One condition that psilocybin has been shown to hold potential as therapy treatment for is eating disorders, and a psychedelic research centre is calling for patients to take part in an anorexia psilocybin treatment study.

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in certain species of mushrooms and research into the chemical has been limited due to its scheduling as an illegal drug in many countries across the world.

Johns Hopkins University recently secured funding of $17m (~15.39m) to start the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine, making it the largest research centre of its kind in the world. The centre will be carrying out research in the hope of creating precision medicine treatments tailored to individual patients specific needs.

Psychedelics are a class of drugs that produce unique and profound changes of consciousness over the course of several hours. Much of the early work at Johns Hopkins has focussed on psilocybin, the chemical found in so-called magic mushrooms.

A study that will be carried out at the centre will be looking at the psychological effects of psilocybin, including whether or not it can help with anorexia.

Anorexia kills more people than any other mental health condition and there are many related medical and mental complications that come with it including thoughts of suicide.

Paul B. Rothman,dean of the medical faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said: Johns Hopkins is deeply committed to exploring innovative treatments for our patients.

Our scientists have shown that psychedelics have real potential as medicine, and this new centre will help us explore that potential.

The researchers at Johns Hopkins University are now seeking individuals ages 18 65 with anorexia nervosa to participate.

The centre reassures that confidentiality will be maintained for all applicants and participants.

Click here to apply to participate in the anorexia study.

Roland Griffiths, the centres director and professor of behavioural biology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences and the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said: The centres establishment reflects a new era of research in therapeutics and the mind through studying this unique and remarkable class of pharmacological compounds.

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Call for patients to take part in anorexia psilocybin treatment study - Health Europa

Photos courtesy of those interviewed.

One of Mac Dres most beloved lyrics is from a song titled Weekend.

The shrooms I consume are making me laugh/ Im high as the eye on a fucking giraffe, he raps on the track Weekend. The song appeared on 2006s 16 wit dre, a mix album that was released two-and-a-half years after Dres death on November 1, 2004.

The Oakland-born Dre was a fan of magic mushrooms and MDMA; he even devoted a song to the pair titled Shrooms and E-Pills.

So, its likely that he wouldve celebrated the news of Oakland decriminalizing psilocybin (the scientific name for magic or psychedelic mushrooms).In June 2019, Oakland City Council passed a local ordinance to decriminalize certain natural psychedelicslike mushrooms, ayahuasca, peyote and DMT. (Synthetic psychedelics like LSD and MDMA are still illegal, and psychedelic mushrooms and other natural hallucinogens are technically still illegal under California state law and federal law. The ordinance also doesnt legalize the sale or distribution of psychedelic mushrooms.) Approved a month prior to Denvers voter-led ballot initiative to decriminalize psilocybin, Oaklands resolution is a continuation of Californias progressive drug reform history. The state became the first in the country to legalize medical marijuana in 1996.

These are not drugs. These are healing plants We just think they should never have been made illegal to begin with, Carlos Plazola, founder of Decriminalize Nature Oakland (DNO), an advocacy group dedicated to making natural medicine accessible to Oakland, told the Guardian.

Inspired by his own experiences using psychedelic mushrooms to heal from childhood trauma, Plazola created the DNO.

This is getting the word out about the healing power, Plazola said. Many people in communities of color and communities of trauma are not getting access.

For generations, communities of color utilized natural psychedelics for medicinal purposes. Rooted in spiritual-based healing, the practices of plant-based medicine became whitewashed by Americas counterculture movement of the 1960s. Despite this, black people have continued to experiment with psychedelics. The creation of hyphy music a subgenre of rap music that came about in the Bay Area in the late 90s and rose to prominence in the mid-2000s was a byproduct of rappers using MDMA, with the late Mac Dre at the forefront of that experimentation. Countless Dre songs, like Weekend and Shrooms and E-Pills, found him referencing not only MDMA but psychedelic mushrooms. While he was alive, Dre had also coined a term not just for ecstasy but for the euphoric effects people felt from taking it thizz. Dres Thizzle Dance practically served as an explainer for the term as the rapper (alongside Chuck Beez) broke down what thizz is all about: letting your body move as fluidly and erratically as it wants. In 2012, eight years after Dres death, Thizz Entertainment his record label was implicated in a nationwide ecstasy ring. (Court records revealed that most of the people arrested in the operation had no connection to the label.)

Aware of the regions previously established relationship with usage of psychedelics and the fear of being criminalized, Plazola wants to transform the headquarters of the DNO into a consciousness community, a co-working space where people can also reflect on their psychedelic journeys and learn about natural psychedelics. Helping him with this aretwo Black women: co-founder Nicolle Greenheart and community outreach and education activist Amber Senter.

Okayplayer spoke with Greenheart and Senter about being involved with DNO, the importance of people of color reclaiming and experimenting with psychedelics and more.

Greenheart: Denver;s strategy was focused on psilocybin through a voter-centered route. DNO ensured the resolution included all plant medicine because individuals should have autonomy over what plants they use to heal. We wanted to make sure people had that choice, because there is a wealth of plants. Going the council route resulted in the consultation of professionals in the psychedelic space scientists, therapists, and input from community leaders before the resolution was presented to council.

Carlos Plazola previously worked for city council and knew how to navigate and lobby. So it was helpful to have an individual with expertise in Oakland politics. Despite the creation of our resolution being predominantly white in terms of contributions, we received support from the indigenous community, and crafted a diverse team of advocates to discuss legislation with city council members. When we presented at The Public Safety Community, we intentionality chose diverse speakers men, women, and people of color so city council witnessed the diversity of voices in the psychedelic movement.

Greenheart: Since childhood, Ive suffered from depression and underwent the traditional routes of treatment such as psycho-therapy and antidepressants, which negatively impacted my health. After that experience I asked myself, How am I going to heal myself naturally? I tried meditation, yoga, homeopathic treatments, crystals, but I was always looking for community.

I attended an all-day retreat and was intrigued by a ceremonial practice of microdosing huachuma (San Pedro cactus) to align with your higher self and open your heart chakra. Once I found out the healing plant was a psychedelic, I began a one-and-a-half year long research study on psychedelics and attended local community-centered events in the Bay Area. But I noticed I was the only Black person in the room. I questioned the lack of my community in these spaces, because we need this medicine just as much as anybody else. It gave me a new motivation to create space for establishing community for Black people in psychedelic spaces. The integration of plant-based medicine in Black communities is an offering of help and support because Ive experienced how powerful and life transforming it is.

Senter: Theres an insignificant lack of awareness and education on how medicinal plants can help Black communities. Black voices in psychedelics are obscured by those in positions of power, and I wanted to ensure my voice was heard in these political efforts to decriminalize ISA genetic plants in Oakland. From my own experience dealing with lupus (a chronic auto-immune disorder), psychedelic mushrooms have been helpful for me. Disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis and Scholar Derma are rampant in Black women and women of color communities. I reached out to Carlos and told him I wanted to be involved, because as an advocate of women of color in the cannabis spaces through Supernova Women, I know the benefits of plant-based medicine for our communities.

Greenheart: Im familiar with her work and the challenges of getting communities of color to engage with psychedelics in the clinical and/or therapeutic route. I previously held a stereotypical perception of psychedelics as a recreational hippie drug for white people. It wasnt until I started researching the medicinal purposes of psychedelics that I wanted to destigmatize psychedelics in the Black community and advocate its healing purposes. Specifically, to treat the trauma expressed by members within our community while promoting responsible usage. I want to model how to be a safe and responsible user without going the clinical route. There is a place for the therapeutic model and for individuals who want to participate within a community-based environment, while receiving support and being safe.

Senter: Im from Chicago, so theres a regional difference in reception of natural plant medicines compared to Oakland. Indigenous and Latinx communities have been very open and welcoming to the decriminalization of natural psychedelics. I expected resistance from the Black Church, but attendees have understood that God made these plants for healing purposes.

Greenheart: There needs to be collaboration between hip-hop and psychedelics. Whether the merger is a conference we need people to join in. Were a small team with limited capacity, so we need to hear from local artists to participate in this movement alongside us. Were in infancy, so everybody is waiting to see what happens.

__

Taylor Crumpton has written for Pitchfork, PAPER, Teen Vogue, Marie Claire, and more. You can follow her@taylorcrumpton

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The Two Black Women Helping To Reclaim & Encourage Natural Psychedelics Use In Oakland - Okayplayer

Wesley Shirola, ColumnistOctober 22, 2019

This is the fourth column in Failed Policy, a series examining the history of drugs and drug policy in the United States since its founding.

When many of us think of psychedelics, we think of the 1960s, especially its music. Indeed, psychedelic rock, with its characteristic mix of electric guitars, synthesizers and sitars, was largely intended to simulate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. Psychedelics had been around for many decades, however, before their connection to the American counterculture led to their classification as illegal.

In 1938, Swiss chemist and Sandoz employee Albert Hofmann was trying to synthesize a stimulant when he instead created lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. Not the stimulant that he had hoped for, Hofmann set aside LSD for five years until he re-examined it and accidentally absorbed a small dose through his fingertips in the process. He experienced a drastic shift in consciousness and eventually decided that the drug would be useful for psychotherapy.

From the 1940s through the early 1960s, research breakthroughs into LSD and psilocybin, another psychedelic, were rapid. Scientists began to better appreciate the brains neurochemistry and how therapists might effectively treat mental illness using psychedelics. An astonishing 40,000 patients were treated with LSD and traditional psychotherapy between 1950 and 1965, and more than a thousand research papers on them were published.

By the mid-1960s, though, an increasing number of young Americans were using LSD, and the drug found its way into college campuses and music festivals. As is common with many things popular among young people, stories soon emerged of psychosis and murder as a result of bad trips. Supposedly as a result of these drugs, young Americans no longer believed in authorities and the central institutions at the heart of American society; they most definitely didnt want to enlist and head to Vietnam. Sure enough, by 1966 LSD was illegal in the U.S. Psilocybin was banned in America a few years later.

Today, over half a century since LSD was banned, psychedelics are making a comeback as researchers rediscover their powerful therapeutic effects. Partly as a result of the slow, yet widespread, decriminalization of marijuana in the United States as policy makers realized that pot did not bring the moral and social destruction that many had predicted and in fact is beneficial therapeutically detractors have opened their minds to the idea that other currently illegal drugs may be therapeutically effective as well.

In 2008, a team from Johns Hopkins University reported in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that the mystical experiences provoked by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months after initial administration. Furthermore, compared to methylphenidate a stimulant more commonly known as Ritalin the psilocybin treatment produced statistically significant increases in positive attitudes, mood, social effects and behavior.

Another study published in the same journal in 2010 found that the psychedelic MDMA was more effective than a placebo in easing the symptoms of treatment-resistant PTSD. Additionally, the researchers wrote that the MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be administered to patients with PTSD safely and may be beneficial in patients resistant or tolerant to other treatments.

In early 2015, Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and a co-author of the 2010 paper announced that he was hopeful that MDMA would be available as a prescription by 2021. While this now seems unlikely seeing that 2021 is less than two years away, Doblin has stayed at the forefront of establishing psychedelics as legitimate and effective treatments for mental illness.

Since the 1960s when LSD was made illegal, and up until today, the FDA and DEA have been stringent in their approval of clinical studies into psychedelics. While these agencies have increasingly been more receptive over the past decade, the approval process is still horrendous. Earlier this year, The Economist reported that it took Peter Hendricks, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, six or seven years to get approval for his trials on the impact of psilocybin on cocaine addiction.

Acquiring funding has also been difficult. Due to the drugs illegality, the U.S. government is loath to distribute money for research into psychedelics. As a result, researchers have had to rely on private donors and philanthropists for much of their funding. Other countries are not much more willing in this regard.

The U.S. government must stand down and loosen these legal barriers to research and treatment with psychedelics. Scientists have realized the powerful therapeutic effects that these drugs hold largely since they were first synthesized. It is time for the U.S. government to realize the same. The longer it holds out and maintains bureaucratic hurdles, the longer it indirectly harms thousands of patients both in the U.S. and across the world each year.

Wesley Shirola is a Weinberg junior. He can be contacted at wesleyshirola2021@u.northwestern.edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern.com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.

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Shirola: U.S. government should ease legal barriers to research and treatment with psychedelics - Daily Northwestern

The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) is financing a study into the psychedelic psilocybin with the help of decentralized fundraising platform Molecule Catalyst, in the first attempt to fund a clinical trial into psychedelics using decentralized finance.

According to a recent post on the Molecule blog, the effort will be a joint collaboration between Molecule Catalyst, Rotem Petranker and Thomas Anderson, directors at the University of Toronto Mississauga Psychedelic Studies Research Program (PSRP).

Through its partnership with Molecule Catalyst, UTM hope to raise an undisclosed sum to fund its planned psilocybin clinical trials.

Molecule uses blockchain technology to provide an incentive-based market for scientific research. Through Molecule Catalyst, research groups will be able to raise funds for the study of rare diseases, ageing & longevity and psychedelics, among other fields.

Be the first to get Decrypt Members. A new type of account built on blockchain.

To provide an incentive to investors, Molecule uses smart contracts to make the chemical intellectual property resulting from successful products easily tradeable on the Ethereum blockchain. In this way, funders receive a stake in the projects they supportallowing investors of all sizes to help fund potentially pioneering research and benefit from its success. Molecule uses the dollar-backed stablecoin DAI to overcome market instability.

UTM's psilocybin study is the first fund-raising project to be hosted by Molecule Catalyst, which ultimately aims to create a Web 3.0 marketplace and exchange for chemical IP.

The UTM study will investigate the effects of microdosing a psychedelic compound known as psilocybin on a variety of cognitive indicators.

Besides examining psilocybin's effect on creativity, mood and focus, the study will also measure its influence on social connection, self-efficacy and mindfulness.

Overall, UTM hopes that the data produced will help to guide global psychedelics research, by setting a new precedent that can be used to direct impactful psychedelics research.

Previously, psilocybin has been shown to effective in treating a wide variety of mental disorders, ranging from anxiety and depression, to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).However, due to its potential to be abused as a psychedelic drug, the psychoactive substance has been shelved as a potential therapeutic by most pharmaceutical research groups.

