23 ms·

Single dose of psilocybin eased cancer patients' anxiety, depression for years

238 points by neom 7y ago

macawfish 7y ago
I've experienced this firsthand. It reminds you of who you are in a deep, basic way.
- mousadafousa 7y ago
  Can you expand on what you mean by that? What did it mean for you to be more yourself?
  - Raphmedia 7y ago
    Imagine that you are suddenly in a vacuum where social constructs do not exist, that you have no ego and that you feel connected to everything and at peace with the world. Who would that person be? For many people, it would be a new person. It's a simplified explanation, but you get the gist of it.
  - macawfish 7y ago
    I shared some more details in a different reply!
- knowa42 7y ago
  Does it remind you of who you are on a personal level, i.e. core values, aspirations, and what makes you happy? Or does it just remind you of your humanity, thus that you're connected to billions of other people through that alone?
  - travisjungroth 7y ago
    For me, more the latter.
  - asynch8 7y ago
    it can remind you of both, but mainly the first. I've read that during the peak of tripping LSD(assuming that something similar happens with mushrooms) your neurons and their patterns weaken, before being 'restarted' and forming even stronger bonds than before.
  - ericmcer 7y ago
    Lower doses are more about the former, lots of introspection and viewing my life from an altered state. Higher doses are all about the latter, a lot more ego death and huge weighty difficult to describe type emotions.
- kinleyd 7y ago
  i have experienced both depression and anxiety at different times in my life, and have just learned about psilocybin a few weeks ago. Though I've found my own peace (mostly) nearly two decades ago, I'm still determined to get to the bottom of this psilocybin thing!
- macawfish 7y ago
  I need to be open here that I originally misread the title and missed the "cancer patient" part! I just had a single dose of psilocybin way back when and it calmed me for years. I have not been a cancer patient. That said, a lot of my depression and anxiety was rooted in losing my father to cancer at the age of 10.
  - Bootwizard 7y ago
    What do you mean by "calmed me for years"?
    - macawfish 7y ago
      It gently blew away some basic hangups and insecurities I had about myself, stuff I'd been wrestling with for a while as a young adult. I think I was in my early/mid twenties. Examples: how other people saw me, my image, my superficial appearance, the future, my difficult longing to be loyal (to people, beliefs, institutions) in ways that weren't bringing energy back to my life. It's not like the habits I'd built worrying or caring about those things went away overnight, but they did very rapidly stop having top priority in how I directed my energy. That brought immediate and sustained relief. I was instead reminded of my own capacity to appreciate simple aspects of life, stuff I'd come to take for granted. Suddenly I remembered that I could let go of all that stuff and that there was this whole ground of life under my feet and all around me, that it was there to support me all along. Here are some examples of things that felt profound, that I relearned or maybe even had a chance to learn deeply for the first time ever: - Just being outside in the park with a couple of friends gave me so much peace and joy. We sat and found pleasure in the most basic stuff. We giggled. We had our minds blown. - Woah... look at those ducks, they live in this park. This is where they live. - Trees are alive, breathing, and likely aware of us on some level or another. Their bark seemed like an elephant's skin to me. Life is everywhere. - The sun and earth are locked together. It's up there all the time, just buzzing, and its energy is amazing and abundant. Like holy shit it's powerful can you believe that thing is up there? Don't look at it! - Check out that man jogging. He's just pulsing with life and vitality. I want to jog! It looks so satisfying and quenching to be alive like that! - Everyone has their own reality. My reality is different from your reality and that's just fine! If someone tries to come at you with their reality, that's fine, it's their reality! I have my own reality and you have yours. - People are deeply remarkable. - I can make some pretty nice rhythms with just a rock and a wooden back-scratcher. I can pretend that the rock is my friend. That's fine to do and it's fun. I can refer to it as "my friend, the rock!" and introduce it to my human friends, and this will be plenty of fun and is perfectly acceptable. No shame, just a little silliness that's all. - At this time I'd made a habit of looking at my face in the mirror to check on different blemishes or see how I "looked". After my little mushroom journey, I remember looking at myself in the mirror and seeing through all my scars of age and my blemishes, looking into my own eyes and seeing myself, a living being with emotions and spirit and needs and vitality. It felt so good to just acknowledge my own basic being on a simple level. Maybe this moment could serve as a metaphor for the rest of the experience. I didn't have any "negative" experiences except for one moment where I saw that there was some stuff inside of me that felt pretty shadowy, stuff that I could get stuck in if I focused on it. I decided not to focus on it and that was that. But my intuition is that if I ever did eat mushrooms again and did have a "bad trip", it would most likely feel something like an intense grieving, realizing and processing difficult stuff I've accumulated over the course of my life and remembering who and what I care about.
Ansil849 7y ago
The recent documentary Fantastic Fungi [1] covers psilocybin patients as well (alongside other fun fungi facts), worth a watch, IMHO. [1] https://fantasticfungi.com/ https://fantasticfungi.com/
rhcom2 7y ago
The doses: - low dose (1 or 3 mg/70 kg) vs. a high dose (22 or 30 mg/70 kg) Also they excluded people using benzodiazepines, SSRIs and MAOIs. I've taken mushrooms while on SSRIs and the trip is usually severely dampened.
