People talk about the drugs like turning on and off a light switch. Thats not the way LSD and charismatic societies work.
You can't un-ring the bell.
I know for a fact, my perceptions are permanently altered from experimentation twenty years ago.
I've had conversations on this board, in completely unrelated topics, where I've said I will NEVER take LSD again, willingly.
Now.. there is a slight chance, I might be tempted if the situation was absolutely perfect. But not just for kicks.
There have been plenty of people, like Dr Tim Leary who've surrounded themselves with some very experienced acid heads, and he tripped just fine well into his geriatric years.
In the proper environments, with the proper positive history, it's probably just dandy.
Acid is like a key. And if your prior experiences were all over the map, some bad some good, and somebody doses you mightily, then throws a bunch of ugly at you, you're absolutely gonna have a weird experience.
And truth be told, even if you're stone-cold sober, and someone starts fuckin with your head, you're probably gonna get a little sketchy.
Look at Syd Barrett. Its pretty well documented that he had some issues all throughout his life, in his later years. I doubt he dabbled and tripped at all, after his melt-down.
Nobody (here) really bothers to speculate whether these Mansonites were in perfect mental order before, during, or after the "situation", but I suggest to you, they were not.
And that is exactly what a person like Manson preys upon. People who were vulnerable to suggestion, or on the fringe of mental illness.