Whatever does not destroy me, can only make me stronger. - Nietzsche THE DXM ZINE. Issue 5. August 1998. A Symposium of Articles Pertaining to DXM Use (c)1998 UAF/Gravol Publications Email at Zine@dxm.net Please visit our IRC channels on EFnet at #High, #Dxm, and #Uaf. Official Zine Web Site at http://www.alaska.net/~zorak/dxm/. Official #High Web Site at http://www.amvalue.com/~ben/. Official #Dxm Web Site at http://abuse.dxm.net/. Official #Uaf Web Site at http://uaf.lycaeum.org/. Edited by Gravol, with article contributions by fellow DXMers. Now over 160 subscribers strong, in 9 countries. DISCLAIMER: The authors of this zine do not condone the use of Dextromethorphan in any way. This text is simply used as an informative guide to issues relating to Dextromethorphan use and should be used for entertainment purposes only. We are not responsible for any actions taken by anyone reading this text. ADVERTISEMENTS: You may now advertise your products or your services in this section of the zine. Advertising is free for all who are interested, I just ask that you provide a link on your Web site to the Zine Web Site at http://www.alaska.net/~zorak/dxm/. The editor has the sole discretion to edit or remove any advertisements he deems inappropriate. Send your advertisements to Zine@dxm.net with the word "Advertisement" in the Subject line. Thanks! --- Hi! The domain www.dxm.net will be giving away free limited webspace. Users will be able to have a picture, and a bio that can be updated at any time via username/password. ETA: 2 weeks. Dxm.net also offers shell accounts and complete virtual hosting solutions through e-systems.net. We are just cool! Contact: next@dxm.net. Thank you! --- To subscribe to the DXM Zine, email Zine@dxm.net. To get back issues, go to http://www.alaska.net/~zorak/dxm/. Subscribing is safe and easy, and only the editor has access to the subscriber list. It will never be sold or shared with anyone else, so subscribe today! --- CONTENTS 1 From the Editor - by Gravol 2 Letters to the Editor 3 DXM News - from Internet reports 4 DXM Survey 5 Break on Through (to the Other Side) - by Nectar 6 DXM and the Out-of-Body Experience - by Gravol 7 Side Dishes: Other Substances that Go Well with DXM - by Macb3th 8 My Experiences with DXM - by DXMRat 9 DXM Chemistry Lesson - by William White 10 DXM and Drug Screening - by Alan B. Storrow, et al. 11 The Cord of Life - by Anonymous 12 DXM Poetry - by Gravol 13 DXM Made Simple...DXM Humor - by Bem 14 Robo Journey - by Anonymous 15 DXM Replacements - by Sigma 16 DXM Site Review - by Gravol 17 Info on Ordering Pure DXM Powder - from compiled information 18 DXM Music and Movie Reviews - by Gravol, Muha, Al Crawford 19 Various DXM Sources (from the PDR for Non-Prescription Drugs) 20 Various DXM Internet Sites 21 Various Trip Reports - from Internet reports 22 Credits/Zine Information FROM THE EDITOR by Gravol I hope most of you enjoyed Issue 4, and likewise enjoy this one. I just wanted to shed some light on some recent changes in my life that have affected the zine, so please bare with me a moment. :) First, I broke up with my girlfriend of 10 months. We had planned to move to Florida and eventually get married, but in June the relationship ended, and shortly after that my dad's house was sold in Ohio, so instead of getting an apartment in Ohio I decided it was probably best to move down for the time being with my parents until I can find a roommate in St. Augustine, Florida (which is where I live now). I moved into the area on the last week of July, so these have all been pretty recent events. Also, because of getting everything ready for the move, I was not able to publish Issue 5 when it should have came out, in July. Instead, it's being released in August, and I hope you've remained patient for its release... now I am pretty much adjusted, everything is moved in, and I can again begin work on the zine. The zine will be out every month, starting with this issue. Again, I apologize for not getting it out sooner. And if you're ever in the area, be sure to stop by and see me. :) Gravol August 5, 1998 St Augustine, FL LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Listed below are a few letters received after the publication of the last issue and the editor's response. From XlMiSeRyIX@aol.com: Hey, I'm a subscriber to your 'zine. I was curious as to what supplier you'd suggest for about $50 or $100 dollars worth? I need a reliable source, and a company that can get it out quickly would be best. Also, ya know, the best deals. Thanks in advance. - XlMiSeRyIX From the Editor: XlMiSeRyIX: The only person I have ever ordered from is WANMAN Enterprises. Since I have not ordered from any other supplier, nor have I heard too many successful stories of people that have, I cannot personally back up their claims... only pass along the information they advertise. The only problem with WANMAN is that he is no longer in the DXM selling business, so BioTech is your best bet. His prices change constantly, so check out his info at http://www.third-plateau.lycaeum.org/ powder/index.html. Other sources may be cheaper... but are they reliable? - Gravol From IBaNeZsd@aol.com: May I please get the first 3 zines? And also, is there anyway I can send for a magazine in the mail? - IBaNeZsd From the Editor: IBaNeZsd: To get the first 4 issues, either in plain text or HTML format, simply go to http://www.alaska.net/~zorak/dxm/. You will be presented with an index of choices. As far as postal mail subscriptions, they are not currently available. The task of printing up the zine, xeroxing it several times, and then mailing it out is not only costly but time-consuming, and probably takes away from time I could be editing and compiling articles. It was tried once before... just not something I can do right now until I get extra help. - Gravol From SammBerr@aol.com: I don't know what others have found about this person (Kristopher Kindell) but I sent my Money Order in May. He e-mailed me 5/30 & said he'd been out of town & was having trouble with his supplier. He apologized & said that my order would be sent out on June 1. I still haven't received ANYTHING & he does not answer my e-mails now... - Samm From the Editor: Samm: It is now apparent that Kris Kindell is out of the DXM-selling business. Several people have informed me that they recently sent him money, and their envelopes were returned unopened with the word "DECEASED" written on it; probably an attempt by him to tell people he's no longer in the business (or never really was to begin with). - Gravol From Cracked@primenet.com: Just wanted to complement your efforts towards what is a well put together, informative, helpful zine. I've received my first (#4) and was very pleased with the content. - CRaCKeD From Mysticsl@catalinas.net: Hey, Good thing to see you back too... I enjoyed the previous issues and thought you decided to stop the zine altogether without any notice. Good thing you didn't cause I enjoy 'em. :) Looking forward to the next issue.. - Tim Kedis From Cohoonj@usa.net: I read the first couple of issues and I thought it was pretty good. Thank you. - James Cohoon DXM NEWS Edited from Internet reports "DXM Supplier Kris Kindell apparently dead" The controversial DXM supplier Kris Kindell, who was known for his unbelievably low prices has apprently died, but it's more probable that he's just writing "DECEASED" on every envelope that is addressed to him to let people know he's out of the DXM-selling business. Many people didn't realize that he was just 15-years-old and a scam artist, claiming to get wholesale DXM shipments straight from China. Another popular supplier that was profiled in this zine was Wanman, who is also out of the DXM-selling business. It is not certain if he has refunded all the money that people has sent him, however. "Biotech goes up on its DXM prices" Probably the most popular current DXM supplier, Biotech has raised his prices. If you are not aware of his current prices, please check out the Info on Ordering Pure DXM Powder section of this zine. "EFnet IRC channel #High taken over, then recovered" The popular IRC channel #High was taken over by a corrupt individual who goes by the nickname SmokEE. After this action, his dxm.net account was taken away as punishment from the administration of dxm.net. However, a hacking group called Injustice then held the #High channel and refused to give it back. While this may just be an IRC channel with no harsh feelings, their provocative nature has led to the Editor's computer crashing and some data intended to be published in the zine deleted. Meanwhile, #High headquarters was moved to #Robo but that channel was also taken, so the new headquarters was moved to #GHB. However, on August 12 #High was given back by SmokEE, and the channel is once again under the original owner's control. "DXM Net attacked by computer hackers" The dxm.net domain has been attacked by an unknown computer hacker(s), and the employer is contacting the FBI to file a report. If you have any information regarding this attack, please contact next@e-systems.net. "Several stores now putting Coricidin behind the counter" We have reports of stores in the Baltimore, MD area and the Akron, OH area putting Coricidin Cough & Cold variety pills behind the counter and requiring an ID, proving you are at least 18 years of age or older to purchase this product. No other form of DXM has been reported being put behind the counter (e.g., Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough) which leads us to believe that this is just local cases of kids stealing Coricidin from the stores and the managers getting fed up with it. No other variety of Coricidin was put behind the counter either. Last Updated: August 13, 1998. DXM SURVEY A Survey on DXM Use Please fill out and return this survey to Zine@dxm.net. Results will be published in next month's issue. Include "Survey" in the subject line. 1. Y/N Have you ever had CEVs (Closed-Eye-Visuals) while under the influence of DXM? 2. Y/N Have you ever taken LSD? 3. Y/N Have you ever had an OBE (Out-of-body Experience) while under the influence of DXM? Thank you! I like to keep the surveys brief and to-the-point. Each month's survey will focus on a different aspect of DXM use. This month's survey was on CEVs and OBEs, and if LSD usage possibly affects whether your not you have ever experienced CEVs. BREAK ON THROUGH (TO THE OTHER SIDE) by Nectar The time had come to depart on a wild journey exploring time, space, and all places in between. I boarded the ship via 500 mg of DXM and 7.5 g of Morning Glories [Editor's note: morning glories contain lysergic acid amides, a chemical cousin to LSD]. Awaiting take off, I put in a Phish CD to help me surrender to the phlow. After about 45 minutes, I was jetisoned into Robo-space. But it was diffrent this time. Way diffrent! The room I was in seemed so odd to me, and it started freaking me out. I started to feel a little sick, so I floated across the living room to the bathroom. I stopped at the mirror and became amazed at my reflection. My reflecton seemed to be calling to me, in need of attention. Something inside of me (my sub- consciousness, my inner self, I'm not sure), started having a conversation with me (My concious self). At this point, my head seemed to detach from my body as I was looking in the mirror. I don't mean I saw it come off, but my head was pretty much the only thing I could see in the mirror. Everything else was a breathing distorted swirl of colors. This conversation went on for what I guess to have been around 1-2 hours. I would talk at times, and think at times, but this conversation wasn't things I was just thinking up in my head, it was an actual two way conversation. We talked about my ambitions, the path I'm taking through life, the way everybody's actions and existance effects everything. It was one of the coolest thing to happen to me while tripping. I went through feelings of joy, sorrow, guilt, ecstacy. This sort of bombardment of feelings has happened to me before while tripping, but never like this, and not to this degree. I came back to the living room and layed back on my couch. With eyes closed, I ventured through my mind. If you've never done this while tripping on DXM, or anything else of it's nature, I highly recommend it. Things happened that are hard to remember, and even harder to explain. All I know is that I was not alone on my jouney. I communicated with at least one entity that I can remember. To my great sorrow though, I can't remember what we communicated about. After about 4-5 hours into the trip, I returned to reality, though I was still feeling extremely high. I could feel my body wanted to get rid of all this, so I went to the bathroom. Theres no need to go into detail, but most people who have done Morning Glories no how bad MG shits can be. It was like my body wanted to purge itself of them, so it got rid of everything in me. Sorry, I don't mean to get graphic, but it was just apart of the trip I thought anyone who might try this combo should know. I've done A LOT of diffrent drugs, and this has to be in the top 5 times of the highest I've ever been. It's definatly worth a try. DXM AND THE OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE by Gravol This is a two-part article. The first focuses on how to achieve an out-of-body experience while on DXM and the second part relates my personal experience of inducing an OBE on Friday, August 7, 1998. This is quoted from the Dennings & Phillips book on Astral Projection: In Astral Projection (which I will abbreviate as AP from this point on), the conscious mind is aware of what goes on, but from a perspective that is different from that of the physical body, which remains passive. Astral Projection - the Out-of-the-Body Experience - is natural, and happens spontaneously more often than you realize. AP enables you to function in two different ways: o In relation to the Material World. This includes traveling to any place, and experiencing material world events; to undertake special "at-a-distance" works - such as absent healing; and to meet and communicate with other out-of-body people. o In relation to the Astral World. This includes seeing and investigating the underlying "behind-the-scenes" level of things; to effect change, first at the astral level, and then - as a result - at the material level, which is basically Magick. The continuum of experience based on mingled inner and outer conditions, builds up a conviction that the consciousness is "contained within" the physical body, and sometimes even a belief that the consciousness is one with that body. We see thru the bodily eyes, and if we close our eyes we cease to see; we hear thru the bodily ears, and ear-plugs if we use them will deaden the sound; a pain in the hand or foot seems to come from the direction we know the hand or foot to be in, although on waking from sleep we can be mistaken about this. If we want to see what is behind us, we turn our head; if we want to see something in the next room, we walk and look. But supposing you are not an ordinary present-day adult. Supposing you are a baby who wants to know if his mother is in the next room? Supposing you are a primitive man who wants to know what goes on outside the cave at night? You want to go and look. But to take your physical body would be in the one case impossible, in the other case highly undesirable. Yet, if you want strongly enough to go and look, in either case you can. Young children easily take their consciousness outside their physical bodies. Primitive people do it. Solitary prisoners sometimes do it too. You can do it; you have only forgotten how. Modern means of transport and communication have helped you to forget, and, worst of all, somewhere along the line you have probably been told that it's "impossible." Pure consciousness has two ways of being aware of something outside itself. One of these two ways can be put right out of the picture at once, because it is the "direct intution" which only belongs to the highly developed mystic (quite a different thing from the "intution" which people may have about a friend's illness or an impending disaster, but that doesn't come into our present inquiry either). The normal human way of consciousness to work - and "out-of-the-body" experience is totally normal and human - is for it to work thru a "vehicle" of some kind. In its usual state, your consciousness has three vehicles: o The Physical Body o The Astral, or emotional, Body o The Mental Body In AP, part of the astral body (the "gross astral") remains with the physical body to keep it functioning, and part of the substance of the astral body goes forth, with or without the conscious mind. The astral substance can be ejected from the astral body voluntarily, and with consciousness. That is what you are to learn here. As far as preparing for AP, live as naturally as you can. You should make dietary considerations... there is a value in a limited/vegetarian diet. What's good for the physical body is also good for psychic and spiritual well-being. There is also a need for exercise. [Editor's note: The book goes into detail about how to practice meditation and eventually induce an OBE. Because you will most likely be doing this on DXM, you need only know the most basic components of inducing an OBE, because any extra information is just going to confuse you or make you forget what you're doing at the time. So I will give you the instructions for what worked for me.] Here, by contrast, is something you can hardly practice too much. Do it anywhere and any time, by day or by night. Begin it, then tell yourself to continue it while giving your attention to some other pursuit; note if you are still doing the rhythmic breath a half-hour later, for example. Go to sleep doing it. The Rhythmic Breath has many uses besides the ones in this article. It can aid long periods of mental concentration, and it can aid in all kinds of sports. It has both bodily and psychic value. It can steady nerves, boost energy, and, as you will learn here, it can help you direct energy. The way to do it: First put any noisy timepieces right out of your hearing. Then lay flat on your back with your hands to your sides. Next, identify and give attention to your heartbeat. As soon as you keep track of the rhythm, begin counting beats. Now you can experiment, to find your own Rhythmic Breath. What you are aiming to establish, is a pattern of breathing in which you can comfortably hold your lungs full of air for a certain number of heartbeats, then breathe out during twice that number of heartbeats so that your lungs are as empty as you can comfortably make them... keep your lungs empty for the original number of beats, then breathe in during the count of the double number, your lungs being well expanded at the end. And so on. To make this clear, here are three examples, one of which is almost certain to be yours: Hold lungs Breathe out Hold lungs Breathe in full during during empty during during 2 beats 4 beats 2 beats 4 beats 3 beats 6 beats 3 beats 6 beats 4 beats 8 beats 4 beats 8 beats [Editor's note: Basically what you're striving for is to breathe in during a certain number of counts/beats, then breathe out for twice that number. For me, it was 2-4-2. For instance, I breathed in to the count of two, then breathed out to the count of four, and so on. This put me in a totally relaxed state of mind. I am omitting the rest of the exercises except a brief description of the chakras.] A Chakra is a Center of Activity. There are certain points in the physical body which have an evident and special affinity with more than the material level. A powerful emotional shock can act like a physical blow upon the solar plexus; either the blow or the emotional shock could cause loss of consciousness. The same is true of the top of the head: "they sat as if stunned," is said of people who have received startling news, and sometimes pleasant news can stun as much as unpleasant, if it is startling enough. Here are the Chakras, or places where the astral and material levels on your body meet: o The Crown. A little distance above the top of the head, not resting upon the head; o The Brow. At the mid forehead and as if half inside the head, half outside; o The Throat. Completely outside, just in front of the thyroid cartilage; o The Heart. At mid chest, and as if half inside, half outside; o The Sex Organs. At the genital region and as if half inside the body, half outside; o The Feet. The feet being placed with their inner edges just or nearly touching, this Center is visualized as being half below the ground- surface and half above, slightly interpenetrating the feet at about the region of the insteps. From the Editor: Basically the practice involves using the Rhythmic Breath and focusing on each one of these Centers of Activity (ie, chakras), starting with the crown and ending with the feet, until you are totally relaxed. However, on DXM, probably the only thing you'll need to use is the Rhythmic Breath (explained above). That was what was successful for me. In Issue 6 I will tell you of some of the adventures that you can find in the Astral World, as quoted from the same book, but I thought for this issue I should show you a basic understanding of how to achieve an OBE. So, in review: o While on DXM (a high 2nd plateau or low 3rd plateau dose is probably the best) lay down with your hands at your side, completely flat. o You may put on headphones if you like, but make sure you don't have to change the tapes/CDs too often or deal with the phone. o Concentrate and clear your mind of everything, starting rhythmic breathing exercises (for me it was inhaling at 2 counts, exhaling at 4 counts, inhaling at 2 counts, etc.). o Picture yourself floating up, and pretty soon you may find yourself leaving your body. Keep your eyes closed, because the world that you are about to see will not involve your real eyes, just your astral vision. But be warned, what you are about to see are NOT CEVs (Closed- Eye-Visuals)... if you truly have an OBE then you may see spirits (both good and evil) and other things that can be startling to you. But you can always return to your body as safely as you left it, with just the slightest notion of trouble. So relax, have fun, and enjoy your trip! My Experience (after ingesting a 4oz bottle of Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough and 2 Coricidins... approximately 420mg total). I laid down on my bed with my headphones, and relaxed. I was already getting CEVs so I knew this would be a mindblowing experience. I started rhythmic breathing to the count of 2-4-2 and pictured myself floating upwards, and after several minutes of "trying" to escape my body I