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Molecule Catalyst and UTM to crowdfund psychedelics research with blockchain - Decrypt

The thought of dying was killing Kerry Pappas. Then the cancer patient took a trip on psilocybin the active agent in "magic mushrooms." Ever since, she says she is perfectly comfortable with her life.Pappas is one of dozens of cancer patients whose painful anxiety over their illness was commuted to more peaceful acceptance after participating in a study that involved intensive therapy and being given a drug that was once a symbol of the 60's counterculture. She and others, who say the psychedelic experience helped them overcome other problems like depression and addiction, talk to Anderson Cooper for a report on the study of psychedelics inside some of the country's foremost medical research centers. The story will be broadcast on "60 Minutes," Sunday, October 13, at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on CBS.Pappas was being treated for lung cancer when she was given the psilocybin. This is what she tells Cooper she saw. "An ancient, prehistoric, barren land there's these men with pickaxes, just slamming on the rocks," she recalls. "I was being shown the truth of reality. Life is meaningless. We have no purpose." And then it hit her she says, "I look and I'm still like a witness with the eyes, a beautiful, shimmering bright jewel and then it was sound booming, booming, booming. Right here right now. Yes, you are alive. Right here. Right now. Because that's all you have." She tells Cooper: "That is my mantra to this day."Cooper speaks with participants and scientists who conduct clinical trials. Roland Griffiths, of Johns Hopkins University, is a pioneer in psychedelic research, which was studied extensively until former President Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Thirty years later, Griffiths received FDA approval for to study psilocybin. The results amazed him. "The red light started flashing. It's unprecedented the capacity of the human organism to change. It just was astounding."The experiences of the study participants on psychedelics, even under the highly controlled conditions used, are often harrowing but still worth it in the end. Researchers screen out people with psychotic disorders or with close relatives who have schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder. So far, none of the participants reports any serious adverse outcomes.Griffiths said he is optimistic about the potential therapeutic value of the drugs but acknowledges they can be harmful under different circumstances. "Let's be really clear on that We're very aware of the risks and would not recommend people simply go out and do this."

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Psilocybin: Active agent in magic mushrooms could treat addiction, depression and anxiety - 60 Minutes - CBS News

GettyA woman attends an event to decriminalize psilocybin in Denver, Colorado.

Psilocybin, more commonly known as magic mushrooms, shrooms or simply mushrooms, is a psychedelic drug which was outlawed as a substance with no legitimate medical purpose in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

However, the medical benefits of psilocybin were being studied before the ban, and studies were halted once the Controlled Substances Act was signed into law. Studies resumed 30 years after the law was signed by President Richard Nixon. Studies are now being conducted into whether the substance, known as a party drug from the counterculture, can help reduce death anxiety in cancer patients. In ancient times, psilocybin was considered a substance that promoted healing and spiritual connectedness. It is this quality that researchers like Roland Griffiths believe may help people in modern society, as long as risk factors are controlled.

The study, its lead researcher, Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University, and one of its participants, Kerry Pappas, are featured on the October 13, 2019 episode of 60 Minutes. It airs at 7:30 p.m. EST on CBS.

Heres what you need to know:

Psilocybin and its effects were the subjects of research and studies, but those projects were effectively banned by the Controlled Substances Act, which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon.

Several studies were conducted in the late 1960s and 1970s that showed psilocybin might be effective in treating mood disorders in cancer patients, but they required further research, Johns Hopkins University researchers wrote in their study published in 2016.

Several unblinded studies in the 1960s and 70s suggested that such compounds might be effective in treating psychological distress in cancer patients (Grof et al., 1973; Kast, 1967; Richards et al., 1977); however, these studies did not include the comparison conditions that would be expected of modern psychopharmacology trials, the researchers wrote. Subsequently, human research with these compounds was halted for almost three decades because of safety and other concerns raised in response to widespread non-medical use in the 1960s. Recent resumption of clinical research with these compounds has established conditions for safe administration (Johnson et al., 2008; Studerus et al., 2011).

Research projects in other countries were being conducted, such as trials in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, according to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.

Such studies have been largely dormant since the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which effectively ended most medical research on psychedelics, writes SciPol, a Duke University Science and Technology publication of studies in the United States. That, of course, came amid the fallout from widespread abuse of LSD, which had its roots partly in medical experiments that were led by the Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary.

The law classifies psilocybin as a substance with no legitimate medical purpose and high potential for abuse. Justice.gov notes that psilocybin, often called magic mushrooms or shrooms, is often abused at raves, clubs and college campuses. The effects last about six hours.

Psilocybin is a Schedule 1 controlled substance, according to Justice.gov. Schedule 1 drugs have high potential for abuse and serve no legitimate purpose. Schedule 1 drugs include heroin and LSD. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, is still a Schedule 1 controlled substance under federal law, even though some states have legalized it, decriminalized it or signed laws to make medical marijuana legal.

Psilocybin is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, Justice.gov says. Schedule I drugs, which include heroin and LSD, have a high potential for abuse and serve no legitimate medical purpose in the United States.

Drugs are classified based on their addictive potential and dangers, potential for abuse and accepted medical uses in the country.

Justice.gov says, Psilocybin mushrooms are popular at raves, clubs and, increasingly, on college campuses and generally are abused by teenagers and young adults. It is difficult to gauge the extent of psilocybin use in the United States because most data sources that quantify drug use exclude psilocybin. The Monitoring the Future Survey, conducted by the University of Michigan, does reveal that 9.2 percent of high school seniors in the United States used hallucinogens other than LSDa category that includes psilocybinat least once in their lifetime. Two percent of high school seniors used hallucinogens other than LSD in the past month.

Johns Hopkins University and New York University conducted similar but separate studies on the effects of drugs on cancer patients who are experiencing death anxiety and depression. The NYU study used niacin. The Johns Hopkins University study was conducted by Roland Griffiths and others, and published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology November 30, 2016. You can read the full study here.

Cancer patients often develop chronic, clinically significant symptoms of depression and anxiety, the abstract says. Previous studies suggest that psilocybin may decrease depression and anxiety in cancer patients. The effects of psilocybin were studied in 51 cancer patients with life-threatening diagnoses and symptoms of depression and/or anxiety.

The study was a double-blind cross-over trial. Some participants received a very low, placebo-like dosage. The study involved multiple sessions with 5 weeks in between and a 6-month followup.

The study found there were no adverse effects on patients, the researchers wrote.

Johns Hopkins Medicine/Wikimedia CommonsRoland Griffths/psilocybin mushrooms

The Johns Hopkins University study found psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer following its trial. The study was published November 30, 2016, in the Journal of Phsychopharmacology. The trial involved 51 patients and included a six month followup which asked participants about their quality of life, optimism, acceptance of death and other factors.

The data show that psilocybin produced large and significant decreases in clinician-rated and self-rated measures of depression, anxiety or mood disturbance, and increases in measures of quality of life, life meaning, death acceptance, and optimism, the study said. These effects were sustained at 6 months. For the clinician-rated measures of depression and anxiety, respectively, the overall rate of clinical response at 6 months was 78% and 83% and the overall rate of symptom remission was 65% and 57%. Participants attributed to the high-dose experience positive changes in attitudes about life, self, mood, relationships and spirituality, with over 80% endorsing moderately or higher increased well-being or life satisfaction. These positive effects were reflected in significant corresponding changes in ratings by community observers (friends, family, work colleagues) of participant attitudes and behavior.

The trial was considered Phase 2 of the project. Roland Griffiths told SciPol he would like to conduct a much larger study involving many more participants at sites throughout the country. However, that trial, considered Phase 3, would cost $20 to $40 million.

Psilocybin, which is typically referred to as magic mushrooms, shrooms or mushrooms when it is being used as a recreational drug, is most commonly associated with the counterculture in the 60s and with raves and clubs. It is a psychedelic drug which can cause hallucinations and significantly altered perceptions of reality. The effects can last six hours.

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classified psilocybin as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, meaning it is considered to have high abuse potential and no medical benefits. Justice.gov notes it there is not evidence of chemical dependence, or addiction, but frequent users can develop a tolerance for it.

The Justice.gov page for psilocybin says:

Use of psilocybin is associated with negative physical and psychological consequences. The physical effects, which appear within 20 minutes of ingestion and last approximately 6 hours, include nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, drowsiness, and lack of coordination. While there is no evidence that users may become physically dependent on psilocybin, tolerance for the drug does develop when it is ingested continuously over a short period of time.

The psychological consequences of psilocybin use include hallucinations and an inability to discern fantasy from reality. Panic reactions and psychosis also may occur, particularly if a user ingests a large dose.

In addition to the risks associated with ingestion of psilocybin, individuals who seek to abuse psilocybin mushrooms also risk poisoning if one of the many varieties of poisonous mushrooms is incorrectly identified as a psilocybin mushroom.

READ NEXT: Lead Psilocybin Researcher Roland Griffiths: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

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Psilocybin: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know - Heavy.com

Comparable to the likes of ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, and mescaline, a new mind-altering drug is hitting the US psychedelic scene toad venom. The drug comes from a rare species of toad native to the Sonoran Desert, Bufo Alvarius, which produces a venom known as 5-MeO-DMT: an extremely potent natural psychedelic. 5-MeO-DMT is about four to six times more powerful than its better-known cousin DMT (dimethyltryptamine).

The narcotic has long been ingested by licking the poisonous amphibians back but is now more commonly consumed as a smokable dust form. The liquid is extracted by milking the toads toxic venom glands and then dehydrating it into a crumbly dry paste. Shamans throughout Mexico and the southwestern US have been harvesting and smoking the substance for decades, and now thousands of people throughout the country are seeking out the powerful psychedelic.

The drugs hallucinogenic effects take hold in about five minutes after ingestion, causing a powerful religious-like trip that lasts about an hour. Individuals that have taken the toad venom described their trips as being one with the universe and feeling reborn one user said they felt a total fusion with God while under the influence. Users experience bright colors, moving environments, or recursive patterns. According to researchers, the drug often leaves users immobile and unresponsive, and can cause intense emotional reactions, euphoria, convulsions, and vomiting.

Its such an intense experience that, in most cases, doing it at a party isnt safe. Its not a recreational drug. If people get dosed too high, they can white out and disassociate from their mind and body.

In addition to the possible harmful effects users can experience while tripping, many people suffer from extreme nausea and confusion for days after. However, this hasnt stopped psychedelic drug-lovers across the nation from seeking out the Schedule 1 classified substance, which carries the threat of a 10-year prison sentence for possession. Users even hire foreign shamans to distribute the drug at parties that typically cost around $200 to $500 a head to attend.

Once the venom wears off, users say that they experience an afterglow that can trigger them to make major, positive life changes. 5-MeO-DMT appears to have a placebo analgesic effect comparable to hypnosis. The drug has shown to help break attachments to past trauma, negative behaviors, and habitual negative thought patterns.

Such beneficial psychological effects has led some researchers to believe that in a controlled setting with a well-trained professional, the venom could be useful in treating anxiety and depression. In fact, preliminary studies performed by John Hopkins University suggest that it may combat depression and anxiety just as effectively as psilocybin, in addition to requiring a much shorter duration of time to reap the therapeutic benefits.

To study the potential medicinal effects of 5-MeO-DMT, John Hopkins Psychedelics researcher Alan Davis conducted an online survey that included 362 people that routinely uses the toad venom in ceremonial group settings. Respondents reported that they had attended sessions containing between five to 12 people in which each ceremony is overseen by a sober facilitator who administers the drug. Participants took turns being dosed and then ended the experience with a closing circle where they shared their thoughts on the spiritual journeys they each took while tripping. Of the 162 individuals that self-reported as suffering from anxiety or depression, approximately 80% reported improvements in these conditions after using the drug.

Davis believes the 5-MeO-DMT found in toad venom is effective at treating these mental illnesses due to a combination of neurological changes in users brains and insights they gained through the psychedelic experience. Davis hopes that the research that is being performed at John Hopkins will inspire other people to follow suit and explore the option of using psychedelics as possible treatment options.

However, its important to note that researchers do not support recreational use of toad venom and cite that the drug should only be administered under medical supervision.

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Psychedelic Toad Venom Is the New Trendy Hallucinogenic - Addiction Center

In the summer of 1972, someone at a dinner party in San Francisco made a terrible error. They mixed up their cocaine with their LSD and accidentally served lines of powdered acid, two apiece, to seven of their friends.

A drop of acid can send someone into an eight-hour hallucinogenic trip. Snorting milligrams of the chemical's powdered form is unthinkable. These people had just inadvertently consumed a massive dose. Within five minutes, they were vomiting. After 10 minutes, five of the people were comatose, according to a case report in the Western Journal of Medicine. These people appeared to be on their way to sudden death.

But no one died. Within 12 hours, every single patient was conscious. After a year of follow-up exams, there were "no apparent psychologic or physical ill effects" in any of the eight individuals, according to the case report.

There's a high probability that you, now that you're in college, will come across psychedelics at least once during your higher education. Every drug has its milieu, its natural social environment. Just like meth wallows in misery and trailer parks, and cocaine mingles with mistakes and nightclubs, psychedelics (with their mind-expanding quality) fit naturally at universities where young people are regularly encouraged to challenge their usual way of thinking. So what lesson should you take from the story of the San Francisco dinner party?

To begin with, our government's classification of psychedelics as the most dangerous type of drug on earth makes no sense. Though what happened to the dinner party guests is scary, it also might be the record for most LSD ever consumed by a human. There are no known fatal human overdoses on LSD, which has led multiple scientists to determine LSD is not toxic. The theoretical lethal oral dose to humans, based on intravenously shooting mice with LSD, is somewhere around 20 milligrams, according to erowid.org, an internet hive mind for psychedelic information.

Teri Krebs, a neuroscientist at the University of Norway, has said psychedelics in their pure form are as risky as riding a bike or playing soccer.

"It is generally acknowledged that psychedelics do not elicit addiction or compulsive use and that there is little evidence for an association between psychedelic use and birth defects, chromosome damage, lasting mental illness, or toxic effects to the brain or other body organs," Krebs wrote in a letter published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious medical journals.

But the story of this dinner party also illustrates a profound irony of psychedelic drugs like acid, mushrooms, or mescaline: They may not be harming your organs like a cigarette or vodka does, but the very essence of large doses of these drugs is madness. Many of the hallmarks of a "successful" psychedelic triptemporary paralysis, severe visual distortions, extreme confusionseem a lot like temporary bouts of insanity.

In fact, when researchers in the early 1900s started discovering and synthesizing these drugs, they first called them psychotomimetic, which literally means mimicking psychosis. It wasn't until 1956 that the term psychedelic, or "soul revealing," was first coined.

