I love Acid and have taken the occasional microdose myself but I cannot support the authors attitude. The benefits described can all be achieved through meditation and single real doses of LSD, but after all it is merely a chemical shortcut to these higher states of conciousness where your mind loses its grip on you and you gain uninterrupted access to insight and creativity. Microdosing acid every fourth day is neither necessary nor very healthy, I assume, since there's a chemical component involved that acts on several neurotransmitter systems. The solution is already within everyone of us..
There is no evidence that LSD is toxic to humans. It is, physically, one of the safest drugs you can take. Mentally is a different story, but at micro doses, you're hardly feeling the normal psychedelic effects that occur at recreational doses, so there's hardly potential for "bad trips". I'm guessing that micro dosing is perfectly healthy.
The only problems are A) knowing what you're taking is LSD and B) knowing what dose you're taking, as you're dealing with an active dose of millionths of grams.
I am not talking about toxicity or bad trips, I am talking about your neurotransmitter systems. Permanent exposure to chemically altered levels and heavy fluctuations can and will change in you very negative ways and cause tons of problems nevermind the dose. I speak from experience.
You may speak from experience, but your data conflicts with tens of millions of people who have taken various psychoactive medications for a myriad of psychological conditions for decades, myself included.
I'm sorry but you're comparing apples and bananas here, friend. I'm pretty sure you're not being prescribed psychedelics or tripping off of your adderall. The mechanisms behind psychedelics are very poorly understood, as are most behind therapeutic psychoactive drugs but I am fairly certain that they are not the same.
Your reasoning seems to be based entirely on the assumption that there "being a chemical component involved that acts on several neurotransmitter systems" translates to not being healthy. I am not sure that that follows.
What do you mean by permanent exposure? Regular? If so, do you have any sources to back up your claim?
The right perspective here is that LSD is well tolerated by the human body, but we do not know what its effects are like when taken over a long period of time.
I took average-to-high doses of LSD and/or other tryptamines nearly every day for 3-4 months. It did make me less able to function in my circumstances at the time (surprise surprise!), but I don't count the experience as negative overall, and given a different set of circumstances with fewer obligations to meet, it could have been wholly positive.
It was 22 at the time, so about 5 years ago. As far as my mental state, it's hard to say what was from what, since I consumed a lot of marijuana and cocaine at the time too, but I did have psychedelic-like visual distortions that persisted for many months after. Tryptamine tolerance builds very quickly so by the end I was taking a lot.
It was not the happiest time of my life, but not the worst either. I became pretty reclusive, and spent of lot of late, late nights walking around Minneapolis, sitting on the Stone Arch Bridge[1], watching insane late-night American TV / infomercials / televangelists, playing the guitar, and reading Hacker News. I maintained or even strengthened my interests in technology, but probably absorbed very little concrete knowledge at the time.
By less able to function, I mean I would've been utterly useless to an employer, or as a student, etc. I wouldn't have had the focus to complete any sort of complex project, software or otherwise. I did, however, manage to make some money ;)
So while I was not terribly productive, it did (I think) make me a more empathetic, positive, and less materialistic person and pushed me to make decisions that were ultimately very positive, like selling most of my stuff and moving to Cambodia! Still, I wouldn't recommend it and no doubt some of my behaviour could have incurred terrible legal consequences. My parents were definitely worried too.
It wasn't the oxygen that killed the Apollo 1 astronauts, it was the fire. Oxygen can be toxic at high pressures (which is why deep divers use a mix with helium replacing some of the oxygen) but AIUI breathing 100% oxygen at ordinary atmospheric pressure is fine.
The typical size of paper used to carry one dose is 1/4" square. Cutting that into 10 equal sized pieces would be relatively tedious. It also assumes that the LSD is distributed evenly across the paper.
https://gimletmedia.com/episode/44-shine-on-you-crazy-goldma... At around 20:30, she starts talking about the process. Take the piece of acid, dissolve it in water overnight. Drink 1/10th of the bottle of water.
Or, y'know, an exacto knife and a ruler.
* Get the blotters/microdots lab tested so you know dosage per blotter, then volumetric dosing. This is relatively easy/accesible although not very convenient.
* If access to crystal and equipment is possible, you can just weight it. Obviously this is rarely a possibility and LSD crystal needs to be handled with care.
People suggesting volumetric dosing at home are simply clueless, "100ug" blotters are almost never ~100ug.
It's mostly blotters and liquid drops here. How would one go about volumetric dosing with a blotter? if it's in liquid form, I'm guessing it's already in some volumetric dosing (I keep using it but not sure what it means - guessing its diluted dosing) - so i just need to check it's in the right amount?
I actually have Fadiman's book but didn't get to the part of micro dosing - was more interested in the full trips guidance, but I remember being very intrigued by micro dosing.
Lab tested you say... not convenient as in I can't just go to a lab and tell them "hey I need to be trippin so can you check these blotters"?
> How would one go about volumetric dosing with a blotter?
Dissolve in alcohol, avoid water like others suggested. You can't calculate micrograms if the blotter dosage is unknown, lab testing is needed for that.
