LSD
{Acid, Tab, Lucy, Lysergic acid diethylamide}
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Risks
Dependence and abuse?
LSD doesn’t cause dependence or addiction, and no physical withdrawal symptoms have been described 17. Scientific literature has also reported subtle or nonsignificant changes in the personality, attitudes, and creativity of people that have repeatedly tried this psychedelic 18.
Tolerance develops quickly for LSD compared to other recreational drugs. Moreover,there is cross-tolerance between LSD and all the other psychedelics (except for DMT) 19. This can be problematic as the user needs to take higher doses to achieve the same effect.
Our personal advice is not to increase your doses far from what we advise and save your trips for special and meaningful occasions. Leave at least a couple of weeks between the trips.
Much more research needs to be done!
Long-term effects
The good
Research by The Beckley Foundation has shown that psilocybin and LSD increase openness (imagination, aesthetic appreciation, non-conformity, creativity) and optimism weeks after the psychedelic experience. Psychedelics are thought to be an 'existential shock' therapy and can certainly lead to a change in behaviour and outlook. After 2 weeks of the experience, the positive effects continue, whereas the psychosis-like effects don't.
This a good reason to put thought into the mindset and setting of your first trip, as it can prove to be a more meaningful experience.
Many people rate the experience as one of the most meaningful of their life, and this experience can catalyse many positive changes, such as quitting smoking 20 21.
Recent studies have found that psychedelic use was associated with lower rate of mental health problems 22 23 24. Of course, we deem that to be due to correlation and not causation as there are many other factors involved.
The ugly
Hallucinogen Persisting Perceptual Disorder (HPPD) and flashbacks
Scientists still don't agree if Hallucinogen Persisting Perceptual Disorder (HPPD) and flashbacks are the same or different things; we need more research! HPPD is a legitimate disorder featuring in DSM-V, but nevertheless, this condition still remains poorly defined and studied. We still do not know how many people suffer from it, and what makes people vulnerable or optimal ways to treat it, as was recently summarised here.
Both result in a re-experiencing of one or more of the psychedelic effects time after trying this drug (months or years). The main difference between HPPD and flashbacks is that the former is a distressing medical condition, while the latter can be experienced as either positive or negative. People with HPPD experience visualizations that are frequent, and impinge upon their daily lives. Flashbacks are meant to be intermittent, infrequent experiences, whereas HPPD are described as more persistent states. However often both terms are used interchangeably.
As you might understand if you decide to try this drug, this can be very disturbing in your everyday life. Visual effects seem to be more prominent (geometrical hallucinations, flashes or intensification of colour, movements, afterimages, trails and haloes).
If you think you have HPPD/flashbacks, don't hesitate to look for medical help 4.
Microdosing
Coming soon…
References
1 Carhart-Harris, R. L., Kaelen, M., Bolstridge, M., Williams, T. M., Williams, L. T., Underwood, R., ... & Nutt, D. J. (2016). The paradoxical psychological effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Psychological medicine, 46(07), 1379-1390.
2 Carbonaro, T. M., Bradstreet, M. P., Barrett, F. S., MacLean, K. A., Jesse, R., Johnson, M. W., & Griffiths, R. R. (2016). Survey study of challenging experiences after ingesting psilocybin mushrooms: Acute and enduring positive and negative consequences. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1268-1278.
3 Murray, R. M., Paparelli, A., Morrison, P. D., Marconi, A., & Di Forti, M. (2013). What can we learn about schizophrenia from studying the human model, drug?induced psychosis?. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 162(7), 661-670.
4 Network, NEPTUNE. Guidance on the clinical management of acute and chronic harms of club drugs and novel psychoactive substances. 2015 http://neptune-clinical-guidance.co. uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03.NEPTUNE-Guidance-March-2015.pdf)
5 Kaelen, M., Barrett, F. S., Roseman, L., Lorenz, R., Family, N., Bolstridge, M., ... & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2015). LSD enhances the emotional response to music. Psychopharmacology, 232(19), 3607-3614.