finally did. Unfortunately with DXM, time gets grossly disproportioned, and there are several lapses in my journey which I will never be able to remember... but within a short time I found myself visiting my ex-girlfriend (seeing her face and her body clearly, floating thru darkness), feeling her presence, and then flying across the ocean into China and to the very top of Mount Everest. Everytime I "flew" or moved, I felt like I was on a roller coaster, and I could feel the wind flying around my feet and legs, and this breeze would always stop everything I hovered someplace without actually traveling at a fast rate of speed. I also ended up visiting the moon, but I did this the entire time with my eyes closed, but they felt as if they were open and that I was focusing on the spirit world. Before I start traveling around the world, I saw myself laying on my bed and also different perspectives of my room. I saw a few frightening images... one of my swivel chair, and someone being in it, and it slowly turning around and facing me and finding the most grotesque demonic person sitting there. And then he started waving his hands at me in a mocking gesture, as if to scare me, and got up and start floating over to me and was right in my face. The only way to end this situation was to open my eyes and clear my mind and go somewhere else. I saw a lot of stuff in my room while just hovering around my body. The real fun was actually flying thru space and time and visiting people. I also got to fly to Europe and see exactly what my friend was doing at the time (a friend that I've known back in Ohio for quite some time was visiting Europe)... and everything I saw is crystal clear, not blurry and sometimes broken up like CEVs are. Finally I found myself traveling a great distance, and an awesome being came over me, a Moses or Jesus-like figure which I perceived as God himself, and he pointed his finger up over my head, as if to go back, and I knew my journey was pretty much over anyway, so I humbly started floating back all the distance I had traveled until I was finally back in my room, over my body, and then slowly dropping back into my body and aligning with it. For the next few hours after the experience I felt more "out of it" than usual, and the experience left me more satisfied than any DXM trip EVER has. I also got a lot of psychic feelings and intuitions during the trip as well. It was a profound, wonderful experience. And after doing Coricidin to the point of my body not being able to take the antihistamine anymore, I was pretty much enlightened by this experience. I hope you have many wonderful journeys in your Robo-travels, much as I have, and I hope you will share these with the rest of our readers. SIDE DISHES: OTHER SUBSTANCES THAT GO WELL WITH DXM by Macb3th Hello fellow robo junkies. This is macb3th, of EFNet's #DXM (jleane@netcom.ca). I'm here to tell you about things that can make your DXM trip better. So let's get down to it, shall we? First of all, DXM is pretty nice by itself. Make sure to try it this way first; many people don't like to combine it with anything else. I, however, like to hack my head. Many of you trip on DXM at night... either because of parents, spouses, school, or just the added trippiness of darkness. However, it's never good to fall asleep halfway through a trip, or even worse, just as the trip is starting. So let's start with stimulants. Ephedrine (A smack upside yer brain): Sources: Mini-Thins, some weight loss drugs, health food store. Don't get ephedra, it's a waste of money, try for pure ephedrine. Often comes in 25mg tabs. This is NOT the same as pseudoephedrine. Pseudo does nothing. Dosage: 50mg, as far into the trip as you can stay oriented enough to find and take pills. Effects: Short-term CNS stimulation. Intense, lasts a few hours. Gives you a kick to get you through the main part of the trip. Negative:Can cause rapid heartbeat, shouldn't be used if your heart or blood pressure is fucked up. Excessive long-term use may cause temporary sexual problems in males. Symptoms cease after you stop taking it. OD Signs:Chest pain, freaking out (paranoia, fear, bad trip). If OD: Take a depressant (small quantity) such as dimenhydrinate or diphenhydramine and then lie down and attempt to chill. Anything over 75mg within 2 hours is unwise. ======= Caffeine (Not just for mornings anymore): Sources: Coffee, Jolt Cola, Water Joe, 100 or 200mg tabs (No Doz, etc) which are avail. from health food store or pharmacy. Also tea to some extent. Pills are preferred for ease of use and precision of dosage. Dosage: 200-600mg, about 45 mins after dosing. Effects: Relatively long-term (6-8 hrs) CNS stimulant. Dosage depends on tolerance. If you drink lots of coffee every day, have 600mg. If you drink coke about once a week, have 200mg. Keeps you going through the entire trip. Negative:Can cause rapid heartbeat. Same precautions as for ephedrine. The prescription anti-depressant Zoloft (sertraline) makes it last longer. Is addictive. OD Signs:Hot feeling, sweating, shaking of hands, freaking out, tightness in chest, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rapid heartbeat. If OD: Take a depressant. Treat symptomatically (ie take Immodium if you get the runs). Anything over 1000mg is unwise. If you're ODing bad, go to the hospital. If not, just lie down and chill. It may help to have a friend talk you down. Smoking a bowl may also help. ======= Dimenhydrinate (Only if you must): Sources: Gravol, Dramamine, etc. 50mg pills. Dosage: 50-100mg as needed for nausea Effects: Keeps you from heaving if you're feeling really sick during the trip. Negative:Makes you fall asleep. Avoid. Only use in first 90 mins of trip. After that, just heave. OD Signs:Heaviness, hallucination, basically "tripping mad ballz". If OD: Enjoy it. If you took over 1000mg (why?), go to the hospital. Long-term excessive use is not recommended. ======= ASA (aka Aspirin): Sources: Aspirin, stupid. Dosage: 325mg, at the SAME TIME as ephedrine. Does nothing without ephedrine. Effects: Makes ephedrine better. Inhibits that which inhibits ephedrine. If you're tolerant to ephedrine, this can temporarily fix that. Negative:Children (under 15) shouldn't take this. OD Signs:Not sure. Nausea/vomiting, obviously. Don't take more than 325mg. If OD: Go to the hospital. ======= Grapefruit Juice (Yes, Virginia): Sources: I wonder. Dosage: A big-ass glass of it. Bitter = better, active ingredient here is naringin. Effects: Makes caffeine last longer, and removes caffeine tolerance temporarily. Unless you're tolerant to caffeine, I wouldn't recommend this. Negative:If you drink too much, you have to piss. OD Signs:Having to piss. If OD: Piss. ======= Wellbutrin (bupropion hydrochloride): Sources: Prescription only. 75mg yellow pills or 100mg red pills. "Zyban" will not work, those are extended-release tabs. Dosage: About 450-600mg, an hour before dosing DXM. Effects: Makes the DXM trip last longer. Much longer. Up to 16-20 hours. Negative:Do NOT take this if you have epilepsy or any other seizure disorder. OD Signs:Seizures, vomiting. If OD: Call 911. ======= Shrooms (fun with fungus): Sources: Shrooms Dosage: Less than you would usually take. Effects: Obviously, makes you hallucinate more. Negative:May cause a bad trip, or distract you from the DXM. Try both at a low dose. OD Signs:I dunno, trippin too hard. If OD: Get a dude to talk you down. ======= LSD (fuckin cid): Sources: Erm, blotter. Dosage: Few hits. Effects: More visual hallucinations. Increase in CEVs. Negative:May be too intense for some. If you haven't done acid before, don't do this. May distract you from the DXM. May cause severely bad trip on rare occasions. OD Signs:Trippin too hard. If OD: ODs are not medically serious as a rule. Have a trip-sitter talk you down and make sure you don't get stupid. ======= Well folks, that's the list as I know it. To give you an idea, here's what I usually take for a 3rd plateau trip in the night time. (T minus 1 hour) 600mg Wellbutrin (T minus 10 mins) Grapefruit juice (T plus time) DXM (T plus 45 mins) 600mg caffeine (T plus 90 mins) 50mg ephedrine, 325mg ASA This usually makes me trip balls and keeps me up all night, which is good. Another note, if you haven't tried something before, safety first. Write on a little note "I took 500mg of DXM and 50 mg of ephedrine etc etc etc" and put it in your pocket so if you end up ODing and passing out, the EMTs will at least know what you're on. Hope ya'll liked this. See ya at the morgue. MY EXPERIENCES WITH DXM by DXMRat My name is Josh and I live in the small town of Oxford, Massachusetts. I have been doing DXM for about two-and-a-half to three years now, but until recently have never been able to find much info on it. Generally I stay away from computers because I find it too easy to sit there for days, but this week I began to peruse the DXM Zine. Nice work, by the way. Reading all the stories made me want to throw my two cents in, so here it is. My first trip was off a 4oz bottle of Robitussin Maximum Strength Cold & Cough that I drank before school with a bunch of my friends from a neighboring town. Since they only had a 1/2 day I went to their school. They had tripped a bunch of times before so they were calm (which kept me calm), even when talking to the principal to gain permission to "shadow" my friends. In 1st period I began to feel nauseous because of the coffee and cookies I ate. I spit up a mouthful of junk in the water fountain and sat down for a second to ease myself. Then I began to experience the things that got me hooked: o An extreme sense of comfort and numbness; o A cocky, giddy, and playful attitude; o Fuckin' adrenaline; o A fluid motion, almost like floating. So, needles to say, I liked it a lot and began doing it more and more frequently. But it wasn't until this year that I began experimentation. I referred to it as "the drug that puts the 'trip' in 'field trip,'" mainly because I was fucked up at every school function. I started doing liquid CVS brand, a much cheaper and tastier alternative, and then I tried some geltabs - easier to take in public and gentler on the tummy. I also learned that putting pinholes in the end of the geltabs prevents the slow-release trip which takes the edgy away. So, anyway, my friends go off to college and I'm a lonely robo-tripper with a lot of time on my hands. Hmm! I began to notice a lot of weird shit happening in my life. I was meeting people from far away places and bumping into them recurrently, greatly benefiting in some way from our encounters. On the way to school one day, I lost a piece of paper with the names of 10 colleges that I wanted to get information about, fretting about having to make decisions; that day I stumbled on a nearby college while on the computer and that's where I'm going now. My friend and I believe that DXM is a fate-aligning drug - TOO many coincidences occur in our daily lives since we've began using. But I have noticed the effects differ when doing it group vs. alone. When I'm alone, I feel a greater understanding of nature - a very primal, animal-like feeling. My actions are very instinctive and generally people confront me about the same topics per trip. One night while walking past a neighborhood dog that normally explodes into a barking fit when someone passes by, the dog sprinted to the end of his run nearest me, sat down and wagged its tail. I found it rather strange. My own dog always seems to know when I'm fucked up too, because she come looking for a robo-doggy massage. I really enjoy group tripping though, especially with newcomers because it's as close to the "1st trip" I can get to and it's always exciting. I've noticed a few things. In boy-girl groups, DXM acts like a truth serum, often bringing out petty confessions of love or lust with intense emotions felt by both parties. I also have noticed what I call "same bottle phenomenon" when tripping in groups of four. I buy two 8oz CVS robo bottles and split them up. The two people who have drained the same bottle stay with each other the whole time, and feel lost without the other. I first noticed this when we were walking out of the forest by two's and the pairs of kids were bottle-sharers. A few more things. When I robo at night, I hear this constant roaring in the night sky, where-ever I am. Just wondering if it's ever heard by others. Also, I had the best robo-trip ever on Wednesday. I found a brand called Scot-Tussin, a clear, sugar-free brand made for diabetics and people with heart disease and high blood pressure. It's active ingredients are DXM and Chlorpheniramine Maleate and each 10ml contain 30mg DXM and 4mg of CM, with 118.3ml/bottle. It's clear! And it has a water-like consistency. I did the whole bottle and felt like I was floating. The trip went right to my head. [Editor's note: Chlorpheniramine Maleate is an antihistamine and can affect the DXM trip in a totally different way. A lot of people have adverse reactions to it, so be cautioned. It's basically the same active ingredients that are in Coricidin Cough & Cold]. I recommended it to a friend whose well into 300-400 trips and he loved it. I was surprised to see him freak out, though. He felt really nauseous from chasing it with Pepsi but couldn't throw up due to a lack of Guaifenesin. The shit forces you to trip hard! Currently, I'm trying to get some DXM powder. Thank you for hearing me out. :) DXM CHEMISTRY LESSON by William White I'm going to present this as "kitchen chemistry" as I feel most people with adequate chemistry knowledge (and equipment) will be able to do it correctly without my help. There are three procedures for DXM extraction that are commonly used: precipitation and filtration, single-phase acid-base extraction, and dual-phase acid-bsae extraction (the "Agent Lemon" process). The first method is by far the least popular because the DXM precipitate is often so fine that it passes through the filter paper. You can, of course, still use the precipitation procedure; I just don't recommend it. If you do choose to precipitate DXM, try to get actual filter paper rather than a coffee filter - it will help. The acid-base extraction process is a common method for isolating a desired chemical from undesirable "gunk". The theory is that certain chemicals (generally, alkaloids) occur in two forms: a water-soluble complex with an acid, and an oil-soluble free base form. For example, pseudoephedrine (SudafedTM), a decongestant, is usually supplied as the hydrochloride salt (pseudoephedrine HCl). It can also exist as a base, without an acid molecule (thus the term "free base"). You can convert an alkaloid from acid salt to free base (or vice versa) using a base (or acid). The practical upshot is you take your chemical and "gunk", and raise the pH with a base (e.g., sodium hydroxide) until the chemical converts to free base form and precipitates out (since it's no longer soluble in water). Now you add a nonpolar solvent (an "oily" layer) for the chemical to dissolve in, shake for a long time, and all the chemical you want is in the nonpolar layer. Discard the polar (i.e., water) layer, and you're left with a nonpolar layer full of your chemical ..... Plus anything else that might be oil-soluble. So you reverse the process, by adding an acid until the free base turns into an acid salt, and precipitates out of the nonpolar layer. Add water, shake, and you can discard your nonpolar layer. This is the acid-base extraction, and it's very frequently used to extract the active ingredients from plants (free clue: the THC in marijuana is not an alkaloid and thus won't extract this way). So how do we apply this to DXM? Well, it turns out that DXM is an alkaloid, and you can extract DXM from cough syrups using the same process. Furthermore, this procedure even works for DXM plus guaifenesin syrups, e.g., Robitussin DM, and generic equivalents (invariably called Tussin DM). The "DM" syrups usually only contain 10mg/5ml of DXM, so you won't get as much yield, but they're usually cheaper (and more commonly available). This is actually a single-phase acid-base extraction, because we only go from acid form (DXM HBr) to base form (DXM free base). The final product ends up dissolved in an organic solvent, which is then evaporated to leave DXM free base. I have added a new set of steps to this process to help to remove some of the gunk that can end up in the final product. These steps are in italics and may be omitted if desired. Do NOT try this extraction procedure with cough syrups or formulations containing acetaminophen/paracetamol, pseudoephedrine, other decongestants, or antihistamines. Decongestants and antihistamines are usually alkaloids and will end up in the final product; as for acetaminophen, I'm not convinced yet of the safety of the final product. For this procedure you will need: o Cough syrup (obviously) or some other DXM-containing preparation. The only active ingredients that should be listed are dextromethorphan and guaifenesin. Avoid alcohol (check the inactive ingredients). If you can get DXM-only preparations, do so; the DXM+guaifenesin preparations tend to contain less DXM than the DXM-only ones. •Two plastic two-liter bottles, washed and with the label removed. Of course, you can use flasks if you have them. •A glass container to make your sodium hydroxide solution in (a mason jar works; you can also use a drinking glass). o Two plastic bags with a slide-lock closure (e.g., ZiplocTM), big enough to hold the cough syrup plus an additional amount of lighter fluid. The plastic bags should be non-pleated. They will be used as separatory funnels. o A nonpolar solvent. The easiest to get is ZippoTM lighter fluid (or an equivalent) - note that this is cigarette lighter fluid, not charcoal lighter fluid. You want your solvent to evaporate quickly, leaving no residue. The easiest way to test it is by placing a drop or two onto a pocket mirror, and letting it evaporate; if it leaves no residue or smell, you can use it. o Sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Photography supply stores carry this. In a pinch, some people have been known to use Red Devil Lye. I do not advise this! Lye is likely to be impure. If you must use lye, make sure you let your sodium hydroxide solution settle (see below). Note that sodium hydroxide is caustic and severely damaging to the eyes, so wear your safety goggles! o A heat-resistant glass baking dish (smaller is better). o Distilled water (tap water won't work as well due to the chlorine and dissolved ions). o A pair of scissors. o Access to the outdoors. To speed up the process (from overnight to about 30 minutes), you will have to evaporate the solvent with heating. For this you will require: o An electric wok or skillet, or a hot plate with a pot of water on it. Basically, you want a flameless (electric) source of heat that will heat up a volume of water, which you can put your baking dish in (the hot water will heat the baking dish). o A hair dryer. o An OSHA-certified organic vapor mask. WARNINGS ABOUT ORGANIC VAPORS: The solvents you will in all likelihood be dealing with (hexane, heptane, petroleum ether, whatever) are bad for you. Really bad for you -- they can give you brain damage if you inhale too much of them. You do NOT want to breathe the fumes. Get it? So, if you want to speed up the process, pony up US$30.00 or so for an OSHA certified organic vapor gas mask (tell `em you'll be painting with oil-based paint). Sure, it's uncomfortable and looks dorky. But it sure beats brain damage! Additionally, you absolutely mustdo the evaporation outdoors (unless you happen to have a fume cabinet handy. And NO, the stove or bathroom fan does NOT count as a fume cabinet). A brief word or two about sodium hydroxide: it's caustic, especially to the eyes, and when you add it to water it will heat up. Always add the sodium hydroxide to the water, and not vice versa. If you get it on your skin, wash it off with water (it won't eat through your hand unless you let it sit there). If you can't find sodium hydroxide at your local photo store, go get a photography magazine and look in the back for mail order suppliers. Many of them carry sodium hydroxide. It is a very common chemical and ordering it isn't going to bring the DEA knocking down your door. Please try to avoid using lye. If you still can't get sodium hydroxide, use the Agent Lemon process (see the FAQ). Okay, here we go: 1. Form a solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) by placing one tablespoon (15ml) of solid sodium hydroxide in one cup (about 236ml) of distilled water in the sodium hydroxide solution container. Stir until dissolved. If you are using lye (I don't recommend it), wait awhile to let any impurities settle out to the bottom. Note that dissolving the NaOH will generate some heat. 2. Empty your cough syrup or formula into the two-liter, rinsing the last of the cough syrup out of the syrup bottles with distilled water. If using gelcaps, break them open and rinse out the inside of the capsules. 3. The following steps in italics are suggested for removing some of the gunk that can make it through the extraction and leave you with a sticky residue instead of crystalline DXM. Add in enough lighter fluid to the two-liter bottle to make a roughly 1/4 inch (or roughly 5mm) deep layer of lighter fluid per 4oz of syrup. 4. Cap the two-liter bottle and shake the living hell out of it for at least five minutes. Let it sit undisturbed until the two layers separate again. 5. Pour the entire contents of the two-liter bottle into a sealable plastic baggie, and seal it shut. Hold it by one of the top corners so that a bottom corner is facing down. Let the layers separate again if necessary. 6. Holding the baggie's corner over a CLEAN two-liter bottle, snip off the very tip of the corner. Let the cough syrup layer drain into the clean two-liter bottle, but pinch it shut right before any of the lighter fluid drains out. 7. Discard the lighter fluid by placing it into an empty container and letting it evaporate outdoors. Do not put it down the drain or set it on fire. That's it ... now you should have cough syrup that has had a great deal of the flavorings and other gunk removed from it. You can repeat the above steps if you want to remove even more. 8. Add one tablespoon (15ml) of sodium hydroxide solution to the two-liter bottle. You should see a rapid formation of a milky precipitate. Swirl the bottle gently to mix the syrup evenly, and the precipitate should redissolve (because there's not enough base yet). 9. Repeat the above step, until the precipitate doesn't redissolve with swirling. The entire solution should be cloudy (stir well to make sure the base is evenly distributed). 10.Add one more tablespoon (15ml) of sodium hydroxide solution to the bottle. 