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It's an apt name, this “Stuff”. The stuff that is gaining popularity; each time I venture in to procure some stuff myself, I more often see one or two others examining the wares inside the plexiglass case. Each bit of stuff is packaged to entice, with shocking and clever names, like the “Stuff” I got today on recommendation.
This guy I know has been bringing up the stuff recently, and asked if I knew of a good place to find it. I only found out about a year or so ago, from another guy I know. I had only found it in two locations. My natural curiosity got the better of me, and I, like the cat, was determined to stick a toe in and see what the fuss was about.
My first experience was with yet a third guy I know. I brought it up in conversation one day, and he said he knew where to get it and would bring some over for me to try. He brought over a zippered mylar pouch with a crazy looking skull guy in a tall hat, aptly named “Mad Hatter”. It was sour apple flavored, and I was dubious. He put a bit in a pipe and we passed it around, each hitting it two or three times. A couple of people were playing Mortal Kombat, so I sat back and watched the fights. Suddenly, my head began to swim. My eyes went funny and I felt my heart begin to race. What on earth was this? I sat back as a contemplative look skewed my eyebrows, and began to deeply ponder what I had just gotten myself into.
This “stuff” I keep referring to is known by many names. The most common I have heard is K2. It is sold as an incense, but is actually a blend of plants sprayed with a chemical loosely referred to as “synthetic THC”. It is generally sold in 1.5g to 3g pouches, but the product I purchased today is 3.25g. It varies greatly in price . . . I was buying a product called “Madder Hatter” (yep, with the same crazy skull guy) at 1.5g for $35, which was steep for sure. Today's bag of “Stuff” was only $20.
The first thing I noticed about this stuff once I began buying it on a pseudo regular basis was that it varied in quality and it was impossible to tell quality until you actually tried it. My first purchase of K2 was in a gas station that offered only a few bags for sale. He had 3 or 4 short, squat black pouches and one taller, shiny green and white mottled pouch. The green and white was $22.50, the squat black was $17.50. I bought one of each for sample's sake, and took them home to try. We opened the green and white first, loaded a bowl and passed it around. As I exhaled my second draw and passed the pipe, a sudden familiar swimmy head sensation began to creep its way up my neck. “OMG, one is enough,” I said, and the other two took their second turns and put it down.
You can feel it creep up on you, like an animal of prey as it stalks its dinner. It's like a tingle, slowly working its way up your arms, over your shoulders and up your neck to your head. Your pulse quickens and your breath hastens to catch up. At first, there's the explosion of thoughts. “Oh my god, am I going to be okay? Is this going to get worse or taper off from here? How long am I going to be like this? I feel like I'm breathing hard . . . is that my heart racing? Oh god, is this going to kill me?” All unfounded, panicky reactions borne from inexperience really, but when your brain starts to pick up all those rumors you've heard about it before, it can really send you into a panic. And sure, I can totally see how kids had to be hospitalized over it. If you smoke it like one smokes pot from a pipe, these kids are probably hitting it five or six times. Or, god forbid, taking bong hits. And it creeps up . . . you don't realize it's too much until it's too late. Dealing with it isn't difficult for me . . . I've imbibed my fair share of psychedelic drugs, and while I never “freaked out”, when things start to “get real”, it's easy to stay grounded when you remind yourself you've done this a hundred times before and you were just fine each time. Just keep it together for a few minutes and everything will be fine.
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