I carry an earnest tinge of regret for what an effective "gateway" E was, for me. I'd dabbled a little bit with weed in junior high, but managed to make it all the way through all four years of high school white-knuckling stone-sober. I didn't know what "straight edge" was, at the time, but that's what I was.

But then. A girl, and some drama, blah blah blah. Next thing I know, I'm in the front room at The Capitol Ballroom (later Nation; now only a memory thanks to Bush Jr's gentrification to make way for the baseball stadium nobody wanted,) standing near a speaker stack as my first pill was kicking in, and the DJ was playing dark/hard/grimey Drum N Bass, and I was realizing these kids weren't like the kids over in the main room; they were into camo, rather than neon. A wave came over me. These are my people.

Mind, about an hour later I was in the main room happily doing the Nordic Track with everybody else. But, still. That first pill changed everything. For a while, it was "okay, I'll do that, but nothing else." Then, it was "okay, that and weed." Then "and LSD." Then "and K. And coke." Then "and any prescription pain meds I can get my hands on."

Thank goodness, that was where it stopped. And that run "only" lasted a couple of years. But it was because of the E; had me chasing the proverbial dragon. Nothing else like it. I haven't come across it in decades, now, but it remains my favorite altered state.