5 ms·

I wonder if this could be the birth of the legal microdosing industry?

by superplussed 9y ago

myrryr 9y ago
I hope so.
komali2 9y ago
How so? Isn't microdosing done with LSD?
- pantalaimon 9y ago
  The difference of effect of LSD and magic mushrooms is not very large. Classic psychedelics have a lot in common, the differences are mere nuances.
  - orthecreedence 9y ago
    Have you experienced this first hand? For me, mushrooms are either on or off. From what I know about LSD dosage (I haven't taken it) is that it's much more variable.
    - pantalaimon 9y ago
      Do you mean that they either work or don't? I mean the Psilocybin content can vary depending on how the mushroom grew and was stored and deteriorate over time. Whereas with LSD, even when the tabs are weak, there is at least something on there, at least that'd be my explanation. My experiences are several years in the past, so memory is hazy, but LSD always felt 'sharper' with fractal like infinite details on textures and the like. Mushrooms on the other hand felt more 'organic', but the head space was quite similar. I tried microcoding with mushrooms once and I think the effects were similar as to what people are describing with LSD microcoding. However the whole microcoding seems to edge between placebo and real response, almost by definition.
- tree_of_item 9y ago
  Microdosing can be done with any psychedelic. It doesn't do anything since microdosing itself is unscientific, but you can try!
  - pantalaimon 9y ago
    Well it's unscientific because there are no scientific studies as it's illegal. There is also no agreement as to what constitutes microcoding afaik.
    - tree_of_item 9y ago
      There are scientific studies on illegal substances like, say, magic mushrooms. There are no scientific studies on microdosing because...well actually I don't know why, because they could do them if they wanted to.
tree_of_item 9y ago
Microdosing is the homeopathy of psychedelics. Despite being a meme for years now there has been approximately one blind study, and that one done by an amateur, gwern: https://www.gwern.net/LSD-microdosing https://www.gwern.net/LSD-microdosing tl;dr it's bogus. Lots of anecdotal reports of its efficacy though, but again, why don't these amateur recreational users blind their doses? They're prone to placebo otherwise.
- matznerd 9y ago
  Just because there aren't studies on something does not mean it is not true. Science lags, and citizen scientists are left to explore and confer with each other to find what works and what does not. It is ignorant to ignore and belittle the progress in many fields that occurs before it is formally verified.
  - buckminster 9y ago
    A classic research paper illustrating your point: http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459 http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459
    - matznerd 9y ago
      Love this study, thanks for reminding me that there are no randomised controlled trials of people using parachutes when they jump out of planes. I guess everyone should stop using parachutes then...
  - tree_of_item 9y ago
    It's not just the lack of studies, although that doesn't help. Why don't amateur "psychonauts" just do these blind tests themselves? Clearly they have enough product to do it, but they won't. Gwern is pretty much the only one who bothered, and his results were negative. I'm not ignoring and belittling the progress because of the lack of formal verification. I'm belittling it because even amateurs refuse to take the first step towards confirmation of effects.
- 9y ago

I wonder if this could be the birth of the legal microdosing industry?

myrryr 9y ago

I hope so.

komali2 9y ago

How so? Isn't microdosing done with LSD?

pantalaimon 9y ago
The difference of effect of LSD and magic mushrooms is not very large. Classic psychedelics have a lot in common, the differences are mere nuances.
- orthecreedence 9y ago
  Have you experienced this first hand? For me, mushrooms are either on or off. From what I know about LSD dosage (I haven't taken it) is that it's much more variable.
  - pantalaimon 9y ago
    Do you mean that they either work or don't? I mean the Psilocybin content can vary depending on how the mushroom grew and was stored and deteriorate over time. Whereas with LSD, even when the tabs are weak, there is at least something on there, at least that'd be my explanation. My experiences are several years in the past, so memory is hazy, but LSD always felt 'sharper' with fractal like infinite details on textures and the like. Mushrooms on the other hand felt more 'organic', but the head space was quite similar. I tried microcoding with mushrooms once and I think the effects were similar as to what people are describing with LSD microcoding. However the whole microcoding seems to edge between placebo and real response, almost by definition.
tree_of_item 9y ago
Microdosing can be done with any psychedelic. It doesn't do anything since microdosing itself is unscientific, but you can try!
- pantalaimon 9y ago
  Well it's unscientific because there are no scientific studies as it's illegal. There is also no agreement as to what constitutes microcoding afaik.
  - tree_of_item 9y ago
    There are scientific studies on illegal substances like, say, magic mushrooms. There are no scientific studies on microdosing because...well actually I don't know why, because they could do them if they wanted to.

tree_of_item 9y ago

Microdosing is the homeopathy of psychedelics. Despite being a meme for years now there has been approximately one blind study, and that one done by an amateur, gwern: https://www.gwern.net/LSD-microdosing https://www.gwern.net/LSD-microdosing tl;dr it's bogus. Lots of anecdotal reports of its efficacy though, but again, why don't these amateur recreational users blind their doses? They're prone to placebo otherwise.

matznerd 9y ago
Just because there aren't studies on something does not mean it is not true. Science lags, and citizen scientists are left to explore and confer with each other to find what works and what does not. It is ignorant to ignore and belittle the progress in many fields that occurs before it is formally verified.
- buckminster 9y ago
  A classic research paper illustrating your point: http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459 http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459
  - matznerd 9y ago
    Love this study, thanks for reminding me that there are no randomised controlled trials of people using parachutes when they jump out of planes. I guess everyone should stop using parachutes then...
- tree_of_item 9y ago
  It's not just the lack of studies, although that doesn't help. Why don't amateur "psychonauts" just do these blind tests themselves? Clearly they have enough product to do it, but they won't. Gwern is pretty much the only one who bothered, and his results were negative. I'm not ignoring and belittling the progress because of the lack of formal verification. I'm belittling it because even amateurs refuse to take the first step towards confirmation of effects.
9y ago