Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> Once, after injecting himself with a large dose of morphine, he found himself hovering over an enormous battlefield, watching the armies of England and France drawn up for battle, and then realized he was witnessing the 1415 Battle of Agincourt... The vision seemed to last only a few minutes, but later, he discovered he’d been tripping for 13 hours.

This doesn't make any sense... morphine is not a hallucinogen or a psychedelic. You don't "trip" on it. I have a feeling the journalist mixed something up here.




It's not quite the same as a traditional hallucinogen but there are some vivid dreams. In fact, that's where the term "pipe dream" comes from, from the dreams that opium smokers would have while high. I have taken a lot of heroin in my life and although I never experienced something to the extent that Sacks is describing I did have some strange and very vivid daydreams while high.


They mess a lot with your sleep in general, altering your lucid state, to the point that what might otherwise have just be a dream becomes something closer to a trip.


Opioids are not hallucinogens? They certainly are.

Anyone who has been a caregiver to someone with prescription opioids can confirm.


Drugs that are not-trippy at a small dose sometimes get trippy at a large dose.


I have a very similar reaction to codeine. Based on genetic testing, my body processes it much faster than normal, which is similar to increasing the dosage much higher.


You can totally trip on morphine.


Maybe "lucid dream" would be a better description than "hallucination"? Were they technically awake or asleep?

Something that feels like a few minutes but lasts 13 hours certainly sounds like induced sleep.


While "nodding", it can definitely be hallucinogenic. It's like surfing between taking too little and taking too much.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: