance who has used
> LSD (anecdotal evidence), nor has any scientific study been able to
> discern such a phenomenon.)  I have not heard any person contend that

The much-touted flashback is pretty similar to something that does happen.
Some people do "see things" while not under the influence of LSD, but it
is my understanding (admittedly not firsthand experience) that this is not
quite like "tripping".  Most psychdelics, such as LSD, mescaline, etc.,
seem to work more by distorting sensory inputs or not filtering input that
is normally filtered, more than by creating false input out of the air.
(Note:  "seem to")  The "flashback" effect is likely a result of the 
mind/brain having learned how to do these tricks w/o the LSD*.  It happens
most often when one is tired.  Drug free individuals also have been known
to hallucinate when tired.  (Perhaps "druggies" just recognize it more
easily when they see it?)  As a matter of fact, my first hallucination
resulted from six straight (pardon the pun) hours of playing soccer.  By 
the end, the soccer ball had grown a tail which had information encoded in
it.  I was also barely standing.

It is true that the "flashback" is not what legend would have it, according
to what *I* have seen anyhow (and that's *not* a statisticaly convincing
sample, so if you know otherwise, join in), but neither is it totaly mythical.
I also suspect that"flashbacks" hurt one's performance no more than does
daydreaming, but I have nothing with which to back this up.  

I'm trying to learn how to see these things the hard way ... without doing
LSD to get me there.  Wish me luck.  (This isn't because I'm moraly 
opposed to drugs, but just because it seemed a fitting challenge.)

					D. Glenn Arthur Jr.
					..!seismo!dolqci!hqhomes!glenn

(*Conjectur)