11.Add enough lighter fluid to make a 1/8" (0.3mm) deep layer per 4oz bottle of syrup. 12.Cap the bottle, shake the hell out of it for five minutes, and let it stand until the layers separate again. If the layers don't want to separate, try adding table salt. 13.Carefully pour the contents of the bottle into the sealable plastic bag, and close it shut ("yellow and blue make green-it's sealed!"). Hold the bag by one of the top corners so that one of the bottom corners points down. 14.Let the two layers separate again (this should only take a few seconds). 15.Cut off the tip of the bottom corner and allow the water layer (the bottom layer) to drain out of the bag. When the water layer has drained out, pinch the bag shut. 16.Hold the bag over the baking dish, and allow the nonpolar solvent layer to drain out into the baking dish. 17.Take the baking dish outdoors. At this point, if you don't have a gas mask and a way to heat the baking dish, you'll have to let the solvent evaporate (which may take a day or so), so skip the next 4 steps. 18.Put on your gas mask and take the baking dish, hair dryer, and electric heat source outdoors. 19.Place the baking dish into the container of water (electric wok, electric skillet, hot plate with pan of water, whatever), and set it to simmer. If you can't set the temperature low enough, you'll have to turn the heater on and off manually to maintain a near-boiling temperature. 20.Plug in the hair dryer and gently blow hot air into the baking dish. Take care not to splash solvent over the sides of the dish. Incidentally, make sure you don't overload your circuit; it might be a good idea to alternate heating with the hot plate/wok/skillet and heating with the hair dryer. 21.Continue heating until all the solvent evaporates. At this point you may see a thin layer of crystalline material; you might see a shiny layer of goo that looks a lot like the glass itself (which can be confusing); or you might see a layer of brown gunk. Whatever. Anyway, make sure all the solvent has evaporated. 22.If your baking dish is covered with an oily substance (goo, gunk, whatever), you in all likelihood managed to extract some propylene glycol (or something else) along with the DXM. Blow hot air from the hair dryer onto the surface of the dish until the material dries completely (this may take 5 to 10 minutes). This should evaporate the propylene glycol, leaving behind only DXM. 23.Scrape the DXM off the baking dish with a razor blade or other convenient sharp edge. You now have DXM free base. A few comments. First, guaifenesin seems to itself convert to an oily layer if you add too much sodium hydroxide, so don't overdo it. Second, if you happen to have lab equipment you can of course use a separatory funnel (which is what the plastic baggie is for). Third, if you don't think you got anything, make sure the baking dish is completely dry; sometimes the DXM free base plus propylene glycol can look a lot like the glass itself. DXM AND DRUG SCREENING by Alan B. Storrow, Michael Magoon, Glenn Mitchell Editor's note: Many people have reported taking DXM and passing drug tests. However, I have heard other reports of people getting false positives for opiates after ingesting DXM before a drug test. If you do need to take a drug test, chances are you have nothing to worry about. To confirm most peoples' suspicions that DXM abuse is fairly safe for drug screenings, I have included the popular study The Dextromethorphan Defense: Dextro- methoprhan and the Opiate Screen. It was conducted at the Joint Military Medical Centers Emergency Medicine Residency in San Antonio, Texas. If you have any experiences regarding DXM and taking a drug test, I welcome you to share your experiences at Zine@dxm.net. The study follows: Since dextromethorphan is structurally related to opiates, people undergoing urine drug screenings have claimed it has produced falsely positive results. Objective. To determine if a single oral dose of dextromethorphan liquid would produce a falsely positive qualitative urine opiate screening. Design. Prospective, randomized, triple-blinded, crossover drug protocol. Setting. Urban Level I emergency department. Participants. Twenty adult volunteers, who did not take routine medications, were not pregnant, were without known sensitivity to dextromethorphan, and were negative for urine toxicologic screening immediately prior to testing. Interventions. Fifteen male and five female volunteers underwent three separate urine enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT) opiate screenings (Syva Co., San Jose, CA). Each screening was performed six hours after ingestion of a single liquid medication, either dextromethorphan, codeine, or placebo. Each volunteer took all three medications randomly, at least three days apart. Half of the volunteers took the standard adult dose of dextrometh- orphan (20 mg), while the other half ingested twice this amount (40 mg). The amounts of codeine (30 mg) and sucrose placebo (10 mL) remained constant. Results. Six hours after ingestion of dextromethorphan at both dosage levels, all of the urine EMIT assays were negative for opiates and all other drugs. This demonstrates with 95% confidence that, at most, 16% of the population could expect to have a positive opiate screening after ingestion. After codeine and placebo ingestion, all assays were positive and negative for opiates, respectively. Conclusion. Although dextromethorphan is structurally similar to opiates, the ingestion of a single normal (or even twice normal) dose of dextromethorphan is not likely to produce a falsely positive six-hour urine opiate screening. THE CORD OF LIFE by Anonymous Here's an account of my fourth DXM experience, the first I tried that would correspond to the "4th plateau". The experience itself happened several months ago, but I just wrote it up from initial notes today. 1200 mg of DXM were ingested on an empty stomach in the form of 40 Drixoral gelcaps. Waiting for the effects to take hold, I worked on some noise compositions with my 4-track recorder. After about 45 minutes, I felt nauseated and as though I had a fever. I no longer had the ability or desire to concentrate on my compositions, so I set the recorder aside and lay back on the bed. The nausea and feelings of vague but potent physical discomfort increased. I wondered if the dosage would be too much for me to handle. Some ten minutes later, I stumbled drunkenly to the bathroom and vomitted. The discomfort vanished almost immediately; I returned to bed, no longer afraid of being unable to handle the experience. I do not remember how long it took me to become almost fully dissociated from my body, nor do I remember what happened during the process. Soon, however, I found myself beholding fully three-dimensional crystalline formations, the components of which rotated slowly in synch with one another. Behind the formations there seemed to be a void of infinite space, which flashed strobe-like in brilliant colors. As the formations rotated, they changed and evolved, always producing beauty and symmetry with mathematical precision, determinacy, and clarity. Only vaguely aware of my body, I felt as though I was soaring through the patterns at unimaginable speeds. Gradually, I moved through the crystalline formations: they seemed to each contain the enormity of the universe itself. My speed increased, as did the gradual loss of a sense of identity. The patterns gave way to more abstract but no less colorful patterns: wave upon wave of interference patterns, cyclones of flashing colors and spirals that swallowed me. After some time, the boundary between myself and the patterns dissolved almost completely. Now my being -- which was really a universal "we" as opposed to an individual identity -- seemed to contract into a single point then explode outward countless times, the infinity of space and time and perception and being contained within each explosion. "We" were the whole of the multidimensional universe collapsing upon itself and exploding outward over eons of unimaginable time, terrified, relentless, ecstatic. Once in awhile the explosions resulted in vortices, through which something utterly "alien" seemed to emerge. I recall approaching and merging with these "alien beings" several times, though I do not recall what happened during the merge itself. One such being I recall only in association with a sense of vastness and strange angularity, like a huge mountain tapering to a perfect point. Sometime later (I do not remember how long), a sense of identity as well as an awareness of my body returned -- at first in brief moments, then for longer episodes. During these moments, I asked "who am I?" I received a flood of intuitive information, very little of which I was able to comprehend rationally. The gist of the matter, however, was that I was both an individual and the whole of creation; both the creator and the created, and that this is true for all beings. Remembering that viewing my self and life from my first DXM experience had been one of the most emotionally profound experiences of my life, I attempted to do so again. Now I had a vision of myself as a ribbon or cord wrapped around itself and around other cords. The cords traced the history of my life, and once again I felt an all-encompassing compassion and love for that life, self, and everything within it. Again, I was aware of the possibility of abandoning it and not returning to it, and it struck me as the most precious of all things; I was even more horrified at the thought of leaving it than I had been on the first time. To see if I could identify the "cord" of another -- for the universe had become a network of these cords -- I "called" to my friend Betty. I witnessed her cord and mine separating from a common cord, then rejoining each other in a dance or braiding, yet still retaining their separate identities. This aspect of the experience was emotionally overwhelming in a way that I really cannot convey; when I chose to end the experience, I did so because I could no longer bear its sheer intensity. I managed to open my eyes; the sunlight made the room appear maddeningly bright. I could recognize few features: the room was a patchwork collage of textures, shapes, and colors that were sparkling, glittering, and pulsating. When I closed my eyes, it seemed I still had them open and was looking at the ceiling. I guarentee that I was not and to block out the light, I placed my elbow over my eyes. Now what looked as though it were the ceiling gently fell apart into chunks of abstract shapes. The shapes "morphed" into other ceilings of other rooms similar to my own. Just as each one attained such a level of coherency and clarity that I felt I would be able to stand up and walk around, the room would fall apart then reform into another. One such room attained coherency for longer than the rest; it was dimly lit, as though by candle light, and it seemed to be some sort of basement. There were three others in the room, watching me -- I wondered if I was experiencing some sort of alternate self, who was also experimenting with dissociative states, but in the presence of others. In this room, I was able to sit up for a moment -- how odd it was to sit up and look about me while still feeling the weight of my elbow over my eyes. Two times, perhaps more, the rooms transformed into seemingly "alien universes". Once, I found myself beneath a tree of huge orange flowers. Each blossom had a face; three of them were watching me, remarking without speaking about what a ridiculous sight I was. Another time, I was running through a labyrinth of stones that were somehow plant-like and alive. I understood that I was searching for God within the labyrinth; the labyrinth seemed to reply that God could never be found within it, though the path I took through the labyrinth in my search was God. I still wondered, nonetheless, whether I could "call" some representation of Divinity to my presence. The shapes formed an angular and somewhat abstract illustration of a female, crone-like face. The face, like the rooms, cycled relentlessly from one form to another. I tried to speak to the face, but the visions seemed too incoherent to produce a response -- though I got the impression the incoherency itself was an aspect of my own being. After some time of this, I regained enough awareness of my body to stay in the here-and-now for as long as I chose. I managed to pick up and dial a phone to call my friend Li to come by or pick me up -- I felt somewhat shellshocked from this experience and no longer wished to be alone. Shortly after calling Li, I couldn't remember whether I had actually called her, or, if she had, whether she agreed to pick me up. She arrived about forty minutes later; I staggered down the stairs of my apartment in what seemed like a dream from which I could not awaken. The next few hours were spent drifting in and out of my body and of the crystalline formations with which the trip had begun. Each time I closed my eyes, I felt as though I shot through space terrifyingly fast. When I was able to speak, I attempted to relate to Libby the nature of my experience. I found it difficult to keep track of what I had just said. After the DXM had worn off the point that I could move around on my own and interact with others in a somewhat coherent way, I smoked some marijuana. The THC had the effect of ending of my grogginess almost immediately. I became extremely hyper -- it was not at all unlike a dissociated version of a cocaine rush. I felt as though the whole world had turned into a video game and I had tremendous fun rushing from room to room as though an animated character in some comptuer-game scenario. After I'd settled down a bit, I tried again to relate my experiences to Li. This time, a received a flood of rational knowledge about the nature of the manifestation of duality from unity, the emergence and nature of consciousness and of language. Still simultaneously hyper and detached, I spoke endlessly to Li about these subjects, as though it was vital that she know them. She was blessedly patient, and, after I had come down more solidly, drove me home. DXM POETRY by Gravol I welcome our readers to send their poems and writings while under the influence of DXM to the zine to be published. They don't necessarily have to be works of art... just interesting, informative, funny, or downright weird. :) To get this section started, I have included some more of my writings. Enjoy... "Lost" This little child has lost its way Wandering too far from noontime play. His mother will search as evening prevails But luck begotten to of no avail. While night has fallen with stars to guide Not a sound be heard from the countryside. What will become of Little Boy Lost? Now it is that only Fate will decide. "First Born" Child, Child open your eyes To a world of wonder, To a land of delight. Child, Child hush your cries No longer in slumber, No darkness in sight. Eager and innocent, Curious defined. Sad but content, Meek and benign. Frivolous child, dream yourself away To a world of wonder, To a land of delight. Child, child in your crib you lay With your thoughts asunder, I turn out the light. "Left Behind" Endless nights strike my mind A masterpiece that you may find In the morning, only to distort, Destroy, and confine Me to this place of Hell, with All your trouble and your things Left behind for me to clean. "Critical" Complete. Powerful. Totally commonsensical. Absolutely cosmogonical. Never hypothetical. Nor hypocritical. Only logical, theatrical, Mystical... critical. "Forever and Never" Forever and Never entwined, Will you be mine? We can chase the sun And all its glory Into nothingness, the Sublime. DXM MADE SIMPLE...DXM HUMOR by Bem Alright, so you're some lame jerkoff who read through the DXM FAQ and still doesn't know wtf it does. You want a quick simple explanation to cater to your tiny little pea brain. You fear that if you think too hard it'll explode, so we better just insert the thoughts right in. Right-o! We're perfectly willing to brainwash anyone willing to be brainwashed by us. Of course, you'll have to sign this waiver right here: ____________________. That was good. Now, on to the business. What is DXM? DXM is several things. 1. DXM is God. No, we're not kidding. There's this ancient Babylonian God named DXM who controlled agriculture or something. So DXM is your Lord first and foremost. You will remember that at all times, or we will kick your ass. Basically, DXM can be described as this big red puddle up in the sky. If you're good, he makes rain, and you don't cough no more. If you're bad, you get a drought, and your local Walgreens closes down causes dozens of people to lose their jobs. you don't want your mother to lose her job at walgreens, do you? Good, then play nice with the God. 2. DXM is your bitch Yeah, that's right, you got yer own little ho, and her name is DXM. You can smack her around a bit, or even go to different hos, but you'll always come back to DXM. Abuse her, she's yours for the taking. You paid for her, she is your personal Goddess. Yes, it's Burger King, and then sex for you and the missus. You'll find DXM to be a fine partner in bed, knowing all the gory details of not just tantric yoga, but the cherry goodness doggy paddle as well. 3. DXM OWNS YOU You think DXM will let you off that easily? You got another thing coming. DXM beats you with a coathanger daily, and if you complain, you wind up in some alley where we dare not venture. When Mistah Robitussin sez, 'Slam me!' you best be slammin', cuz you gonna get one hell of a beatin if you don't later. DXM is definitely a control freak, so if you don't fall into line, it's no bomb for you. 4. DXM is your one true love Yeah, that's right, DXM is that chick whose locker happened to be near you in high school, so you fell madly in love with her, and eventually married, had 2.5 kids, and assassinated the president. But how do you *really* feel about her? If she hadn't been in Math 101, would you still have met up? You don't know? Well then, it's couples therapy for you, buddy! Yup, that's right. You and Ms. Romilar (I'll call her by her maiden name for these sessions) are gonna be spending looooong hours in my office. Now, tell me about your childhood. Hm, so your mother put the rubber nipple on a bottle of robitussin instead of a bottle of milk. Interesting... 5. DXM will leave you. Did you see that guy who just walked by? 10x more attractive than your fat ass, easily. So what do you do when your lover starts to stray? Nothing. Not with DXM. She goes where she wants, and she'll fuck you over in the process if she wants to. Our Mistress goes where she pleases, and with whom she pleases. 6. DXM is just your mother. No, really. In terms of freud, slamming that bottle of robo is just trying to get back on your moms milky tits from when you were a kid. But don't tell her that. The robo, that is. We don't give a fuck what you tell your mother. But Miss DXM doesn't like simply being thought of as an oral fixation. And anyway, she's got style. Your mom don't. Not judging by the clothes she wears while she's down by the streetcorner. 7. DXM is Satan If you draw a pentagram around a bottle of Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough, you can summon satan himself. Course, it takes awhile, since they usually send him a letter of summons by ground mail, and it's a long way from here to hell, but i digress. That cherrry goodness is actually cherry sinfulness. You're going straight to Hell, mister, soon as you die. Yeah, yeah, it's not very fair, but who ever said it had to be? We'll roast your ass on a stick if we want to. DXM is actually extracted straight from the river Styx. Word has it that Asmodeous is actually Wanman's supplier. Satan has a wide variety of various pharmaceuticals. See your sunday paper for a coupon for 50% off tooth brushes this week only. And btw, hell isn't as bad as it sounds, it just sounds weird cause everyone there is b0mbed off their ass. 8. DXM is the International Chinese Communist Conspiracy Well, it is. 9. DXM is watching you. Ever feel like someone was looking over your shoulder, but turn around and no one's there? That's DXM. She has to keep her information up. Especially information about her followers. Are you actually a double agent? Are you now or have you ever been a members of the Nyquil Party? You do realize that the penalty for espionage against this country is death, right? Maybe if you reveal your true dramamine loyalties, and expose a few of your friends, we'll be lenient...But don't count on it, scum. 10. DXM is the Final Solution The DXM race has proven to be superior to other cough suppressants. We will form the 3rd Robo and put an end to the Opiate Problem. You know you have a true DXM boy by the blonde hair, blue eyes, and red liquid in the middle. The DXM race will one day rule all others. Muhahahah. So there you have it. Go buy the biggest bottle of robitussin you can find and swallow it. Or be one of the first against the wall when the revolution comes. ROBO JOURNEY by Anonymous At about 11:30pm myself and two friends, A and L, each ingested about 330mg of DXM. It was in powdered form, so we mixed it into glasses of Coca-Cola. (Before this I tasted a small amount of the powder; it was extremely bitter and unpleasant.) Unfortunately the soda did little to mask the taste. It was gross. I smoked a menthol cigarette while drinking it, and my friends prepared chasers. I finished it in about 10 minutes, and A finished his in about 15. L was so repulsed by the drink that he began adding more soda after every sip, and eventually began to add fruit juice as well, making for a very disgusting mixture. It was about 30 minutes before he finished. In any event it was probably better than chugging cough syrup would have been, and we resolved to use capsules next time. The immediate effect was slight nausea. I didn't want to expel the DXM, so I laid down in the bedroom. The room was very dark, except for the blacklights and fluorescent posters on the walls. I decided to stay in there for awhile, hoping that it would accelerate the onset of the trip. Having tripped on LSD before, I started looking for the same indications. I stared at the wall to see if it would breathe. It didn't, however I noticed that one of the posters seemed like it was moving straight towards me, then back again. A mild stoning effect came on, along with more nausea. It reached the point where I was sure I was going to heave, but after another 15 minutes or so the nausea subsided. A came in to put on some music, but was unable to get his CD player to work. He tried to use his roommate's player, but could not get that