Field trip: inside America's first magic mushroom school
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
I have tripsat for others numerous times mainly to ensure that that I will assist the tripper if they need it. This does one really central thing reduce anxiety prior to the trip. Afterwards I often just check in on the tripper and see if they need water, make sure their comfortable, and sometimes ask them to visually or verbally give me a thumbs up at a mid-way point.
a few other things I advise my peers on - Proper testing of their drugs - Checking for health conditions, medications, drug interactions - Dosing in a sensible manner than minimizes the chance of a chaotic or anxious driven trip - Stressing the importance of having playlists that bring a suitable atmosphere - Suggesting proper sleep, nutrition, and some exercise leading up to and after a trip
If you head over to /r/LSD /r/shrooms you will find a constant stream of individuals who range the gambit from from teenagers to older adults who lack serious basic understanding of how to dose, prepare their mindset, and manage a environment conducive to a productive trip. There are endless stories of trip sitters who interject themselves very actively, people mixing SSRIs, throwing in THC or alcohol carelessly during a trip.
The demand is high for information but good protocols are not widespread. Myths bad word of mouth information is still prevalent due to the underground nature of these drugs.
side note: For women, I've found this book to be a well written, concise, and valuable resource.
The Psilocybin Handbook for Women: How Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelic Therapy, and Microdosing Can Benefit Your Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Health (Guides to Psychedelics & More)
https://www.amazon.com/Psilocybin-Handbook-Women-Psychedelic...
With due respect, but because the consequences are serious, why should we rely on your information more than the other info you describe?
There are more and more great modern websites and resources out there to educate people and reduce the chance of harm. If you haven't read "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollen I encourage it because its from the perspective of a 50 year old trying to navigate exploration safely in a world where most resources operate underground. Even some of his chosen safe experiences with very experienced "shamans" can have practices that I feel are suspect.
I am operating with the best knowledge I have from research, personal experience, attending scientific conferences on the subject, and reading from decent sources. This sort of comes with trust in my inner circle that I'm not just throwing around bro science haphazardly, It also helps that I'm in my mid 30, health conscious, and have a functioning life from the perspective of my peers. Admitting that there is advise that has not yet been studied in depth by science is a sign of humility. I like to have have a justification for my advise but am open to being wrong here.
I'm not trying to convince you trust me, do your own research, I'm just a stranger on the internet. If we met in person I would discuss to you in great depth, ask what questions you have, and do my best to answer every single one. After asking about your health and history, I would ask you to consider the conditions and environment you would trip in and advise on the expected effects of different dosages. Follow up afterwards is a must. Psychedelics are powerful tools that can deeply effect a person and I feel a strong responsibility to spread good practices.
Where I am out of my element, such as a women's physiology and perspective I try to defer to books or groups that may be helpful. There are alot of areas of mental health that are unknown to exploration with psychedelics and proceeding with other conditions mental or physiological should be met with caution and extra precautions.
The word of mouth advice that gets thrown around at raves and places like reddit are often incomplete and terrible bro advise: "Bro just heroic dose yourself! gg, hit that bong on the come up and you'll be fineee" "I trip on SSRIs and I'm fineeee" "I trip every other day and I'm fine!" "I dose 5-7g, bro you'll be find" "I have or am schizo and 15 should I trip?", Should I trip and go to school/work?
At the heart of my original comment I'm happy that there appear to be functioning legal and organizational frameworks to spread best practices. If this happened in my current state, a state that hasn't decriminalized or progressed psychedelic as a form of therapy, I would consider making this my full time job or try to help run a training facility.
sidenote: I was very tempted to ask ChatGPT to clean up my comment for readability.
> I'm not trying to convince you trust me, do your own research, I'm just a stranger on the internet.
Great, but then you go on.
> The word of mouth advice that gets thrown around at raves and places like reddit are often incomplete and terrible bro advise:
Your comments are word-of-mouth advice on HN. I think that encourages people, without you intending it, to follow that same advice elsewhere. Lots of well-intentioned people give copious, confident advice without knowing what they are talking about - you can see it on HN and even more on Reddit, etc. If someone doesn't already have expertise, they can't distinguish effectively between truth and misinformation (which is supported by research).
I worry people will get hurt. Maybe links to authoritative sources would help.
> sidenote: I was very tempted to ask ChatGPT to clean up my comment for readability.
Not an enouraging thing to read when veracity is a general worry (again, nothing to do with you personally).
If someone I know is interested in exploring psychedelics, it's important to understand that the results and consequences can vary widely. It could be a profoundly positive and life-changing experience, it might be a terrifying journey with long-term effects, or it could simply be a fun but relatively inconsequential time. My goal is to promote safe practices and reduce the chances of negative outcomes.
Fortunately, there are numerous excellent modern websites and resources available to educate people and minimize potential harm. I highly recommend reading "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan, especially if you're navigating the world of psychedelics, as it provides valuable insights from a 50-year-old perspective in a largely underground culture. Even experiences with seemingly experienced "shamans" may have questionable practices.
I base my approach on the best knowledge I've acquired through research, personal experiences, attending scientific conferences on the subject, and reading reliable sources. I also trust my inner circle to keep me grounded and ensure I'm not spreading misinformation. It helps that I'm in my mid-30s, health-conscious, and have a stable life by the standards of my peers. However, I acknowledge that there may be advice that hasn't been thoroughly studied by science, and I'm open to being corrected.
