Do we Really Know Everything About Psychedelic “Microdosing”?
A less known but increasingly popular phenomenon is fascinating “psychonauts” and puzzling psychologists: microdosing.
This new way of taking psychedelic drugs involves routinely taking a small fraction of a normal dose of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or magic mushrooms, LiveScience (http://www.livescience.com/51482-more-people-microdosing-psychedelic-drugs.html) explained.
Supporters report improvements in perception, creativity, mood and concentration skills, minus the trippy flying elephants normally associated with psychedelics, yet microdosing remains uncharted territory.
A new way of taking psychedelics?
In a recently published in-depth post on the High Existence blog
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Underground research on LSD and microdosing
Schirp first became interested in the “potential of microdosing psychedelics” after reading about James Fadiman, a psychologist and researcher at Sofia University in Palo Alto, California, and his life’s work.
His book The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide, Fadiman (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051OHLVG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0051OHLVG&linkCode=as2&tag=offsitoftimfe-20&linkId=ZL6UJRE4OXOTM57B) addressed in details the practice and came to the conclusion that “micro-dosing turns out to be a totally different world.”
Since research with LSD remains banned, Fadiman relied on a group of volunteers who would send him details of their doses and daily routines by email. Study participants functioned normally in their work and relationships, Fadiman said, but with increased focus, emotional clarity, and
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The inventor of LSD, Dr. Albert Hofmann, was known to microdose in his old age. He said in an interview (https://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/hofmann_albert/hofmann_albert_interview1.shtml), however, that his first “trip” with the psychedelic was crushing and that “the unpredictability of effects is the major danger of LSD”.
“My first planned self-experiment with LSD was a "bum trip" as one would say nowadays,” he said, adding that if the use of the drug were at present legal, which is not the case, then is would be “handled best by a ripe, stabilized person with a meaningful reason for taking LSD”.
Microdosing and doping
James Oroc, the author of the book Tryptamine Palace: 5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad, extensively wrote about the correlation between psychedelics and extreme sports, arguing that microdosing reportedly improves both stamina and abilities in athletes.
A report by the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) looked at the problem of doping in professional cycling, focusing in particular on how some riders are now microdoping to stay within the limits of the Biological Passport.
Long-term side effects of psychedelics
According to Matt Johnson, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, long-term side effects of regularly taking small doses of psychedelics should be