- matthewcford 7y ago
  So was it a high dose they were given? and is that pure psilocybin?
  - matthewcford 7y ago
    > dose of synthetic psilocybin
- bloopernova 7y ago
  > excluded ... SSRIs Well, crap. I imagine it will be a few more years yet before I'm able to take a tiny dose. I'm a week in to taking Lexapro on top of Cymbalta, which I've been taking for over a year, and I'm hoping I can get some good results. Or at least even things out enough that I can tackle things enough to feel a little better and less anxiety.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - rhcom2 7y ago
    In my experience the hallucinogenic effects are diminished but for me at least I still get a nice feeling of calm and well being. Usually the visuals are limited to a "shimmery" effect on clouds and trees, sometimes with some color but very mellow. This is not medical advice. There are cases of serotonin syndrome from the combination of SSRIs and mushrooms. Use caution.
    - bloopernova 7y ago
      Thank you. Especially for mentioning serotonin syndrome. I've had supposed pain specialist doctors give me a half-dozen serotonin-affecting drugs, and then get aggrieved and hurt when I ask about serotonin syndrome. I've had something approaching it one night, and it was a terrible experience that I never, ever want to repeat.
orasis 7y ago
If interested in this topic, read “How to Change Your Mind” by Michael Pollan.
- martythemaniak 7y ago
  Or the classic Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley. More of a long essay and available free! https://maps.org/images/pdf/books/HuxleyA1954TheDoorsOfPerception.pdf https://maps.org/images/pdf/books/HuxleyA1954TheDoorsOfPerce...
  - pmoriarty 7y ago
    Also see Huxley's Island[1], his model of a utopia, where psychedelics are used for initiation. Huxley himself considered it his greatest work. [1] - https://doorofperception.com/wp-content/uploads/Aldous_Huxley-Island.pdf https://doorofperception.com/wp-content/uploads/Aldous_Huxle...
- chiefgeek 7y ago
  An incredible book. Changed my life.
umc0der 7y ago
is there a way to invest in psilocybin?
- agilebyte 7y ago
  If you are an accredited investor you could follow companies like Orthogonal - https://www.orthogonalthinker.com https://www.orthogonalthinker.com It doesn't seem like you can easily invest right now.
  - kf 7y ago
    Sounds like you have to invest in their entire portfolio to get exposure to their nascent psilocybin research.
- fourstar 7y ago
  Ah. Here we go. The tech vultures wanting to get their hands on everything and commercialize it.
  - umc0der 7y ago
    Or, framing it in another light, maybe they want to support something they have tried and believe in.
  - gimmeasandwich 7y ago
    You know you're on ycombinator, right? It seems perfectly natural to want to commercialize something people want.
    - fourstar 7y ago
      Sure maybe today’s HN. Not the one I joined 12 years ago. When there were actual hackers.
      - nicehat 7y ago
        Careful there. Comments like this are off-topic, political, overly meta and ungood. Please review our comment guidelines and refrain from ever pointing out HN flaws / changes, or we'll have to shadow-ban you without any accountability.
supernintendo 7y ago
It really is a miracle drug when taken in microdoses (and a complete mind fuck in larger doses) but be careful. If you have any trauma in your past that you’ve pushed down to be dealt with later, psilocybin will dig all of that right back to the surface. I love it.
- thrwaway69 7y ago
  I wonder where/how you can get it. Are there any medical tests going on that you can participate in?
  - mgamache 7y ago
    in the US it's still schedule 1 https://www.vox.com/2014/9/25/6842187/drug-schedule-list-marijuana https://www.vox.com/2014/9/25/6842187/drug-schedule-list-mar... So it's difficult to get even for legit research. The most reliable way for HN readers (in the US) is probably illegal via the darknet. (Tails OS + TOR)
  - damnyou 7y ago
    Most people don't get it through medical studies, of course — they get it through the dark web, knowing the right people, or less commonly by growing their own. Psilocybin is genuinely fantastic, one of the greatest gifts of nature to humanity.
    - thrwaway69 7y ago
      http://www.growmagicmushroom.com/2013/08/how-to-grow-magic-mushrooms-basics-for.html?m=1 http://www.growmagicmushroom.com/2013/08/how-to-grow-magic-m... This seems pretty simplified but I wonder if someone should try to grow their own. I am curious about other hallucinogens that are easy to produce or good if legally available. jfi, I live in india.
      - dgb23 7y ago
        You can grow your own and many people do. In fact I would guess that most people grow them or get them from acquaintances who do. But I would very much recommend that anyone who tries this is very well informed on the subject at least. It is a process which requires care, high degree of hygiene and experience so the product doesn't get contaminated. At best one would not only inform themselves rigorously but also consult an experienced grower during and after the process.
Numberwang 7y ago
How do you guys all seem to have these experiences? I'm in Europe and would not have a clue how to test this.
dukha 7y ago
That's not so surprising, given, that psilocybin dissolves ego almost completely even at standard recreational dosage. We usually associate ourselves with ego and death is tightly linked with losing of ourselves. But after you experience ego death once, you quickly realize that you're no longer afraid of death because there are no one who dies.
- galangalalgol 7y ago
  What are the legalities surrounding it? TX of all places has legalized thc free hemp agriculture. Shrooms seem to be the next wave of legalization an in some ways it seems like it is already partly legal. Spores at least are legal.
  - tinus_hn 7y ago
    How is the legalization of a plant that explicitly cannot be used as a recreational drug related to the legalization of a mushroom which can be?