I'm not here to convince you to trust me blindly. Please do your own research; I'm just a stranger on the internet. If we were to meet in person, I'd gladly engage in a thorough discussion, answer your questions, inquire about your health and history, and provide advice on the conditions and environment for your psychedelic experience. Follow-up is crucial because psychedelics can deeply impact an individual, and I feel a strong responsibility to promote safe practices.
In areas where I lack expertise, such as women's physiology and perspectives, I defer to books or groups that can provide guidance. Many aspects of mental health in the context of psychedelics remain uncharted territory, and caution and additional precautions should be exercised when dealing with pre-existing mental or physiological conditions.
The casual advice often found at events like raves or on platforms like Reddit can be unreliable and incomplete. Phrases like "Just take a heroic dose!" or "I'm on SSRIs and it's fine!" are not safe guidelines. Psychedelics are powerful tools that demand respect and responsibility.
Ultimately, my original comment was about the positive development of legal and organizational frameworks for spreading best practices. If such initiatives were to occur in my current state, which has not decriminalized or embraced psychedelics as a form of therapy, I would consider making it my full-time job or assisting in running a training facility
This cannot be stressed enough. Ideally anyone using street drugs has a reagent testing kit and knows how to use it but at the very least you should have fentanyl testing strips if you are taking anything that isn’t cannabis or shrooms. Especially if it’s powdered or pressed.
Fentanyl is increasingly being found in drugs it has no business being in. Stay safe!
https://dancesafe.org/product/fentanyl-test-strips-pack-of-1...
Please note that as fentanyl test strips are becoming more popular and regularly used, fentanyl adulterants are starting to be replaced by other powerful synthetic opioids such as Nitazenes which don't react to fentanyl test strips, but require other test strips instead. Prohibition laws against comprehensive quantitative laboratory testing is partially responsible for these synthetic opioid deaths. High quality lab testing for harm reduction should be legal and affordable.
The a woman's cycle effects hormones in major ways that can likely have an effect on a trip. Any man who suggests that it doesn't effect women are not being kind to the differences in hormonal physiology. There really needs to be closer research done on this but until then I just ask female peers to be slightly aware and cautious about their mental states during their cycle.
It is my suggestion that women record in their trip notes additional info such as, what day of their cycle they are on, and if it may or may not have effected their trip preparation, trip, or integration work afterwards.
As a rule of thumb, I advise women who partake in MDMA to extra care due to possible compounding effects during a post MDMA "comedown/withdrawl" and hormonal drop associated with a period. If they emotionally struggle sober during their cycle then it might be a good idea to abstain, take very conservative doses, or wait until their past the their period.
There exists a community called Mom's on Mushrooms that can probably has the largest collection of individuals who can give anecdotal experiences.
There are conditions such as premenstrual dysphoria disorder that psilocybin seems to help with symptoms, but its all anecdotal experimentation and feedback. so who knows
It was also a very clean feeling. I've certainly tried a number of things and always feel either poisoned or sick sometime in the process (usually after). Mushrooms had no such effect on me. It was gradual, controllable, emotional and very beautiful (the setting helped).
It's made me a lot more mindful of my mental state and I'm a lot stronger for it. I've become aware of positive and negative influences, where I'm being worried or too blasé, comfortable or not.
I haven't had mushrooms and I've heard that it really digs out deep things in your mind.
Most of my trips were pretty surface level but that’s probably because there was usually a lot of external stimulation going on (music festivals, concerts, drum circles etc.). I’ve also had good trips just sitting around with friends and listening to music but those were a little more introspective. My bad trip was in a familiar, comfortable setting too but as soon as the trip started I couldn’t escape the bad news I was anticipating and fixated on it the entire time.
My dosage was much too high and while I'm not going to deny any of the benefits, it was a very traumatic experience for me that made me seek therapy. For a while I would have some lingering visual hallucinations (a few months past the incident) when I would close my eyes and it would trigger panic attacks. That's mostly subsided, but I wish people would put a higher emphasis on the mental damage it can do.
As someone with a baseline dopamine deficiency (permanent nihilistic depression-like symptoms), my trips were always “bad trips”, but I used to enjoy them akin to how one might enjoy a horror movie or haunted theme park. I like to think it changed me for the better, but I’m not certain there weren’t lasting negative effects. I was used to darkness, but they magnified it by orders of magnitude… and you can’t “un-see” stuff like that.
Just a word of caution — when planning on trying them for the first time, i suggest making sure the first dose is smaller than the recommended starter dose, and work your way up — you can always take more mushrooms, but you can never un-take them.
And yeah, this time it was a much higher dosage than I had done in the past... like 2-3x. It had been a few years since my last trip and I had forgotten what dosage I was used to. The residual effects from this last one left the impression that the entire thing felt like a nightmare that you just can't shake. Either way, I may revisit in the future, but yeah there's a lot of healing that needs to happen first.
I've also failed more than once to realize how much adrenaline was in my system on beta blockers... until they wore off. That's a harrowing enough effect sober that I approach them and all potential interactions with caution.
In mine, it was because I was in a dark, isolated, cold physical space. In my experience one really heeds to be in a "warm", comforting, bright if you want it, space where you are free to roam and explore safely. It can't be a little box. These are ingredients for a stressful life, so why would they be ingredients for a good trip.
The best thing I've seen that captures this is the trip montage in 21 jump street. On one side the one guy is having the time of his life, the other guy is in hell listening to creed.
They helped me appreciate sanity. Now when I get overwhelmed I smile and say "at least now I can think straight and I am not tortured by a infinity of laughing Homer Simpsons who doesn't go away of my field of vision."
Having the right mindset and believing you know how to ride drug highs without getting overwhelmed is very useful.