That renaming coincided with a massive amount of research into psychedelics, with doctors administering LSD to more than 40,000 patients from 1950 to 1965 and producing convincing evidence that psychedelics could be an effective treatment for a wide range of disorders from alcoholism to depression. That research was stunted by the American prohibition of psychedelics in 1970, but research is now restarting. Johns Hopkins University announced this year that it is launching an entire center dedicated to psychedelic research.

So how do you ensure that your trip on psychedelic drugs is revealing of your soul and not corrupting of your mental stability? Here are four tips to keep in mind if you decide you want to take these fascinating drugs.

First, consider your medical history. People with a history of mental illness are at a greater risk of developing adverse effects from psychedelics (and also from pot, by the way), and many of these drugs can create harmful interactions with antidepressants and heart medications. Anyone on prescription medicines should be wary of taking these drugs without medical supervision.

Second, consider the drug's source and purity. LSD isn't toxic by itself, but an adulterated version could easily be dangerous. Psychedelics like MDMA (aka Molly) are particularly prone to adulteration with dangerous additives like meth or even bath salts. The best way to safely consume psychedelics is by having them tested by nonprofit testing services like drugsdata.org or by buying an at-home drug testing kit.

Third, consider the dose of the drug. Microdosing, which involves taking a fraction of the dose that is required for a full hallucinogenic trip, is becoming increasingly popular because it offers a way to lightly experience the effects of psychedelics. Even if you want to feel the full weight of a mind-bending trip, it is probably a good idea to start slow by first microdosing and seeing how you respond.

Finally, consider where and when you are taking these drugs. The psychedelic experience, more than any other type of drug, is integrally tied to the context in which you take the substance. Psychiatrists specializing in psychedelics call this contextual information your set (or your mind-set when you take the drug) and your setting (the place and environment where you take the drug). For your first time, don't do it at a music festival where you're surrounded by crowds of people. Try doing it in a park with a few trusted friends, or a very comfy room in your house. Ideally, one of your friends will not get high and can help you if you start freaking out.

It's no accident that ancient uses of psychedelics, like the thousand-year-old indigenous use of the hallucinogenic substance ayahuasca, always occurred in tightly controlled religious settings where individuals were intentional with their mood before entering the trip, outside stimulus was limited, and there was an expert ready to guide them through the experience. Taking large doses of these drugs when you're in a hostile mood or in an unruly environmentsay, Pike Place Market on a Sundayis only asking for a bad trip.

And that "bad trip" might be the biggest danger from psychedelics. A powerful dose of psychedelic mushrooms probably won't kill you, but that doesn't make jumping out of a window or running into traffic while on mushrooms any less dangerous. (And eating the wrong kind of mushrooms can kill you, so don't go off into the woods just picking and eating anything that looks right.)

Psychedelics are powerful drugs that demand respect. Use them intentionally, and your understanding of reality, of the earth, of your connection to other human beings may be forever changed for the better. But disrespect them, and you're asking for a problem. So make sure you know what you are taking, have friends to guide you through the experience, and remember to never mix your cocaine with your LSD.

The rest is here:

What You Can Learn From Snorting Two Lines of LSD - TheStranger.com

In 2018 Michael Pollan, a professor of journalism whose career had largely revolved around meditative books about the spirituality of cooking, published a bestseller about psychedelics and their place in contemporary society.

How To Change Your Mind was unique at the time. It wasnt a musician, youngster, or smoky-eyed psychonaut describing the magic of psychedelic drugs between bong rips, it was the voice of a 63-year-old professor who had lived through the War on Drugs, backed by an illustrious publishing career. What business did he have with such an unsavoury subject?

Image: Key-Z Productions

Pollan is hardly the only voice in published media whos riding the so-called second wave of psychedelics the first marked by Albert Hoffmans discovery of LSD and its subsequently world-shaking effects on popular culture. Johann Haris staunchly anti-War on Drugs novelChasing The Scream was a 2015 bestseller.

In music, psychedelic rock has cracked into the mainstream for the first measurable time since the zany peak of prog rock and total market domination of Pink Floyd in the 70s. Commercially successful musicians such as Jon Hopkins and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips are forthcoming about their drug use, Chance the Rapper started his debut mixtape by declaring Raps just made me anxious, and acid made me crazy, and Father John Misty tripped balls at a Taylor Swift concert.

Mycologist Paul Stamets also one of the worlds leading experts on psilocybin mushrooms clocked almost five million views when he appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience (one of the top 10 most popular podcasts on the planet). One of 2016s most darling viral videos depicted a couple attempting to assemble IKEA furniture while high on acid.

Brad Pitt spaced out on an acid-laced cigarette during the climax of Quentin Tarantinos ninth film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and Shia LeBeouf tripped for 24 hours straight in preparation for his role in The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman. Thats method, baby.

And if you believe the rumours, half of Silicon Valley and Wall Street are starting their day with a cheeky psychedelic microdose.

What caused the shift? Why are we suddenly allowed to, outside of the underground circles where these substances persisted for the last 50 years, talk about psychedelics with our mums, bosses, local members, and grandparents?

Half the reason, as weve already observed, is thanks to pop culture. The other side is legislative.

Recently, as cannabis legalisation has swept across Canada and North America, smaller pockets of positive psychedelic legislation are sprouting. This year Denver decriminalised the possession and use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, the first ever US city to do so. Oakland in California soon became the second, and the campaign is now gaining national momentum.

On the medicinal side, studies into the effects of psychedelic substances were resumed as far back as the 80s, yet a few recent experiments point to a wider change of play. Psilocybin has recently been shown to benefit patients afflicted with a number of mental health problems including PTSD and depression.

Meanwhile on Australian soil, a Melbourne hospital is treating terminally ill patients with high doses of psilocybin, an attempt to dampen anxiety as they face the end.

Both sides of this reemergence of psychedelics, legislative and populist, play essential roles in their wider acceptance. They appeal to different demographics. For instance, young people are more likely to experiment with drugs after they watch Christopher Walken take peyote inSeven Psychopaths, and Pollan has no doubt sparked psychedelic interests in a whole generation of older people. What were seeing now is all bases covered, from the little rascals who only needed a pat on the back to boomers who needed their entire perspective shattered and subsequently rebuilt.

Then of course, there are many people who would never touch a drug unless it was legal, or if they believed it was dangerous. Thats why legalisation, in your hometown or halfway across the world, has a twin benefit; it provides a safer system for those who live in legal zones, and it provides a diagram for others to follow. Think about it like getting a killer reference from your old boss, Amsterdam.

The last five years have also seen the worlds largest ever survey of drug takers emerge, the appropriately named Global Drug Survey. Reviewing 123,814 people from 30 countries in 2019, the last GDS revealed a plethora of critical data, pertaining to both the growing popularity of psychedelic substances and their relative harmlessness.

In 2014, the year of the first GDS, 10.1% of respondents had taken LSD and 10.6% of respondents had taken magic mushrooms. In 2019 those numbers had jacked up to 17.5% and 14.8% respectively. The 2019 GDS also reported that LSD, cannabis, ketamine, and magic mushrooms were the four safest drugs to take (based on the percentage of drug users who had been admitted to emergency rooms), with mushrooms being the safest overall. Only 0.4% of psilocybin users had sought medical treatment while on drugs, and 0.9% of LSD users had done the same. Alcohol, MDMA, cocaine and methamphetamine were all deemed more harmful by users.

Respondents also decreed that shrooms and LSD were the two best value-for-money drugs in the world, even though the global average price of LSD doubled (roughly $15 to $30) between 2018 and 2019. Cha-ching.

So where does this place us socially, legally, cosmically? Here we find ourselves at the precipice of a society where psychedelic drugs are treated as nonchalantly as alcohol, caffeine, or over the counter pharmaceuticals. Or cannabis, in legal states or countries. At this stage we know these drugs are getting more popular, that theyre safer to use than other substances, and that they carry potentially huge medical benefits.

But as prolific as these chemicals and their effects become in art, music, film and literature, their mostly illegal status remains. What we need is more than Seth Rogen tripping balls on the silver screen a couple more times, its a wider saturation that crosses boundaries. Its powerful works of non-fiction on the New York Times bestseller list, its peer-reviewed studies that cant be ignored, and its politicians willing to fight for something thats been demonised for most of the last half-century.

The reemergence of psychedelic drugs in popular culture is the small gear that slowly but surely turns the gigantic wheel of legalisation. Its working its little ass off down there, but in time it will cause a revolution.

Read the original:

The second coming of psychedelics in pop culture - Happy Mag

Annie Sprinkle, thesex worker andpornstar turned sex educator and artist, once described a beautiful summer day with a lover, when both found that their psychedelic door flew open without having taken any drugs. Our senses became heightened, time warped, colours were brighter, she said. I wondered if people who have never done any psychedelics could ever feel the same way, or if our psychedelic experiences enabled us to enhance and intensify the magical feelings of love.

For some, sex is so interconnected with drugs, that it becomes akin to an altered state. But today, when we hear about the combination of sex and drugs, its usually in the context of headline-grabbing horror stories about the casualties of days-long mephedrone and crystal meth-fuelled binges at Chemsex orgies. This is far from being the main story about sex and drugs. After all, few of us can say weve never been under the influence while under the sheets. Whether its alcohol, viagra,MDMA, or cocaine, chemicals are a mainstay of British sex lives.

So much so that 20 per cent of the 22,000 British peoplesurveyed in this yearsGlobal Drugs Survey said theyd combined MDMA with sex, either with or without forethought, (just 15 per cent of Europeans and North Americans say the same). Granted, participants are a self-selecting crowd, but it does show that combining sex with drugs is hardly a fringe activity. While not one of the most commonly used, GHB/GBL was rated most favourably for sex by men and women, mostly because its boosts sexual desire.

I like the ritual around it. I like the care that you have to take with your partner. I find all that quite erotic Sam* on GHB

The ease of fatally overdosing on G is well documented; less than one millimetre can be the difference between feeling happy and/or horny and falling unconscious. As well as this, it is perhaps best known by its suitability for spiking and rape. In high doses or mixed with alcohol it can blank events immediately following from memory. The key factor (in spiking) is being able to manipulate social trust, explains criminologist Pamela Donovan in Drink Spiking and Predatory Drugging: A Modern History. But G is also increasingly used as a club drug, enjoyed among friends and lovers on and after a night out.

Sam, 32, tells me about how GHB has become her and her long term partners favourite drug with which to augment their sexual experiences. I like the ritual around it, she says, referring to the way in which consensual partakers of G prevent overdose by measuring out a new dose on the hour, using a syringe to squirt it into a soft drink. I like the care that you have to take with your partner. I find all that quite erotic.

Sam first encountered sex on drugs through alcohol, then through cannabis. I discovered that cannabis seemed to ease my anxiety around sex... particularly anal, which Id experienced violently as a teenager, she said.

Sams use of drugs with sex seems to revolve around nurturing and intimacy, control and self-respect. Until recently there has been little in-depth research into the pleasurable and experimental dimensions of sex on drugs beyond communities of men who have sex with men. But a Wellcome Trust-funded project led by Dr Alex Dymock at Royal Holloway, University of London, entitled Pharmacosexuality, aims in part to explore exactly this through 30 in-depth interviews.

Its a curation of self, a curation of sex, and a curation of drugs, Dymock tells me at academic psychedelics conference Breaking Convention in London, referring to the ways in which some people consider the way they engage in sex on drugs. Specifically, using them with the aim of self-exploration and of staying closer with the sexual experience, rather than using them to lose control.

One participant in their study, a woman with ADHD, finds that speed, paradoxically, slows her down and creates a sense of calm that makes sex an easier situation for her.

Gen Z, who are known to be less wild with drugs, tend further towards using them in a way thats in tune with the individual drugs and what happens to your body, Tatiana, 22, tells me. They are more likely to just stay home and take some drugs for the entertainment that evening, which is less expensive than going out, she says. I think thats where the relationship between sex and drugs comes in more.

Referring to the evolution of drug culture as though each new generation builds on the maturity of its predecessor, she says, Its almost like weve passed the excitable teenage phase and into the more reflective, adult phase. Drugs arent considered so rebellious, perhaps because, to this well-informed crowd, their parents generation were the ravers of the 80s and 90s.

Others I spoke to anonymously found that sex could help calm them down when a drug experience, particularly an acid orketamine trip, became intimidatingly expansive. As Dymock says: for some participants, ketamine and acid initiated what they described as a frightening experience of ego dissolution. In a couple of instances, participants discussed the way in which sex allowed them to ground themselves and feel embodied.

For Quinn, 28, psychedelics give intimacy an extra twist: the sensation that her and her partners boundaries between our senses of self have been blurred. So much so, that there have been occasions when every touch feels like Id thought of it and asked for it in the exact moment that it magically happened. In an account of the intense acid trip taken by two lovers on the forum Blue Light, one lover describes, when I looked at my partners face I saw little bits of my face in him... It was like looking at a picture of both of us morphed into one our limbs and faces being split and mirrored into quarters of each other like a chess board of body parts. In Quinns experience, the intimate encounter deepens her understanding of the other person, amounting to 10 years worth of only seeing someone for coffee with their clothes on.

While psychedelics sharpen Quinns intuitions about another person, this can have the effect of clarifying in her mind that she is not in tune with her partner. Tripping on psilocybin with a sexual partner propelled me to a place where I eventually realised that I didnt like having sex with them... they were bringing me an off-key set of energies.

The dissociative effects of ketamine paradoxically help her to feel more involved. It makes me less focussed on us cumming, which means I can totally immerse in the sex. I wouldnt really 69 for hours with no return to penetrative sex in sight unless I was on ketamine, she says, adding, I like how, while your minds disassociate on sometimes hilariously disparate tracks, your bodies are still doing intimate things.

Its a curation of self, a curation of sex, and a curation of drugs Dr Alex Dymock, Royal Holloway, University of London

A key factor in all of this is consent: negotiating sexual consent while high and consent about which drugs and how much will be taken. Dymock says that several of their interview participants report taking drugs in an intentional effort to loosen their own control over the situation. According to the law, being highly intoxicated, can in some cases remove the capacity to consent.

For Sam, the disinhibiting effects of drugs are welcome. Theres definitely things Ive done on drugs that I probably wouldnt have done sober, she says, but also stresses that she doesnt have any regrets around them. It made me feel some things were more permissible or made me realise things I wanted.

