RIP:
In addition to his wife, he is survived by sons Pete and Starfinder; daughters Nina and Redbird; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
I bet Pete and Nina are looking at sixty and Starfinder and Redbird are slightly younger than me. Will we ever see an acid revival? I can see it taking off in the general hunger for difference, but you’d be a brave spiritual being to start it right now. And under current market and political conditions there seems to be no criminal syndicate interested in reviving it.
As I understand it, obtaining the precursors *and* doing the synthesis is very hard indeed for LSD.
On the other hand you've got psilocybin and other tryptamines readily available from common organic sources, with limited if any processing required. Plus 2C-B and other phenethylamines, which seem easier to synthesise (organic chemists, correct me if I'm mistaken).
So even if hallucingens come back into fashion, I doubt we'll see an acid revival any time soon.
Posted by: duaneg | March 16, 2011 at 01:09 PM
I was just reading about the heroin shortage (apparently the Chinese are buying up all the opium base, driving up prices and causing downstream dealers to cut it further in order to maintain their margins) and it struck me that we're faced with the 1980s all over again, but without the drugs. No (decent) eckies to go out dancing and ignore it; no smack to miss out the decade and come up in New Labour; that just leaves drink and speed, and they're even trying to put the price of booze up.
I predict a riot.
Posted by: Alex | March 16, 2011 at 02:44 PM
There's always coke and dope, both of which are, I understand, much cheaper in real terms than they were back then.
Posted by: Richard J | March 16, 2011 at 02:54 PM
I hear there are serious quality issues with the first of those options. Since dope has become an industrial rather than an agricultural product, though, we may be faced with a lot of people watching Japanese cartoons and eating too much. Foiled again.
Posted by: Alex | March 16, 2011 at 03:14 PM
cottage industry, maybe. I mean, how did British Based Vietnamese get the dope farming franchise? I'm thinking some Quakers/chocolate combination of social exclusion and niche opportunity.
Posted by: jamie | March 16, 2011 at 03:21 PM
Truly, they are the Hugenot weavers of our day.
Posted by: Richard J | March 16, 2011 at 03:34 PM
More sowing, I think. Not to mention reaping.
Posted by: jamie | March 16, 2011 at 03:41 PM
More seriously; are they directly from Vietnam, or are they the descendants of the boat people diaspora?
Posted by: Richard J | March 16, 2011 at 03:52 PM
Don't know, frankly, though I get the impression it's a diaspora thing. Britain doesn't take Vietnamese refugees anymore and I've not seen any accounts of people trafficking from there.
Posted by: jamie | March 16, 2011 at 03:59 PM
Like this local story. The kicker was that he also got struck off as a doc for mangling some poor woman who he operated on in a BUPA clinic, under their usual "why yes, we'll operate on you with added snobbery, but if you turn out to be ill or something, we'll, uh, dial 999 and dump you on the great British taxpayer" protocol.
Meanwhile, Manhood Hunt for Hoxton Bus Masturbator. Hoxton Bus Masturbator is such a band name, isn't it?
Posted by: Alex | March 16, 2011 at 04:02 PM
Why "manhood" hunt?
Posted by: belle le triste | March 16, 2011 at 04:33 PM
I presumed it was because it appeared in the photo, but actually not...
Posted by: Alex | March 16, 2011 at 04:56 PM
I tried posting something on LSD, the Vietnamese and Hoxton, though so as not to repeat if it re-appears I'll just mention that LSD supply alwys seems to have gone up and down a lot, it's not so much the pre-cursors as the care required to make LSD-25.
http://www.slate.com/id/2098109/
Posted by: skidmarx | March 16, 2011 at 05:03 PM
I think Chris Williams suggested this.
Posted by: Alex | March 16, 2011 at 05:34 PM
Unlike Capt Exum, I wasn't joking. Although, the hall of mirrors being what it is. I'm not completely sure that AM's joking.
Posted by: Chris Williams | March 16, 2011 at 05:40 PM
Yeah, I saw that and thought of Chris. Kind of wistful isn't it?
Posted by: jamie | March 16, 2011 at 05:41 PM
They're hardly going to abandon the Southern border though, are they. I'm sure Israel would support Hezbollah going in...
Posted by: Cian | March 16, 2011 at 07:12 PM
The pattern in Southern Levbanon was local militias stiffened by Hezbollah regulars & roving AT teams. they could probably spare a battallion or so for the same kind of fight. I think there may be issues over terrain, though, unless the Iranians have been teaching the Hezbies desert warfare.
Posted by: jamie | March 16, 2011 at 07:59 PM