to work either. He then began to complain repeatedly that everything was broken, and was quite frustrated. At this point I knew he had begun to trip, as I had experienced similar frustration with electronic devices while on LSD. I stood up and felt extremely dizzy, and sat down on the bed. I scratched my head. Again. "Shit, I got robo-itch." A and L subsequently became afflicted with the itch as well. I began to get worried that the itch would not go away, and was afraid that it would cause a bad trip. Thankfully, after a few minutes of vigorous scratching it did go away. I stood up again and forced myself to walk. Motor skills and coordination were severely impaired, and my friends remarked that I was walking like a robot. I realized that the trip had started, which confused me because I was expecting LSD-like visuals. The only visuals I had gotten were a couple short CEVs, and auditory effects were minimal--yet I knew I was tripping. It was simply a fantastically altered state of mind, and not at all similar to LSD. A and I went outside to have a cigarette. We noticed that the smoke dispersing in the air looked very weird, and all movement began to seem discontinuous. I had had a cough for the past couple of weeks, but hadn't been coughing at all for the past hour. I forced myself to cough and it felt very strange, obviously due to the cough suppressing quality of DXM. My entire body felt very numb, and dissociation began to occur. I accidentally bumped my head against a metal railing, and hardly felt it. Out of curiosity I banged my head into it a few more times, when A asked what the fuck I was doing and told me to stop. I suggested that we go for a walk, and we went inside to get L. He was vomiting (probably from having mixed so much shit into his DXM cocktail), so we left without him. I found it very difficult to walk, and could not focus on anything. My vision was not blurred, but I had difficulty processing visual input. I lost track of my surroundings, and just followed A. We heard music coming from the woods, so we attempted to find its source. When we arrived there, we found nothing and the music had stopped. We ventured in further, and came to a clearing which A announced was a "black hole". In the middle of the clearing was a tree, although it took us a few walks around it before we were convinced that it was indeed a tree. We then came to a lake, and the water appeared as if we could walk on it. Fortunately we had the sense to realize that this was not a quality idea. We stumbled back through the woods to the apartment. L was feeling much better now, and said that throwing up was the best thing he had ever done in his life. He was overjoyed that, despite having vomited, he was still tripping hard. Some girls from a nearby apartment had come to visit, and we sat in the living room. Time had become nonlinear, and I had trouble recalling the events of the day and the order in which they had taken place. Visuals were still limited, although depth perception was noticeably altered. Everyone went into another room to hang out, while I stayed and rested on the couch. Every few minutes the girls would come out into the kitchen to get some vodka; they kept talking to me but I had difficulty identifying them and understanding speech. Everyone in the other room was either drunk, high, or tripping, and it sounded like they were having a great time. I wanted to join them, but thought that I should stay on the couch. I closed my eyes and enjoyed a few CEVs. After an indeterminate amount of time had passed, A and I decided to return to the woods. I still had trouble walking and seeing, and the "black hole" and the lake were still mystical. We again remarked on the solid appearance of the water, and returned. It was now about 3:00am, and the girls were leaving. As we watched them walk away, one girl started to run, and A exclaimed that she had ran in the fourth dimension. I did not observe this, but found it plausible. We went inside, watched TV for a little while, and went to sleep at around 4:00am. I woke up the next morning and felt completely back to normal. I was pleased with the DXM experience, and surprised at the intensity of a Level 2 dosage. We all had a very good trip with minimal side effects, and all of us were perfectly fine in the morning. Although I found that DXM lacks many of the psychedelic properties of LSD, it did provide a unique trip with no residual effects. In fact, DXM is the only drug I have ever taken that didn't have a lingering effect the next day (except MDMA, whose after-effects I happen to enjoy). The nature of the trip was much more confusing than with LSD; as A summed it up: "nothing made sense." I was glad that the trip was over in the morning, and I look forward to exploring the next plateau... DXM REPLACEMENTS by Sigma You may be well and tired of DXM at some point, so you will need to find some replacements. Maybe you've tripped too much, and you need a break, but are still looking to get high. Or maybe you're sick of DXM because of too many bad trips or hangovers. Or maybe you're just sick of the drugs you've been abusing in general. Well, here are three legal (or semi-legal) replacements that I highly recommend to anyone looking for something new to try. Genesis. This is a fairly new drug, making its rounds in the United States and the UK as a club drug, with effects similar to those of XTC. It contains LSA (which is the chemical cousin to LSD) and when combined with the other drugs it contains, makes the trip more like XTC than like LSD... but you definitely trip and get massive visuals. The doses come in a little plastic bottle and the four capsules contained therein are green. You should take one every half-hour on an empty stomach, or you may not totally get the desired effects. It also takes a while to fully kick in, but when it does, you'll find it extremely difficult to talk or walk. People will be able to tell you're on something and you'll already be paranoid from the LSA. The active ingredients per dose (4 capsules) are: Sida Cordifolia Extract standardized in base of Maltodextrin, Maytenus Krukorii Herb Extract (5:1), Turbina Corymbosa Cominuted Seed, D-L Phylalanine (free form), L-Tyrosine (free form), and Pyroglotamate. It's the Turbina Corymbosa Seed that is actually the Heavenly Blue variety of morning glory seeds. Typically you'd eat about 300-500 seeds to get a good trip, but this would be preceded by a gut-wrenching, terrible stomach ache which would practically make LSA undesirable and not worth doing. But with the LSA in Genesis, you don't get the stomach ache because it's already extracted the correct way and doesn't contain the alkaloids that cause stomach upset which the seeds contain. Many people have tried Herbal XTC products before from headshops or from Vitamin suppliers on the Web and have been disappointed. But make not mistake, Genesis is a very powerful, mind-altering substance. The first time I did it, it was beginning to kick in while I ate supper with my parents. I got the giggles before too long and quickly finished just in time, because once I got back to my room, there were waves of pure ecstacy flowing up and down my body... and I felt like I was having a full-body orgasm, from my head down to my toes. It was pure euphoria in every way possible. It eventually wore off about 8-12 hours later, and falling asleep was not a problem. Also, the comedown was not like that of LSD, but it still felt very similar to an acid trip. I'd recommend getting the Pinwheel program as well if you're going to take Genesis or acid. You stare at the pinwheel on the screen for 20 seconds and look away, and the entire room around you starts melting and changing form! It is a totally mindblowing experience, and I highly recommend Genesis to anyone looking for something new, that can't get acid or shrooms. It's available for about $10 a dose at http://www.mindcandy.net and http://www.capricornconcepts.com. GHB. GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, is not yet scheduled by the DEA but it is very close to being made illegal. It used to be available almost anywhere, such as health food stores and GNC, but the FDA launched a campaign against it after it was discovered that mixing alcohol with it depressed breathing to the point of death in some individuals, so it was taken off the market and only simple possession of the drug was allowed. In most states it's still legal to possess, but in a few others it is outright banned. By now you're probably thinking this is a very dangerous substance, but it's not. It's not toxic... you can take as much as you want and you're not going to die (unlike alcohol)... you'll just be sleeping in coma-like sleep for the next day. A lot of people mistakenly get sent to the hospital after taking too much GHB and passing out, so I recommend starting low at first, then working your way up. There's no tolerance to it, so you're never going to need to adjust your dose once you find a suitable one. GHB's effects are like alcohol, only without the mental confusion. By taking a gram or two, it's like there's a couple drinks inside you, it disinhibits you (makes you less shy), makes you extremely talkative and quite horny. It's also referred to as the Date Rape Drug, but only because some guys in California put it in womens' alcoholic beverages without them knowing and making them pass out, then raping them (about 30 in all). In low doses it will make you horny, however, and one of its street names is Liquid X. This is not why it's known as the Date Rape Drug, however. What amazes me is that it is one of the safest drugs out there, but the FDA and media has demonized it to the point that everyone is afraid to try it. I first discovered it on the Internet and ordered a kit (you have to order the two chemicals used to make it with... ordering pure GHB is illegal) and made a 100g bottle of it. It totally made me unshy and I picked up a lot of women. A lot of times I'd just take a gram or two, get in my car, and see where I ended up. My social life was so outrageous the first week on GHB, that I didn't even have time to log onto the Internet anymore. I saw maybe 30 people a day or more (hey, I hang out with large groups of friends), and it made me a lot friendlier. Maybe too friendly. Sometimes I'd honk at everyone I'd pass on the road, or I'd make the moves on a chick I liked a lot sooner than I ever expected I would. If you haven't done GHB before, I'd definitely do some reading up on it at http://www.erowid.org/entheo.shtml. Just click on GHB to read GHB-related information. If you decide to order a kit to make it, you can find links there to order from. Personally, I'd recommend Pelchat, but you have to send them the money first and it takes about 2 weeks to arrive for a 200 gram kit (it costs approximately $55). You can also order the chemicals used to make GHB straight in bulk form for wholesale prices from two separate chemical suppliers. The chemicals are Lactone and Sodium Hydroxide (don't use lye because it's impure). The directions are also on the Internet for preparing your kit or mixing the chemicals together. Overall, I'd rate GHB as the best alternative to DXM, even though it's not a psychedelic... it's just a good mood enhancer and can really make your social life blossom. It's also great to mix with psychedelics such as DXM... just don't mix it with alcohol! Salvia divinorum. Last but not least, we have the Salvia divinorum plant (also known as Diviner's Sage). The active ingredient is Salvinorin-A, and this is a psychedelic that will make you trip for about 2-3 hours after smoking the leaves of the Salvia plant. You may also extract the Salvinorin-A for effects which are more intense than normal. It's also legal and available over the Internet (do a search for it), because its chemical structure resembles no other scheduled chemicals on the DEA's list. When ordering, you should just order either the extract or the leaves (I prefer either one). If you order the leaves, you'll have to grind them to almost a powdery form and smoke it thru a bowl or bong (bong is the best... see DXM Zine, Issue 4); you have to take very deep hits and hold the smoke in for as long as you possibly can... but beware, it burns! After smoking a few bowls' worth, you will start to feel different. If you keep smoking bowls for as long as you possibly can, then you will basically trip sack and have full-blown out- of-body visuals. Some trip reports of Salvia experiences are the wildest trip reports there are. When I first did it, I smoked some crushed leaves thru a bowl, and did about 3-4 bowls' worth until I started tripping. It was a weird trip... sort of like acid without any side effects. I had to smoke it in my car in the middle of the night, or else my parents would know. After I started to trip, I kept thinking someone was in the seat next to me the entire time. The trees and shadows outside turned into very long, distorted silhouettes of God-only-knows. I somehow made it inside (I doubt if I was physically capable of smoking another bowl at this time... I kept getting lost in my own thoughts), went upstairs and tripped harder than I had since I took windowpane acid. It was a great trip, and as the effects gradually subsided, I laid down and could actually see my thoughts develop into full-blown CEVs while I started to drift off. It was totally amazing, but when I introduced it to my friends they were pretty impatient with it (you have to smoke enough of it to trip or else it's a waste... and since the smoke is harsh a lot of people are ready to give up after just 1 bowl), but I personally have never had a problem with it. The trip can arrive in a very subtle matter, too... almost to the point that you don't know you're tripping until you catch yourself staring at the wall for 10 minutes. :) DXM SITE REVIEW by Gravol This is a new section for the zine. Each month we will be displaying information on a DXM-related web site that we find informative and interesting - and something that promotes the DXM culture. Probably no better site could have been found for this month's review than the Third Plateau (http://third-plateau.lycaeum.org). It is written and maintained by Greendrag (dextro50@lycaeum.org). It is a very well-put- together site that includes everything you'd want to know about DXM use and abuse. I think my favorite aspect of the site is the fact that it has a section on DXM and Creativity, and contains several message boards for viewers to post their opinions. The information below was taken directly from the site, and can explain more about it in detail. Once again, I highly suggest you check out this site! The contents of the site include: o Main o The Powder Page (List of Bulk DXM Suppliers) o Beginner's Guide to DXM o The DXM Message Board o The Psychedelic Bulletin Board o The Creative Side of DXM o Updates o Third Plateau DXM Guestbook o List of all OTC Medicines containing DXM o DXM Tips and Tricks o DXM Trip Reports o Links and Downloads o Bad Comments section o DXM Zine (Mirror) o Downloadable DXM FAQ This site has to do with the psychoactive drug dextromethorphan (DXM, robo, tussin, cough-medicine), found in many over the counter cough medicines. If you are new to DXM, please refer to the Beginner's Guide to DXM and the DXM FAQ for the best information. The Third Plateau is no longer in a dormant period. Although I am no longer accepting trip stories (for the most part), I am still accepting tips, tricks, poems, artwork, etc. Thank you for your patience. About this site: This website exists in order to provide information on DXM not found elsewhere on the Internet. It contains information not found in the FAQ and is a place where the internet DXM drug-culture can call home. Experienced users of DXM, inexperienced users, and non-users of the drug are welcome here. This site is a non-profit website and is written and maintained by Greendrag. I thank everyone for their support and positive comments. This site would not be possible without it's readers. The idea for The Third Plateau came to me in a dream in July, 1997. It originally was housed at tripod and in November, 1997, was moved to the Lycaeum. It will stay here as long as they want me around. :) I started this site because, at the time, there was no collection of updated information about DXM. Because the FAQ is only updated every couple years, new information didn't have a "home." I decided to take all the information found on usenet and from other people's experience, and put it all on one website. This is what it came to be. Another reason for starting this site holds true to what the Internet is all about: information. Information is the key to DXM because there is more to "getting high off cough syrup" than drinking any cough syrup available. I don't want people going out and drinking the wrong syrup (anything with acetaminophen). The goal of this site is to not spread the word around, but rather provide factual information about DXM so that people don't go out and do something stupid (namely, acetaminophen overdosing). It is also here to provide interesting and entertaining DXM experiences for those who use DXM. I tell you now. If you HAVE to rush out and drink a bottle of cough medicine before reading any information about it, just please do not buy anything that contains acetaminophen as an active ingredient (Nyquil is one of them). In high doses, acetaminophen will poison your liver and will most probably kill you. I don't want anybody to die as a result of ignorance. Misuse of DXM will cause it to become illegal. So Shut up and Keep it Legal! NOTE: The information presented at this site is for EDUCATIONAL purposes only. Neither I, nor my sponsors (the lycaeum), take any responsibility for what anyone does as a result of what they read here. Neither I, nor my sponsors suggest the use of any physical mind/mood/behavioral-altering substance, legal or illegal, for recreational purposes. Neither I, nor my sponsors, recommend the use of any product in any way inconsistent with its labeling. The information found at this site is for reference only and the author does not intend for anyone to carry out any of the activities described at this site. All information provided here is for the sake of completion. I can not be held liable for your actions. Comments or suggestions should be directed to dextro50@lycaeum.org. [Editor's note: Please look for a new site in the spotlight in next month's issue!] INFO ON ORDERING PURE DXM POWDER from compiled information Currently, there are many DXM suppliers that will ship to private individuals. They do not condone recreational use and will only ship for research purposes. Listed below is some basic information on them taken off the Internet. For a more precise review of these suppliers, see Issue 1. Current prices are listed, and where current prices are unavailable, I posted the old price. Just get in touch with them for the current price. Also note that a supplier who was listed in previous issues, Biogenesis Laboratories of South Africa, no longer sells DXM or Ketamine. They are still selling GHB, however (http://www.pix.za/ biogenesis). Also, these companies are no longer selling DXM: Wanman, Kris Kindell, Softearth, Plateau Labs, DxMan, DXM King, and Zachary Earnest (due to his extremely limited supplies). Biotech International: Prices (current) 10g......$3.00/gram 25g......$1.80/gram 50g......$1.60/gram 100g.....$1.30/gram 250g.....$1.20/gram 500g.....$1.10/gram 1kg......$1.00/gram 5kg......$0.90/gram 10kg.....$0.80/gram 20kg.....$0.70/gram Make checks/money orders payable to Adriano Sanchez. Shipping and handling is included in the above prices. International orders please add USD $7.00 to the price. We accept (International) Money Orders, Cashier's Checks and COD (Charge On Delivery) orders. Cash and personal check payments are also accepted but not recommended. COD is not available on international orders. Shipping After receiving the payment or placing the order via E-mail, the buyer will be confirmed that the order was received. We will then proceed to dispatch the order within 24 hours of receiving it. If there is a delay for any reason, the buyer will be notified immediately. After the dispatch of the order, the buyer will receive a notification informing him/her of the estimated time of arrival and any other useful information. Samples of up to 10 grams are packaged in plastic bags and dispatched via USPS First Class Mail. Samples of 25 grams and over are packaged in plastic bottles and dispatched via USPS Priority Mail (included in the sale price). Address Biotech International 2221 Saxton Hill Ave Las Vegas, NV 89106 Internet You can reach Biotech via email at Biot3ch@aol.com. Robo K: Prices 500mg....$3 (capsule form) 1000mg...$5 (capsule form) Cash only. Each capsule contains 500mg. Two capsules cost $5 total. Shipping and handling included in prices. Shipping E-mail will be sent upon receipt of payment and upon shipping of substance. Address No information known. Internet You may reach Robo K via email at Robo_k@yahoo.com. Sean McKeon: Prices 1-15g....$8.00/gram 16-25g...$6.50/gram 26-50g...$5.50/gram 51-100g..$4.75/gram 100+g....Email for price The powder has already been placed into convenient 250mg gelcaps. Payment in cashier's check or money order only. Shipping No information known. Address No information known. Internet You may reach Sean McKeon via email at n9645852@cc.wwu.edu. SUNSET PH: Prices (current) 15g.....$45 30g.....$75 50g.....$99 The price includes shipping within the US only. Shipping They accept international orders by payment of an international money order only. International orders must add US $5 additional for shipping. Address SUNSET PH P.O. Box 180684 Austin, TX 78718-0684 Please send an email with your address before you send your money so they can have your order prepared beforehand. Internet Contact sunsetp@usa.net for more information. Chemical Resale of Santa Barbara (CRSB): Prices Check their web site for their current prices, since they tend to change from time to time. Shipping No information known. Address Chemical Resale of Santa Barbara 6 Harbor Way, Suite #171 Santa Barbara, CA 93109-2353 Internet Visit CRSB's site at http://www.sb.net/wirehead. Orders can also be emailed to wirehead@sb.net. JLF Poisonous Non-Consumables: Prices (current) 5g......$25 50g....