Collectively, those who have spoken to me about their experiences demonstrate that taking substances intentionally with a preexisting understanding of their effects is a prerequisite to finding pleasure and fulfillment in combining sex with drugs. Sex is this extremely intimate act that you are doing with another person, while also having the intimacy of exploring your psyches together, Quinn says. Sex acts as a cradling activity to the exploration of the mind, while drugs peel away the layers we put on. For her, they both require trust and coalesce to invoke a deeper understanding of the other.

Liz Elliot described just this in an account of her loving-on-drugs with the psychedelic icon Timothy Leary: We could play with each others brains, stroke mental erogenous zones. Flash electric current between us.

*Some names have been changed.

Original post:

Exploring the changing relationship between sex and drugs - Dazed

LSD is the most widely studied psychedelic, with hundreds of published research papers (see below). An LSD experience is similar in many ways to psilocybin mushrooms, but often individuals feel like they are better able to direct and control the experience.

LSD studies have shown success in treating depression, anxiety, smoking cessation, and many other psychological conditions. LSD consistently produces powerful long-term improvements in these conditions, even with just a single dose.

Before you begin, be sure to read our safety section and see the special safety considerations for LSD at the bottom of this page.

LSD is a powerful chemical and taking the correct dose is essential. Because LSD is active at very, very small quantities and because it is typically delivered on small pieces of paper, it is difficult to independently assess the dose (this issue is less of a problem with mushrooms or MDMA). Taking too much LSD can lead to feelings of dissociation and alienation.

Be sure that you know the dose that you are taking. A single dose or tab of LSD can vary widely in strength, so make sure you know the quantity in micrograms. A 100ug dose is a good starting point if you have never taken LSD before and should provide a calm and opening experience. If you are interested in deeper psychological work or spiritual exploration, and have a lot of experience at lower does, you may decide to move up to 400 or 500ug, but only do so if you are very comfortable with lower doses. Do not use LSD unless you are very confident of the quality and dose that you have. Its best to use a source that someone you know has also used and can vouch for.

LSD will typically be delivered on small pieces of paper that the LSD is diffused onto. It may also be provided in liquid or pill form, or even diffused into a sugar cube.

Typically, people feel very free and open in the days following an LSD experience. Remember that you need at least 12 hours before you try to sleep, so if you begin too late in the day, you may have some trouble falling asleep and could be a little tired the next day.

Most people find that they have an afterglow from their LSD experience that can last days or weeks, improving their mood and outlook and keeping them very open to others. Ideas and issues that you explored during the experience will have a new clarity too them. Emotionally difficult topics, memories, and experiences are likely to feel much safer and will bring up less fear when you remember them. You are likely to feel better able to tackle challenging emotional experiences in your life.

LSD has been shown in many research settings to dramatically reduce anxiety, depression, and other psychological challenges with just a single dose. However, you may wish to repeat the experience a few times to further explore and address any emotional and psychological issues that you are working with.

In addition to our standard safety guidelines, there are two particularly important precautions for LSD use:

Psychedelics have been misunderstood and misrepresented for decades. That's changing. Please help us share safe, responsible information on using psychedelics by sending this page to friends, and posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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How to Safely Use LSD - How to Use Psychedelics

Many people find their day to day experience of life is filled with anxiety, limiting the activities they do and the enjoyment they have in life. Psychedelics like mushrooms and LSD have been used for decades to treat anxiety disorders and to reduce anxiety levels.

In some cases, these substances seem to directly alleviate feelings of anxiety, even at very small doses (below the level at which they subjectively alter consciousness). For other people, psychedelics help them explore the root causes of their anxieties and fears and find peace with them. And for many people, psychedelics bring them to a place a spiritual peace and openness that can become a new touchstone for letting go of anxiety or learning not to identify with it so strongly.

This description of the process may sound abstract to someone suffering from anxiety day to day, but like talking therapy, the healing process of psychedelics can be a little difficult to convey until youve tried it.

Recent clinical research has shown dramatic reductions in anxiety even after a single psychedelic experience with psilocybin mushrooms. Even for patients facing the extreme anxiety of terminal illness, psilocybin allows them to embrace their fate and find peace with their loved ones.

Heres one womans story of being treated with mushrooms as she was facing death, described in a New York Times article (see below):

Before Pam Sakuda died, she described her psilocybin experience on video: I felt this lump of emotions welling up . . . almost like an entity, Sakuda said, as she spoke straight into the camera. I started to cry. . . . Everything was concentrated and came welling up and then . . . it started to dissipate, and I started to look at it differently. . . . I began to realize that all of this negative fear and guilt was such a hindrance . . . to making the most of and enjoying the healthy time that Im having. Sakuda went on to explain that, under the influence of the psilocybin, she came to a very visceral understanding that there was a present, a now, and that it was hers to have.

Two weeks after Sakudas psilocybin session, Grob (the researcher) readministered the depression and anxiety assessments. Over all among his subjects, he found that their scores on the anxiety scale at one and three months after treatment demonstrated a sustained reduction in anxiety, the researchers wrote in The Archives of General Psychiatry. They also found that their subjects scores on the Beck Depression Inventory dropped significantly at the six-month follow-up.

Whats remarkable about the research results from this and many other studies is that even a single dose of a psychedelic substance can create long lasting changes, reducing anxiety, depression, and creating more emotional openness.

LSD, MDMA, and mushrooms have all been studied for anxiety reduction. Remember that a psychedelic experience can sometimes produce anxiety or can focus the mind on sources of anxiety, as part of the process of addressing the root causes. Starting with small doses and following all the safety guidelines can help reduce anxiety.

Psychedelics have been misunderstood and misrepresented for decades. That's changing. Please help us share safe, responsible information on using psychedelics by sending this page to friends, and posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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How to Treat Depression with Psychedelics

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Moderate doses of psychedelics have been shown to effectively treatdepression,anxiety,PTSD, andother mental health conditions and even microdoses havebeen reported to hold significant benefit. Although we dont recommend it, many people are turning to psychedelics as a form of self-treatment for mental health conditions. And this brings up the potential problem of antidepressant medication interfering with the effects of psychedelics.

Unfortunately there has been no solid research performed on the interaction between psychedelics and antidepressants. Therefore most of the advice we provide here is based on anecdotal evidence and case reports. We recommend discussing issues with your physician before making any decisions.

The classic psychedelics (includingLSD,psilocybinandDMT) work by affecting the serotonin system, and most antidepressants work by targeting serotonin signaling too. Therefore wed expect for there to be some kind of interaction between the two unfortunately we just dont know anything for sure right now.

From anecdotal reports, it looks as if the SSRI class of antidepressants weakens the effects of classic psychedelics although this absolutely doesnt mean you should take more of the psychedelic substance to compensate.

Many people advise against taking Lithium or other tricyclics with classic psychedelics, as they have been known to put people intocomatose statesorinduce seizures.Avoid this combination until we know for sure about its safety!

MAOI medications appear to haveeffectssimilar to SSRIs when combined with classic psychedelics.

Since we know so little about how classic psychedelics and antidepressants interact, we advise against taking them together. Dont risk making things worse for yourself. If you are absolutely determined to try a psychedelic, it may be wise to wean yourself off your medication first but always check with your physician.

Anecdotal reportssuggest that takingMDMAwhile on antidepressants can either numb the effects, completely abolish the effects, or cause a really unpleasant hangover! Since SSRIs mess with your serotonin system, and bind to some of the same targets as MDMA, there is the potential for unpleasant interactions. Dr Ben Sessa, an MDMA researcher, saysThe general rule is dont combine SSRIs with MDMA.

Taking MDMA while on MAOIs is alsopotentially dangerous. Its definitely best to avoid this combination, as it could lead toserotonin syndrome(which can be fatal!).

We dont know much about what you can combine withmescaline, but as its mode of action is similar to the classic psychedelics, its probably best to assume that it wont combine well with antidepressants.

Ayahuascais a little more complicated than other psychedelics when it comes to antidepressants, because the psychedelic brew contains MAOIs, which can cause fatal reactions when mixed with other drugs. We advise a total purge from all substances before taking ayahuasca, to avoid the risk of the potentially fatalserotonin syndrome.

Here is a listof all substances you should absolutely avoid if youre determined to take ayahuasca.

Ibogaineis another natural psychedelic with a potential risk of toxicity. Healthcare professionalsrecommend weaning off all medicationbefore taking a dose of ibogaine.

Be aware that ibogaine ispotentially the most dangerous psychedelic substance out there, as it can cause heart failure in seemingly safe situations. It is usually a last resort for people suffering from severe addiction.

We know nothing about interactions here although we know thatSalviaworks on a very different neurotransmitter system than most antidepressants, and we havent heard any reports of unpleasant effects resulting from mixing Salvia with antidepressants.

Were not medical doctors, and we dont pretend to be. Unfortunately the research isnt in place for anyone to give solid advice about mixing psychedelics with antidepressants. So be safe, be cautious, and always check with your physician before changing your drug-taking habits.

Continue reading here:

Can You Take Psychedelics With Antidepressants?

This is a guest post by Mansal Denton. Heis unaffiliated with Pure Nootropics and his thoughts and experiences are his own. Pure Nootropics does not condone or encourage the use of illicit or illegal substances.

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Psychedelics are a big part of my personal growth and success.

The experiences with psychedelics have:

And Im not the only one

Popular writer, Michael Pollan, described The Trip Treatment of psilocybin and the potential use for treating anxiety, addiction, and depression.

Famed author and personality, Tim Ferriss, has had numerous discussions about psychedelics, such as LSD, mushrooms, and even ayahuasca. It was Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) host and comedian, Joe Rogan, who got me interested in the subject.

But beyond using psychedelics as a mystical experience, there is a subset who are finding ways to use them for a different purpose.

Through microdosing of psychedelic drugs, many people are finding cognitive advantages to improve the execution of their work and achieve more.

Less than a month before writing this piece Rolling Stone published an article about how LSD microdosing became the hot new business trip Of course, Forbes, GQ, the Telegraph, and dozens of other outlets re-published the same popular piece (Nov 2015).

I have been saying that nootropics are used by Silicon Valley execs, Wall Street traders, and just about every other high performance individual in between, but this is the next level

Lets get started, shall we?

Austin, Texas is becoming a hub for a new kind of entrepreneur, hippie, and hipster breed. As gross as that might be to visually imagine, it actually creates an amazing environment for testing personal practices, such as microdosing.

While I have sifted through scientific research, particularly from Dr. James Fadiman in the 1970s, much of this is based on anecdotes, experiences, and interviews.

Names have been changed to protect those who shared their experiences.

Microdosing is using small doses of powerful psychedelic drugs in order to improve working conditions. In contrast, full psychedelic experiences are often mystical and not conducive to completing work-related tasks.

There are several purported advantages including:

Problem-solving

Imagine you have been working on a problem for weeks without finding an adequate solution. You wake up every morning, put in your time, but still dont feel satisfied with your results.

That was the basis for a 1966 experiment organized by Dr. James Fadiman among others. This experiment took 27 male subjects (16 engineers, 2 mathematicians, 2 architects, 1 engineer-physicist, and others) and required them to bring a professional problem they had been working on for at least 3 months with a desire to solve it.

After providing these subjects with 200 mg of mescaline sulphate, the subjects had 4 hours to work on their professional problem. Almost all of them reported greater problem-solving ability and at least 12 had breakthrough solutions.

Creativity

Eric Clough was an architect in 1966 during the same era of research who wrote The consensus among the architects interviewedseems to be that LSD, when administered under carefully controlled conditions, does enhance creativity aids in visualizing three-dimensionally, and generally heightens perceptivity. (Fadiman, 170)

Numerous microdosing practitioners report having more creativity, which often ties into problem-solving. However, for musicians and artists, the creativity may help produce exceptional work in the absence of a definitive problem that needs solving.

Mood

Many psychedelics drastically enhance mood and happiness because of their interaction with serotonin receptors. Psilocybin decreases depressive and anxiety-related symptoms. The same is true for most other psychedelic drugs through small microdoses.

Physical

In a book Tryptamine Palace, author James Oroc asserts Virtually all athletes who learn to use LSD believe that the use of these compounds improves both their stamina and their abilities. According to the combined reports of 40 years of use by the extreme sports underground, LSD can increase your re-flex time to lightning speed, improve your balance to the point of perfection, increase your concentration

It sounds nice, but I spoke with my friend Larry to get his experiences and confirmed the same phenomenon. Both LSD and o-acetylpsilocin (prodrug for psilocin) offered strong physical energy and endurance beyond the norm.

These are just a few of the benefits of microdosing specifically. Note that the heroic dose, which provides mystical and self-reflective experiences, does not provide the same problem-solving or physical endurance effects. In fact, it might be the opposite in some circumstances so be careful when microdosing.

In scientific studies, the letter n is used to refer to the sample size. If you test something in a group of 5 friends, the sample size is 5 (n=5). The term n=1 is used to describe a sample size of 1, which is you. Therefore, the popularized term in biohacking circles is meant to encourage self-testing as opposed to listening to what everyone else believes.

There are at least 3 acquaintances with whom I spoke about microdosing. Larry is an entrepreneur creating a health-food company and had the most extensive experiences with microdosing. He felt LSD had a more complete microdosing experience even though mushrooms improved his physical energy and endurance profoundly.

Both Larry and another named Josh reported cycling LSD microdoses once every 3 4 days because of tolerance and ability to connect with others. Larry concluded that 10 12 mcg is better for physical endurance and concentration, while 12 15 mcg is better for creative thinking and problem-solving.

In contrast to these generally positive experiences, there is a individual self-experiment by Gwern that showed No beneficial effects reachedLSD microdosing did not help me. He continues to show how he tested and calculated things.

Another trained pianist and composer on Reddit took 30 40 mcg microdoses and reported The experience could be described as slightly withdrawn and I felt like I had worse coordination and consequently lower accuracy in playing.

Given the mixed nature of these anecdotal experiences, I recommend taking an N=1 approach. Understand that each individual is different and the dosage and microdosing that works for one person may not work for you.

The evidence from Fadimans research in the 1960s along with other testimony leads me to be cautiously optimistic about microdosing benefits, but dont expect it to solve all your professional or personal problems.

Again, neither I nor Pure Nootropics condone or recommend using illegal or illicit drugs. This is the process for microdosing that is reported through the experiments of Dr. James Fadiman and the experiences of others.

Given that microdosing with LSD is most common. Here is a briefguide for most accurately dosing. This is called volumetric dosing and it offers the most superior and accurate result.