6 Kaelen, M., Roseman, L., Kahan, J., Santos-Ribeiro, A., Orban, C., Lorenz, R., ... & Wall, M. B. (2016).LSD modulates music-induced imagery via changes in parahippocampal connectivity. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 26(7), 1099-1109.
7 Lebedev, A. V., Kaelen, M., Lövdén, M., Nilsson, J., Feilding, A., Nutt, D. J., & Carhart‐Harris, R. L. (2016). LSD‐induced entropic brain activity predicts subsequent personality change. Human brain mapping, 37(9), 3203-3213.
8 Speth, J., Speth, C., Kaelen, M., Schloerscheidt, A. M., Feilding, A., Nutt, D. J., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2016). Decreased mental time travel to the past correlates with default-mode network disintegration under lysergic acid diethylamide. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(4), 344-353.
9 Leary, T., Metzner, R., & Dass, R. (1966).The psychedelic experience.Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
10 Carhart-Harris, R. L., Kaelen, M., Whalley, M. G., Bolstridge, M., Feilding, A., & Nutt, D. J. (2015). LSD enhances suggestibility in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology, 232(4), 785-794.
11 Tagliazucchi, E., Roseman, L., Kaelen, M., Orban, C., Muthukumaraswamy, S. D., Murphy, K., ... & Bullmore, E. (2016).Increased global functional connectivity correlates with LSD-Induced ego dissolution. Current Biology,26(8), 1043-1050.
12 Carhart-Harris, R. L., Muthukumaraswamy, S., Roseman, L., Kaelen, M., Droog, W., Murphy, K., ... & Leech, R. (2016). Neural correlates of the LSD experience revealed by multimodal neuroimaging.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(17), 4853-4858.
13 Roseman, L., Sereno, M. I., Leech, R., Kaelen, M., Orban, C., McGonigle, J., ... & Carhart‐Harris, R. L. (2016). LSD alters eyes‐closed functional connectivity within the early visual cortex in a retinotopic fashion.Human brain mapping, 37(8), 3031-3040.
14 Terhune, D. B., Luke, D. P., Kaelen, M., Bolstridge, M., Feilding, A., Nutt, D., ... & Ward, J. (2016). A placebo-controlled investigation of synaesthesia-like experiences under LSD. Neuropsychologia.
15 Family, N., Vinson, D., Vigliocco, G., Kaelen, M., Bolstridge, M., Nutt, D. J., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2016). Semantic activation in LSD: evidence from picture naming.Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 1-8.
16 Dolder, P. C., Schmid, Y., Müller, F., Borgwardt, S., & Liechti, M. E. (2016). LSD acutely impairs fear recognition and enhances emotional empathy and sociality. Neuropsychopharmacology, 41(11), 2638.
17 Nichols, D. E. (2016). Psychedelics.Pharmacological reviews, 68(2), 264-355.
18 Strassman, R. J. (1984). Adverse reactions to psychedelic drugs. A review of the literature. J Nerv Ment Dis, 172(10), 577-595.
19 Halberstadt, A. L. (2015).Recent advances in the neuropsychopharmacology of serotonergic hallucinogens. Behavioural brain research, 277, 99-120.
20 Johnson, M. W., Garcia-Romeu, A., Cosimano, M. P., & Griffiths, R. R. (2014). Pilot study of the 5-HT2AR agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 0269881114548296
21 Garcia-Romeu, A., R Griffiths, R., & W Johnson, M. (2014). Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences in the treatment of tobacco addiction.Current drug abuse reviews, 7(3), 157-164.
22 Krebs, T. S., & Johansen, P. Ø. (2013). Psychedelics and mental health: a population study. PloS one, 8(8), e63972.
23 Hendricks, P. S., Thorne, C. B., Clark, C. B., Coombs, D. W., & Johnson, M. W. (2015). Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 29(3), 280-288.
24 Johansen, P. Ø., & Krebs, T. S. (2015).Psychedelics not linked to mental health problems or suicidal behavior: A population study. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 0269881114568039.
Put your brand in front of thousands monthly and support the growth of harm reduction.