$130 It is best to do business through their website, due to the fact that DXM is just one of the hundreds of products they sell. All products carry a 100% money-back guarantee of authenticity. Orders are usually sent in unlabeled/mislabeled (could say anything from pampers to motor-oil on the box), recycled containers. To order from them, you must call them and read their "Ordering Agreement Statement & Required Release" into a tape recorder. This is necessary to solve any legal problems that they may encounter. More information on this, including the statement itself is located at http://www.jlfcatalog.com/disclaim.html. Shipping No information known. Address JLF Poisonous Non-Consumables P.O. Box 184 Elizabethtown, IN 47232 Phone: 812 379-2508 Internet Visit their website at http://www.jlfcatalog.com/, or email info@jlfcatalog.com DXM MUSIC AND MOVIE REVIEWS by Gravol, Muha, Al Crawford Saving Private Ryan (starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon). A great movie to dex on... it is powerful, graphic, totally encompassing of all thought and emotion... it will grip you, twist you, and leave you in utter disarray for what is inherent and true... War. Bloodshed. Misery. It's all there... The movie opens up with a battle sequence of the storming of the beach at Normandy, D-Day. It shows you from the point of view of Tom Hanks, and his troops (he has about a dozen men he is commanding). It doesn't show you the enemy... just what the enemy looks like when you are facing him with a gun pointed down your throat.... a crude and graphic look at WWII like we've never seen in a theatre. Much like Platoon or Apocalypse Now, only there's something different about this movie... something better. And it's WWII, not Vietnam, which is refreshing. Most of the movie takes place on the German countryside as Hanks and his men are in search of Private Ryan. Finally, they do meet up at the end in a gripping display of tragic heroism... anguish... as the Nazis come marching in with their men and their tanks thru a barren and shelled-out town (just like those pictures you saw in history books)... and the final battle takes place. Just be warned... the movie is almost 3 hours long and will almost definitely affect your DXM trip to a more morbid side. But it's worth the experience for anyone who wasn't in WWII, to see what it was really like. Just be glad you didn't fight in it, boys. :) Muha recently went to see Godzilla on 780mg of DXM, and lived to tell about his encounter: Godzilla (1998) It's a big lizard. Yep. The same people who thought up "Independence Day" had to find a new way to stomp all over america. The marketing blitz has been going on for months. It's not barney (though he may have done more damage to America than Emmerich and Devlin's creature does) The first thirty minutes of the film (which is over two hours) relates how Godzilla comes to New York. It's a simple tale. Nuclear tests in the nineteen-sixties in French Polynesia warp him into existance (what's he been doing for the last thirty-five years, studying for a classical music degree?). He sucks down a canning ship in the South Pacific, then a few fishing boats off the East Coast. Then he finds the supermarket in New York City. So what goes on in the next one and a half hours? It's a sad answer. The writers shift to the story of the humans. Sorry. The writers shift to the "non-computer-generated image complexes." It's the story of Nick (Matthew Broderick) and Audrey (Maria Pitillo). Yes, he's a scientist who specializes in radioactive mutant species (so, on what has he spent his time up till now?), and she used to go out with him when they were in college. She is a reporter for TV News (does this sound like "Deep Impact"?). Acting? Miss Pitillo is like a TV screen with nothing on it. One keeps waiting for the cane to yank her off the screen. Broderick spends most of his time staring (with his mouth open). Ah, but the REAL suprise of the film is Jean Reno (who plays Phillippe Roach). The guy is wonderfully slimy. His teeth, eyes, unshaven face, cynical attitude - it's refreshing in a film that isn't going anywhere. Oh! The plot? Some chase scenes, Nick and Phillippe go looking for the lizard, then the lizard goes looking for them. But that's the end of the film. It's the middle thats the disaster. Let's just say that Godzilla develops an unexpected child-care problem. There is only one scene at which you can even manage to laugh. Our heroes are snapped up by Godzilla on the Brooklyn Bridge and manage to drive their yellow cab right out of the lizards mouth... RIGHT! The creature has no personality at all. He has poor table manners and prefers the subway. As the directors did in "Independance Day", they have him trash three major buildings and part of the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe this film is just a gag about the Japanese tourist from hell. "Godzilla" is not a movie. It is a tiny grain of a movie wrapped up inside a lot of mayhem. It was not designed for anything remotely close to serious attention. It's as close as the viewer may ever come to experiencing the feeding frenzy of the Roman circus -- howl for more blood. Don't let any shred of intelligence ruin the spectacle. Seriously, is America getting stupider by the day or have the movie directors been getting brain damage? - Muha In other words, the movie sucked. :) I also asked Muha to review some music he likes to get a different perspective in this section. Audio clips of all the music reviewed here can be found at: http://abuse.dxm.net/mp3/. Alec Empire - Bonus Beats This is a hard core trip. Strange electrics, speedy voices, with extremely heavy beats mix to make one hell of a hardcore techno mindfuck. But its kind of repetitive, and boring at times... I give it a 5/10 Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy (Pappy Mix) I WANT YOUR SOUL, I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL, COME TO DADDY This track will seriously fuck with your head. Repetitive demonic voices chanting the above mixed in with some damn good beats and crazy warping effects will fuck with your head. Really hardcore metal guitar effects mixed with the screaming insanity and warped spacey background will take you to hell and back with the help of a little Dextromethorphan. Good stereo effects also.. I give it a 9/10 Hallucinogen - LSD Six minutes and Forty four seconds of pure spacey trip. This (duh) was MADE for listening to while in an altered state. It goes on and on with more and more trance inducing sounds, which keep building on each other with helpful trip tips given you along the way. It keeps going on and on with new and different tracks being layed over each other, till it reaches a climax which includes tons of nice stereo effects. Like a trip through outer space. All in all very well done, and is able to keep your interest... I give it a 8.5/10 Death in Vegas - Dirt Nice mixing effects, with some good advice embedded in it. Sounds like you are at a live concert. Crowd effects, synthesized hardcore guitar riffs, mixed with the nice voice effects will leave you dancing. Although, despite its length, it still gets a little boring, but its still good fun to listen to... 7/10 Meat Beat Manifesto HELTER SKELTER. Switching beats completely gives this seemingly neverending song new and completely different twist every minute or so. This is a damn good tripping song, and just seems right. Sends you off in many different directions at once. Intense tripping music that just keeps going and going... Better than the energizer bunny... 8/10 -Muha Radiohead - The Bends This is an OK album from a great group which I recently discovered, with Planet Telex, High & Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, My Iron Lung, and Street Spirit being the best tracks. A good blend of melody and vocals, Thom Yorke is really good. Radiohead - OK Computer An even better Radiohead album. It won a Grammy for being the Best New Album of '97... definitely worth being checked out. Airbag, Paranoid Android, Exit Music, Karma Police, and No Surprises being the best tracks. Great melody! The following reviews are all by Al Crawford, an Industrial Music expert. They are also all copyrighted. Skinny Puppy. Last Rights. Label: Nettwerk Loc: Belgium Year: 1992 Time: 53 min 04 sec Tracks: Love In Vein 5:35; Killing Game 3:49; Knowhere? 4:19; Mirror Saw 3:50; Inquisition 5:18; Scrapyard 3:52; Riverzend 6:41; Lust Chance 3:45; Circustance 4:38; Download 11:01. OK, I know it's been out a while in Canada and the US, but it's just been released here in Europe, so... The first question that has to be asked here is whether it's had the timecodes screwed up like the US release. It hasn't, the European release seems to be a cross between the Canadian and US releases - the disc has just 10 tracks (i.e. no zero length track 10) and doesn't have the 39 second skew problem that marred the US pressing, but the cover features the rather drab white Letter Gothic (?) font from the US release instead of the I Braineater font used on the Canadian version. They have also, unfortunately, kept the Braineater artwork. Sorry, but I just don't like his artwork - it's got an unfinished, art-college look that I associate with 3rd rate metal albums by groups with too many umlauts in their names. Stephen R. Gilmore may have been expensive but at least his album covers had style. With that trivia out of the way, onto the review of the music... The same as Too Dark Park but different. What? You mean you want more details? OK, at first listen Last Rights does sound very much like Too Dark Park put through a rusty mincer. Which, when you consider that Too Dark Park wasn't exactly a stroll through a sunlit meadow, is saying something. However, with repeated listening it does become apparent that they've moved on a bit since then. Going over the tracks one at a time... "Love In Vein" - the second single - is pretty good single material, similar in overall sound to material from TDP and very much typically Skinny Puppy. Ogre growls away and the music itself lopes along in a purposeful manner. "Killing Game" is a very odd bird indeed - a Skinny Puppy ballad. Ogre tones down his vocal style here considerably, and even attempts to sing. It's rather endearing and it's interesting to hear him manage to vocally convey emotions other than anger (regret and anguish both make brief appearances here). "Knowhere?" pounds explosively back into more familiar territory. Thundering percussion and churning guitars with...lots of noise. "Mirror Saw" is more in the conventional dark dance industrial vein. Some nice swirly electronic noises, unusually subdued vocals for Mr Ogre (well, they would be if there wasn't a ballad two tracks earlier). The obligatory extra weirdness is provided by some nice backwards samples from what sounds like an old ad or radio jingle. "Inquisition" was the first single released from this and in retrospect it was a fairly obvious choice. A purposeful beat and more clearly in dance industrial territory than anything from the previous album. In many ways the lightest Puppy track I've heard in a while. "Scrapyard", by way of contrast, is by turns noisysick and acoustic. Very on and off. Typical Ogre lyrics delivered in a typical Ogre voice. Not my favourite track by a long shot. "Riverzend" sounds rather like "Rivers" crossed with "Chloralone". Hardly surprising, since that's what it is, literally. Rather more surprising though is the fact that while "Rivers" and "Chloralone" are both good tracks, this fusion of the two manages to be less than the sum of its parts. "Lust Chance"? Hmm, interesting musically but I'd always thought cEvin et al were sufficiently original to avoid the rather cliched dance industrial "let's sample a porn flick" routine. Perhaps they knew it was a corny idea for a track since it sounds like the worlds most oversampled man, James Brown, turns up here and there too. "Circustance". Almost ambient initially - hints of Mark Shreeve and Bill Nelson's instrumental stuff. Gradually though the track winds up and it strikes me as being more like a Doubting Thomas track with added Ogre than a Skinny Puppy track. Samples abound again, including bits of Too Dark Park. "Download". This seems to be a track that you either love or hate. I love it. Starting out very dissonant and unstructured, over the space of its 11 minutes we are taken through a palindromic maelstrom of crashing electronics, a quick scan through a CD, lots of samples and, eventually, a rather delicate and beautiful synth melody. It's like tuning a radio and eventually finding something you want to listen to. Although I at first saw a number of parallels between this album and Too Dark Park, in retrospect it's definitely a superior piece of work. The material is more varied and while there are one or two duds that strike me as filler, the Good Bits (tm) more than make up for them. Not my favourite SP album of the lot, but certainly one of their better efforts. Skinny Puppy. Brap. Label: Nettwerk Loc: USA Year: 1996 Time: (1) 69 min 24 sec; (2) 76 min 54 sec. The release of Skinny Puppy's final album The Process earlier this year was a disappointment to many of the band's fans, documenting as it did a period when the band was beginning to lose cohesion and was also coming under pressure to commercialize their sound from their new label, American. Many felt that it wasn't a fitting finale for one of the most critically acclaimed industrial acts of the past decade. Although I personally found The Process to be quite an enjoyable album, even I'd admit that Brap makes a far better tailpiece to the Skinny Puppy story. Subtitled Back & Forth Vol. 3 & 4, it continues where Nettwerk's earlier Back & Forth Vol. 1 & 2 left off. That release combined Puppy's first cassette release (Back & Forth), with a handful of outtakes and leftovers. Brap is in a similar vein, with its two discs containing a selection of outtakes, leftovers and live material. However, each disc also contains a multimedia track, and it's these that lift Brap out of the "just another rarities and outtakes compilation" category into another league entirely. Tracks: (1) Multimedia 19:23; Jackhammer 4:18; Splasher 3:51; Double Cross 5:31; Yo Yo Scrape 4:39; Carry 5:18; Guilty 3:13; The Soul That Creates 4:03; Brap 3:03; Sparkless 3:01; Dead Doll 2:17; Deadlines 4:42; Last Call 6:05. The first disc is, unsurprisingly, Volume 3. Oddly enough though, the back of the case has the track listing of this on the right rather than the left, which could lead to some confusion as regards track titles. This disc contains older material, most of which sounds as though it's of a similar vintage to that which appeared on the original Back & Forth. This is supported by the rather meagre sleevenotes, which indicate that it was recorded during the 1983/4 period on 4 track cassette. It shows, but sophisticated sound and production never were a trademark of early Puppy releases. The sound is very much what you'd expect from this period in Puppy's pre-history - heavily distorted vocals, complex synth work marred a little by primitive equipment, and a grab-bag of assorted samples. I won't go into each and every track in detail - some of them are rather difficult to describe - but there's a typically Puppy-esque balance between dissonance, noise, melody and texture. "Yo Yo Scrape", for example, is one of the most annoying SP tracks that I've ever heard, stripped, harsh and disjointed. "Carry", by contrast, has quickly established itself as a personal favourite, with a percussive base that reminds me a great deal of early (Ralf & Florian era) Kraftwerk, overlaid by smooth synth washes and enormous slabs of 1984 samples. Individually the parts are simple, but they combine beautifully. Other favourites here include "Double Cross", the upbeat "Deadlines", and "Last Call", which combines the characteristic Puppy sound of this period with some samples that remind me more of the sort of thing Tom Ellard was doing at around the same time. The multimedia content of this disc is impressive to say the least. There's a discography, complete with album and single cover shots, sleeve notes and supplementary notes, and a "sample track" for pretty much every Puppy release (though not all - the European-only Remission & Bites is missing for some reason). This pales into insignificance beside the Brap - Back program itself though. This, when started, places you in a 3-dimensional Quicktime VR environment, with the various monsters from the Too Dark Park cover art wrapped around you. You can turn around, look up and down, and by clicking on various beasties, view a number of interesting multimedia "exhibits". There's a band history (with copious still images), a plethora of videos (including "Dig It", "Stairs & Flowers", "Spasmolytic", and several others), and a selection of interesting video and pictorial snippets, ranging from press release and photographic coverage of the band's arrest for disembowelling poor 'ole Chud on stage. Tracks: (2) Multimedia22:52; Uranus Cancelled 4:21; All Eyes 6:07; Reclamation 2:57; Spasmolytic 3:54; Grave Wisdom 3:42; Tin Omen 6:15; Gods Gift 4:47; Convulsion 3:10; Nature's Revenge 3:58; Love In Vein 6:56; TFWO 4:17; Shoralone 3:38. The multimedia content (Brap - Forth) on the second disc is rather different in nature. Rather than a Quicktime VR environment, you find yourself placed in a room. By turning on lights or lighting candles, you illuminate different parts of the room, allowing you to click on objects which once again trigger various "exhibits". To be honest, I found these to be inferior to the first disc's multimedia. There's a paean to Skinny Puppy written by Greg Clow, there's a bunch of live videos that vary greatly in quality (although it has to be said that the video with the worst quality is by far the oldest. Puppy's first ever live appearance?), and then there's the globe. The globe? By clicking on the globe that appears in the corner of the room, you find yourself facing a map of Europe, with various cities highlighted by coloured markers. Click on the marker and you find yourself viewing a snippet of one of Puppy's "home movies". True, the locations of the clips don't always match the locations ofmap of Europe, with various cities highlighted by coloured markers. Click on the marker and you find yourself viewing a snippet of one of Puppy's "home movies". True, the locations of the clips don't always match the locations of the markers (unless Canada is now considered an Eastern European country), but they're fascinating to watch and definitely one of the best things in the set. Gape at behind the scenes drama and intrigue! Thrill to cEvin and Ogre's impromptu beer commercial! Gasp as the band sample some of Amsterdam's best known tourist Skinny Puppy" or whatever. Oh, yeah, the CD contains music too. The music on the second disc dates from the end days of the Puppy story, specifically the Too Dark Park/ Last Rights era. The sleevenotes indicate a mixture of outtakes and live material, but the vast majority of the music sounds live. It's rather difficult to tell, but I'd suspect that at least "Uranus Cancelled" and "Love In Vein" are studio tracks. The former is a new track, dominated by chugging guitar, while the latter is considerably different from the original album mix, adding a lengthy and highly enjoyable intro. Much of the live material is familiar, but there's some unfamiliar stuff too, like "All Eyes". I'm not generally a huge fan of live material, so I have to admit that I preferred the first disc on the whole, but the live sound quality is pretty good. The one exception is "Tin Omen", the first half of which seems to have been recorded in a cupboard several miles from the concert but which suddenly increases in volume midway through. Still, it's pretty enjoyable as largely live discs go, and at least it's not all fused into a single track like the Ain't It Dead Yet live album. Overall, very impressive. It's difficult to rate though, as how enjoyable this disc will be depends largely on how big a Puppy fan you are, and whether you have access to a suitably equipped PC or Macintosh. Serious fans will want to pick this disc up regardless of access to a multimedia-capable computer, since it's composed entirely of rare and previously unreleased material. Those who're less keen on SP and don't have access to a PC or Mac should probably steer clear - much of the material here is a lot less accessible than the likes of The Process or Rabies, and is occasionally rather lo-fi in nature. However, even if you're only a borderline Puppyphile, if you've got the facilities to have a look at the multimedia material in this set, that alone is worth the price (a very reasonable $20 or so). It's not just the multimedia content that's great, it's the presentation - it's very slickly put together, with a consistent feel that's very appropriate to the band's sound. For the serious fan/if you like multimedia. Everyone else. Kraftwerk. The Mix. Label: EMI Loc: UK Year: 1991 Time: 65 min 15 sec Tracks: The Robots; Computerlove; Pocket Calculator; Dentaku; Autobahn; Radioactivity; Trans Europe Express; Abzug; Metal On Metal; Homecomputer; Music Non Stop. Well here it is, the first "new" official Kraftwerk album to see the light of day since 1986's Electric Cafe. As the title suggests, it's an album of remixes covering all of Kraftwerk's albums from Autobahn to date. I'll go over the tracks one at a time and then sum up afterwards. The Robots. After the familiar intro, this remix veers sharply into techno territory - very up to date, almost house-like. Little of the original instrumentation remains - it's been replaced with more modern sounds and even the vocals have been rerecorded. This version is also slightly different from the mixes that appear on the current CD single. Computerlove. A completely new intro and once again this remix is a major refit of the original track. The original melody remains but most of the other instrumentation has been beefed up with a stronger dance beat. Vocals the same? The spoken vocals may be (I haven't compared them directly) but the modulated "Computer Love" refrain has been changed. Pocket Calculator. With the exception of the added thumpy drums this retains the flavour of the original quite well. This is perhaps due to the prominence of the vocals in this, one of Kraftwerk's sillier tracks. Dentaku. I'm not familiar with the original. Sounds very much like "Pocket Calculator", in fact there's no join between the two. Autobahn. The highpoint of the album for me. Starts out very much like the original (car door slam, engine starts - but the horn at the end has changed!). It then moves into a very relaxed beat which flows into a version of "Autobahn" sounding very like the 1974 version. Most of the original analogue synths seem to be there but there are changes - the beat is noticeable in places and seems to change the entire pace of the track which seems to amble down the autobahn instead of driving. The synthesized traffic which was one of the highpoints of the