Psychedelics are Tools—Not Toys

Hi everyone! Psychedelics are something I'm so passionate about that I wanted to share some pointers I've discovered (sometimes the hard way) over the years of my own experiences.

I truly believe that occasional, responsible psychedelic drug use can help catalyze personal growth, and such has certainly been the case in my own life. As a consequence of the War on Drugs, scientific inquiry into the psychopharmacological mechanisms of these drugs was shut down for several decades, but research has begun to pick up again around the world, and the results so far have been promising.

Preliminary studies have indicated that MDMA can help those with PTSD learn to integrate their emotional trauma; psilocybin studies have shown reduced end-of-life anxiety; ayahuasca appears to foster neurogenesis; LSD increases network connectivity within the brain, potentially providing a cognitive window during which one can overcome entrenched patterns of behavior that reinforce depression; ibogaine may help treat addictive disorders; and marijuana greatly reduces pain, inflammation and anxiety.

That said, the beneficial aspects of drugs are best accessed through responsible drug use—not reckless partying.

So, without further introduction: 10 Tips from a Psychonaut!

1) Know Your Source

No matter where you're sourcing your drugs—whether from a close friend, a dealer, or the dark web—it's always a good idea to consider using a Reagent test kit to confirm that the drug you purchased is actually what it was sold as. Too often, drugs are intentionally or accidentally passed off as something else, and being caught unawares in a trip under the influence of some unknown drug can be frightening and uncomfortable. Potentially-fatal NBOMe series compounds are sometimes sold as LSD, or pressed pills containing amphetamines or other drugs are sold as MDMA, and numerous "research chemicals" are sold under the guise of acid, mescaline or Molly.

To prevent unwanted, unpleasant drug experiences, always know your source.

Where to Purchase a Reagent Test Kit:
https://dancesafe.org/shop/

2) Know Your Dose

Once you're sure that you've successfully obtained your drug of choice, it's time to decide how powerful of an experience you're hoping to have. Knowing the dose-response curve of the drug in question is paramount to having a trip of desired intensity. Always start slow with a new batch or compound; you can always work your way up later, but you can never dose less.

The best place to research your drug of interest is undoubtedly erowid.org, which is basically a free, online psychedelic encyclopedia filled with dosage information, trip reports and drug research articles.

Weighing your dose becomes especially important when dosing powders such as 2C-x, MDxx, DMT and DOxx. I strongly suggest investing in a high precision digital milligram scale for weighing powders, and also a kitchen scale for weighing bulkier materials such as dried, psychoactive cactus, poppy pods and magic mushrooms. There are countless horror stories posted online of people who ignorantly decided to snort or ingest an eyeballed dose of whatever drug, usually tripping way too hard and requiring hospitalization to ease their panic or medical crisis. Don't let that be you.

Some drugs, like ibogaine and NBOMe series can even be lethal at high enough doses, and drugs like MDMA can potentially be neurotoxic if dosed too frequently, so always do your research before dosing in order to figure out how much you should take.

Erowid.org: https://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/psychoactives.shtml

3) Set and Setting

Simply stated, your "set" is your mindset—how you feel, what you've been thinking about lately, the state of your interpersonal relationships at the moment—and your "setting" is where you are, whether that's at home, at a social gathering or out in nature.

I recommend being in a positive state of mind before tripping, and having the entire day (and sometimes the next) set aside so you can delve completely into the experience without distractions in whatever your setting of choice may be. If you struggle with mental health issues, it's probably not a good idea to risk taking psychedelics, which can trigger psychosis in vulnerable users. Otherwise, if you are in a stable frame of mind and feel ready to trip after a bit of preparation, go for it! Turn off your phone, break away from social media for a few hours and allow yourself to fully experience your trip.

You know yourself best and what kind of setting is most likely to provide you with a positive experience. That said, for your first few experiences, you may want to consider tripping alone at home or with a close-knit group of friends, possibly even with a trip "sitter" if you'd like some sober support. Psychedelics make you profoundly more vulnerable to emotional and physical stimuli, so you may want to reconsider tripping in a party atmosphere until you've gotten a few trips under your belt. If applicable, make sure you fully trust your fellow trippers. Personally, I never trip at parties and instead prefer to trip alone outdoors or at home, or with a close personal friend in a comfortable setting. To each his own—the most important thing is to feel safe, relaxed and receptive in your set and setting.

A word on the great outdoors: Tripping in remote wilderness can be a powerful and transformative experience; however, unless you're extremely comfortable and well-versed in outdoor survival, I suggest holding off on overnight camping "trips" until you're a little more experienced with psychedelics, and even then I recommend holding off on a "heroic dose" outdoors unless you have a trustworthy sitter with you.

4) Be Aware of Unsafe Drug Combinations

Most psychedelics are safe to take with one another and often synergistically potentiate each other's effects. Some of my personal favorite combinations have been 2cb + ketamine; LSD + nitrous oxide; mescaline + GHB; and 4-AcO-DMT + DMT. That said, combining drugs can lead to heavy effects and is only recommended for more experienced or adventurous users.

Never mix drugs which induce respiratory depression, like alcohol, benzodiazepines and opiates. Another class of drugs to be extremely cautious of experimenting with is MAOIs (monoamine oxidase inhibitors) which allow drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier and can lead to serotonin syndrome or even death. Always check contraindications of your prescribed medications and co-administered drugs—especially stimulants, painkillers or antidepressants—with whatever drug you plan on taking.

Once you know ahead of time that your drug dosage and combination is safe, you're much more likely to feel safe during the experience, even if you hit rocky psychological territory.

