I thought it’d be very fitting for the kick off of the newly resurrected TripMe blogs to start with a bit of a trip down the memory lane of legal highs....

It all started with the explosion of the net. Before then, commercial legal highs mostly consisted of  a bunch of completely stupid herbs, and, a lot of people still think that’s what legal highs still are. You may remember the sadness that was herbal ecstasy, or the early “buds” sold in magazines.

But, thankfully, the internet gave birth to the two major long players in the legal high scene, those selling plants (ethnobotanicals), and chemicals (research chemicals) over the net, both on the down low.

For those that remember, that was an interesting time. There was a host of psychedelics available, foxy, the 2C’s and DMT analogues. Of course,  there were some busts because some of the chemicals broke analogue laws, and the others were all eventually banned, but before then people enjoyed some very mind-blowing hallucinogens.

After all that, two new legals started being sold, at about the same time as each other, both in the same internet order style as the other chemicals. One was GHB, which was sold sometimes as a tape head cleaner but was also marketed as an anti-depressant and bodybuilding aid. GHB spread fast and was eventually banned.  I partook in this substance many times back then, and it was very nice....... except for the passing out bit. Check out this picture its funny as....

The other was BZP, first nicknamed “A2”, which initially like all the other internet chemicals, was sold as a mysterious powder in an unmarked baggie. That’s a bit of a joke, really, because you’d think that’d be a little bit suspicious to authorities.

And then, out of the blue, Matt Bowden, turned the whole thing on its head, selling BZP instead in capsules and packets, via actual stores, with strong harm minimization marketing.

It was very bold, and eventually, here in little old New Zealand, the humble stimulant BZP was being sold in corner stores, openly marketed and reaching around 2 million pills consumed a year at the peak - a mainstream and popular product.

Those days will be remembered by many forever. The straight BZP pills, the trippier TFMPP pills. Great for energy and for dancing at dance parties and festivals. And you’ll remember equally the horrible hangovers of course too.

And I also recall fondly great nights dancing hard on the pills, loving the music, talking utter crap to random strangers and staring deeply at the lights and fire dancers like a stunned hedgehog. And the great Funk Pills stuff. I tried Escapes just before the ban, at Phat, and the sound felt like it was hitting me in euphoric waves. For a few hours I could barely string a sentence together. That was an excellent pill! I’m sure many people also have strong memories of those early BZP times. What are yours?

All those events, changed the legals scene forever, leading to a huge worldwide industry dedicated to making you nicely high. And thank God for that.