original have been partially replaced with samples of traffic. A shame. Still, to make up for it there's some very nice heavily processed vocals later on that show, I feel, that Kraftwerk can still sound leading edge even playing a tune that's 17 years old. Radioactivity. Hmmm, this starts out sounding very much like it could be a Front 242 track. Driving synths and percussion. When the melody starts up though, it's quite definitely a Kraftwerk track. Some nice squelchy synth sweeps, choral effects and other effects give this track a very solid feel. Good. Trans Europe Express. To be perfectly honest, there's not much difference at all between this and the original. It doesn't sound out of place next to the 90s remixes which for a 1978 track (or was it 77?) is pretty good going. Abzug. Pretty much the same as the previous track - this seems to act as a bridge between "TEE" and the next track which is... Metal On Metal. Again, not drastically different from the original. The metal on metal of the title has been replaced with something that sounds rather less solid than before (tinplate on tinplate?) but otherwise there isn't much of a change to report. Homecomputer. Slightly less subtly remixed than the last three tracks, this still doesn't move too far from the original. There's a more prominent beat than the original but that's about it. Although it's labelled as "Homecomputer" there's a sizeable chunk of "It's More Fun To Compute" in here too. The track hasn't really advanced as much as it's subject matter has in the past ten years :) Music Non Stop. Not much of a difference between this and the original at all. Sure, there are differences but they seem to fit in with the track as though they were part of it from the word go. Now for my overall opinions. I was rather worried before this album that they might overdo the remixes and ruin what were otherwise perfectly good songs. Now that I've heard the album I feel it's a bit of a shame that only the first seven tracks feature any serious remixing given the imagination that has been put into the remixes of, say, "Autobahn" and "Radioactivity". Why have the later tracks been remixed less? Possibly because they were that much closer to a contemporary sound to start with, possibly because they wanted to get the album out reasonably quickly (!), possibly because they wanted to leave something familiar in case the more drastic remixes didn't go down well. I feel that "The Robots" was a bad choice for a first single - it's too mainstream and is one of the less imaginative remixes. I'd hope they'll either release "Radioactivity" or "Autobahn" next although the distributors notes I've seen indicate that only the one single is planned. The track choices are OK but seem rather biased towards the Computer World period (4 tracks) and Trans Europe Express (3 tracks). Man Machine was one of their best and has been all but ignored. If they'd even put "The Model" or "Neon Lights" on instead of "The Robots". Ah well... On the whole I'd say this album bodes fairly well for the future - as long as their composition muscles haven't atrophied. Download. Furnace. Label: Cleopatra Year: 1995 Time: 74 min 38 sec Tracks: Mallade 2:34; Seel Hole 4:20; Omniman 6:00; Cannaya 8:28; Sigesang 4:40; Stone Grey Soil 7:09; Mother Sonne 4:51; Attalal 7:16; Lebanull 6:53; Beehatch 7:21; Noh Man's Land 5:06; Marred 9:00; Hevel 0:50. Damn, this is a difficult one to describe. Download is (was?) a collaboration between cEvin kEy and the late Dwayne Goettel from Skinny Puppy, Philth (a Goettel acquaintance), and Mark Spybey of Dead Voices On Air, with guest vocal contributions by Genesis P. Orridge. The end result manages to sound like a fusion of the sounds of all those involved (Dead Psychic Gristle Puppies on Throbbing TV Air?) with the music having, for the most part, a chaotic, improvised feel. This is matched by the track titles, which were obviously decided on by someone with a lifelong grudge against spell checkers. The first track, "Mallade", blends unintelligible vocals, electronic shrieks and distorted guitar in a manner that recalls Skinny Puppy at their weirdest (or, perhaps more accurately, Hilt) blended with Spybey's industrial ambi-noise. "Seel Hole" fuses more non-vox with a dazed, stumbling beat, and staccato drum-machine blasts a la SP, giving the track a feel that's more obviously reminiscent of that band's later work. "Omniman" - plucked guitar, guttural beast noises, and weird unintelligible lyrics give way to occasional bursts of Genesis P. Orridge, and a pounding, driving techno beat. By itself, only a little above average, but considerably enhanced by its context and schizoid internal structure. The next track, "Cannaya", has a similarly strong rhythmic element, albeit a less frenetic one, over which more non-vocals are intoned. In time it too mutates into a maelstrom of crashing percussion, tortured brass, electronic drones and more of those guttural beast noises (the best kind!). This in turn warps into chattering mechanical sounds and distorted voices, before once again developing a rhythm and an odd, haunting melody. In this it's a little reminiscent of the Skinny Puppy track from which the band take their name, constantly changing and never standing still long enough for you to really grasp what's going on. "Sigesang" combines a weird spoken sample, squelchy synths and a clattering rhythm track, before collapsing into something that's almost techno, almost industrial, and almost noise. Eventually a (high BPM) beat emerges, albeit well hidden under a wall of noise, shattered samples and all-out strangeness. By this point you learn to expected the unexpected. While the music is bound by the areas previously explored by the participants, it careers out of control around that space, bouncing off the walls. "Mother Sonne" combines techno bleeps, skewed stringy synths and distorted vocals. As (un)usual, it progresses via mutant funk, into something altogether different. Well, let's be honest here, into two or three altogether different styles. The next track, "Attalal" is unusual in having intelligible vocals, distorted over a bed of fluid noise, for a short while at least. The noise is joined by twisted percussion which disappears, then warps, then returns, then... "Lebanull" is yet another track with a thundering beat, this time fused to what sounds like muezzin chant, and spoken word soundbites from Genesis P. Orridge. There's (relatively) little progression in this track, although the sound does thicken briefly before a prolonged and painful death. After so many tracks of chaos, noise, and general mayhem, "Beehatch" is surprisingly lightweight, with a drowsy beat and gentle guitar melody. True, there are still dissonant, chaotic elements, but it's positively tame by comparison with what has gone before. "Marred" continues in unexpectedly conventional vein - a relaxed dance rhythm with light electronics. However, darker clouds soon obscure the view, and both rhythm and `melody' distort and waver as other denizens of the soundscape appear, such as a distorted 78 (or at least what sounds like one), and more P. Orridge vocals. Finally, the track heads back into the customary hotch-potch of mutant techno, warped industrial noise, just plain straightforward noise, and one or two other unidentifiables. The final track is the brief, treated guitar'n'building wall of thunderous percussion of "Hevel". Furnace is difficult but rewarding listening. Like the Skinny Puppy track that gave the group its name, it veers out-of-control between horror and beauty, dissonance and melody, chaos and structure, something and something else. The contrast between the seventeen different kinds of musical nightmare explored here and the brief moments of lucidity appears both at a track level - "Beehatch" sandwiched between more experimental tracks - and within the tracks themselves. This is one that'll doubtless spawn the usual debate (which has surrounded the last n Puppy related albums) about whether or not it can be fully appreciated by those not in a pharmaceutically altered state. There's little doubt in my mind about whether or not the band themselves were on this planet while recording (if they were, I'd urgently recommend that they seek professional help). As usual, though, there'll be no resolution, although I personally got a great deal out of this album with the aid of nothing more mind-altering than a strong cup of tea. If it takes more for you to feel you've got the best from this disc, fine, but I'll stick to my view that everything's already there to be found and appreciated simply by making the effort and listening intently. Download. The Eyes Of Stanley Pain. Label: Nettwerk Year: 1996 Time: 71 min 22 sec Tracks: Suni C 5:29; Possession 4:07; The Turin Cloud 4:31; Glassblower 3:01; H Sien Influence 4:45; Base Metal 5:00; Collision 10:37; Sidewinder 4:18; Outafter 4:56; Killfly 4:04; Separate 5:53; Seven Plagues 4:48; Fire This Ground (Puppy Gristle Part 1) 5:06; The Eyes Of Stanley Pain 4:47. Download seem to be remarkably productive these days, and The Eyes Of Stanley Pain is the fourth release and the second full length album from the group in less than a year. However, it's most certainly not a case of "that difficult second album" for Download, as TESP is, if anything, even more impressive than Furnace was. It retains the chaos, density and energy of the first album but moderates it a little, adding a stronger rhythmic element that holds everything together much more cohesively than on their debut. The album gets off to a very impressive start with "Suni C", a well-crafted and deeply layered fusion of complex, high-BPM rhythms, clever electronics, and Mark Spybey's distorted, half-spoken vocals. The lyrics are a little too "hey, wow, let's all be trees and groove with the universe" for me, but they don't detract from the overall effect too much. Also, it might just be my imagination, but the track has a much more Puppy-esque feel than Furnace did. I'm certainly not complaining about that. "Possession" is equally energetic, with further hints'o'Puppy, and a more distorted, aggressive vocal. Again, the track is technically outstanding - with layers upon layers of rich, dark noise twisting and mingling. It doesn't take a huge leap of the imagination to see this as being the sort of thing Skinny Puppy might have come up with around now had they been left to their own devices. "The Turin Cloud" is a little more conventional, with a pounding techno beat under the heavily distorted vocals. Generic techno it ain't, but the reference points here are definitely more strongly biased towards contemporary dance. "Glassblower", which appeared in a remixed form on the "Sidewinder" EP is another driving dance track, with some wonderfully crunchy percussion battering away behind more distorted vox and assorted electronic burbles and twangs. Dense and dissonant, it's an outstanding track. The next track, "H Sien Influence" sees the return of Genesis P. Orridge on vocals. GPO provided some of the vocal contributions to Furnace, although they were remarkably annoying in places. This time he's largely restricted to spoken word material and his voice lacks that irritating whiny quality. Musically the track's an interesting combination of strained cornet (shades of old TG material), the GPO vox, interesting samples and a very familiar Puppy-style beat. "Base Metal" is another "Sidewinder" track, and I like this original version as much as I did the remix from the EP. "Collision" is notable both for its (excessive?) length and the possession of an improvised quality that's more reminiscent of Furnace than the other material on the album. While most of the music on Stanley Pain is pretty chaotic and complex, it always seems planned, as though every sound has been precisely placed. This wasn't the case for Furnace, which was less disciplined and more spontaneous, and it's also not the case for "Collision", which careers back and forth between techno, DVOA-style noise, and Puppy-isms (particularly towards the end, where it turns into something straight off a recent SP album, albeit with different vocal processing). The hints of that band continue in "Sidewinder", where you half expect Nivek Ogre's voice to start at any time. It doesn't, though, and the track grinds down into something like dub reggae put through a car crusher. "Outafter", by contrast, is a remarkably light techno track with only a distinctive synth melody and darkly fuzzy bass line hinting at its origins. Oh, and there's what sounds like a sample of TG's "Discipline" in there too, although whether that came from the source or via FSOL's "Central Industrial" is anybody's guess. Heading rapidly past the rather pedestrian "Killfly", Genesis P. Orridge reappears on "Separate". He's a bit more irritating this time, but his vocals contrast nicely with the distorted Spybey vox and his lyrics are, if nothing else, interesting. Musically the track is slow and dark, more reminiscent of the Key/Goettel side project Doubting Thomas than Skinny Puppy. The twelfth track, "Seven Plagues", is an interesting gobbit of dark, thumpy dance. "Fire This Ground", which features instrumental contributions from GPO and Psychic TV colleague Larry Thrasher, is subtitled "Puppy Gristle Part 1", perhaps indicating that it's supposed to be a fusion of Skinny Puppy and Throbbing Gristle. The fact that it doesn't sound it, but rather sounds more like Puppy in one of their noisier moods, is perhaps a testament to the fact that Genesis P. Orridge and Throbbing Gristle were not (as GPO seems to think) one and the same, and that the other three members of TG also made important contributions to the band's sound. Not a bad track, but it does seem to trade off the reputations of those involved a little too much. Finally, the title track is dark and noisy but ultimately not particularly satisfying. I've got mixed feelings about the album. It's certainly an excellent album, but at times one gets the impression that the high production values, and the intricate, dense and fascinating layers of noise form a beautiful sonic edifice surrounding...not very much. For those who liked the last Download album it's worth getting just for the technical accomplishment, and I'd also imagine that many Puppy fans who were put off by Furnace will find this one much more palatable. However, where Furnace sounded truly original, heading off in half a dozen new directions all at once without sounding too obviously derivative of anything, The Eyes Of Stanley Pain is without a doubt something that Key/Goettel had a hand in. So, a triumph of form over substance perhaps, but when you've got a form like this, who cares? While on the subject of "form over substance", mention must also be made of the packaging. While this is very attractive to look at, with little folding panels and yet another example of Dave McKean artwork (the man's almost as ubiquitous as Stephen R. Gilmore was a few years back) it is also unbelievably flimsy and looks likely to scratch the disc. Rating this one's tricky, since while Furnace is more original, more innovative and more deserving, The Eyes Of Stanley Pain is just great listening. So I'll chicken out and give it the same rating I gave the first album. Download. Charlie's Family. Label: Metropolis Loc: USA Year: 1997 Time: 47 min 45 sec Tracks: Beautiful 4:35; Gristle Dog Corr 6:12; Trick Or Treat 4:18; Fill Her 5:07; Tweeter Blower 4:46; Catblower 8:35; Yes 4:04; Interlude 5:00; Thank You 5:08. Charlie's Family was originally released last year by Nettwerk as an absolutely, positively, guaranteed not to be released anywhere else limited edition that was sold only at venues on Download's tour that year. Needless to say, as is so often the case with absolutely, positively, guaranteed not to be released anywhere else limited edition discs, it's now on general release, this time through Metropolis. The album's a soundtrack to a Jim van Bebber film of the same name. As you might guess from the title, it's about that individual who figures so infrequently in the preoccupations and interests of industrial musicians, Charles Manson. That was sarcasm, by the way. Oh well, if it's not such a hugely original subject for an industrial release to obsess on, at least it's by somebody who can be expected to make something decent of it. However, those expecting The Eyes Of Stanley Pain with the odd "helter-skelter" thrown in may be in for a surprise. It's a much more...soundtracky album than previous Download releases. I suppose this isn't entirely unexpected, however, since it is...well, a soundtrack. What this means in Download terms is 1) no vocals, 2) lots of appropriately Manson-esque samples and 3) less in the way of obvious rhythms or, for that matter, structure. The album gets off to what I'd have to describe as a fairly weak start. Flowing synths distort and merge with suitably 60s-ish hippy chants which in turn give way to that industrial staple, the sounds of the female orgasm. In its defence I do have to say that it does fit in with the theme of the song (clarified by a sampled quote) and it's pretty impressive as sampled female orgasms go. Then there's samples from 'ole looney tunes himself, as Mr Manson rants and raves in his own inimitable fashion, all over a flowing, mutating, tableau of synths and effects. OK, so perhaps "a weak start" wasn't an entirely fair evaluation of this track, but it does pale in comparison to some of the treats that are in store later. The second track, "Gristle Dog Corr", opens with the sound of dive bombers. Why, I don't know, maybe there's some obscure Manson-related reason for this. Some of the sounds floating around in the mix seem familiar, the samples fit the period nicely, (well, apart from the pig noises, perhaps) and the music crunches and grinds and is generally weird. Not exactly atypical for Download, and weird in a positive "hey, has my CD player broken?" sense. By comparison, "Trick Or Treat" is positively conventional. There's a beat, there's something that could be mistaken for a melody in a poor light. It's got a lot of the same sinister, drug-crazed atmosphere as the first two tracks though, just placed in a more musical setting. After the madness of "Gristle Dog Corr" it offers a moment of (relative) before the onslaught that is "Fill Her". How to describe "Fill Her" - well, it's percussive. Not just "a few drums" percussive, but psychotic Buddy Rich on amphetamines in a berserker rage in a metal-crushing plant in Hell percussive. Alternatively, if you put a million monkeys in front of a million typewriters - then gave each monkey a large sledgehammer and told it to beat the hell out of the typewriter, then recorded it. Then sped it up a bit. Then played it really loud. I think you get the idea by now. It's great. "Tweeter Blower" is by contrast a nice tame chaotic maelstrom of electronic noise from which a nice, sedate dance beat emerges, accompanied by some appropriate screechy noises that might indeed blow your tweeters, were not your speakers already lying shattered into smouldering fragments after "Fill Her". The track after it, "Cat Blower" opens with noises that suggest geese (which in turn suggests Mark Spybey, although the credits seem to peg this as a post-Spybey release). The main sonic theme of the track though, suggests a cat being slowly tortured over a typically warped Download backing. Of course, since these are the people that gave the world the amazing Chud, it's fairly safe to assume that no cats were harmed in the recording of this track. Equipment, now that's another story... It'd be nice to think that "Yes" featured Jon Anderson and co. being slowly tortured over a typically warped Download backing. Alas, this is not to be. Instead it features lots of odd electronic noises, a charming little "they're eating my skin, help me!" sample (though whether this is from one of their favourite horror movies or documents the hallucination of fanged peanut brittle is difficult to tell - in a Manson context it could easily be either. Or both). Oh, and there's "No" and "Yes" samples in there too, just to reinforce the title. "Interlude" begins with another pleasant explosion of speaker-shattering sound, but this quickly gives way to a downright relaxed track (the little chimy noise sounds familiar - sampled from an old Laibach track, perhaps?), albeit one with typical Downloadisms abounding. The album's final track is "Thank You". This has a pleasantly open, reverberating feel to it that reminds me a little of one sequence in the old Skinny Puppy track that gave the band it's name. Various electronic gurgles, whistles, and so forth bounce around this echoey sphere in typical Download fashion. I guess the phrase "typical Download fashion" describes the album very well. It's got a lot of ingredients in common with the band's two studio albums, they're just arranged in a different manner to suit their function as a soundtrack. All in all, not a bad album at all. If you've liked Download's previous stuff, you'll probably enjoy this one too, although it can take a while to get into it. It's not another Stanley Pain though. This is partly due to its being a soundtrack, and the restrictions that imposes on form, but the fusion of rhythm and noise was what made The Eyes Of Stanley Pain such a great disc. That balance is disturbed here and while it doesn't ruin the album by any means, I have to rate this disc just that little bit lower. Front Line Assembly. Flavour Of The Weak. Label: Metropolis Loc: USA Year: 1997 Time: 61 min 12 sec Tracks: Corruption 8:00; Sado-Masochist 6:24; Autoerotic 6:20; Colombian Necktie 6:53; Evil Playground 8:42; Comatose 6:34; Life=Leben 6:39; Predator 11:40. Flavour Of The Weak is the first album from the new look Front Line Assembly. Rhys Fulber is out, and busy indulging his fondness for heavy metal guitars as a member of Fear Factory, and Chris Peterson, who has been a member of FLA in all but name for years, is in. At the time of Fulber's departure many were ready to write FLA off, as rumour had it that he'd become the driving force behind the band's sound, and that Bill was just there to write the basslines and growl over the top. However, those rumours were firmly stomped when the "Colombian Necktie" single was released, and dead and buried by the time Flavour Of The Weak appeared. Ah, yes, that title. Originally considered a joke working title by many in the know, jaws dropped when it turned out to be the album's final title too. Let's face it, Flavour Of The Weak is a decidedly punny title, and I found myself wondering just what degree of irony was behind it - there's a fine line between clever and stupid, as Nigel Tufnel once said, and it