    - galangalalgol 7y ago
      The cbd from hemp is used medicinally as are these shrooms. The recreational use is a complicating factor, but medicinal thc use paved the way fo recreational legality as well. Seeing a state as conservative as TX taking even a tiny step in that direction is surprising. I'm not sure how I feel about it all. Alcohol use is up, THC legalized, nictone use is down. We are legalizing and using soma, things that make us lazy, content and compliant. Shrooms may or may not fall into that category. It might make people "woke".
  - Pete_D 7y ago
    > Shrooms seem to be the next wave of legalization an in some ways it seems like it is already partly legal. Weirdly, fresh shrooms were legal in the UK right up to 2005, when they were put in the same category as heroin and cocaine. I remember walking past shops openly advertising them. (Peyote cactuses too, which according to Wikipedia are still legal.)
uptownfunk 7y ago
Incredible medicinal substance from nature. Not for everyone, like all medicines, but for those who it is suitable for, what a game changer. Have had some of the most profound life changing realizations of my life while on psilocybin.
outime 7y ago
For those suffering from similar problems and want to stay legal while giving this a try, you can buy fresh truffles in the Netherlands and do it yourself. For the first trip, it’s very recommended that you get a tripsitter. If you want to try microdosing, it’s not necessary although it’s more of a long-term thing so travelling to NL for that might not be very useful. There are other ways to do this obviously. The book by Michael Pollan, already suggested here, is a must read if you want to convince yourself and give it a try. I can also recommend r/microdosing and r/psychonauts.
root_axis 7y ago
I'm not a biologist, but a biologist friend of mine suggested that these results are specious because it is impossible to double-blind test the effects of psychedelic drugs. Does such skepticism have any merit?
- danharaj 7y ago
  There is merit to that skepticism but if effect sizes are large enough then it doesn't matter. You don't need to double blind to figure out the impact of gunshots on cardiovascular health.
- fredophile 7y ago
  We also don't do double blind tests for surgeries. We must have an accepted process for determining if a particular type of surgery is effective for various conditions. Applying the same standard here would make sense.
  - samatman 7y ago
    Although maybe we should. I would love to find this study again, so far, no luck: someone decided to test an 'active placebo' for ACL surgery, of making four incisions in the usual places, but not actually scraping away at the ligament. It was comparably effective as the actual surgery. This left me thinking that stimulating the immune system by causing trauma might be an underutilized medical technique.
- chiefgeek 7y ago
  The results are not specious. MAPS.org has excellent information about the progress of the trials for psilocybin and MDMA. It works and I speak from experience.
- PragmaticPulp 7y ago
  The trial can, and should, be double-blinded. With psychedelics, both the patient and observer know if they've received psychedelics vs. placebo. That's often used an excuse to perform studies without control groups, which is not a valid argument. There must always be a control group. That's one of the main flaws in this study. As for considering the studies specious: Not true. If the active group has considerably improved scores relative to the control group, then it doesn't really matter if they know they received true psychedelic drugs. In fact, some of the downstream effects might be due to psychedelics acting as a sort of super placebo. If someone tells you they're giving you psychedelics to study antidepressant effects and then you spend the next 12 hours tripping, you're going to feel that something profound has happened. Being primed to expect improvements in depression and anxiety combined with the extreme disorientation of a psychedelic might be enough to elicit the antidepressant response.
thinkingemote 7y ago
As a reminder like all medicines and psychotherapy, they really should be done with and through a trained professional than on your own.
Moodles 7y ago
I’ve taken mushrooms quite a few times. Sometimes, it’s just been mild and giggling at colors and nature. Pleasant, but just kind of a fun drug. With a moderate dose, you tend to be introspective and consider your own life and relationships in different ways. There’s usually a lesson at the end. With higher doses, it’s sometimes been just extremely confusing and not at all fun, to the extent that I’d forget my own name or what I’ve taken and basically just all memories. It’s very frustrating to be in that state, constantly trying not to fly away but not able to ground yourself. It’s a little disturbing, but not horrific. I think the reason for this is that I am afraid to lose my ego/die and I would actually benefit from a slightly higher dose to blast it away... With really high doses though, it’s been a truly beautiful, enlightening experience. I still think of it sometimes. It’s very difficult to really explain in words, but it feels like kind of extreme empathy with all life. Buddhists would call it going egoless. I just felt very at peace: we all live, we all die, and it’s all okay. I’m not particularly religious or spiritual at all but that experience really changed me. It feels like life is in all these different forms, and you just happen to be one variation of it, but you could easily be any other living thing, so you just feel love and empathy for all life. And you know it’s finite and you’re not afraid of death. I would still attempt to avoid death, but I was just at peace with it if it was inevitable. Also, when you come back to reality you’re utterly, utterly convinced that you’ve experienced something profound, possibly, despite all your rationality, there’s a message form god inside this mushroom. It’s almost like the mushroom is laughing at you: “good luck going back to your normal life now.” You’re left with “wow? That was that?!” It’s annoying honestly, because I’m not religious at all and I know it sounds crazy to even say that out loud. Of course, that feeling does slowly fade away like a distance dream or memory. A great story it reminds me of is “The Egg” by Andy Weir: http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html