(Tools needed: Scale, Pipette bottle, distilled water, tab of LSD)

Here are some of the common mistakes people make when trying to microdose:

Mistake #1 Do not cut the tab of LSD into strips in order to divide the dosage. For one, this is incredibly difficult to do accurately (given the small size of most LSD tabs). It also does not account for hotspots, which are heightened concentrations and uneven distribution on the tab itself. Instead, use the volumetric dosing with distilled water method explained above.

Mistake #2 Taking the incorrect dose. While each dose will have different effects for different people, some guidance can be helpful. 20 mcg of LSD is usually considered the high end of the microdose range, but some people go as high as 50 mcg. For LSD the lower doses tend to have concentration and slight mood benefits (5 12 mcg) while 12 20 mcg is a dose for problem-solving and creativity with more felt effects.

If you are using o-acetylpsilocin for a mushroom microdose (easier than trying to weigh actual mushrooms precisely), dosage recommendations are around 3 4 mg for microdosing.

Mistake #3 Taking doses too often. Most accounts recommended once every 3 4 days maximum, but longer is also good. LSD is particularly subject to tolerance and doing it every other day can create uncomfortable relationships with reality.

Mistake #4 Obviously sourcing makes a big difference with microdosing. A poor quality product with a big dose is less impactful, but when you rely on a tiny dose to provide effects, opt for quality.

This is a guest post by Mansal Denton. Heis unaffiliated with Pure Nootropics and his thoughts and experiences are his own. Pure Nootropics does not condone or encourage the use of illicit or illegal substances.

If you have something youd like to add, wed love to hear from you, please comment below.

Original post:

Beginners Guide to Microdosing Psychedelics

(Ecstasy, E, X, XTC, Rolls, Beans, Adam, Molly)

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine

C11H15NO2

Disclaimer: MDMA is a potentially illegal substance, and we do not encourage or condone the use of this substance where it is against the law. However, we accept that illegal drug use occurs, and believe that offering responsible harm reduction information is imperative to keeping people safe. For that reason, this guide is designed to ensure the safety of those who decide to use the substance.

Overview 01

MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or Molly, is primarily a recreational drug that causes euphoric feelings, increased empathy with others, and enhanced sensations. Sounds and colors are often experienced more intensely, making MDMA a popular recreational drug at raves and music festivals.

Currently, it is in Phase III clinical trials for use as a therapeutic aid in the treatment of PTSD, and has been granted Breakthrough Therapy status by the FDA.

It is most commonly taken as an oral tablet that comes in a variety of shapes and colors, but it can also be snorted or smoked.

MDMA can be deadly when combined with other drugs (especially PMA/PMMA), and can also be deadly on its own at high doses.

History & Stats 02

The history of MDMA began decades before the rave culture that popularized it.

A common myth perpetuated by both the scientific community and media outlets is that MDMA was first synthesized and patented by the German pharmaceutical company Merck as an appetite suppressant.

Merck did synthesize the drug in 1912, but the appetite suppressant story is an urban legend. Instead, it was developed as a potentially life-saving blood clotting medicine.

Very little, if any, testing was done in the early years after its first synthesis. It wasnt until 1927 that Merck revived interest in the drug. A chemist named Max Oberlin predicted that MDMA might mimic adrenaline since the chemicals shared a similar molecular structure. Not long after these initial studies, however, the prices of chemical precursors skyrocketed and testing was put on hold.

It is not exactly known when the first human trials with MDMA were conducted, but the US military is known to have tested it and other drugs on humans in the 1950s.

The first recipe for MDMA was published in a polish-language scientific journal in 1960 and tablets began popping up in seized contraband in the 1970s.

Dr. Alexander Shulgin first read about MDMA in the early 1970s at which point he synthesized it and tried it himself, becoming the first person to officially record ecstasy use in a human subject in 1978.[1] In the 1980s, its use in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy was said to increase patient self-esteem and facilitate therapeutic communication.[2]

While Shulgin is often called the Godfather of Ecstasy, the real creator of MDMA was a German scientist named Anton Kollisch, who died in 1916 never knowing the legacy he left.

Since 1985, MDMA has been listed as a schedule I drug in the United States, making it effectively illegal for all uses, but some limited clinical trials have been approved and conducted in recent years. In 2011, a federal court sided with the ACLU who argued that punishments for MDMA possession and use were based on outdated science which led to overly severe prison sentences,[3] but other courts have upheld the previous sentencing laws.

The annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that MDMA had been used at least once by 13.1% of people between the ages of 18 and 25, and 6.5% of people age 26 and over. Full results from the survey are below.

These trends appear to be holding relatively steady:

Its appearance in published reports and literature reached a peak in the early- to mid- 2000s and has fallen quite a bit since then:

Google search interest over the past decade or so has slowly but steadily increased before plateauing the past few years:

If youre enjoying this guide, youll probably love the information in our detailed Microdosing Course.

Microdosing is the most exciting trend in the world today when it comes to unlocking creativity, focus, and self-expression. But a lot of people dont know where to start or get overwhelmed by trying to figure everything out themselves from broken resources around the internet.

Thats why we put together this detailed, step-by-step course. It explains everything you wanted to know about microdosing (and even answers the questions you didnt know to ask).

MDMA Street Names 03

As one of the most popular psychedelics and party drugs, MDMA has earned a varied assortment of street names. In fact, there may be more nicknames for MDMA than for any other substance besides weed.

Some of these refer to the compound generally, in whatever form, while others refer to set preparations. Ecstasy could fall into either category but it usually refers to tablets, or pills.[15] Its name was supposedly changed from Empathy early on to boost sales appeal.[16]

The marketing of ecstasy pills, complete with trusted logos and brand names,[17] has actually spawned a number of other enduring street names, including Doves. However, most ecstasy brand names, while popular in their own right, havent caught on as street names for pills in general. These include Mitsubishi, Little Rocket, and Dolphin (or Blue Dolphin).[18]Some other generic street names for pills include:

Molly, short for molecular,[19] refers to crystal (powder) MDMA.[15] In the UK, its also known as Mandy. Other names from around the world include:[20]

Pharmacology 04

MDMA affects the brain by increasing activity levels of three different neurotransmitters: dopamine, norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and serotonin.[4]

Increases in dopamine account for euphoric effects, as well as increased energy. Physiological effects while under the influence of ecstasy are caused by increases in norepinephrine/noradrenaline. These include increased heart rate and blood pressure.MDMA effects on the serotonin system cause characteristic changes in mood, appetite, sexual arousal, and sleep cycles. Spikes in serotonin after taking MDMA likely account for feelings of emotional closeness and empathy that are commonly reported by users.

Potentially fatal neurological complications can occur following MDMA ingestion, likely due to short-term hypertension and dehydration that is induced by the drug. Necrosis of liver and heart tissue has also been reported in individuals where death was associated with the use of amphetamine derivatives.[5]

Many fatal cases are due to abnormally high doses, prior health complications, a bad batch of MDMA, or a combination of all of these. Its also particularly difficult to tell exactly how much of role MDMA plays in adverse reactions in many cases because users are more likely to have used multiple drugs.[6] Like with any substance, it should be used in moderation, as heavy users tend to experience more complications than occasional users.[7]

Clinical studies with pure MDMA have been conducted on over 1100 individuals without the occurrence of severe adverse effects.[8]

Pure MDMA? 05

The purity of MDMA is notoriously variable, especially in tablet form. In the US, for instance, the average MDMA concentration in ecstasy tablets (or pills) is reported to be 30.13%.[21] But this includes samples as low as 0% and as high as 100%. Also, while the sample size varies (from 1 to 1000 pills), individual state averages can be double or half the national average.

Still, this is something of a recent improvement. In 2008, police seizures of the chemical precursor safrole meant that, for years, street MDMA concentration in ecstasy pills was very often zero.[22] Since then, the percentage of dud pills (tablets containing no MDMA) has been rapidly falling. Meanwhile, the percentage of ecstasy pills containing MDMA alone, without any adulterants, has been climbing. In 2009, 60.1% of ecstasy tablets worldwide contained no MDMA whatsoever, whereas just 8.7% contained MDMA alone. By 2018, the situation was reversed: 8.8% of ecstasy tablets contained no MDMA, while 54.8% contained MDMA alone.[23]

Part of this has to do with new manufacturing methods. Underground chemists now synthesize MDMA with a less heavily restricted precursor. But it also has to do with the darknet, where vendor ratings and competition naturally drive the quality up.[24]

In fact, far from the days of there being too little MDMA in pills, nowadays theres often too much. Super-strength ecstasy tablets have made headlines in recent years for killing unsuspecting users. Whereas the MDMA content in ecstasy pills is traditionally between 80 and 120mg, some have been found to contain upwards of 300mg.[25] A high-end dose like this can be dangerous enough in itself, let alone when youre not expecting it.

EcstasyData.org and Pill Reports are excellent resources for gauging the safety of specific pills.However, they should only be used as a guide. The safest way to use ecstasy pills is to start with just half a tablet and gauge how you feel over an hour.[26][27]

What about the purity of Molly (crystal MDMA)?

Despite what you may have been sold, even in crystal or powder form, pure MDMA is difficult to find on the street. However, street MDMA concentration has been climbing in recent years. In the UK, at least, it has apparently reached 83%.[28] Accounting for the molar mass of the hydrochloride (HCl) salt that most MDMA is made as, this is pretty much the maximum purity.[29]

MDMA in pure form, or free base MDMA, has by definition a purity of 100%.

Unfortunately, whatever form its in, your ecstasy is unlikely to be pure. In other words, theres probably something else in itand adulterants can sometimes be deadly.Using an MDMA test kit is a good precaution. These can show up the presence of, firstly, MDMA, and secondly, toxic adulterants by a color change you can check on a chart. However, chemical reagent tests like this cannot tell you the purity and theyre only indicative at best. They should, therefore, be used alongside other harm reduction practices.[30]

A caution on PMA/PMMA (aka Death)

The prohibition of MDMA in most countries (and especially the police seizures of safrole in 2008/2010 interrupting the supply of ecstasy) has led to the emergence of unknown alternatives. These substances, about which we know relatively little, tend to be far more dangerous than MDMA. And yet theyre legal by default in many jurisdictions.

Following the procedure for making MDMA with aniseed oil instead of safrole, for example, yields not ecstasy but the problematic substances para-Methoxyamphetamine (PMA) or para-Methoxy-N-methylamphetamine (PMMA).[37] Both have been implicated in the deaths of unsuspecting users from as early as 1993.[38] In December 2014/January 2015, for instance, at least three men died after taking the same pink Superman pills containing PMA.[36][37]

PMA/PMMA can be 10-20 times more potent than MDMA.[36][37] So users taking a safe dose of what they believe to be ecstasy could be massively overdosing on a far riskier substance. PMA/PMMA are also slower-acting, which means experienced ecstasy users are likely to re-dose too soon, taking even more of this harmful drug into their bodies.

The trouble is, PMA/PMMA are not analogs of MDMA. They have a different pharmacological action. Unlike ecstasy, they block certain enzymes (e.g. monoamine oxidase, or MAO) that offset the release of serotonin. And, as a result, they can lead to serotonin syndrome, which can be deadly.[37][38]

Reagent testing can help to identify the presence of PMA/PMMA; however, the presence of real MDMA could disguise the presence of PMA/PMMA as adulterants. Checking pills against user reports online, e.g. at EcstasyData.org and Pill Reports, is, therefore, a sensible precaution.

If youre enjoying this guide, youll probably love the information in our detailed Microdosing Course.

Microdosing is the most exciting trend in the world today when it comes to unlocking creativity, focus, and self-expression. But a lot of people dont know where to start or get overwhelmed by trying to figure everything out themselves from broken resources around the internet.

Thats why we put together this detailed, step-by-step course. It explains everything you wanted to know about microdosing (and even answers the questions you didnt know to ask).

Effects 06

Most tablets available for recreational use contain between 80 and 150 mg of MDMA.[9] At this dose level, the onset of effects occur approximately 20 to 60 minutes after taking the drug, and the characteristic effects (euphoria, increased empathy, increased energy, enhanced sensations) typically last for 3 to 5 hours.

The MDMA high is usually characterized by a relaxed, euphoric state, including emotional openness, empathy, reduction of negative thoughts, and a decrease in inhibitions. Sounds and colors can also appear more intense.

Some adverse physiological effects can occur after ingesting MDMA and include elevated blood pressure and heart rate, nausea, chills, sweating, tremor, jaw clenching, hyperreflexia, urinary urgency, muscle aches or tension, hot and cold flushes, nystagmus, and insomnia. At higher doses, these physiological changes can result in severe adverse reactions.

MDMA overdose can (and does) kill. A high dose of MDMA can be a contributing factor in deadly conditions such as hyperthermia, exhaustion or hyperhydration. Additionally, MDMA can trigger serotonin syndrome, a potentially deadly overloading of the bodys serotonin levels.

Many people report an unpleasant comedown after a night of heavy MDMA use, including feelings of depression and fatigue. In our microdosing course, MDMA expert Dr Ben Sessa explains how the typical MDMA comedown is due to overexertion, poor sleep, poor diet, and polydrug use. As such, the MDMA comedown can be countered by eating and sleeping well after taking MDMA, keeping hydrated if youre dancing, and avoiding taking any other substances (including alcohol). Additionally, supplement kits are available online, claiming to help prepare and repair your body.

Myths 07

Although one of the most famous ecstasy-related deaths was caused by overhydration, MDMA itself will not make you drink yourself to death. The victim in this infamous case thought that by drinking a large amount of water, they would counteract an unpleasant ecstasy experience. Unfortunately, MDMA also makes it harder for the body to process water, meaning she died from water retention.

This doesnt mean you should avoid drinking water on ecstasy. Taking a very high dose of ecstasy can cause an inability to regulate your hydration, so you should make sure youre drinking water regularly. This is especially if youre dancing or exerting yourself.

The main cause of ecstasy-related deaths is a lack of education. People dont know how to take the drug safely, and end up increasing their health risks. When used responsibly, it is a relatively safe drug.

Although MDMA is very popular for use in clubs due to its enhancement of music and dance, that doesnt mean its exclusively a clubbers drug. Many people take it in a spiritual or therapeutic context. It can be used for various forms of personal and relationship development, and clinical trials are using it to treat sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder.

There is no evidence that moderate use of MDMA (less than 100mg every few weeks) can cause damage to your brain.

Frequent, high dose use can cause heart problems and memory problems. Additionally, its relatively easy to overdose on MDMA if its combined with other drugs, especially PMA/PMMA. MDMA overdose can be lethal.