wasn't entirely clear which side of the line Leeb was on. Having heard the album (where some of the lyrics are either a clever attempt at self-parody or a new low) I'm inclined to think Leeb's being somewhat clever here, and if his tongue isn't planted firmly in his cheek, it's at least more towards one side of his mouth than the other. Things get off to a surprising start with the excellent "Corruption". Excellent because it's a superior example of Leeb's work, surprising because the track has Noise Unit written all over it. It's certainly a lot closer to some of the material on Decoder and Drill than anything released under the FLA name. There are no vocals, for example. The music itself is a combination of familiar synth sounds and melodies and a more techno-influenced drum'n'bass rhythm track. It's an excellent choice for a first track, and is definitely one of the best tracks on the album. The second track, "Sado-Masochist", also has a techno-style beat, but it's not as smooth and polished a track as "Corruption", with harsh grating synths. Leeb's vocals are interesting, as he switches between the more typical FLA distorted growl in the verse and what seems to be an untreated vocal in the chorus. Yes, he actually sings. The lyrics in the chorus also had an unexpected resonance for me, but one that's probably lost on anyone who isn't from either the UK, Australia or New Zealand, and remembers a certain mid-70s UK TV show. It'll be interesting to see if it had the same effect on anybody else. "Autoerotic" is passable but unexceptional, with Leeb delivering something that sounds like a rap. Musically, the track's closer to techno with an FLA twist than FLA with a techno twist. "Colombian Necktie" is the album's first single, a strong track that blends the FLA sound and dance influences with rather more finesse than either of the previous two tracks. Leeb's vocals are restrained and surprisingly smooth, while the track incorporates contemporary sounds and rhythms without losing the distinctive Front Line Assembly sound. The track runs smoothly into "Evil Playground". You can tell it's a playground because there's lots of children chanting. Bill can be remarkably unsubtle at times. Where the track trips up, however, is that it doesn't sound particularly evil. FLA are capable of radiating menace when they want to, but this instrumental track is just another piece of techno-fied instrumental FLA. The distant echoing bass that lurks in the first part of the track is nice, but it's all too quickly replaced by a fairly generic breakbeat. This could have been a great track, but it misses the mark. The next track, however, is excellent, and will be the album's second single. Lyrically, "Comatose" is decidedly atypical, and seems to be a not-very-hidden jab at the whole genre, with either a large dollop of honesty or an equally large amount of self-parody. "Fame and fortune are everything," says Bill, and "What's the flavour, can I borrow?" Read into that whatever you will, but it certainly sounds to me like Bill's attacking the fickle nature of trends in the genre, and even his own participation in it. It's just so refreshing to see a Leeb lyric that isn't about post-apocalyptic thingies, and is both cynical and self-referential. The lyrics aren't the song's only strength, either. Musically, it's one of the best tracks on the album, and it combines those big anthemic FLA choruses with some varied percussion. However, the lyrical streak doesn't last, as we reach "Life=Leben". Musically, it's not a bad track at all, with militaristic percussion in the intro, plenty of bleeps and burbles, a drum'n'bass rhythm track and so forth. With the exception of the drum'n'bass influence, it harks back to the older, sparser FLA sound. Unfortunately, it also plumbs new depths in lyrical inanity. Some of the lyrics here make me wonder if Leeb's trying to see just how bad the lyrics can get. His lyrics have rarely been above average in the past, and often downright embarrassing, but lines like "Disturbed Emotion/Greased With Lotion" mark an all-time low for Leeb. Discussion of the song's meaning in rec.music.industrial have concluded that it's either about prostitution or fish, which I think says a lot about the lyrical quality, and also quite a lot about the denizens of rec.music.industrial. The album's final track is "Predator", a largely instrumental track that's got a strong techno influence. There are lyrics, but they're best forgotten, believe me. It's a decent enough track, but doesn't really do much for me. Hidden away at the end is an unnamed track. Stylistically it's out of the ordinary, being at the same time much more heavily influenced by the likes of recent Aphex Twin material and downright noisy. Yes, yes, I've heard "Ventolin", I'm aware that's pretty damn noisy. The track reminds me most of the untitled track at the end of Front 242's "Angels Versus Animals" EP, largely due to the repetitive use of a siren-like sound. Overall, Flavour Of The Weak bodes well for the future of FLA. The departure of Rhys Fulber hasn't really hit the band's sound, and even Leeb's declaration that he's going to try to be more commercial in future shouldn't be too much of a problem, as long as he doesn't ditch too many of the ingredients that make FLA sound like FLA in the process. Those FLA fans with a strong aversion to all things techno, and particularly the use of breakbeats, should probably steer clear though, and hope Leeb returns to a more EBM-oriented style in either his next release (unlikely) or one of his many side-projects. My own personal take on Flavour is that it's a pretty strong album overall, and I have to say that there's more material here that I like than on either of the band's say that there's more material here that I like thTactical Neural Implant to find an album that I consider superior. Look for more reviews in next month's issue! VARIOUS DXM SOURCES from the Physicians' Desk Reference for Non-Prescription Drugs Note: Acetaminophen is very deadly. DXM products which contain this substance can kill very easily. The original list contained products containing Acetaminophen but in order to shorten the list we have taken those products out and included all other DXM-containing products. This list is (c) 1998 by Jeff Sothen. You may copy without permission. Included below are 48 non-prescription medications containing various forms of DXM. Listed are the active ingredients, any relative notes or cautions, and a rating of the medication. Ratings are based on the amount of DXM in the medication and if any harmful ingredients are available. Ratings range from one * to 4 *'s, with no *'s being the worst rating; if something is rated with no *'s, you should avoid taking it, probably because of the presence of Acetaminophen in the medication or very low amounts of DXM. 1. Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine by Miles Consumer Active Ingredients (per tablet): Aspirin 325mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 2mg, Phenylpropanolamine Bitartrate 20mg, DXM HBr 10mg. Notes: In water the aspirin is converted into its soluble ionic form, sodium acetylsalicylate. Rating: * 2. Alka-Seltzer Plus Night-Time Cold Medicine by Miles Consumer Active Ingredients (per tablet): Aspirin 500mg, Doxylamine Succinate 6.25mg, Phenylpropanolamine Bitartrate 20mg, DXM HBr 15mg. Notes: In water the aspirin is converted into its soluble ionic form, sodium acetylsalicylate. Doxylamine Succinate is an antihistamine. Rating: ** 3. Benylin Adult Formula Cough Suppressant by WARNER WELLCOME Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 15mg. Rating: ** 4. Benylin Expectorant by WARNER WELLCOME Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 5mg, Guaifenesin 100mg. Notes: Guaifenesin may cause nausea in high doses. Rating: * 5. Benylin Multisymptom by WARNER WELLCOME Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 5mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 15mg, Guaifenesin 100mg. Rating: * 6. Benylin Pediatric Cough Suppressant by WARNER WELLCOME Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 7.5mg. Rating: * 7. Buckley's Mixture by W.K. Buckley Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 12.5mg in a sugar-free base. Rating: ** 8. Cerose DM by Wyeth-Ayerst Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 15mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 4mg, Phenylephrine HCl 10mg, Alcohol 2.4%. Rating: ** 9. Cheracol-D Cough Formula by Roberts Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 10mg, Guaifenesin 100mg, Alcohol 4.75%. Rating: * 10.Cheracol Plus Cough Syrup Multisymptom Cough/Cold Formula by Roberts Active Ingredients (per tablespoonful/15mL): DXM HBr 20mg, Phenylpropanolamine HCl 25mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 4mg, Alcohol 8%. Rating: * 11.Children's Vicks NyQuil Cold/Cough Relief by Procter & Gamble Active Ingredients (per tablespoonful/15mL): DXM HBr 15mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 2mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 30mg. Rating: * 12.Coricidin Cough & Cold Tablets by Schering-Plough HealthCare Active Ingredients (per tablet): Chlorpheniramine Maleate 4mg, DXM HBr 30mg. Rating: *** 13.Cough X Lozenges by Ascher Active Ingredients (per lozenge): DXM HBr 5mg, Benzocaine 2mg. Rating: * 14.Dimetapp DM Elixir by A.H. Robins Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Brompheniramine Maleate 2mg, Phenylpropanolamine HCl 12.5mg, DXM HBr 10mg. Rating: ** 15.Dorcol Children's Cough Syrup by Sandoz Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Pseudoephedrine HCl 15mg, Guaifenesin 50mg, DXM HBr 5mg. Rating: * 16.Drixoral Cough Liquid Caps (No longer available) by Schering-Plough HealthCare Active Ingredients (per softgel): DXM HBr 30mg. Rating: **** 17.Drixoral Cough + Congestion Liquid Caps by Schering-Plough HealthCare Active Ingredients (per softgel): DXM HBr 30mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 60mg. Rating: ** 18.Novahistine DMX by SmithKline Beecham Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 10mg, Guaifenesin 100mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 30mg. Rating: * 19.PediaCare Cough-Cold Liquid by McNeil Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Chlorpheniramine Maleate 1mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 15mg, DXM HBr 5mg. Rating: * 20.PediaCare Night Rest Cough-Cold Liquid by McNeil Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Chlorpheniramine Maleate 1mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 15mg, DXM HBr 7.5mg. Rating: * 21.Pediatric Vicks 44d Dry Hacking Cough & Head Congestion by Procter & Gamble Active Ingredients (per tablespoonful/15mL): DXM HBr 15mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 30mg. Rating: * 22.Pediatric Vicks 44e Chest Cough & Chest Congestion by Procter & Gamble Active Ingredients (per tablespoonful/15mL): DXM HBr 10mg, Guaifenesin 100mg. Rating: 23.Pediatric Vicks 44m Cough & Cold Relief by Procter & Gamble Active Ingredients (per tablespoonful/15mL): DXM HBr 15mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 30mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 2mg. Rating: * 24.Robitussin Cold & Cough Liqui-Gels by A.H. Robins Consumer Active Ingredients (per softgel): Guaifenesin 200mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 30mg, DXM HBr 10mg. Rating: * 25.Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough Suppressant by A.H. Robins Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 15mg. Rating: **** 26.Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough & Cold by A.H. Robins Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 15mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 30mg. Rating: ** 27.Robitussin Pediatric Cough & Cold Formula by A.H. Robins Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 7.5mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 15mg. Rating: * 28.Robitussin Pediatric Cough Suppressant by A.H. Robins Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 7.5mg. Rating * 29.Robitussin-CF by A.H. Robins Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Guaifenesin 100mg, Phenylpropanolamine HCl 12.5mg, DXM HBr 10mg. Rating: * 30.Robitussin-DM by A.H. Robins Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Guaifenesin 100mg, DXM HBr 10mg. Rating: * 31.Sucrets 4-Hour Cough Suppressant by SmithKline Beecham Consumer Active Ingredients (per lozenge): DXM HBr 15mg. Rating: ** 32.Sudafed Cough Syrup by WARNER WELLCOME Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Pseudophedrine HCl 15mg, DXM HBr 5mg, Guaifenesin 100mg. Rating: * 33.Triaminic AM Cough and Decongestant Formula by Sandoz Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 7.5mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 15mg. Rating: * 34.Triaminic Nite Light Nighttime Cough and Cold Medicine for Children by Sandoz Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Pseudoephedrine HCl 15mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 1mg, DXM HBr 7.5mg. Notes: In a palatable, grape-flavored, alcohol-free liquid. Rating: * 35.Triaminic-DM Syrup by Sandoz Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Phenylpropanolamine HCl 6.25mg, DXM HBr 5mg. Notes: In a palatable, berry-flavored, alcohol-free liquid. Rating: * 36.Triaminicol Multi-Symptom Cold Tablets by Sandoz Consumer Active Ingredients (per tablet): Phenylpropanolamine HCl 12.5mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 2mg, DXM HBr 10mg. Rating: ** 37.Triaminicol Multi-Symptom Relief by Sandoz Consumer Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): Phenylpropanolamine HCl 6.25mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 1mg, DXM HBr 5mg. Notes: In a palatable, cherry-flavored, alcohol-free liquid. Rating: * 38.Vicks 44 Dry Hacking Cough by Procter & Gamble Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM HBr 15mg. Rating: ** 39.Vicks 44d Dry Hacking Cough & Head Congestion by Procter & Gamble Active Ingredients (per tablespoonful/15mL): DXM HBr 30mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 60mg. Rating: ** 40.Vicks 44 LiquiCaps Non-Drowsy Cough & Cold Relief by Procter & Gamble Active Ingredients (per softgel): DXM HBr 30mg, Pseudoephedrine HCl 60mg. Rating: ** 41.Vicks 44e by Procter & Gamble Active Ingredients (per tablespoonful/15mL): DXM HBr 20mg, Guaifenesin 200mg. Rating: * 42.PediaPressin Drops by Quintex Active Ingredients (per drop): Pseudoephedrine HCl 15mg, Guaifenesin 50mg, DXM HBr 5mg. Rating: * 43.Scot-Tussin Sugar-Free DM by Scot-Tussin Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM 15mg, Chlorpheniramine Maleate 2mg. Notes: This contains pure DXM, not DXM HBr. Rating: ** 44.Scot-Tussin Sugar-Free Cough Chasers Lozenges by Scot-Tussin Active Ingredients (per lozenge): DXM 2.5mg. Notes: This contains pure DXM, not DXM HBr. Rating: 45.Sucrets 4-Hour Cough Suppressant by SmithKline Beecham Active Ingredients (per lozenge): DXM HBr 15mg. Rating: **** 46.Suppressin DM Caplets by Quintex Active Ingredients (per caplet): DXM HBr 15mg, Guaifenesin 200mg. Rating: * 47.Delsym Extended-Release Suspension by Fisons Active Ingredients (per teaspoonful/5mL): DXM Polistirex. Notes: DXM Polistirex is equivalent to 30mg of DXM HBr. Rating: **** 48.Rondec-DM Active Ingredients: DXM HBr, Pseudoephedrine HCl, Carbinoxamine maleate. Notes: No other information is known on this product at this time. Rating: N/R As far as DXM sources available in Europe, one user who lives in Italy said he used Fluprim by Roche (which should be available all over the European community). It contains 300 mg of DXM per bottle of lozenges or syrup and 327 mg per box of tablets (each box contains 20 tablets), and DXM is the only active ingredient. He also mentions Vicks for Dry Cough but it only has 150mg per bottle of syrup and has a very nasty taste (not recommended). However, another person living in Italy said Fluprim was not available anymore (at least in his area), and to stay away from a similar brand called Formitral Sucrets Also, some users in the United Kingdom pointed out Vicks Vaposyrup, which contains DXM and guaifenesin, and Robitussin Dry Cough. The other ingredients in the latter are ethanol, disodium edetate, sodium benzoate, and amaranth (not sure if these are active or inactive ingredients). If you have any information on any other DXM cough preparations please let me know and I'll include them in this section. VARIOUS DXM INTERNET SITES Listed below are several Internet sites containing useful information about DXM. Special thanks to Greendrag for help with compiling this list. The DXM FAQ - Highly recommended http://www.frognet.net/dxm/contents.html The Third Plateau - The most definitive DXM site there is http://www.third-plateau.lycaeum.org/ The DXM Appreciation Page http://www.ugmadness.com/Ledderson/DxM/ Chris's Web Page - Home of the DXM calculator for windows http://advicom.net/~chris/ Erowid's DXM Page - Another good source of DXM information http://www.erowid.org/entheogens/dxm/dxm.shtml Sputnick's DXM Page - Another DXM archive http://hepenthes.lycaeum.org/Drugs/DXM/ Hyperreal's Dissociative Page - Dissociative and DXM information http://www.hyperreal.org/drugs/psychedelics/dissociative/ The Lycaeum's DXM Page - More on DXM http://www.lycaeum.org/drugs/synthetics/dxm/ Medline - Search this for information on studies done on DXM http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/ Infomed's DXM frame - Information regarding low doses of DXM http://www.infomed.org/100drugs/dextfram.html DeeXMan's DXM Page - Has a big collection of trip stories. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/3391/dxm.htm Old reports on DXM abuse (circa 1993) gopher://hemp.uwec.edu/00/drugs/misc/robo/ Deja Vu: Confessions of a Serial Robo Killer - Highly recommended http://www.wideawake.org/robo.html Dev/Null/The Happy Place in your Brain - various DXM information http://www.kelani.com/hull/ Microsoft Dextromethorphan Experiments - Bill Gates's use of DXM http://sefi.satelnet.org/~ccappuc/rants/msd.html Lycaeum Trip Stories - DXM trip reports http://www.lycaeum.org/drugs/trip.report/dxm.shtml A Night in DXM Space http://www.julian.org/journal/100597.html Poor Man's PCP - An article about DXM taken from Pills-a-go-go magazine. http://hepenthes.lycaeum.org/Drugs/DXM/poormanspcp.html The Rave Zone Drug Archive - DXM information in German http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/6549/ Liber DxM: The Cough Syrup Hypothesis http://www.brotherblue.org/csh.htm Tussin Space: Transdimensional Emergence http://www.unc.edu/~veritas/dissoc.html DXM Page from the Motacracy Homepage http://pw2.netcom.com/~nickc/dxm.html Plateau Sigma - A DXM-related band; you can download their MP3s. http://kelani.com/sigma/ Official DXM Zine Web Site - includes Issues 1 - 4 http://www.alaska.net/~zorak/dxm/zine.html Another DXM Zine Web Site http://phun.dreamhost.com/dxm/zine/ Usenet - drug newsgroups on the Internet alt.drugs hierarchy, rec.drugs hierarchy, talk.politics.drugs DXM EFnet IRC channels - DXM chat IRC channel #high, #dxm, #uaf, #robo, #syrup, #dex DXM DALnet IRC channels - DXM chat IRC channel #dxm If you would like to get your site added here, just email Zine@dxm.net with "Web" in the subject line and your site name with a brief description in the body of the email. VARIOUS TRIP REPORTS from Internet reports Listed below are a few of the more interesting trip reports we have come across floating around out there on the Internet. Dosage and other relative information are given when available, and we made no attempt at correcting grammatical errors, so read at your own risk. Enjoy! W. A. 150mg. An entire 100ml bottle of 15mg/10ml DM was ingested, in about the same timeframe as the first experience. There was no pseudoephedrine (or any other active ingredients) in the preparation - just DM, and I believe a bit of alcohol, tho at the dose taken, I don't believe this altered the experience any. The same friend who had tried it with me the first time, also ingested it. (same amount as I used) The effects came on in a similar fashion to the ones stated above, only the drunkenness became much worse, as did the disassociated feeling (as if my mind was separated from my body and the surrounding physical world). Friend's condition appeared to be the same, perhaps a bit more intense. The motion-perception became very very unusual, it really did feel as if I were gliding smoothly along (like a slug), or hovering, when I walked. For awhile this was interesting, we spent what felt like perhaps an hour in subjective time (I'm not sure how much time actually passed) playing in a park with all sorts of stone structures & fountains and waterfalls, and twisting pathways, trees, and a big pond. (I love that place. Whoever designed it had psychedelic users in mind ;) It was night-time. Eventually the effects (especially the slowed down, drunken feeling) started getting really intense, and we decided it would be best to return to the apartment. Again, there were no significant visual or audio hallucinations. There were some slight visual effects, similar to those experienced on pot or hash. My thoughts still felt fairly clear and lucid, although there was a very odd feeling, again it sort of felt as if I were nearing a threshold to a real mind-altering experience, but not quite able to make it there. Something in my head was definitely f*cked, but in a subtle way - I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was more of an emotional change than perceptual, as with acid. After returning to the apartment, things got really bad. Both of us could barely move, we ended up laying on the balcony moaning and thinking we were dying. It was not fun, certainly not an enlightening "psychedelic" experience that most people seem to think DM is. Eventually we realized that we were starting to come down, and believed that perhaps we might survive the experience. The fear that I was dying was almost unbearable. I also got the diarrhea again, however it was not as severe (perhaps because I had ate plenty of solid food that day, unlike the previous experience). It might be worth mentioning that neither of us mentioned that we were afraid we were dying until we began to return to reality a bit- so this rules out suggestion being the cause of it all. Anonymous. 