Trip report, "Genesis"
Advertized as "a hard but happy mixture of designer phytochemicals and nutriceuticals", Genesis is an entirely legal concoction of "herbal" ingredients and some "smart" additives. I have never really trusted these things too much - they never seem to do much for me. At least nothing that I couldn't do with a couple cups of coffee.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find "Genesis" a quite active and interesting buzz. It's not LSD, of course - it's much less "immense" and "intense" - more your friendly, relaxing, little neighborhood buzz.
I had ordered one dose and it came in a little cylindrical plastic container (like a film container) with four green gel-caps in it. The documentation said "one full dose = 4 caps", and so I ingested the content of all four capsules (I opened the caps and took the powdery content with some vodka, chasing it down with a lot of water). It took about 30 minutes until I was at a point where I was sure that I was experiencing a drug (and not just anticipation or such).
I didn't try it in a social setting (I never do anything I don't know at a place where I may have to interact) but at home, in my standard "try-something-new" setting (which includes being alone in my room, but having people just next door to rely on in case of emergency)
Most of the action seems to be a strong relaxing component - I found myself lying on the bed and just letting my soul dangle. "Relax, it's OK, the world won't end tomorrow, your problems aren't as important as you think they are" - that kind of thing. Borderline escapist, but it never closed my mind - it never made my problems "go away", but made them seem more manageable, so I could re-compose myself and start working on them. Re-establish my priorities. Re-discover that I am a happy person, and how all worries and scares I may have pale in comparison to this basic happiness.
All in all, I found it to be a very pleasant and healing experience - think of it as a couple glasses of good wine, but more relaxing and without closing your mind. Or of a mild hit of acid, but without filling you head will all the wild clutter. There is a bit of vertigo. There is some very gentle visual activity - nothing to write home about, just some slightest visuals if you really concentrate on them. There is a little of the emotional gravity of acid ("spirituality" sounds too loaded to me) - the way you re-discover some pretty basic insight and it seems extremely profound at the time - that kind of thing.
I could see how it would be easy to underestimate this stuff - I was alone in my room, but in company I think it would make it quite desirable to walk up to random strangers and tell them your life story or some such - you're very relaxed, and the desire to let down your guards, abandon your defenses, just be honest and candid for a while was quite obvious in me.
I would call it a "cuddle-drug" - something to get close to someone, relax, and have some deep conversation about your fears and thoughts. It takes the edge out of you, so to speak. (For a while I wondered whether this could be the next "date-rape" drug - something you give to a person to make them lean back and relax and just let things happen - but I think that part of the "edge" that is taken out is sexual desire - so the victim would probably not be too thrilled with sex and since you're in "candid"-mode, would probably say so (and once the word "no" is issued, it doesn't matter whether or not you're using drugs).)
There is a certain stimulating component in there - I certainly felt more talkative than usual, and I assume that if it hadn't been there, I may just have fallen asleep. The problem with that is that the sedating part wore off before the stimulating one: I like my trips to start active and end on a sleepy note, not the other way 'round. In a social setting, I can see how it would be beneficial to 'push' your energies towards the end when your internal fires start burning down. I could even imagine that the stimulating component would be more pronounced in a social (bar/club) setting.
Drawbacks: I, personally, had to learn just how sedated I was through trial and error - "sedated" means that none of your body-functions is up to speed. Getting up from the bed to go to the bathroom, I nearly passed out because my weakened circulation wouldn't come up to support my upright body fast enough. I was somewhat uncoordinated and quite weak - I dropped a glass, for example that I wanted to use to get some water - mostly because I wasn't aware of (or paying attention to) the fact that I was incapacitated. Like being drunk, but without the mental signs of being drunk.
I, personally, nursed an icky headache in the "coming down" phase, but that may have been the fact that I tried this at the end of a stress filled day on which I hadn't observed the usual protocols of my body (regular food and liquid intake and such) and I know my body to respond to that kind of thing. The biggest drawback to this drug that I can name that I am certain is due to the drug is really that it wouldn't let me sleep, when most of the effect was worn off. Not unlike acid, really, but subjectively more annoying (since the trip itself was so much less spectacular).
All in all, I wouldn't make any long-term plans around the stuff, but I think it is well worth giving it a try. I could imagine stocking 10 doses or so at home as some personal little remedy for times when you're in a mental grid-lock and just need some breathing space - it won't take the problems of your chest (it's just not strong enough) but it'll lift them a little, so you can take a breath and start pushing yourself - pretty much what I'm looking for in a drug.
The advertizing rap says "Because it is so intense, Genesis may be overwhelming to those uninitiated to the psychedelic experience" which I find a little exaggerated - in fact I'd recommend it as a nice "starter drug", since I think its less likely to give you an overwhelmingly negative trip than acid or mushrooms or such.
[other disclaimer: the effects of psychedelics depend on the individual, set and setting - you may experience this stuff quite differently from me]