So although sensible use is relatively safe, it can be harmful in large amounts.

Therapeutic Use 08

In 2017, MDMA was approved for use in Phase 3 clinical trials in the US to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[10] [11] This is one of the last phases of testing before a drug is legally approved for therapeutic use. The trials are being funded by MAPS.

MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD involves only a few administrations of the drug alongside guided professional therapy. The drug used in these trials is pure, with dosages strictly controlled unlikely the typical use of recreational ecstasy.

Patients who have undergone this therapy typically have a particularly treatment-resistant form of PTSD (many of them are war veterans). They report that MDMA therapy helped them approach their past trauma with a greater sense of acceptance, warmth, and compassion for themselves, allowing them greater opportunity to cope and heal.

Read more about the use of MDMA in the treatment of PTSD here.

Preliminary results from a few studies suggest MDMA is also a promising treatment for social anxiety in individuals with autism.[12] In a clinical setting, it can be used to shift a patient with social anxiety towards openness and encourage introspection. Early results suggest this is accomplished with infrequent or even single doses, eliminating the need for frequent administration of the drug, thereby mitigating the possible adverse side effects and many of the costs associated with longer-term, more involved therapies.

This same mechanism appears to operate in treating patients with life-threatening illnesses who experience clinical anxiety as well.[13]

If youre enjoying this guide, youll probably love the information in our detailed Microdosing Course.

Microdosing is the most exciting trend in the world today when it comes to unlocking creativity, focus, and self-expression. But a lot of people dont know where to start or get overwhelmed by trying to figure everything out themselves from broken resources around the internet.

Thats why we put together this detailed, step-by-step course. It explains everything you wanted to know about microdosing (and even answers the questions you didnt know to ask).

Personal Growth 09

Opinions vary among spiritual leaders and guides, but MDMA is sometimes cited as a tool that can be used for spiritual growth. Some spiritual teachers laud its ability to induce feelings of oneness, interconnectedness, empathy, compassion, warmth and kindness towards others, and, importantly, a lack of self-consciousness. States such as these are often catalysts for spiritual epiphanies and further spiritual and personal development.

As one Benedictine monk put it:

MDMA always propels me into an intimate space in conversation. There is a special quality to this conversation. One feels a heaviness, a sense of the weight of the moment, of something profound, of the seriousness of life itself. It is a space that is inner, without masks, without pretense, utterly open and honest. It is not an erotic intimacy, but a philosophical and mystical intimacy. Does this make any sense? One has the consciousness that this is an inner communication rarely achieved in ordinary discourse. There really are no adequate words to express this state of awareness, only to say, that it is essential in my experience.

MDMA can be used in many different sets and settings to invoke spiritual development from sitting quietly and introspecting, to meditating in groups, to therapy. Even rolling at raves can have a spiritual quality if the user approaches it with the right intentions.

MDMA could also be a useful tool for building or repairing relationships. Alexander Shulgin, the Godfather of Ecstasy, has written frequently on its potential use as a therapy for couples. The emotional intimacy produced by ecstasy could be the key to understanding our relationships and perhaps finding the places that need work.

Other resources:

Legality 10

MDMA is a Schedule I substance in the United States, which makes it illegal to manufacture, distribute or possess without a DEA license.[39] Scandalously, this scheduling also suggests that ecstasy has no therapeutic valuecontrary to the findings of MDMA clinical trials for PTSD. However, given the strength of this research, it seems very likely (if not inevitable) that medical MDMA will soon be available on prescription.[40]

In the UK its a Class A, which is basically the same as Schedule I: Buying, selling or making MDMA is illegal without a license.[41]

The same is true in the majority of countries, but some are more permissive in practice. In the Netherlands, for example, where MDMA is very much illegal, possession of small amounts is often ignored by the police.[39] Meanwhile, in Peru, its perfectly legal to possess up to 250mg (one quarter of a gram) of MDMA, so long as its the only drug on you.[39][42]

FAQ 11

MDMA stands for 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Also known as ecstasy, its one of the most popular psychedelics in the world. Its widely seen as more of a party drug than LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and so on. But its currently re-emerging as a breakthrough psychotherapeutic aid.[31]Researchers are especially enthusiastic about the potential for MDMA in PTSD treatment.

It comes in two basic forms: Tablets (or pills) and crystals (or powder). MDMA pills are often called ecstasy while Molly is MDMA in powder form, or MDMA crystals.

Ecstasy is a type of amphetamine, a stimulant class of drugs that includes speed and methamphetamine. But MDMA is considerably more benign than each of these. As an amphetamine, its also part of the phenethylamine class of substances, like mescaline. Of course, the effects are again substantially different. Based on these, MDMA may be classed as an entactogen or euphoric empathogen.

Regardless of MDMA dosage, ecstasy is a stimulating drug. Most people report a physical and emotional euphoria, along with mild visual effects, such as color enhancement. Increased stamina (e.g. for dancing) is also common.

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Learn Everything You Need To Know About MDMA (Ecstasy)

Psychedelic art is any art or visual displays inspired by psychedelic experiences and hallucinations known to follow the ingestion of psychoactive drugs such as LSD and psilocybin. The word "psychedelic" (coined by British psychologist Humphry Osmond) means "mind manifesting". By that definition, all artistic efforts to depict the inner world of the psyche may be considered "psychedelic". In common parlance "psychedelic art" refers above all to the art movement of the late 1960s counterculture. Psychedelic visual arts were a counterpart to psychedelic rock music. Concert posters, album covers, liquid light shows, liquid light art, murals, comic books, underground newspapers and more reflected not only the kaleidoscopically swirling colour patterns of LSD hallucinations, but also revolutionary political, social and spiritual sentiments inspired by insights derived from these psychedelic states of consciousness.

Psychedelic art is informed by the notion that altered states of consciousness produced by psychedelic drugs are a source of artistic inspiration. The psychedelic art movement is similar to the surrealist movement in that it prescribes a mechanism for obtaining inspiration. Whereas the mechanism for surrealism is the observance of dreams, a psychedelic artist turns to drug induced hallucinations. Both movements have strong ties to important developments in science. Whereas the surrealist was fascinated by Freud's theory of the unconscious, the psychedelic artist has been literally "turned on" by Albert Hofmann's discovery of LSD.

The early examples of "psychedelic art" are literary rather than visual, although there are some examples in the Surrealist art movement, such as Remedios Varo and Andr Masson. It should also be noted that these came from writers involved in the Surrealist movement. Antonin Artaud writes of his peyote experience in Voyage to the Land of the Tarahumara (1937). Henri Michaux wrote Misrable Miracle (1956), to describe his experiments with mescaline and also hashish.

Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception (1954) and Heaven and Hell (1956) remain definitive statements on the psychedelic experience.

Albert Hofmann and his colleagues at Sandoz Laboratories were convinced immediately after its discovery in 1943 of the power and promise of LSD. For two decades following its discovery LSD was marketed by Sandoz as an important drug for psychological and neurological research. Hofmann saw the drug's potential for poets and artists as well, and took great interest in the German writer Ernst Jnger's psychedelic experiments.

Early artistic experimentation with LSD was conducted in a clinical context by Los Angelesbased psychiatrist Oscar Janiger. Janiger asked a group of 50 different artists to each do a painting from life of a subject of the artist's choosing. They were subsequently asked to do the same painting while under the influence of LSD. The two paintings were compared by Janiger and also the artist. The artists almost unanimously reported LSD to be an enhancement to their creativity.

Ultimately it seems that psychedelics would be most warmly embraced by the American counterculture. Beatnik poets Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs became fascinated by psychedelic drugs as early as the 1950s as evidenced by The Yage Letters (1963). The Beatniks recognized the role of psychedelics as sacred inebriants in Native American religious ritual, and also had an understanding of the philosophy of the surrealist and symbolist poets who called for a "complete disorientation of the senses" (to paraphrase Arthur Rimbaud). They knew that altered states of consciousness played a role in Eastern Mysticism. They were hip to psychedelics as psychiatric medicine. LSD was the perfect catalyst to electrify the eclectic mix of ideas assembled by the Beats into a cathartic, mass-distributed panacea for the soul of the succeeding generation.

Leading proponents of the 1960s psychedelic art movement were San Francisco poster artists such as: Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, Bonnie MacLean, Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley, and Wes Wilson. Their psychedelic rock concert posters were inspired by Art Nouveau, Victoriana, Dada, and Pop Art. The "Fillmore Posters" were among the most notable of the time. Richly saturated colors in glaring contrast, elaborately ornate lettering, strongly symmetrical composition, collage elements, rubber-like distortions, and bizarre iconography are all hallmarks of the San Francisco psychedelic poster art style. The style flourished from about 1966 to 1972. Their work was immediately influential to vinyl record album cover art, and indeed all of the aforementioned artists also created album covers.

Although San Francisco remained the hub of psychedelic art into the early 1970s, the style also developed internationally: British artist Bridget Riley became famous for her op-art paintings of psychedelic patterns creating optical illusions. Mati Klarwein created psychedelic masterpieces for Miles Davis' Jazz-Rock fusion albums, and also for Carlos Santana Latin Rock. Pink Floyd worked extensively with London-based designers, Hipgnosis to create graphics to support the concepts in their albums. Willem de Ridder created cover art for Van Morrison. Los Angeles area artists such as John Van Hamersveld, Warren Dayton and Art Bevacqua and New York artists Peter Max and Milton Glaser all produced posters for concerts or social commentary (such as the anti-war movement) that were highly collected during this time. Life Magazine's cover and lead article for the September 1, 1967 issue at the height of the Summer of Love focused on the explosion of psychedelic art on posters and the artists as leaders in the hippie counterculture community.

Psychedelic light-shows were a new art-form developed for rock concerts. Using oil and dye in an emulsion that was set between large convex lenses upon overhead projectors the lightshow artists created bubbling liquid visuals that pulsed in rhythm to the music. This was mixed with slideshows and film loops to create an improvisational motion picture art form to give visual representation to the improvisational jams of the rock bands and create a completely "trippy" atmosphere for the audience. The Brotherhood of Light were responsible for many of the light-shows in San Francisco psychedelic rock concerts.

Out of the psychedelic counterculture also arose a new genre of comic books: underground comix. "Zap Comix" was among the original underground comics, and featured the work of Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin, and Robert Williams among others. Underground Comix were ribald, intensely satirical, and seemed to pursue weirdness for the sake of weirdness. Gilbert Shelton created perhaps the most enduring of underground cartoon characters, "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers", whose drugged out exploits held a hilarious mirror up to the hippy lifestyle of the 1960s.

Psychedelic art was also applied to the LSD itself. LSD began to be put on blotter paper in the early 1970s and this gave rise to a specialized art form of decorating the blotter paper. Often the blotter paper was decorated with tiny insignia on each perforated square tab, but by the 1990s this had progressed to complete four color designs often involving an entire page of 900 or more tabs. Mark McCloud is a recognized authority on the history of LSD blotter art.

By the late 1960s, the commercial potential of psychedelic art had become hard to ignore. General Electric, for instance, promoted clocks with designs by New York artist Peter Max. A caption explains that each of Max's clocks "transposes time into multi-fantasy colors."[1] In this and many other corporate advertisements of the late 1960s featuring psychedelic themes, the psychedelic product was often kept at arm's length from the corporate image: while advertisements may have reflected the swirls and colors of an LSD trip, the black-and-white company logo maintained a healthy visual distance. Several companies, however, more explicitly associated themselves with psychedelica: CBS, Neiman Marcus, and NBC all featured thoroughly psychedelic advertisements between 1968 and 1969.[2] In 1968, Campbell's soup ran a poster promotion that promised to "Turn your wall souper-delic!"[3]

The early years of the 1970s saw advertisers using psychedelic art to sell a limitless array of consumer goods. Hair products, cars, cigarettes, and even pantyhose became colorful acts of pseudo-rebellion.[4] The Chelsea National Bank commissioned a psychedelic landscape by Peter Max, and neon green, pink, and blue monkeys inhabited advertisements for a zoo.[5] A fantasy land of colorful, swirling, psychedelic bubbles provided the perfect backdrop for a Clearasil ad.[6] As Brian Wells explains, "The psychedelic movement has, through the work of artists, designers, and writers, achieved an astonishing degree of cultural diffusion but, though a great deal of diffusion has taken place, so, too, has a great deal of dilution and distortion."[7] Even the term "psychedelic" itself underwent a semantic shift, and soon came to mean "anything in youth culture which is colorful, or unusual, or fashionable."[8] Puns using the concept of "tripping" abounded: as an advertisement for London Britches declared, their product was "great on trips!"[9] By the mid-1970s, the psychedelic art movement had been largely co-opted by mainstream commercial forces, incorporated into the very system of capitalism that the hippies had struggled so hard to change.

Examples of other psychedelic art material are tapestry, curtains and stickers,[10] clothing,[11] canvas and other printed artefacts[12] and furniture.[13]

Computer art has allowed for an even greater and more profuse expression of psychedelic vision. Fractal generating software gives an accurate depiction of psychedelic hallucinatory patterns, but even more importantly 2D and 3D graphics software allow for unparalleled freedom of image manipulation. Much of the graphics software seems to permit a direct translation of the psychedelic vision. The "digital revolution" was indeed heralded early on as the "New LSD" by none other than Timothy Leary.[14][15]

The rave movement of the 1990s was a psychedelic renaissance fueled by the advent of newly available digital technologies. The rave movement developed a new graphic art style partially influenced by 1960s psychedelic poster art, but also strongly influenced by graffiti art, and by 1970s advertising art, yet clearly defined by what digital art and computer graphics software and home computers had to offer at the time of creation. Conversely, the convolutional neural network DeepDream finds and enhance patterns in images purely via algorithmic pareidolia.

Concurrent to the rave movement, and in key respects integral to it, are the development of new mind-altering drugs, most notably, MDMA (Ecstasy). Ecstasy, like LSD, has had a tangible influence on culture and aesthetics, particularly the aesthetics of rave culture. But MDMA is (arguably) not a real psychedelic, but is described by psychologists as an entactogen. Development of new psychedelics such as 2C-B and related compounds (developed primarily by chemist Alexander Shulgin) are truly psychedelic, and these novel psychedelics are fertile ground for artistic exploration since many of the new psychedelics possess their own unique properties that will affect the artist's vision accordingly.

