The most likely risk are not the majority of psychedelics themselves, but the quality of the substance you are getting as well as potency and "therapeutic" window. As they are controlled substances, what you are getting is often synthesised from reagents that are known carcinogenics and poorly purified. In many cases, it is not the real substance but a replacement or a mixture of various other chemicals that is supposed to mimic superficial effects. In addition, some psychoactive substances are active in the ug range and therefore have a high likelihood of leading to severe side effects because of overdosing. Also, the dosage window and thus the difference between hypnotic and anxiogenic/severe side effects can be in the range of mgs as well. Therefore one should be cautious if you cannot get access to them in a controlled/legal environment and certainly should not try every research chemical or analogue that appears on the internet.

After having done seriously heaping amounts of psychedelics, I am still not sure If I can recommend them.

I don't even really know how psychedelics affected me, but I suspect they caused me to become more empathetic. I consider that to be an extremely positive aspect of their use.

Despite what many will tell you, tryptamines / phenylethylamines can be addictive for a certain personality type though.

This is an excerpt from my 'friends' diary..

"I was scared too my first time, a bit reluctant to eat them. However I was visiting my friend on vacation, and his girlfriend offered to babysit us. She even took us to the beach and to get ice-cream (note dont eat, i threw up, part of the purge) I ended up consuming around a gram of caps and stems, which is considered to be a small dose. It took around 45-1hr to start to feel the effects of them, while the full trip lasted around 4-6 hours. The feelings toward the peak of the trip, was very familiar, but everything was new. Almost no visual distortion, sometimes waves of the feeling when you stand up too fast, but not in a nauseating way. C wanted to go to the beach, so she drove us to the gas station, where i was able to find a peach soda. Then we went to this place that was above town that had this overlook. Everything was dark, and we were standing on the edge of the cliff side on this outpost like structure. I recall the sets of waves that were constantly coming in. As well as the deep blue color of the ocean. With the clouds rolling in, we headed back to the apartment. Some people came over, but i dont recall who it was, or why they were there. We were listening to old records, debating what movie to watch. There were more events that happened, looking back on it, it was too much to recall. Over all a good experience, I slept very little that night, and woke up and started cleaning. "

Also Ray Liotta in Goodfellas has no soul, you can see it in his eyes.

Ciao.

> Also Ray Liotta in Goodfellas has no soul, you can see it in his eyes.

> Ciao.

What ?

> What ?

The movie they ended up watching was Goodfellas, and roflchoppa's ah.. friend.. saw Ray Liotta's eyes and concluded that he had no soul.

At least that's my guess.

He says watch the film, you'll see it.

Just do it if you're curious. You will need a safe, familiar environment and the company of at least one cool and responsible person who isn't on the trip. A known dose of acid would be the best choice (from a sheet that someone has tried). Stay indoors. Don't go to a movie, or rock concert, don't answer the phone. Give yourself 12 hours for the trip, and a day of recovery afterwards (you may not be able to sleep).

That was the protocol in the 80's-- don't know what the kids are doing today (but probably a good idea to stay off the internet).

The best advice I got before trying shrooms was: Whatever happens, whatever you see or feel, remember that it's just the drugs. No matter what you feel like, it will end. It's just the drugs.

Works for other drugs too. If you get scared or emotionally uncomfortable, remind yourself that it's just the drugs.

Was especially handy when coming down from a combination of MDMA and coke. Not a good hangover to go through on your own.

There seems to be a lot of interest in microdosing psychedelics, which might be a good non-scary approach. I found the Tim Ferriss podcast episode about the subject quite interesting: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/03/21/james-fadiman/

if nobody in your family (and you!) don't have predispositions to mental disorders, if you don't become aggressive when drunk etc. then what you can try is following:

in a very comfortable setup (meaning no chance of being disturbed by non-tripping people), ideally with trusty friend who either has a lot of experience or won't use it, you can try half-dose and see how it goes.

btw if you ever smoked weed, how did it work out for you? not in same ballpark, but I would call it similar style, just much more shallow.

Question here, even though I don't intend to do it: I recall having heard that, if you do LSD, you can have a small trip again unexpectedly even years later. That would scare the shit out of me, suppose it happens while you're driving.

Is that true at all? Or is it just another myth?

HPPD is definitely real, but I would describe that as a more or less constant experience of after-effects for weeks/months/etc.

I took enough LSD and other substances to experience HPPD that steadily faded over the course of about 3 months. Once it was over though, I never randomly experienced a small trip or anything.

From what I've read that idea comes from a myth that psychedelics build up in parts of the body (e.g. the spine) and can spontaneously be released. So, I wouldn't worry about it (and for what it's worth -- I'll get downvoted to hell for this -- but in the past I drove hundreds of times on psychedelics, without incident)

Have you ever smelled something that evoked a really vivid memory? Where every detail of a past experience was suddenly brought to the foreground in your memory? Maybe a certain kind of perfume reminds you of a past girlfriend or something like that.

In my experience, that's what people are talking about when they talk about "acid flashbacks". It's just that you tend to form very strong memories while tripping. It's not dangerous and it's not something unique to psychedelics.

They call them flashbacks and I suspect there's probably a large amount of urban legend going on. Anecdotally, I know many people who have taken psychedelics and have never heard a report of a flashback. That's not to say they're not a thing.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5951972/could-you-actually-have-an-ls...

The idea is not to try it, but to get it prescribed to you as part of a supervised course of medication by a professional. The professional could be one of the researchers mentioned in the article. Psychedelics work best when they are not recreational.

Timothy Leary never advocated for people to try it for fun. He wanted proper scientific studies and wanted it used in a controlled way by people who knew what they were doing.

Same here. I'd be afraid of "losing it".

If you consider it in terms of medicine. I would be afraid of performing any kind of surgery on myself, but I would be less afraid and ultimately trusting if a doctor did the same thing. If surgery is the wrong metaphor, how about theraphy or other forms of psychotherapy, mind change, anxiety reduction etc.

In other words, don't try it. The fear of insanity is probably a good fear if people think of doing it just for fun. But if the day comes when a doctor takes you in a trip, your fear will be less, and the doctor will know how to supervise you.

The key idea of this article is that research into psychedelics should be allowed and encouraged. Timothy Leary never advocated for people to try them for fun. Don't think of psychedelics as recreational things to try but as powerful medicine which needs trained professionals to administer.

What is "it" and why should you be afraid of losing "it"?

That's pretty much the same for me. Actually, I wished I did it before having all the responsibilities I have now - I really couldn't afford the consequences of a "bad trip" at the moment. Who knows, maybe in a few years...

what exactly are you afraid of?