- wyldfire 7y ago
  Hey, that was a good story. Thanks for sharing.
- bambataa 7y ago
  Out of interest, at what kind of dosage did you have the enlightening experience? I've had plenty of introspective experiences, but not much further, at what seemed to me to be fairly high doses.
sedeki 7y ago
For someone with psychological trauma in his/her past, is it worth the risk of messing with one’s head? I’m thinking about something like visiting a resort-like place (recommended here; forgot its name) where they have experienced ”mediators” that help you, and actual doctors.
- chiefgeek 7y ago
  I definitely recommend finding somebody who will at least sit with you, better yet, find a guide. Also, in my experience, therapeutic MDMA was more useful at getting to and releasing past trauma than psilocybin. The guides are all underground in USA due to what were largely racist and fear-based laws that were enacted in the 70s and 80s.
  - tenaciousDaniel 7y ago
    ^ this. MDMA is kind of like a psychedelic, but it's more of an emotional psychedelic. The first time I tried it, I thought "wow this would be an incredible tool for therapy". But with MDMA it's critical to go to a reputable source, do not buy it through an illicit trade (ecstasy). edit: some other advice for MDMA. Do it with someone you trust, preferably someone who has done it before, don't do it in public, and make sure you don't have access to phones or any other means to contact people.
    - chiefgeek 7y ago
      Right. And don't make any life changing decisions for at least six weeks afterward. In fact, in the early 70's, it WAS used successfully as a tool for couples therapy.
- tenaciousDaniel 7y ago
  There are conflicting reports about this. Some people with latent mental illnesses can have them triggered by psychedelics. But there are plenty of people who anecdotally report being able to deal with past trauma through them. It's impossible to predict how you'd react, but it sounds like you're looking in the right direction. Find a safe, professional place, and start small. You definitely don't want to start with a high dosage.
pmoriarty 7y ago
For those of you wanting to pick or grow your own mushrooms, I suggest watching Identifying North American Psilocybin Species by Alan Rockefeller.[1] He's immensely knowledgeable on this subject, and covers some interesting legal issues as well. Also, keep an eye out for upcoming legislation on legalizing psilocybin and/or mushrooms in your local area. Vote and put pressure on your politicians to make this happen, if you believe it should. To have the best, most constructive experience, I'd strongly recommend reading The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide by James Fadiman.[2] No brief summary can do this book or the subject of having a good trip justice, but at the very least be sure to have an experienced person you like and trust sit with you during the entire time you're on the substance, and try to carefully prepare for the experience and don't just do it on a whim at a party or a concert. Though such settings could work out, you will maximize your chance of having a good experience by choosing a safe, quiet space, where you won't be disturbed. Be sure you don't have any other responsibilities for the day of the trip and perhaps the day after as well. Eat lightly the day before and day of the trip. Some people like to fast a bit, though make sure to stay hydrated. Have a clear, specific intention for the trip, and try to take something you've learned from the trip and make it a concrete part of your life afterwards. Depending on what you want to get out of the experience, you might also want to have some pictures of people you care about and maybe a rose to look at near the peak of the trip. There's a lot more to be said about this, and I'd really recommend you read the guide for more. The Secret Chief Revealed, about an underground psychedelic therapist, is another great resource.[3] If it is going to be your first time, make it really special. You'll never have a first time with this substance again, and you really don't want to squander the opportunity. Some people spend a lot of time later in life chasing the magic of that first time, and it's never the same. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL-7u80kjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL-7u80kjs [2] - https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeutic-Journeys/dp/1594774021/ https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeut... [3] - https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Conversations-Underground-Psychedelic/dp/0966001907/ https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Conversations-Undergroun...
- echlebek 7y ago
  If you pick wild mushrooms be careful. A lot of people eat these by mistake and die. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerina_marginata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerina_marginata
prostheticvamp 7y ago
