Meet Mark McCloud, The World's Leading Collector Of LSD Art

Most artists haven't been arrested by the DEA and investigated by the FBI. Then again, most artists don't have the over 33,000 tabs of LSD in their possession. How's that for an intro?

Mark McCloud is the world's leading collector of "Blotter Art," which, for the more straight-laced set, is another way of saying he collects the small papers used to transport and relay acid, or LSD. McCloud's collected the stuff since the '60s, framing and hanging the trippy paper trails in his now legendary Victorian home in San Francisco.

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Comments

[Zombie Jimbo]

ANyone know the shelf life of blotter. The panda would trouble me if I was trippin.

[Zeb]

Not long unless you have it really well sealed up. Light and air are both very bad for LSD.

[Raston Bot]

Days, maybe a couple weeks in the freezer, if I remember correctly.. which admittedly is a big if.

[SlV]

More than a decade if wrapped in foil, or so a "friend" told me after "he" found some while sorting through and cleaning out old belongings.

[sarcasmic]

Sounds like an expensive hobby.

[Zeb]

Unless you know the people who put the acid on the blotter.

[The Other Kevin]

Oh, so THOSE are the cartoon images used to lure innocent children into a sordid life of drug addiction. I bet he also has a soda fountain with 10 flavors of meth.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Why does the Huffington Post get to post here as an author? Was that part of the horse-trading deal for Balko or something?

[Sudden]

I think you should register your protest throught repetition.

[GILMORE]

Here, take this, it will all make sense in about an hour.

Also, orange juice.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Thanks to taking a course with Prof. Carl Ruck, anytime I enter an altered state of consciousness, all I want to do is just decline Latin nouns.

[Brett L]

Hypercard. That's some old school shit right there.

[GILMORE]

ALSO = Don't look in the mirror. Seriously. And if you feel the urge to start talking about how "hands and ears are really really *weird*", that's fine, just don't go all 'scissor-y' and shit like that chick in the other dorm last year.

[Zeb]

I always kind of dug the mirror.

[GILMORE]

Its the 'out of body' crutch, man.

Totally a time-killer. You can't ride the snake while you're contemplating your pores.

[Agile Cyborg]

Ah, a proponent of efficient tripping.

[GILMORE]

I always felt if you didn't grab the bull by the horns and make it *work for you*, you were going to end up a gibbering pile of ectoplasm on the floor listening to really shitty jam bands.

Seen it happen, bro. its not pretty.

[GILMORE]

protoplasm?

meh. plasm, you get the idea.

[Capo]

Balko doesn't work for HuffPo anymore as far as I can tell. All his new stuff is at the Washington Post.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Why does the Huffington Post get to post here as an author? Was that part of the horse-trading deal for Balko or something?

[GILMORE]

Is it just code-language for "Balko"? Given all the posts are drug-war related, I'm suspicious its just Balko By Any Other Name

HP/WaPo maybe owns his name? If he shares his nut-punches with us, perhaps he must do so under the guise of his employers. I have no idea. I don't really know how ANY journalism works if you're not collecting a check from the Koch bros like the rest of us.

[Tim]

Kung Fu Panda < LSD Panda

[R C Dean]

Ya know, you can get those sheets without the LSD.

Since LSD is invisible, its a good philosophical question whether there is any artistic difference between a sheet that has been dosed and one that hasn't.

[The Other Kevin]

Just to be sure, they should conduct a raid and confiscate all his artwork and all the other possessions in his home for the months it will take to test every piece of art.

[Zeb]

I could have written a long paper on the subject in college.

[GILMORE]

With crayons

[Zeb]

I actually did most of my LSD in high school. But my post-modern BS skills were top notch for a while in college.

[Sudden]

You and I both my man

[GILMORE]

"post-modern BS skills" is probably a good summary of what college largely entailed for many.

[Karl Hungus]

I tripped once, and only once. It was early 1992 on a Saturday night in the barracks on Camp Pendleton. I tripped with four other guys who tripped together regularly. I can't say I enjoyed the overall experience. For the few hours I was "peaking," I was very uncomfortable; I simply don't like not having control of my faculties. After a few hours, though, I started regaining control of my thoughts, but still had all the visual and aural delights/ Now that part was fun.

One thing I really well: sometime in the middle of the night, one of the guys said, "hey, turn on the indian movie!" So another guy turns the TV to an off-the-air station, and all these fuckers are gathered round staring at the test pattern.

[Zeb]

Yeah, when you lose the ability to think in words it can be a bit troubling.

I've pretty much enjoyed the heel out of every psychedelic experience I've had, but I think it helps to go in with the attitude that it isn't necessarily supposed to be completely fun the whole time. Losing the ability to think normally is kind of disturbing, but also very interesting.

[GILMORE]

This is partly why you should do it the first time a) with a tour guide, and b) with options of a variety of things to do depending on your current faculty/comfort levels.

I generally found that people suffered discomfort when left to their own devices for too long; its like they're trying to make sandcastles out of jelly. Nothing stays in one place and it just gets everywhere. No one wins. I always thought it was called 'a trip' for a reason = you can't stand still and pay attention to shit too long or else it goes bad. Even worse is when people attempt 'group decision making'. possibly the worst thing in the world is listening to people who are tripping try and make a communal decision whether to leave the room or not.

David Cross (not particularly funny as stand-up in general) does have a good bit about trying to buy batteries while tripping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIWLMMHGAS8

[Karl Hungus]

This is partly why you should do it the first time a) with a tour guide

That's one thing I realized quickly; if you're a first-time tripper, you're probably going to have an unpleasant experience if you're around people you're not comfortable with.

[Karl Hungus]

Yeah, when you lose the ability to think in words it can be a bit troubling.

Yep, that's enough to sour it for me. But I'm also the guy that never liked weed because it made me paranoid.

If I could have all the visual and aural goodies that acid gives while keeping my wits about me, then it probably would've been a pretty awesome experience.

[Agile Cyborg]

The article states the LSD is inactive at this point.

[AlmightyJB]

Well when you have have 1000 federal agents for every legitimate federal criminal you have to find something for them to do. I mean you can't just lay them off.

[AlmightyJB]

yeah I know I'm exaggerating. It's probably closer to 10,000 to 1.

[AlmightyJB]

I dis LSD before going to my Senior HS dinner. Everyone else showed up drunk. It was hilarious.