> if it's in liquid form, I'm guessing it's already in some volumetric dosing
Yes, just take a smaller dose then.
> Lab tested you say... not convenient as in I can't just go to a lab and tell them "hey I need to be trippin so can you check these blotters"?
Here in my country I can... this kind of services are available for free in some European countries.
Energy Control in Spain provides this to foreigners for a relatively small fee. You can contact them at: international AT energycontrol.org
> Lab tested you say... not convenient as in I can't just go to a lab and tell them "hey I need to be trippin so can you check these blotters"?
You're right, but it's probably much easier than you think[1].
You can also send anything into ecstasydata[2] and it will be tested a posted to the site. Unfortunately under US law they can't tell you purity or dosage, but can at least tell you if it's legit.
One of the first experiences that i had was accidentally micro-dosing, i only come to realize the now. Reflecting on it, it was more pleasant then full doses that occurred after. It was as if I was seeing familiar things for the first time. However i feel that some of the most meaningful photographs I've taken have been during trips.
LSD was by far my favorite mind altering substance when I was taking everything under the sun at around age 18. I dosed heavily and had life changing experiences (some for the better, others that were deeply troubling), but one of the most stand-out experiences was when I took the advice of a friend and used it not to get high but to "figure out important questions." I took a very small dose, barely enough to qualify for what I typically considered a legitimate trip, and sat in the country for several hours thinking about what I wanted out of life. It was just enough to change my way of thinking enough to get outside my usual process and ended up being one of the most productive sessions of deep meditation of my life. I don't know that I would endorse doing this on a regular basis, or especially in a professional environment, but I definitely agree that a carefully moderated experience can be just right to help shift paradigms without losing touch with reality.
47 comments
[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 84.8 ms ] threadhttp://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing
The only problems are A) knowing what you're taking is LSD and B) knowing what dose you're taking, as you're dealing with an active dose of millionths of grams.
What do you mean by permanent exposure? Regular? If so, do you have any sources to back up your claim?
The right perspective here is that LSD is well tolerated by the human body, but we do not know what its effects are like when taken over a long period of time.
Just because a doctor prescribes them doesn't make them magically healthy long-term.
It was not the happiest time of my life, but not the worst either. I became pretty reclusive, and spent of lot of late, late nights walking around Minneapolis, sitting on the Stone Arch Bridge[1], watching insane late-night American TV / infomercials / televangelists, playing the guitar, and reading Hacker News. I maintained or even strengthened my interests in technology, but probably absorbed very little concrete knowledge at the time.
By less able to function, I mean I would've been utterly useless to an employer, or as a student, etc. I wouldn't have had the focus to complete any sort of complex project, software or otherwise. I did, however, manage to make some money ;)
So while I was not terribly productive, it did (I think) make me a more empathetic, positive, and less materialistic person and pushed me to make decisions that were ultimately very positive, like selling most of my stuff and moving to Cambodia! Still, I wouldn't recommend it and no doubt some of my behaviour could have incurred terrible legal consequences. My parents were definitely worried too.
[1] http://www.waynemoran.com/blog2/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/s...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/1198604...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2015/11/11/coroner-...
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/nov/10/nick-caves-son-...
And, relevantly for an article on microdosing, so can anything at high doses, including water (e.g., Jennifer Strange) and oxygen (e.g., Apollo 1).
However, yes, the distribution per piece may be off.
Is that considering "tedious" nowadays?
* Get the blotters/microdots lab tested so you know dosage per blotter, then volumetric dosing. This is relatively easy/accesible although not very convenient.
* If access to crystal and equipment is possible, you can just weight it. Obviously this is rarely a possibility and LSD crystal needs to be handled with care.
People suggesting volumetric dosing at home are simply clueless, "100ug" blotters are almost never ~100ug.
I actually have Fadiman's book but didn't get to the part of micro dosing - was more interested in the full trips guidance, but I remember being very intrigued by micro dosing.
Lab tested you say... not convenient as in I can't just go to a lab and tell them "hey I need to be trippin so can you check these blotters"?
Dissolve in alcohol, avoid water like others suggested. You can't calculate micrograms if the blotter dosage is unknown, lab testing is needed for that.
> if it's in liquid form, I'm guessing it's already in some volumetric dosing
Yes, just take a smaller dose then.
> Lab tested you say... not convenient as in I can't just go to a lab and tell them "hey I need to be trippin so can you check these blotters"?
Here in my country I can... this kind of services are available for free in some European countries.
Energy Control in Spain provides this to foreigners for a relatively small fee. You can contact them at: international AT energycontrol.org
You're right, but it's probably much easier than you think[1].
You can also send anything into ecstasydata[2] and it will be tested a posted to the site. Unfortunately under US law they can't tell you purity or dosage, but can at least tell you if it's legit.
[1] http://energycontrol.org/ [2] http://www.ecstasydata.org/view.php?id=3897
http://matrixmasters.net/salon/index.php/2006/06/27/podcast-...