1) this study only had a six month follow up. Where did the headline pull five years’ from? 2) there was no placebo group, just low dose and high dose. The investigators called low dose “placebo like,” which anyone familiar with microdosing knows is bullshit. 3) the study size is still fucking tiny. With less than 30 subjects per arm, you can’t take the central limit theorem for granted. With 566 patients screened and 51 accepted, I’m particularly leery - especially since they offloaded all discussion of their exclusion criteria to a supplement no one ever looks at. 4) They used a crossover study. What this means is, as per their methods: Patient enrolled at week 0. Got low dose (or high dose) at week 4, on average. Got the other dose (high, if the first was low) at week 9. Follow up with outcome measures at week 24. Crossovers are used to amplify your sample size IFF the effect of the drug is expected to be significantly shorter than the time period between administrations. In this case, that’s not true: NO previous research suggests that the mood effects of shrooms last significantly <4 weeks. And they know that, which is why their follow up was at 6 months. In short, this study wasn’t “high dose shrooms show improvement in mood for six months, as shown by comparison to placebo.” It wasn’t even “high dose shrooms show greater improvement in mood at six months than low dose shrooms”. It’s “people that take high dose shrooms and then low dose shrooms show better mood in a few months than people that take low dose shrooms and then high dose shrooms, with statistically invalid tests, and no placebo to show that this wasn’t just baseline improvement because, hey, people do cope over time.” Shit study. Shit shit absolute bullshit. Edit: My bad. I was looking at the original crap study. Not the 5 year follow up of the crap study. Old crap still crap.
- Noos 7y ago
  I noticed this in the study paper too: "Participants who reported use of cannabis or dronabinol were instructed not to use for at least 24 h before sessions." I wonder why there isn't any number of how many people used cannabis during the trial or its effect compared to people who didn't.
- oarabbus_ 7y ago
  >2) there was no placebo group, just low dose and high dose. The investigators called low dose “placebo like,” which anyone familiar with microdosing knows is bullshit. Care to elaborate? Microdoses are supposed to be below the active threshold.
burnJS 7y ago
Side effects may include https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mmamania.com/platform/amp/2012/9/9/3306749/mma-fighter-sentenced-50-years-prison-ripped-friends-heart-out-cooked-it https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mmamania.com/platform/amp/2...
WarOnPrivacy 7y ago
Example #4,990,275 of an effective treatment denied to Americans, because we bizarrely allow a police agency (DEA) to set national medical policy.
- pastor_elm 7y ago
  Are they medically allowed anywhere?
  - tsukurimashou 7y ago
    medically I don't know but in the Netherlands you can buy magic truffles in Smartshops the same way you can buy weed in coffeeshops.
- neonate 7y ago
  Although it's happening slowly, this is clearly in the process of changing.
m3kw9 7y ago
Yep, the worst thing about dying is the process, so this is a pretty big win for those that works
Noos 7y ago
I'm really skeptical of studies like this. There's a lot of motivated reasoning in proving the medical benefits of recreational drugs to aid in legalization; medical marijuana was one such example. And usually in threads like this it's almost always users coming up with glowing conversion stories of how LSD changed their life. I don't like how HN has blind spots like these culturally. Just how Ritalin was used for ADHD in children and the worries of overdiagnosis should really make people skeptical about this, if just to make you think what the side effects or problems were from something that is a useful cure.
- magic_beans 7y ago
  Can you link me to a study that doesn't have a motivated reason for proving something behind it?
oxfordmale 7y ago
There is a clear survivor basis in this study...
the-alchemist 7y ago
Some important details from the source: - "Eighty percent of the patients reported that their symptoms faded, and the effects lasted six months, the 2016 study found. At the time, this long-lasting effect was a landmark finding." - "The new study ... followed up with 15 of those patients nearly 5 years later, and found that up to 80 percent were still experiencing significant improvements in cancer-related depression and anxiety. Nearly all of the participants attributed their positive life changes to the psychedelic-assisted therapy." - "Next, he said, researchers need to conduct studies looking at brain scans taken before and after people are given the psychedelics, and also look for biomarkers that could indicate changes in the body." So this is a follow-up study. Do an experiment, check six months later, and five years later. Incredible, really. Forget the drug: we have scientifically figured out a life-changing procedure for easing cancer patients' anxiety for _years_ with a single dose. And it's super cheap! The article also says they're going deep into the research, scanning brains next. Hopefully we'll see results sooner than another five years. :-P I think the more interesting news is that the government have even allowed such an experiment. Anyone know where this research took place? P.S. NBC's summary doesn't say (anyone have a sci-hub link to the original?) whether (or how) they accounted for the difference in time. i.e., the world was much different than it was five years ago, and people's anxiety changes too.
- hermosabeachbum 7y ago
  Many of the studies are being conducted at NYU and Johns Hopkins. You can find studies at www.maps.org. Disclosure: I am a participant in a double-blind study at NYU that is researching the use of psilocybin for alcohol use disorder. The results (wanting you drink less) have been incredible. Life changing. The team at NYU is amazing. This is not just taking medicine. It is done with therapy, psychiatrists who are present during sessions (“sitters”) and a heavy focus on set, setting and integration.
hemantv 7y ago
My experience after getting really high on cbd is I see two completely infinite worlds. One the universe which is ever expanding and one mind where number of connection make it as big and complex as universe. I never noticed this fact until I was high that all the universe complexity exist in our own mind. It has infinitely many layers.
- stallmanite 7y ago
  That is one heck of an atypical CBD experience! Sounds more like 5-MEO-DMT territory. You’re doing something right man.

