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Comment by il | Hacker News Reader

I think everyone should try psychedelics at least once in their life. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it can be a life-changing, very positive experience that will persist long after the effects of the drugs have worn off. It will give you clarity and peace. It's very much the opposite of alcohol- alcohol clouds your mind and dulls your senses, psychedelics enhance your senses and open your mind.

And if you think LSD can have damaging effects, look at Dr. LSD- he lived to be 102, and he took LSD in mammoth doses. The first time he took LSD(when he discovered it), he did not realize how small its active dose is, so he took something like 100x the standard dose(several milligrams). LSD is completely safe physically, it's impossible to overdose or cause brain damage of any sort.

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"or cause brain damage of any sort"

I'm sorry but that's not the case. In high school I ended up emailing David Nichols (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Nichols) to clear up something they mentioned in health class. I couldn't believe it when he replied with a two page sized email to a high school student. I don't have it saved anymore unfortunately, but he said that physically, it is fairly safe, but if you have existing predisposition to mental disorders such as schizophrenia, it can push you over the edge and aggravate it immensely. So while it's physically safe as far as I remember, it has the potential turn predispositions into actual disorders.

The bit about schizophrenia is true. I was referring to physical brain damage, like the "LSD makes holes in your brain" myth.

Well this scratches LSD off the things for me to try. My dad was diagnosed with schizophrenia quite a few years ago, which would mean I'm predisposed to it? Not sure how much genetics play a role into getting schizophrenia.

I agree with most of your comment, though take exception to:

" LSD is completely safe physically, it's impossible to overdose or cause brain damage of any sort."

During my college years, I met a couple of people that were very much affected, in a negative way, by LSD. There are some folks, possibly a minority, that can not handle the affects of psychedelics like LSD or mushrooms. So in not so many words, IMHO, LSD is not 'completely' safe and can indeed be harmful for people who are not mentally capable to handle the intensity of the experience. (I know you stated 'safe physically' and my point skews towards 'mental' safety; though the people I am referencing were physically and mentally disheveled, and to an extent, blamed their 'bad' trip(s).)

Sure, they should/could use smaller doses but the way LSD is distributed makes this very hard.

Hmmm, a sample size of one, eh?

Just an unscientific example. There have been numerous peer-reviewed studies done on the safety of LSD.

"it's impossible to overdose or cause brain damage of any sort."

I really don't think that's true. Excitotoxicity is a distinct possibility. 5-HT2A and 2C agonists enhance glutamatergic currents. Glutamatergia involves calcium cation influx into neurons. Calcium cations promote the release of proteolytic enzymes - and other catabolic enzymes - which damage the cytoskeleton and destroy mitochondria releasing reactive oxygen species into the cytosol.

On bicycle day he took about double the standard dose (250 µg), not 100x. I don't believe there's any documentation of him later taking mammoth or very frequent dosages of LSD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_LSD#Bicycle_Day

It's physically harmless in normal doses or even normal overdoses, but I guarantee that if you inject a couple grams you'll drop dead or at best into a months long catatonic state. It's not realistic, I'm just saying that everything has its lethal dose.

The LD50 is apparently 12mg -- 80-240 times a typical dose.

Still, not bad, considering water is lethal at a smaller multiple of the typical dose :)

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_dose.shtml

toxicity

alcohol: 1:20 nutmeg: 1:8 (deleriant) cannabis: 1:1000+

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