5) Stay Hydrated

Some drugs, like psilocybin found in magic mushrooms, are diuretic, and others like LSD and psychedelic amphetamines can increase perspiration, so it becomes vitally important to rehydrate when under the influence. While tripping it's challenging to keep track of space and time, let alone how much water you've drunk! I like to keep a bottle of water handy to encourage and remind me to stay hydrated while tripping to prevent comedown headaches. Adding a pinch of sea salt or a few drops of ionic trace minerals to your water helps keep your electrolytes balanced, which becomes increasingly important if you're tripping while doing any sort of physical exercise. There have even been accounts of panicked drug users drinking so much water to help them come down that they develop hyponatremia, or low blood sodium. This can easily be prevented by making sure you consume electrolytes with your water.

6) Consume Simple Sugars

Many psychedelics reduce appetite, so it's all too easy to overlook meal times and unintentionally go hours without eating. Roughly 20% of a person's daily caloric intake goes toward brain functioning, and the brain thrives off glucose—simple sugars—so your brain needs all the fuel you can provide when traversing inner and outer cosmos. Consume simple carbohydrates to stay alert and prevent drops in blood sugar while tripping.

I suggest eating a light but filling meal an hour or two before dosing, and later snacking on organic, seasonal fruit or yogurt with honey for a bit of easy-to-digest protein. If you're on a drug that induces nausea, like mescaline, it helps to have bland, salted crackers on hand to settle your stomach. I always prep my meals ahead of time and have them set aside in glass containers so I can take them with me on my outdoor adventures. Plan for a light meal and have everything ready to go; it's incredibly difficult, not to mention dangerous, to wield cutlery and cooking appliances while tripping.

I've found that eating light meals periodically during my trips has cut down on the foggy, fatigued effect of coming down. Keep it simple and have everything set up before dosing so you won't have to overthink meeting your body's basic metabolic requirements.

7) Wear Sunblock... And Sunglasses

This one definitely comes from my own personal experience! I can't count how many times I've gotten sunburned after hours of staring, enraptured, at fractalizing clouds and geometric patterns spiraling across the sky. I think after a while my boss started to get suspicious about me frequently coming to work with bad sunburns, haha.

As for sunglasses, your pupils become dilated while tripping, making you more sensitive to sunlight if you're outdoors during the day. Wearing sunglasses helps make your experience more comfortable, and also gives you a little more stealth out in public. ;)

8) Have a Plan B

In a case of a difficult psychological experience while tripping, it helps to already have Plan B in place to calm you down and prevent a total freak out. It might help to have a playlist ready of your favorite, comforting songs; alternatively, you can create a "safe space" in your bedroom. Deep breathing and meditation can also help you relax, as can journaling about the experience to keep your hands moving and mind functioning linearly. Remember, if you're certain you've taken the right psychedelic without any dangerous combinations, you're going to be fine and the experience will pass in a few hours. The lethal dose of most psychedelics is so high that you wouldn't get to that point accidentally.

Talk to an understanding friend if necessary (or check out https://chat.tripsit.me), and if worst comes to worst, you can even take a benzo to help abort the trip early and bring you closer to baseline. I've never had to do this, and you shouldn't have to either if you're taking responsible doses in a positive set and setting. Still, emergencies can arise, in which case it may help to ingest a pharmacological aid to help you calm down. Etizolam is an unscheduled (in most states) benzodiazapene analogue which you can legally purchase for "research" if you're unable to procure benzos from another source.

9) A Word on False Realizations

One of my psychedelic heroes, Dr. John Lilly, described a powerful approach to examining a psychedelic experience: keeping in mind the difference between "true" and "as if true." True applies to the facts of your life and reality which are undoubtedly true: your age, physical appearance, line of work, and so on. Treating something "as if true" however means keeping in mind that what you're experiencing on a psychedelic may not be true in the real world, and perhaps should only be analyzed "as if true" during the trip and comedown.

There have been countless cases of psychedelic drug users reporting feelings of becoming Jesus, talking directly with God, communicating with the dead, or experiencing other supernatural and spiritual phenomena. More commonly—and this has happened to me on many occasions—a user will "realize" that he or she is born to a certain "calling" or has a personality defect (or virtue) which, after coming down, clearly isn't rooted in reality.

Engage in the trip during the experience, but after you've come down, be prepared to turn a critical eye to the "realizations" you had, and weigh them for how much value they provide to your real life in consensus reality.

In other words: Don't believe everything you think.

10) Make Time to Integrate

After a mind-blowing psychedelic session, I often find myself asking, "What the hell do I even do with this information?" I've found it helpful to post on various forums, like the Shroomery, Bluelight or Reddit in order to share my experiences with others, gather feedback and ultimately derive insight into the meaning of my trip.

I also keep a trip diary of all of my experiences (which is currently 250+ singled-spaced pages!), including dosage, dates, and details of my subjective experience while under the effects of the drugs. Journaling helps me come to terms with the insights and ideas I discovered during my trip. Talking to a friend can be equally helpful, or even going for a long walk in nature the following day and processing events. Many users report feeling a euphoric afterglow which sometimes lasts days or even weeks after a positive experience. Conversely, others report feeling rattled and anxious after a difficult experience, in which case integration becomes all the more important.

Take it easy the day or two after a trip and make sure to get enough rest to help you recuperate and reintegrate into society with your newfound insight.

Psychedelics can help you discover regions of your mind previously held inaccessible, and it's for this reason that they are powerful tools for self-discovery. If you take time to prepare for your safety and mental well-being, your session is much more likely to be an awesome, life-changing experience.

10 Tips from a Psychonaut: How to Have an Awesome, Safe Psychedelic Experience