238 points by neom 7y ago

macawfish 7y ago

I've experienced this firsthand. It reminds you of who you are in a deep, basic way.

mousadafousa 7y ago
Can you expand on what you mean by that? What did it mean for you to be more yourself?
- Raphmedia 7y ago
  Imagine that you are suddenly in a vacuum where social constructs do not exist, that you have no ego and that you feel connected to everything and at peace with the world. Who would that person be? For many people, it would be a new person. It's a simplified explanation, but you get the gist of it.
- macawfish 7y ago
  I shared some more details in a different reply!
knowa42 7y ago
Does it remind you of who you are on a personal level, i.e. core values, aspirations, and what makes you happy? Or does it just remind you of your humanity, thus that you're connected to billions of other people through that alone?
- travisjungroth 7y ago
  For me, more the latter.
- asynch8 7y ago
  it can remind you of both, but mainly the first. I've read that during the peak of tripping LSD(assuming that something similar happens with mushrooms) your neurons and their patterns weaken, before being 'restarted' and forming even stronger bonds than before.
- ericmcer 7y ago
  Lower doses are more about the former, lots of introspection and viewing my life from an altered state. Higher doses are all about the latter, a lot more ego death and huge weighty difficult to describe type emotions.
kinleyd 7y ago
i have experienced both depression and anxiety at different times in my life, and have just learned about psilocybin a few weeks ago. Though I've found my own peace (mostly) nearly two decades ago, I'm still determined to get to the bottom of this psilocybin thing!
macawfish 7y ago
I need to be open here that I originally misread the title and missed the "cancer patient" part! I just had a single dose of psilocybin way back when and it calmed me for years. I have not been a cancer patient. That said, a lot of my depression and anxiety was rooted in losing my father to cancer at the age of 10.
- Bootwizard 7y ago
  What do you mean by "calmed me for years"?
  - macawfish 7y ago
    It gently blew away some basic hangups and insecurities I had about myself, stuff I'd been wrestling with for a while as a young adult. I think I was in my early/mid twenties. Examples: how other people saw me, my image, my superficial appearance, the future, my difficult longing to be loyal (to people, beliefs, institutions) in ways that weren't bringing energy back to my life. It's not like the habits I'd built worrying or caring about those things went away overnight, but they did very rapidly stop having top priority in how I directed my energy. That brought immediate and sustained relief. I was instead reminded of my own capacity to appreciate simple aspects of life, stuff I'd come to take for granted. Suddenly I remembered that I could let go of all that stuff and that there was this whole ground of life under my feet and all around me, that it was there to support me all along. Here are some examples of things that felt profound, that I relearned or maybe even had a chance to learn deeply for the first time ever: - Just being outside in the park with a couple of friends gave me so much peace and joy. We sat and found pleasure in the most basic stuff. We giggled. We had our minds blown. - Woah... look at those ducks, they live in this park. This is where they live. - Trees are alive, breathing, and likely aware of us on some level or another. Their bark seemed like an elephant's skin to me. Life is everywhere. - The sun and earth are locked together. It's up there all the time, just buzzing, and its energy is amazing and abundant. Like holy shit it's powerful can you believe that thing is up there? Don't look at it! - Check out that man jogging. He's just pulsing with life and vitality. I want to jog! It looks so satisfying and quenching to be alive like that! - Everyone has their own reality. My reality is different from your reality and that's just fine! If someone tries to come at you with their reality, that's fine, it's their reality! I have my own reality and you have yours. - People are deeply remarkable. - I can make some pretty nice rhythms with just a rock and a wooden back-scratcher. I can pretend that the rock is my friend. That's fine to do and it's fun. I can refer to it as "my friend, the rock!" and introduce it to my human friends, and this will be plenty of fun and is perfectly acceptable. No shame, just a little silliness that's all. - At this time I'd made a habit of looking at my face in the mirror to check on different blemishes or see how I "looked". After my little mushroom journey, I remember looking at myself in the mirror and seeing through all my scars of age and my blemishes, looking into my own eyes and seeing myself, a living being with emotions and spirit and needs and vitality. It felt so good to just acknowledge my own basic being on a simple level. Maybe this moment could serve as a metaphor for the rest of the experience. I didn't have any "negative" experiences except for one moment where I saw that there was some stuff inside of me that felt pretty shadowy, stuff that I could get stuck in if I focused on it. I decided not to focus on it and that was that. But my intuition is that if I ever did eat mushrooms again and did have a "bad trip", it would most likely feel something like an intense grieving, realizing and processing difficult stuff I've accumulated over the course of my life and remembering who and what I care about.

