An extremely dangerous drug has also penetrated the world of festivals in Romania. An anti-drugs expert points out that there is a huge risk of overdose, explaining that the drug can cause “frightening” experiences.
The sensations that LCD consumers experience can be terrifying PHOTO: archive/Pixabay
A very dangerous drug, known for decades in the West, has started to be sold in Romania as well, draws the attention of anti-drug expert Cătălin Țone. The LSD BUDDHA stamp is distributed especially at festivals. The drug belongs to the category of high-risk drugs (like cocaine and heroin) and has a strong hallucinogenic effect. It is in the form of a stamp, made of absorbent paper, and its consumption causes severe damage to the central nervous system.
“The stamp (felt) is made of absorbent paper that is inserted into liquid LSD and then dried. It is consumed under the tongue and has a strong hallucinogenic (disturbing) effect on the central nervous system.
A dose can also contain 200 μg (micrograms) of active substance. More than 150 μg of LSD can be too much and cause death by overdose. High doses increase the risk even for experienced users,” avertises Tone. The risk of overdose is enormous and cannot be controlled by the consumer, because he cannot check the concentration of the active substance.
“Probably the best known and most widespread psychedelic”
LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) is not a recently invented drug, explains the anti-drug expert. This drug has a history of decades in the West, but it is still rare in our country. One of the explanations could be the relatively high cost compared to other more affordable drugs. The square with a side of 10 mm impregnated with LSD costs between 80-120 lei, ten times more than the dose of “crystal”. Instead, it began to be sought after for its psychedelic effect.
BUDDHA stamps have also entered Romania Photo source: FB/Cătălin Țone
“It is a semi-synthetic psychedelic drug that belongs to the tryptamine family. Probably the most well-known and widespread psychedelic, LSD has been used mainly as a recreational drug, an entheogen (can facilitate spiritual or divine experiences) and a tool in various practices such as meditation, psychonautics, artistic projects and psychedelic psychotherapy. It is synthesized from lysergic acid, derived from rye horn, a grain fungus that is usually found on rye.” explains the expert Cătălin Țone.
The drug is distributed and consumed in liquid, powder or impregnated paper form with various logos to make it attractive.
Symptoms “that can be downright scary”
The effect sets in relatively quickly after consuming LCD, and the experiences are extremely intense. Some “they can be really scary”draws the attention of Șone. Consumers have paranoid imaginations, dissociation occurs (body-mind separation), hypersensitivity occurs, and noise and light can become unbearable.
“The BUDDHA stamp was captured in Europe and recently also in our country”, the expert also mentions. What should scare you is the risk of overdose, which is fatal, because you can’t know how concentrated the liquid was that the dealer used. “The amount of substance contained in a stamp is uncertain”says Cătălin Țone. Although consumers may have the impression that they control this risk by “juggling” the time they keep the stamp under their tongue, control is relative, the expert points out.
If legally LSD is included in the category of high-risk drugs, like cocaine and heroin, from the point of view of the effects it produces, it can be compared to hallucinogenic mushrooms (psylocybin, DMT).
Seizure of drugs from a trafficker participating in a well-known festival PHOTO: C.Ț.
The drug LSD – stamps with the BUDDHA logo – was recently captured in Romania, reminds the anti-drug expert, right on the last day of the Electric Castle festival. A 28-year-old trafficker, from Hunedoara county, was caught red-handed by a road crew during a filter, on Bulevardul Muncii, in Cluj-Napoca, the trafficker being a passenger in a car going to the Electric Castle festival. Following the control performed on him, four types of drugs were discovered: LSD stamps, with the “BUDDHA” logo; ecstasy tablets; amphetamine and crystal (2MMC). The control was extended, and during the house search carried out at the trafficker’s home (in the municipality of Cluj-Napoca) the following were discovered and seized: 40 grams of crystal, several grinders, two precision scales, empty zip-lock envelopes, objects that they carried traces of substance, other means of evidence, the dealer being arrested for drug and ethnobotanical trafficking.