Even as fashions have changed, and art and culture movements have come and gone, certain artists have steadfastly devoted themselves to psychedelia. Well-known examples are Amanda Sage, Alex Grey, and Robert Venosa. These artists have developed unique and distinct styles that while containing elements that are "psychedelic", are clearly artistic expressions that transcend simple categorization. While it is not necessary to use psychedelics to arrive at such a stage of artistic development, serious psychedelic artists are demonstrating that there is tangible technique to obtaining visions, and that technique is the creative use of psychedelic drugs.

Bohemian wall hangings and Hippie Tapestries

Psychedelic and Trippy wallpapers collection

More here:

Psychedelic art - Wikipedia

Most of us know someone who has taken antidepressants. But psychedelic drugs? Not so much. Many people believe they are illegitimate and dangerous. You might be surprised to hear that psychedelic drugs like MDMA and LSD have a lot in common with antidepressants. They both work with the same neurotransmitter in the brain: serotonin.

And indeed, antidepressants and psychedelic drugs promise to heal similar mental illnesses and can also have similar side effects. Do you know how they work in the brain? No? Good! Thats exactly what this article is about. Before we can talk about your brain on these drugs, though, its important to have a basic understanding of the brain and its serotonergic system. Dont worry, its super fascinating stuff, and easy as 1-2-3:

Below, well talk about neurotransmitters, synapses and chemical signaling. If these things are even vaguely familiar to you, then read on. If not, I recommend reading part 2 of Tim Urbans fantasticand highly entertainingNeuralink and the Brains Magical Future story on the Wait But Why blog. Youll learn everything from brain anatomy to neural networks in just 15 minutes.

When a neuron fires, the cell body (soma) sends an electrical signal down its axon to its axon terminals. This is where one neuron connects to the dendrites of the next neuron. In between is the synapse. From the axon terminals, a chemical signal activates the dendrites and sends a message to the soma of the next neuron. The soma collects the messages and once a threshold is exceeded, it fires off an electrical signal down its own axon and the process repeats.

Chemical signals are made from neurotransmitters. How they are produced, sent and received is the key to understanding the interactions between drugs and the serotonergic system.

You have probably heard of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline and oxytocin. A simplistic view:We have more than 100 different types of neurotransmitters in our brain and their job is facilitating the communication between neurons. Think of a neurotransmitter as a language: some neurons speak dopamine, others speak serotonin, others speak adrenaline and so on. While some neurons are multilingual, lets say fluent in serotonin and dopamine, most of them speak just one language. All neurons which speak serotonin make up the serotonergic system.

The serotonergic system is amongst the oldest neurotransmitter systems in the brain. It might be as old as 750 million years; even single-celled organisms carry serotonin receptors. In humans, those neurons originate from the raphe nuclei in the brainstem and form a network spanning every corner of the brain and influencing nearly every aspect of our lives. It plays a key role in regulating mood, sexual behavior, aggression, impulsivity, cognitive function, appetite, pain, thermoregulation, circadian rhythm, sleep and memory.

Serotonergic pathways in the brainWith all of these control functions, it makes sense that many prescription drugsand most antidepressantstarget the serotonergic system. What might not be so obvious, however, is that psychedelic drugs like MDMA (aka. molly, ecstasy), LSD (aka. acid) and psilocybin (aka. magic mushrooms) also stimulate the serotonergic system to create their unique effects.

All those substances do essentially one thing: they raise the serotonergic activity in the brain. Why? Because raising serotonergic activity makes you happy, social and active; whereas lowering serotonergic activity makes you depressed, irritable and more prone to mental illnesses.

This is where it gets really interesting. Before we dive into the life of a serotonin molecule, lets make sure were all on the same page. Take another look at the more detailed version of how communication happens at the synapse. On the top is the axon terminal of the sender-neuron which is often referred to as the presynaptic neuron. On the bottom is the receiver-neuronthe postsynaptic neuron. The skin of the neurons is the membrane; and the little gap in between is called the synaptic cleft. What gets sent from the sender to the receiver? A chemical signal, otherwise known as neurotransmitter; and in the case of a serotonergic neuron the neurotransmitter is serotonin.

Now we get to the nitty gritty. The following graphic illustrates the lifecycle of a serotonin molecule. Follow the orange dots from one to seven and check out the explanation below.

Signaling in chemical synapses

Well over 90 percent of the serotonin in our body is made in our gut. But since serotonin cant cross the blood-brain barrier, it has to be synthesized in the brain from scratch. What does cross the blood-brain barrier however is tryptophan, the fundamental building block of serotonin. Within the neuron, enzymes turn tryptophan into 5-HT which is the chemical name for serotonin.

How does our body get tryptophan in the first place? Tryptophan is contained in certain foods, particularly proteins. You may have heard that turkey is rich in tryptophanso is every other kind of meat, as well as cheese, dairy products and eggs. Paradoxically, eating a protein rich diet is not necessary useful for a steady tryptophan supply in the brain. Why? Read my story about amino acid competition at the blood-brain barrier.

Serotonin is stored in tiny bubblesonly 50 nanometers in diametercalled vesicles. How does it get in there? Initially, the serotonin floats in the cytosol, the fluid within the neuron. A transport protein called VMAT2 fishes the serotonin out of the cytosol and channels it into one of the vesicles. The vesicles then travel closer towards the synaptic cleft and wait for their signal.

When signalled, the vesicles meld with the cell membrane in a process called exocytosis. The serotonin gets released into the synaptic cleft.

When serotonin binds to the receptors of the postsynaptic neuron, each receptor sends off a signal to the cell body of the neuron. When enough of these signals accumulate, the postsynaptic neuron fires, causing an electrical signal to travel down its axon to its own axon terminals, in turn causing a release of serotonin that stimulates the next neuron. This chain reaction cascades through any number of neurons.

Where does a serotonin molecule go after it has activated a receptor? There are a few options: (a) it may get taken back up into the presynaptic neuron; (b) it may get taken up by a neighboring glial cell (glial cells are the most abundant cells in the brainthey dont transmit signals but they do help keep everything neat and tidy); or (c) it may get diffused away from the synaptic cleft via extracellular fluid.

Along the presynaptic membrane are serotonin transporters (SERT) that pull serotonin back into the cell in a process called reuptake. These transporters are basically groups of proteins that act like a gate: one inone out. One molecule binds to the transporter on the outside of the membrane and changes the transporters configuration. Consequently, another molecule drops off, but on the inside of the membrane.

Back in the presynaptic neuron, some of the serotonin gets reloaded into vesicles and will be reused. Producing serotonin from scratch is a complex process and takes time. Therefore, recycling helps the brain maintain a steady supply.

Any remaining serotonin gets broken down by the enzyme MAO (monoamine oxidase) and excreted from the cell as the metabolite 5-HIAA (5-Hydroxyindoleacetic acid).

The brain cant produce large quantities of serotonin at once, therefore it doesnt release large quantities of serotonin at once either. In fact, serotonergic neurons have multiple ways of up- and downregulating their serotonin response in order to maintain balance and protect themselves from overstimulation.

Follow the orange dots below to see a few examples of these protection strategies.

If there is (1) a high concentration of serotonin outside the neuron, the neuron reacts with

Amazingly, a neuron can cause its receptors to retract behind the synaptic membrane, putting them out of reach of being activated by over-abundant serotonin. With fewer receptors available, fewer activations occur, and the neuron is in turn less likely to fire off a signal.

Receptors are not only found on the postsynaptic membrane. Some are located on the axon terminals or even directly on the soma of a neuron. If too much serotonin is floating around in the brain and these autoreceptors get activated, they send an inhibitory signal to the presynaptic neuron that causes it to (3) throttle the release of serotonin.

Do you recall from the beginning how serotonin regulates mood, sexual behavior, cognitive function, sleep, memory and so on? How does it accomplish all that? Well, in reality there isnt just one single type of serotonin receptorthere are 14. They are numbered from 1 to 7 and further categorized into A, B, C, etc. Remember, the chemical name for serotonin is 5-HT. Going forward well talk a lot about 5-HT2A receptors, since they are the target of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and psilocybin.

All 5-HT subtypes possess special qualities in how they regulate mood, anxiety, impulsivity, aggression, migraines, etc. Some of these subtypes act as regular receptors at the postsynaptic membrane, while others act as autoreceptors on the axon terminals, dendrites or directly on the cell body. The 5-HT2A receptor, for example, is a receptor on the postsynaptic membrane and regulates mood, anxiety and schizophrenia. Wikipedia offers a fantastic overview of 5-HT receptor subtypes if you wish to go deeper.

Now that you know how serotonin acts in the synaptic cleft it will be easy for you to understand the mechanisms of antidepressants like SSRIs and MAOIs as well as psychedelic drugs like LSD, psilocybin and MDMA. Each of these substances stimulate serotonergic neurons, but each in different ways.

Before 1950 it was believed that mental illnesses like schizophrenia or autism were caused by refrigerator mothersmothers who were emotionally distanced and cold with their offspring. The psychiatric community had no idea that behaviour patterns, such as schizophrenic or autistic behaviour, might arise from neurochemical events in the brain.

In the late 1930s, serotonin was first discovered in the gut where it played a role in muscle contraction. It took another 15 years before it was detected in the brainwhich was in 1953but still only in the context of muscle contraction. One year later, in 1954 two scientists noticed the chemical similarity between serotonin and LSD.Chemical structure of LSD and serotonin

They had already known that LSD had peculiar effects on mind and behavior, because Sandoz Laboratories had marketed LSD as a psychiatric drug since 1947. Putting one and one together, these two scientists suggested that serotonin might play an important role in mental illness.

If neuroscience can be said to have a beginning, one could argue that it occurred in 1954, with the idea that the action of LSD might be related to its effects on the brain serotonin system.

After it became obvious, that serotonin was deeply involved in mental sanity it quickly became the center of attention of pharmaceutical companies. Understanding the mechanism by which mood is regulated allowed pharmacologists to experiment with ways to influence it. One result has been the creation of many antidepressant drugs. Here is how they work.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs today. Youve probably heard of Prozac, Celexa, Lexapro, Seroxat or Zoloft. They are all SSRIs.

SSRIs bind to serotonin transporters (SERT) on the presynaptic membrane and block them. This means serotonin cant get taken back up into the presynaptic neuron. More serotonin remains in the synaptic cleft where it continues to bind to receptors and activates them.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOI) are older antidepressants, which are still in use, but not commonly prescribed because of their potentially lethal effects. MAOIs keep serotonin from being metabolized and excreted from the neuron, which in turn increases its availability.

Antidepressants ultimately raise serotonin levels, so does MDMA.

MDMA is a sneaky bastard. Insidiously it takes control of the infrastructure and turns the whole system upside down. How does it do that? First, MDMA enters the neuron via the serotonin transporters (SERT). Once inside the neuron, it inhibits the vesicular transporters (VMAT2) which means that serotonin is not neatly packed within the vesicles anymore, but now accumulates within the cytosol. Then, MDMA reverses the direction of the SERT, meaning instead of transporting serotonin into the neuron, they now release it into the cleft and deny its reuptake. The result is a dramatic increase of serotonin levels in the synaptic cleft which makes the receptors on the postsynaptic membrane go haywire for a few hours.

Moreover, MDMA increases dopamine and norepinephrine (i.e. noradrenaline) levels, which gives it its ecstatic properties. This temporary overstimulation of the serotonergic system leaves the neurons depleted of serotonin and needing to recover after the drug use.

What if MDMA is taken daily to keep up colossal serotonin levels? The short answer is: doesnt work; the effect of MDMA is capped by the available serotonin. If the brain is depleted from serotonin, MDMA has no material to work with and therefore the effects would be rather disappointing for the user. The brain needs time to replenish its supply before the drug could achieve the desired effects once more. Many users feel irritable and depressed after using MDMA. But when using again is not an option, there isnt much of an addiction loop they could tap into. With this built-in mandatory refractory period, the physical addiction potential of psychedelic drugs is limited.

With a built-in, mandatory refractory period, the physical addiction potential of psychedelic drugs is quite limited.

Remember how the brain usually doesnt release large quantities of serotonin at once? Other neurotransmitter systems in the brain are more suitable for this task: dopamine for example. The dopaminergic system does react well to repeated stimulation and is therefore frequently involved in addiction. Drugs which target the dopaminergic system are cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, but also Adderall and Ritalin.

Unlike MDMA, hallucinogens dont flood the brain with serotonin. They target a specific subtype of serotonin receptorthe 5-HT2A receptorto which they bind directly, thereby activating it. The 5-HT2A receptor is known to play a key role in regulating mood, anxiety, schizophrenia and consciousness.

There is so much to say about how hallucinogens affect the brain. The initial hypothesisthat hallucinogens increase the activity in certain areas of the brainwas recently abandoned. In fact, hallucinogens temporarily shut down some major connecting hubs.

Why does this stir a researchers blood? Because if you want to know what a certain area in the brain does, it helps to observe what goes missing if you shut it off. Turned out, shutting off those connector hubs led to the interruption of the brains default mode network (DMN). You can think of the DMN as something like a screensaver which randomly shuffles through images of your past, your future, your to-do list, the super size menu that you shouldnt have eaten, the sad face of a person you hurt and so on. Interrupting the DMN has very interesting consequences which we willat lengthcover in a future post. Its a phenomenally interesting topic that deserves its own post (and requires a couple of thousands more words to explain).

Also, when breaking up the regular communication pathways, the brain starts to communicate in brand new ways. This visualization shows brain regions communicating which one another in (a) a normal state or (b) after administering psilocybin. On the left you can see that the color-coded regions communicate mostly amongst themselves, i.e. the dots of the purple region talk to other dots within the purple region. But under the influence of an hallucinogenic drug the purple dots start talking to all kinds of other brain regions.

Communication pathways in the brain after (a) placebo and (b) psilocybin

These novel communication pathways might be able to explain the creativity-enhancing and problem-solving qualities that are often attributed to hallucinogenic drugs.

Whats the essential nature of science? (1) You find an interesting thing, (2) you test and observe how the thing behaves under different conditions and (3) you come up with a hypothesis.

Psychedelic drugs and the serotonergic system are deeply intertwined. Not only was LSD involved in the initial discovery of the serotonergic system which later revolutionized psychiatry. Today, psychedelic research could yet again revolutionize our understanding of the human brain. Manipulating 5-HT2A receptors has astounding effects on brain circuitries that are involved in the sense of self and consciousness. You can think of the 5-HT2A receptor as the little kids basket and hallucinogens as a potent tool to test it. Psychedelic drugs might be nothing less than our key to deciphering consciousness.