Ansil849 7y ago

The recent documentary Fantastic Fungi [1] covers psilocybin patients as well (alongside other fun fungi facts), worth a watch, IMHO. [1] https://fantasticfungi.com/ https://fantasticfungi.com/

rhcom2 7y ago

The doses: - low dose (1 or 3 mg/70 kg) vs. a high dose (22 or 30 mg/70 kg) Also they excluded people using benzodiazepines, SSRIs and MAOIs. I've taken mushrooms while on SSRIs and the trip is usually severely dampened.

matthewcford 7y ago
So was it a high dose they were given? and is that pure psilocybin?
- matthewcford 7y ago
  > dose of synthetic psilocybin
bloopernova 7y ago
> excluded ... SSRIs Well, crap. I imagine it will be a few more years yet before I'm able to take a tiny dose. I'm a week in to taking Lexapro on top of Cymbalta, which I've been taking for over a year, and I'm hoping I can get some good results. Or at least even things out enough that I can tackle things enough to feel a little better and less anxiety.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- rhcom2 7y ago
  In my experience the hallucinogenic effects are diminished but for me at least I still get a nice feeling of calm and well being. Usually the visuals are limited to a "shimmery" effect on clouds and trees, sometimes with some color but very mellow. This is not medical advice. There are cases of serotonin syndrome from the combination of SSRIs and mushrooms. Use caution.
  - bloopernova 7y ago
    Thank you. Especially for mentioning serotonin syndrome. I've had supposed pain specialist doctors give me a half-dozen serotonin-affecting drugs, and then get aggrieved and hurt when I ask about serotonin syndrome. I've had something approaching it one night, and it was a terrible experience that I never, ever want to repeat.

orasis 7y ago

If interested in this topic, read “How to Change Your Mind” by Michael Pollan.

martythemaniak 7y ago
Or the classic Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley. More of a long essay and available free! https://maps.org/images/pdf/books/HuxleyA1954TheDoorsOfPerception.pdf https://maps.org/images/pdf/books/HuxleyA1954TheDoorsOfPerce...
- pmoriarty 7y ago
  Also see Huxley's Island[1], his model of a utopia, where psychedelics are used for initiation. Huxley himself considered it his greatest work. [1] - https://doorofperception.com/wp-content/uploads/Aldous_Huxley-Island.pdf https://doorofperception.com/wp-content/uploads/Aldous_Huxle...
chiefgeek 7y ago
An incredible book. Changed my life.

umc0der 7y ago

is there a way to invest in psilocybin?

agilebyte 7y ago
If you are an accredited investor you could follow companies like Orthogonal - https://www.orthogonalthinker.com https://www.orthogonalthinker.com It doesn't seem like you can easily invest right now.
- kf 7y ago
  Sounds like you have to invest in their entire portfolio to get exposure to their nascent psilocybin research.
fourstar 7y ago
Ah. Here we go. The tech vultures wanting to get their hands on everything and commercialize it.
- umc0der 7y ago
  Or, framing it in another light, maybe they want to support something they have tried and believe in.
- gimmeasandwich 7y ago
  You know you're on ycombinator, right? It seems perfectly natural to want to commercialize something people want.
  - fourstar 7y ago
    Sure maybe today’s HN. Not the one I joined 12 years ago. When there were actual hackers.
    - nicehat 7y ago
      Careful there. Comments like this are off-topic, political, overly meta and ungood. Please review our comment guidelines and refrain from ever pointing out HN flaws / changes, or we'll have to shadow-ban you without any accountability.

supernintendo 7y ago

It really is a miracle drug when taken in microdoses (and a complete mind fuck in larger doses) but be careful. If you have any trauma in your past that you’ve pushed down to be dealt with later, psilocybin will dig all of that right back to the surface. I love it.

thrwaway69 7y ago
I wonder where/how you can get it. Are there any medical tests going on that you can participate in?
- mgamache 7y ago
  in the US it's still schedule 1 https://www.vox.com/2014/9/25/6842187/drug-schedule-list-marijuana https://www.vox.com/2014/9/25/6842187/drug-schedule-list-mar... So it's difficult to get even for legit research. The most reliable way for HN readers (in the US) is probably illegal via the darknet. (Tails OS + TOR)
- damnyou 7y ago
  Most people don't get it through medical studies, of course — they get it through the dark web, knowing the right people, or less commonly by growing their own. Psilocybin is genuinely fantastic, one of the greatest gifts of nature to humanity.
  - thrwaway69 7y ago
    http://www.growmagicmushroom.com/2013/08/how-to-grow-magic-mushrooms-basics-for.html?m=1 http://www.growmagicmushroom.com/2013/08/how-to-grow-magic-m... This seems pretty simplified but I wonder if someone should try to grow their own. I am curious about other hallucinogens that are easy to produce or good if legally available. jfi, I live in india.
    - dgb23 7y ago
      You can grow your own and many people do. In fact I would guess that most people grow them or get them from acquaintances who do. But I would very much recommend that anyone who tries this is very well informed on the subject at least. It is a process which requires care, high degree of hygiene and experience so the product doesn't get contaminated. At best one would not only inform themselves rigorously but also consult an experienced grower during and after the process.