240mg. The next day, I got a little bolder. I downed the remaining portion of the bottle. This amounted to 240 mg (80 ml or 16 teaspoons or 2/3 of the bottle). I ate some food both times, so this may have delayed the start of the effects. Perhaps there was a little bit left in my system from the day before. I was sitting down, doing some reading, and nothing happened for well over an hour or maybe two hours. Then, all of the sudden, I got a severe heat flash. It felt like a sick wave flowing over my entire body. I could even feel a strong buzzing (almost like pain) in the roots of my teeth. Every inch of skin on my body felt like it was next to a hot water bottle. I was very light headed and thought I was going to die. I quickly scribbled information on a piece of paper to tell anyone that found me what I had taken. The heat flash went away after what seemed like 5 or 10 minutes. Actually it was probably only a minute or two. I felt my forehead and it was dripping with sweat. I was OK for a while after that. I talked with a friend for about 10 or 15 minutes, but it seemed like hours. Again, I was very talkative. I felt like I was making sense, and having an enjoyable time. I just felt spacy. There were no visual hallucinations, but things did look a bit foggy. After my friend left I got several more heat flashes. They seemed to be getting closer together. Each time, I thought I was going to die or at least pass out. Each time it happened, I just kept telling myself, "I'm going go get through this." over and over. VERY unpleasant! I walked around a little bit. My head seemed to be bobbing up and down like you feel while sitting in a small boat on the waves. Things were a little distorted. I felt like a midget walking down the hall. I had some difficulty talking coherently. My eyes started to burn, and my mouth became excessively dry. I couldn't concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds. I tried to focus on reality so I wouldn't loose control. I used to use MJ so I was able to keep from panicking, but it is still a scary to face the unknown. As the frequency of the heat flashes increased, I began to wonder if the DM was still getting into my system, and making things worse. I had serious doubts about whether or not I could get myself home in this condition. I determined that if things got any worse, that I might die, so I picked up a phone book and started looking for emergency numbers. I remember being totally frustrated because I knew I wanted to find a number to call to get help, but all I could do was flip the pages. I couldn't figure out exactly what to look up. Finally, I looked inside the front cover. 911 seemed a little drastic. The only other number was poison control. After several attempts, I finally dialed the number successfully. The problem was that I couldn't remember which digit I had just dialed or which one to dial next. I was quite incoherent on the phone, and had a lot of difficulty giving my address, phone number, etc. The lady told me that I had taken quite a lot, and that I should have someone take me to a hospital. I asked what might happen to me if I didn't go, and she said that I possibly could go into a coma and/or stop breathing. This scared me enough that I decided I needed to go in. I found a friend that was willing to take me in. Thank goodness for friends. In the Emergency Room, I experienced several more heat flashes. My heart rate was up to almost 120 beats per minute when I was at my calmest point. They pumped my stomach and put activated charcoal down me to absorb any remaining DM. That is an experience well worth avoiding! I even preferred the blood and urine tests to the gastric lavage. My nose and throat were quite sore for several days afterward. I started coming down in less that an hour after these treatments. The doctor told me that the dose wasn't fatal, but if I hadn't come in, I might have passed out, and probably would have continued to experience the symptoms for at least another 8 hours. It would have been a real trick to explain that one to my family. It was hard enough to explain as it was. DM seems to be much more toxic than I had anticipated. As I came down, my vision cleared up. I realized that the emergency sprinkler system in the ceiling was actually covered with dust. When I first got in there, it looked like it was covered with some crystalline jelly; I didn't even know it was a mild hallucination at the time. So, what good is a hallucination if you don't know it's a hallucination? I wonder what else I hallucinated. They let me go within about 4 hours after I was admitted to ER At that point, I had a significant head ache, like a heavy hangover. My nose ached deep inside where they had put the tube in. I think it took several more hours for my heart rate to go back to normal. There was also a jittery twitchy feeling in the back of my legs. I didn't sleep well that night. The hangover feeling lasted for another day. Three days later, I took half of an imipramine (a prescription antidepressant left over from a legitimate prescription) because my head felt a little foggy. A few hours later, I got a miniature heat flash, and felt a little spacy. That never happened before when I was on these antidepressants. All in all, I think it was a VERY bad experience! Sure there were a few weird effects, but the negatives far outweighed the positives. The dose I took was significantly lower than what some people claim to have taken. I'm just glad I didn't chug the whole bottle at once. Perhaps some people's bodies can handle DM better than mine, but I have also noticed a large increase in people telling about bad experiences with it. I don't think it's a very good idea to take a chance with DM. But, if you do, please start with lower doses, let a few days pass between doses, and increase the doses gradually. Not like me where I took twice as much as the time before. As for me, I don't think I will ever take DM again! As for you, try something safer, or at least be very careful! BTW, I now hear that the tussin high is quite a bit different than being high on LSD, so I guess I still don't know what acid is like. Anonymous. 300mg. As the result of a car accident, my friend had a freak stroke at the age of 18. (The circumstances which caused the stroke are too long and complicated to explain here.) The stroke left him with minimal control of hiwhich caused the stroke are too long and complicated to explain here.) The stroke left him with minimal control of his left arm and a permanent blind spot in a portion of his left eye. One night, over three years after his stroke, he decided to try dextromethorphan with a group of friends. He drank 5 ounces of generic "tussin" (300 mg of dextromethorphan hydrobromide.) Although he consumed less syrup than the rest of us, the drug effected him more than anyone else in our group. In addition to experiencing extreme de-personalization, he reported active hallucinations in his blind spot. He could only describe these hallucinations as "cartoon-like." It was the first time images had appeared in this spot. My friend did not like the experience and said that he would probably not try DM again. Despite his stroke, my friend is a normal, intelligent guy who does not seem prone to "bad" trips. He enjoys mushrooms and marijuana. Neither of these drugs produce any activity in his blind spot, nor do they have the de-personalizing effect of DM. Anonymous. 360mg. Let me provide my testimonial about roboing. Yesterday I picked up an 8 oz. bottle of generic brand extra-strength cough syrup, containing only Dextro as its active ingredient. I immediately downed somewhere under 4 oz. of the stuff. Taste wasn't as bad as I expected. Chugged a good deal of water to wash it down anyway, and nibbled on some bread. Nausea was not a problem at all. About an hour later it started to hit. Motor skills were definitely impaired. Pupils were very large. I felt like I was on shrooms, but without mood-alterations or significant visuals. Television images appeared to be moving in slow motion like when on acid. Unlike what I've heard posted here, music did not sound very interesting. This was a big disappointment since claims to the contrary were what convinced me to give it a try. I did not feel particularly euphoric or bad. My mood was essentially an unchanged neutral, which was weird since in other respects I was definitely "tripping". I kept saying to myself, "OK, the good part of the trip should be coming soon..." but it never did! Walking was definitely difficult, although mental functioning seemed to be OK. I carried on many conversations with little difficulty, in contrast to my experiences with shrooms and 'cid. I was hoping the amount I consumed would be a mild dose, but I must say I was significantly affected. I can't imagine what would have happened if I finished the bottle! It's now 16 hours after the initial consumption. I slept fine last night, but I still feel the effects. My pupils are still huge and I still feel like my motor skills are impaired. (I'm typing much slower now than my usual 100 wpm.). In short, I guess it was worth the experience but I can't see any reason to try it again. It's lasting longer than any shroom or acid trip I've ever had, and it just ain't nearly as much fun. I'll stick with pot thank you. AN45874 (male, 81kg). 540mg (6.66mg/kg). The Chronology: 0730: Cold cereal & coffee breakfast. 0830: Took Drixoral (300 mg.) 0930: No effects, took Tussin (240 mg.) 1000: Difficulty walking without noticeable effects (but I think I was able to.) Not unlike mild alcohol inebriation. 1030: Everything kicks in. (I think the caps took a while to dissolve). Only severe motor control difficulties and a general loss of tactile sensation. Lay down. At this point I spent the next 3 hours lying in bed, not out of necessity, I just didn't feel like moving. I alternated between eyes-open and eyes-closed 'images'. Not acid-like hallucinations, more like visions. Static, unchanging (as opposed to 'melting' or 'swirling') images. I distinctly remember three: The bedspread looked like a far-off mountain range; my leg looked like it was hundreds of feet long, and I remember the peculiar feeling of rotating in a plane in both directions at once (like alcohol 'spins') with no feeling of nausea. This was accompanied by the inexplicable visual equivalent (of spinning both ways at once). There was a period when I was beset by words rather than images. At some point I crawled across the room and pet the cat. I believe that walking would have been practically impossible. There were no periods of ego-loss or understanding the mysteries of existence, no epiphanies experienced, no greater truths discovered. But hey, it's a narcotic, not a hallucinogen. 1330: Made it onto the couch, watched TV. Feeling pretty much 'normal' except for an unpleasant, whole-body 'ache' and lack of motor skills. 1600: Able to move about almost normally, ache diminishing. Tried to eat a cookie (could only nibble) and drink some Diet Coke(*) (could only sip. WAY to sweet). No nausea. 1700: Able to 'fake' normality (movement, conversation). The ache continued for another 36 hours, I had very little appetite that evening and the next day. Never felt nauseous. All in all I doubt that I will do it again. T. M. 1560mg. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I had been going through some of my old Amiga disks and came across the game 'Lemmings' and popped it in the drive. I started from the very beginning (since I no longer have any idea where the sheet of paper is that I wrote the level codes down on when I first played it a few years ago) and alternated swallowing Drixorals and smoking bowls in between levels. (I never realized that that game would be so much fun when stoned!). Later, I washed down the Drixorals with some syrup and decided to logon and send my buddy some email. This endeavor didn't last very long as I soon found myself floating in a pink space with planets in beautiful pastel colors around me. My dorm room and everything in it were completely nonexistent. I've roboed several times before and NEVER have I had visuals like that WITH MY EYES OPEN. Always I see things around me and only interpret them differently; it's not until I close my eyes that I completely lose myself. The closest I have come to that in the past was when I was tripping on 1260mg and I thought I was in a forest. But then my desk and computer were in the forest with me. This time I had no connection with this world whatsoever. When I came out of that hallucination I decided the email thang just wasn't going to happen - can't type if I can't see the keyboard! So I went over to my bed to smoke one last bowl. I was lying on my stomach and looking out the window. For some reason I got it into my head that I was a cat. This didn't bother me.. felt perfectly normal in fact.. I thought I had always been of the feline persuasion. Some time later (It's really hard for me to put the events of that night together.. There are a lot of gaps in my memory and what I do remember I just remember as events without any kind of time stamp on them) I was lying down listening to music and I had another full blown vision like the pink space one... oh boy, this is gonna be hard to describe.. hummm I was no longer in my body - I was just a consciousness floating in space - and I was looking at a spiral. It was like a spring but instead of each loop being circular, they were perfect squares. This square spring extend out to infinity in both directions. Each square loop was flat on the top and bottom and thick.. as if someone had cut a square spiral out of paper and pulled it out. The loops were divided into sections and each section was a window into another reality. I was looking at a portion of the spiral that had the window to this world. Each window opened onto a different part of my existence: moving down the coil, the window adjacent to the one I was looking at opened onto the world of my life before this one and the next window after that revealed my life before that and so on. Likewise, moving up the coil, the window adjacent to the one I was looking at revealed the my next life after this one and the next window after that revealed one more life and so on. So, up were my future lives and down were my past lives.. The next thing that happened to me I'd like to mention because it was rather scary. Normally, I use the music coming through my headphones as that one last thread of this reality. I know that no matter what happens, if I can still hear music then (a) my body is still alive and functioning properly no matter what I may think and (b) I will always be able to find my way back; there's no possibility of getting lost. It's like a security blanket. I had been looking at a large blue shape that was a sphere with a concave trench dug out around its equator and there were movies playing inside the trench that I was watching (I can't for the life of me remember what they were unfortunately). Suddenly, everything stopped and.. oh man, here we go again.. I felt myself falling into the very fabric of the universe. As I was falling I had the vague notion that I was dying. It didn't bother me at the time and I was curious so I reached out further with my mind. It was like I was growing smaller and smaller.. I shrunk down past the subatomic level. And as my mind reached.. outward?.. inward?.. downward? I dunno.. I touched something. Unfortunately I only retained part of the feeling and nothing more.. but I remember being overwhelmed. I really wish I could remember more of it. Any words I could use to describe what I felt just don't seem to correctly describe it.. a surge of energy and a feeling of 'correctness' like I actually belonged somewhere for once. Anyway, the full meaning of my earlier thought of death sunk in. I was sure I had died and I felt that if I stayed there any longer I'd never get back. I pulled myself away, which was no easy task because I didn't want to leave.. it felt so good there.. so right. But once I made that initial move, I started racing back faster than I had come. I found myself floating above my body and looking down at it. It was then that I realized that I wasn't hearing any music.. In fact, when I thought about it, I couldn't remember hearing any music during that entire trip.. my security blanket was gone and I freaked out. In a frenzy I forced myself back into my body and with some difficulty managed to open my eyes. I could hear the music once again but this was little consolation since my body was cold.. felt like I had been lying outside with my clothes off. And I couldn't feel any part of it.. not even the familiar beating of my heart (yes, I know this is normal for robo but I was in a big paranoia fit at the time and the MJ wasn't helping). I tried to reach over and feel my heart, but I only got my arm a few inches off the bed before it feel limply at my side. That did it.. I was really scared now and I was sure that my heart had stopped and if it hadn't yet it was real close to it and I only had seconds left on this earth. I decided my only chance at survival was to try and get my body moving to keep my heart stimulated. I gathered up all my willpower and with one big effort managed to sit up. I pulled the headphones off, got out of bed and started jumping up and down.. Then I did some push ups.. I did those push ups like a wild man; thinking that if I stopped, my heart would stop and I would die. Eventually I calmed down enough to think, "if you can do all these push ups, your body must be all right." So I sat back on my bed and just for peace of mind I checked my pulse (by this time I had come down enough that I could accomplish this task.. still had to close one eye though because of that double vision). It was at a low 47 bpm.. and I had just been exercising not too long ago! my body was still cold and numb but 47 is a good healthy pulse rate (my norm is around 52-55 resting) so I had a cigarette and then went to bed. The next day I woke up late.. late enough that my vision was back to normal. But my body felt weird. felt all tingly all over like there was a layer of helium just under my skin. And when I walked I felt like I was sloshing around inside it. I went outside and everything was new to me. The world engaged my senses like never before.. sight, smell, hearing, touch.. it was pure sensory overload. I passed by a group of people and a wave of energy hit me that nearly knocked me to my knees. This happened several more times but each time it was less intense until I could stand next to someone again and only feel mild sensations within me. It is now 5 days since then, and my body still feels different. My overactive senses have managed to return to normal, but I still feel like I'm sloshing around in my body.. even now while I'm sitting down. And I still have that helium feeling only it's no longer all over my whole body at once.. it's localized to various areas and those areas are constantly moving around. I played some vball and it doesn't seem to affect my coordination.. in fact I feel that I can use my body better now than I could before (a good thing too 'cause I've gotta play away games in Reno and Chico this weekend.. I'd hate to have to explain to the team that I can no longer play ball because I roboed to hard and fucked my body up!) I wasn't expecting this to turn out to be so long.. but I just had to share this experience.. I couldn't keep it to myself any longer. I hope I didn't bore y'all too much! :) AN17016. 720mg. It hit pretty fast (within a half an hour) with light headedness and slight disorientation. After an hour there was SEVERE disorientation and depersonalization. He felt almost as if he were outside himself looking in. There weren't especially harsh visual effects as in real hallucinations. Things were very grainy and somewhat distorted. Unable to keep focus on much of anything. He got severe itching fits several times (the only way around it was to ignore the itching, stop and wait til you forget about it). Breathing often felt slightly constricted as if you were wearing a tight shirt collar. There were severe heat flashes so that we had to turn a fan on high in an air conditioned house. Walking was very difficult. Hard to keep a balance. Time was VERY distorted. The whole trip lasted about an 1.5-2 hr. for the strong effects but it seemed like FOREVER. He was also very dehydrated and found it hard to get the damn cherry taste out of his mouth. Also, this person has taken many trips on acid and several shroom trips and has never had anything as scary as this experience. Several times he wondered if he would makethere was SEVERE disorientation and depersonalization. He felt almost as if he were outside himself looking in. There weren't especially harsh visual effects as in real hallucinations. Things were very grainy and somewhat distorted. Unable to keep focus on much of anything. He got severe itching fits several times (the only way around it was to ignore the itching, stop and wait til you forget about it). Anonymous. 720mg. By the time I finished the second bottle things started getting weird, I felt like I was getting hot flashes in my head (sort of like doing 500mg Niacin) shortly after that all hell broke loose, I was projectile vomiting, thank god I made it to the can, the next two hours were spent just trying to get over the nausea. I have been hesitant to repeat this experience. Anonymous. 720mg. Needless to say, many of my would-be companions to the outer planes of consciousness faltered somewhere along this path-not many could keep up past step 2. In fact, once we were watching the "Grateful Dead Movie" and, at the first there's this little animation sequence that's kinda neat but not too heavy, and, just as the robo was beginning to take effect, one unfortunate traveler arose suddenly, and proclaimed that he "could not take it anymore", then fled from the room at approximately 4 am, alone. To this day, neither I nor my other companions of that fateful night have seen him since. Wherever he is, may his road be clear and burdens be light. -- Credits: I wish to thank everyone who either contributed to the zine or helped provide information on DXM. I also would like to thank IRCers in their endless efforts to shed light on DXM use and experiences, along with their help and cooperation in putting the zine together. I especially wish to thank William White, Greendrag, and Amanda M. Without your help, this zine just wouldn't be what it is. Next Issue: More on Astral Projection, and much, much more! About the Editor: Gravol, also known as Jeff, is 20 and works on the zine in his spare time, when he's not working and partying. Born in Phoenix and having lived in Akron, Ohio, for most of his life, he has just moved to St Augustine, Florida. He is also the author of the Dramamine FAQ, found at lycaeum.org. * If you'd like to contribute an article or any information to the DXM Zine, email Zine@dxm.net. The Zine is free, but any contributions reduce the tremendous amount of time it takes to complete it and would be helpful in maintaining its free distribution. Thank you! *