With brand-new imaging technology, we could now watch the brain as it loses its sense of time and space. We could observe which regions fall out of sync when it dissolves its sense of self. We could literally watch the brain as it changes its state of consciousness. The problem is, were not allowed to. The current drug legislation makes psychedelic research so difficult and so expensive, that only very few research teams manage to get approval and funding for their studies.

Criminalization of psychedelic drugs stands between science and the exploration of consciousness.

Having discovered the serotonergic system less than 70 years ago, there is much that remains unknown about this mighty and mysterious network of neurons. We know that it is crucial for a lot of processes, but the ins and outs are not well understood even today. It will be a long time before well figure out the exact mechanisms of this versatile system.

In the meantime, every new study on psychedelics reveals fascinating new insights about consciousness, the brains default mode network and mental disorders. Over the next posts in our Psychedelic Drugs series well cover the outcome of those recent studies.

Medical Benefits of Psychedelic DrugsPsychedelic Drugs and the Serotonergic System (Youve just read it)The Psychedelic ExperienceYour Brain on Psychedelic DrugsPsychedelics and Mental HealthMicrodosing LSD: Smart Drug or Placebo?MDMA-assisted Therapy

Wow, that was a lot of information to take in. But you did it! Now you know more about the serotonergic system than any of your friends (except if your friends are neuroscientists). Since you seem to be really interested in the topic you might want to get notified when we publish our next story.

If you are located in the Vienna area, we invite you to join the Psychedelic Society Vienna meetup, where well discuss the latest research and developments in the field.

Visit link:

Psychedelic Drugs and the Serotonergic System

MDMA is a truly remarkable medicine for working with difficult emotional experiences. The clinical results have far exceeded other interventions for a range of uses (see the research section at the bottom of this page).

MDMA is a synthetic psychedelic, first developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck in 1912. It has been widely studied since then, particularly for psychotherapeutic uses. With the rate of academic research growing rapidly, it is likely that MDMA will become FDA approved for therapeutic use within the next few years, and MAPS.org is focused on moving it through the approval process. MDMA is being widely tested for post-traumatic stress, with results that surpass any other existing treatment method.

MDMA is a particularly appealing psychedelic for therapists and researchers because the subjective mental experience feels fairly stable, while creating a dramatic increase in emotional openness and a reduction in fear and anxiety.

Before you begin, be sure to read our safety section and see the special safety considerations for MDMA at the bottom of this page.

Because MDMA has anti-anxiety and anti-fear effects, it is generally considered safe to use a full dose your first time and each time you use MDMA (generally 75mg - 125mg depending on the individual). It is important to measure the dose carefully. Milligram-precision scales cost about 20 dollars (heres an Amazon search for milligram scale).

Some therapy protocols add a booster dose of about 60mg of MDMA 2-3 hours after the first dose to extend the period of therapeutic effects and provide more time for deep exploration.

MDMA will typically be in the form of a powder, pill, or crystal. Again, be sure that you are receiving pure MDMA, not mixed with other drugs or stimulants like caffeine. 'Molly' is another term for pure MDMA, distinguished from 'Ecstasy' which often contains MDMA but is not pure MDMA. If the MDMA is in pill form, youll have to be confident of the reported dosage, as fillers are added to create a pill and weighing the pill will not indicate the MDMA content. As always, do not take any MDMA if you are unsure of quantity or purity.

Once the MDMA has worn off, be sure that you drink lots of water and get a long peaceful sleep at night. MDMA can be mentally tiring and you need to rejuvenate.

Most people find that they have an afterglow from their MDMA experience that can last days or weeks, improving their mood and outlook and keeping them very open to others.

On the other hand, some people feel mentally drained by MDMA and have a foggy headed feeling for a day or two afterwards. Others will feel emotionally drained, and have a depressed mood for up to a week after the experience. Sometimes, these feelings begin two days after the experience, but not the day after. To combat this, some people who feel sensitive to that after-effect will take 5-HTP or L-Tryptophan (both are common supplements available from any source) for a few days after MDMA in an attempt to restore their serotonin levels. People who do feel drained after an MDMA session generally report that precise the MDMA dose can affect how they feel afterwards. Too much may leave them more drained than necessary. This is another reason to start with a modest, precisely measured dose to begin.

Nearly everyone, no matter how they feel the following week, finds that the thoughts, feelings, and emotional release that they experience on MDMA persists afterwards. In particular, any realizations that they had during the experiences tend to prove real and lasting.

Most remarkably, painful emotional associations with life experiences -- traumas, breakups, divorces, etc -- are dramatically reduced if that issue has been explored during the experience. You will find that when you think about that same painful experience after exploring it on MDMA, you will not have the same flood of emotional pain and tension that you would have had beforehand. The memory will be intact but the emotional strings will be looser.

Even for extreme emotional trauma, this holds true. In a recent research study for patients with PTSD, 83% of patients experienced reduced symptoms after just 3 MDMA sessions combined with therapy, vs. only 25% of patients who had therapy alone. Quite simple, MDMA is the most effective treatment for PTSD ever developed. Compare this level of success to traditional anti-depressants which have strong side effects and are dosed every day for years at a time (for a total of hundreds or thousands of doses) and which have very low rates of effectiveness, often just slightly above placebo.

In addition to our standard safety suggestions, there are three particularly important precautions for MDMA use:

Psychedelics have been misunderstood and misrepresented for decades. That's changing. Please help us share safe, responsible information on using psychedelics by sending this page to friends, and posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Continue reading here:

How to Use MDMA (Molly) - How to Use Psychedelics

Psychedelic mushrooms containing psilocybin are one of the oldest and safest traditional medicines and have been used for centuries in many countries around the world. The therapeutic and spiritual uses of mushrooms are what make it such an important tool for growth and healing.

Over 200 species of mushrooms containing psilocybin and psilocin are known, growing naturally in many parts of the world. Mushrooms are non-addictive and become less active with repeated short-term use. They do not have any overdose risk. Many experts consider them among the safest psychoactive compounds available (safer than tobacco, alcohol, and anti-depressants).

See the bottom of this page for recent academic studies on the therapeutic uses of mushrooms. From a recent article in the New York Times:

Before you begin, be sure to read our safety section and see the special safety considerations for mushrooms at the bottom of this page.

The strength of mushrooms can vary somewhat, because you are consuming the mushrooms themselves, not just the active agents. Different strains have different strengths and potency can somewhat decline over time.

It is not possible to overdose on mushrooms. However, taking a dose thats different than anticipated can cause temporary anxiety. Interestingly, this can happen if the dose is smaller than expected, as well as if it is larger. In fact, some therapists recommend starting with a fairly strong dose of mushrooms that will quickly move people past their own psychological frameworks and into a more spiritual state, thereby bypassing anxiousness. Other research has suggested that starting with a small initial dose and increasing in successive sessions reduces potential anxiety.

Mushrooms are non-addictive and become much less effective if taken repeatedly in a short period of time, as your body adjusts. This makes overuse less likely.

Typically, people feel very free and open in the days following a mushroom experience. You should try to get a good nights sleep afterwards, and you may feel a little tired the next day.

Most people find that they have an afterglow from their mushroom experience that can last days or weeks, improving their mood and outlook and keeping them very open to others. Ideas and issues that you explored during the experience will have a new clarity to them. Emotionally difficult topics, memories, and experiences are likely to feel much safer and will bring up less fear when you remember them. You are likely to feel better able to tackle challenging emotional experiences in your life.

The positive effects of mushrooms can last for years, even from just a single experience. In a recent study at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, an incredible 94% of participants who had a single dose of mushrooms said it was one of the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives. Another study found long lasting changes in openness more than a year after a single mushroom dose.

As you can read in the studies above and below, mushrooms have been shown in many research settings to dramatically reduce anxiety, depression, and other psychological challenges with just a single dose. However, you may wish to repeat the experience a few times to further explore and address any emotional and psychological issues that you are working with.

In addition to our standard safety suggestions, do not use mushrooms if you are currently taking psychoactive pharmaceuticals, such as anti-depressents, anti-anxiety drugs, etc. Always research any supplements or other medicines that you may be taking to avoid interactions.

Psychedelics have been misunderstood and misrepresented for decades. That's changing. Please help us share safe, responsible information on using psychedelics by sending this page to friends, and posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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How to Take Mushrooms (Psilocybin mushrooms / Shrooms ...

I couldnt think of a better guest to kick this thing off. Tim is not only one of my closest friends, but also is the one who most persistently encouraged me to launch a podcast.

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In this episode, Tim talks both experientially and from his own deep dive into the literature of psychedelics and mental health. Tim is shifting his focus from investing in startups to funding experiments that he hopes will establish more reliable knowledge and therapeutic options for those suffering from anxiety, depression, and addiction.

If this topic even remotely interests you, I cant recommend Tims podcast with Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind, enough. (You should definitely read Pollans book as well.) Even if youve never had any exposure to psychedelics or their potential applications, I think youll find this subject matter really interesting, and I was very grateful for Tim to be so open and honest about his experiences.

Tim also shared his short list of acquired wisdom he returns to most reliably, which might be worth the price of admission alone.

What its like living in Austin. [01:00]

The differences between lifespan and healthspan. [08:00]

During childhood and adolescence, Tim believed he was not designed to be happy. [09:30]

Tims TED Talk and his close call with suicide. [11:15]

Why Tim wants to focus on discussing different facets of mental health on a first-hand basis. [15:15]

Whats the type of thinking that triggers Tims downward spirals? [17:15]

Why Tims changed his focus from investing in startups to investing in mental health. [18:00]

How self-talk can be your best friend or worst enemy. [20:00]

Why Tim thinks everyone, including Type A personalities, should try meditation. [23:00]

Why men, in general, are bad at dealing with depression. [31:00]

Peters (newly) most-gifted book, which is related to men and depression (I Dont Want To Talk About It by Terrence Real). (Peters previous #1 book: Mistakes Were Made [but not by me] by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson.) [32:45]

The benefits and drawbacks of self-talk. [35:00]

The need to treat ourselves as well as we treat others. Its womens version of the Golden Rule. Gloria Steinem [37:00]

How a couple of Tims podcasts (The Psychedelic Explorers Guide Risks, Micro-Dosing, Ibogaine, and More and Are Psychedelic Drugs the Next Medical Breakthrough? made Peter aware of the effectiveness of plants to treat patients. [38:30]

Peters first experience with psilocybin. [40:30]

What started Tims interest in psychedelics? [41:30]

Tims transformative experience with ayahuasca. [48:45]

How Tims experience and research led him to focus on furthering the science of psychedelics and mental health. [53:00]

How do you explain the ineffability of psychedelic experiences? [57:00]

What is ego dissolution, and how do you explain it? [1:00:00]

What are some of the meditation modalities, and meditation apps out there? Why can meditation be so hard to do, but worthwhile to stick with? [1:13:00]

Tim notes, The consistent program that you follow is better than the perfect program that you quit. [1:26:30]

Why has Tim made a big commitment (more than $1 million) to funding scientific research, and to psilocybin and MDMA research, in particular? [1:31:00]

The story of Katharine McCormick and the birth control pill, and what a small number of committed people can do to change the course of history. [1:34:30]

Why the FDA granted MDMA-assisted psychotherapy breakthrough therapy designation (which could expedite approval) for the treatment of PTSD, and how a Phase 3 clinical trial is in motion. [1:43:43]

Ibogaine and the treatment of opiate addiction. [1:48:30]

What is the Default Mode Network (DMN), how does it relate to mental health, and how do psychedelic compounds affect the DMN? [1:49:30]

Image credit: Homological scaffolds of brain functional networks (Petri et al., 2014)

Heres Michael Pollan explaining the DMN, and the side-by-side images in figure above, in How To Change Your MindIn a 2014 paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the Imperial College team demonstrated how the usual lines of communications within the brain are radically reorganized when the default mode network goes off-line and the tide of entropy is allowed to rise. Using a scanning technique called magnetoencephalography, which maps electrical activity in the brain, the authors produced a map of the brains internal communications during normal waking consciousness and after an injection of psilocybin (shown [above]). In its normal state, shown on the left, the brains various networks (here depicted lining the circle, each represented by a different color) talk mostly to themselves, with a relatively few heavily trafficked pathways among them.

But when the brain operates under the influence of psilocybin, as shown on the right, thousands of new connections form, linking far-flung brain regions that during normal waking consciousness dont exchange much information. In effect, traffic is rerouted from a relatively small number of interstate highways onto myriad smaller roads linking a great many more destinations. The brain appears to become less specialized and more globally interconnected, with considerably more intercourse, or cross talk, among its various neighborhoods.

How MDMA, in the right setting, may help us clean up a very messy experience that did a lot of damage, Tim says. To help people to heal themselves in nonverbal ways. This is really key. Its very hard for people to talk their way out of something that they didnt talk their way into. [1:53:30]

Why has ibogaine gained the least traction in the US for treatment of opiate addiction? [2:00:00]

Tims first-hand experience with opiate addiction and overdoses. [2:06:30]

Unhappiness may be the single most important problem plaguing our civilization, and there are compounds that may be part of the solution. Is progress being made in terms of pushing through research and application? [2:13:30]

What does it take to reschedule a drug? [2:16:30]

The non-addictive potential of psychedelics. Food vs cocaine vs psilocybin. [2:18:00]

How Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat has jumped into the #2 spot for most-gifted books from Peter. [2:23:50]

Peters most gifted or recommended books:

Tims most gifted or recommended books:

Was there anything not in Pollans book that Tim would have added? [2:25:00]

How Peter is very proud to be one of the Biggest Tools and where people can find Egg Boxing. [2:31:00]

From all the habits and tools that Tim has learned, what are the 3-5 things that he returns to most reliably? [2:33:00]

What advice would Tim give to his 20- or 30-year-old self? [2:36:00]

Tim Ferriss has been listed as one of Fast Companys Most Innovative Business People and one of Fortunes 40 under 40. He is an early-stage technology investor/advisor (Uber, Facebook, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ others) and the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including The 4-Hour Workweek and Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. The Observer and other media have called Tim the Oprah of audio due to the influence of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, which is the first business/interview podcast to exceed 200 million downloads.

Tim on Facebook: Tim Ferriss

Tim on Instagram: @timferriss

Tim on Twitter: @tferriss

Tims website: tim.blog

Tims podcast: tim.blog/podcast

Originally posted here:

Tim Ferriss: depression, psychedelics, and emotional ...