Numberwang 7y ago

How do you guys all seem to have these experiences? I'm in Europe and would not have a clue how to test this.

dukha 7y ago

That's not so surprising, given, that psilocybin dissolves ego almost completely even at standard recreational dosage. We usually associate ourselves with ego and death is tightly linked with losing of ourselves. But after you experience ego death once, you quickly realize that you're no longer afraid of death because there are no one who dies.

galangalalgol 7y ago
What are the legalities surrounding it? TX of all places has legalized thc free hemp agriculture. Shrooms seem to be the next wave of legalization an in some ways it seems like it is already partly legal. Spores at least are legal.
- tinus_hn 7y ago
  How is the legalization of a plant that explicitly cannot be used as a recreational drug related to the legalization of a mushroom which can be?
  - galangalalgol 7y ago
    The cbd from hemp is used medicinally as are these shrooms. The recreational use is a complicating factor, but medicinal thc use paved the way fo recreational legality as well. Seeing a state as conservative as TX taking even a tiny step in that direction is surprising. I'm not sure how I feel about it all. Alcohol use is up, THC legalized, nictone use is down. We are legalizing and using soma, things that make us lazy, content and compliant. Shrooms may or may not fall into that category. It might make people "woke".
- Pete_D 7y ago
  > Shrooms seem to be the next wave of legalization an in some ways it seems like it is already partly legal. Weirdly, fresh shrooms were legal in the UK right up to 2005, when they were put in the same category as heroin and cocaine. I remember walking past shops openly advertising them. (Peyote cactuses too, which according to Wikipedia are still legal.)

uptownfunk 7y ago

Incredible medicinal substance from nature. Not for everyone, like all medicines, but for those who it is suitable for, what a game changer. Have had some of the most profound life changing realizations of my life while on psilocybin.

outime 7y ago

For those suffering from similar problems and want to stay legal while giving this a try, you can buy fresh truffles in the Netherlands and do it yourself. For the first trip, it’s very recommended that you get a tripsitter. If you want to try microdosing, it’s not necessary although it’s more of a long-term thing so travelling to NL for that might not be very useful. There are other ways to do this obviously. The book by Michael Pollan, already suggested here, is a must read if you want to convince yourself and give it a try. I can also recommend r/microdosing and r/psychonauts.

root_axis 7y ago

I'm not a biologist, but a biologist friend of mine suggested that these results are specious because it is impossible to double-blind test the effects of psychedelic drugs. Does such skepticism have any merit?

danharaj 7y ago
There is merit to that skepticism but if effect sizes are large enough then it doesn't matter. You don't need to double blind to figure out the impact of gunshots on cardiovascular health.
fredophile 7y ago
We also don't do double blind tests for surgeries. We must have an accepted process for determining if a particular type of surgery is effective for various conditions. Applying the same standard here would make sense.
- samatman 7y ago
  Although maybe we should. I would love to find this study again, so far, no luck: someone decided to test an 'active placebo' for ACL surgery, of making four incisions in the usual places, but not actually scraping away at the ligament. It was comparably effective as the actual surgery. This left me thinking that stimulating the immune system by causing trauma might be an underutilized medical technique.
chiefgeek 7y ago
The results are not specious. MAPS.org has excellent information about the progress of the trials for psilocybin and MDMA. It works and I speak from experience.
PragmaticPulp 7y ago
The trial can, and should, be double-blinded. With psychedelics, both the patient and observer know if they've received psychedelics vs. placebo. That's often used an excuse to perform studies without control groups, which is not a valid argument. There must always be a control group. That's one of the main flaws in this study. As for considering the studies specious: Not true. If the active group has considerably improved scores relative to the control group, then it doesn't really matter if they know they received true psychedelic drugs. In fact, some of the downstream effects might be due to psychedelics acting as a sort of super placebo. If someone tells you they're giving you psychedelics to study antidepressant effects and then you spend the next 12 hours tripping, you're going to feel that something profound has happened. Being primed to expect improvements in depression and anxiety combined with the extreme disorientation of a psychedelic might be enough to elicit the antidepressant response.

thinkingemote 7y ago

As a reminder like all medicines and psychotherapy, they really should be done with and through a trained professional than on your own.

Moodles 7y ago

I’ve taken mushrooms quite a few times. Sometimes, it’s just been mild and giggling at colors and nature. Pleasant, but just kind of a fun drug. With a moderate dose, you tend to be introspective and consider your own life and relationships in different ways. There’s usually a lesson at the end. With higher doses, it’s sometimes been just extremely confusing and not at all fun, to the extent that I’d forget my own name or what I’ve taken and basically just all memories. It’s very frustrating to be in that state, constantly trying not to fly away but not able to ground yourself. It’s a little disturbing, but not horrific. I think the reason for this is that I am afraid to lose my ego/die and I would actually benefit from a slightly higher dose to blast it away... With really high doses though, it’s been a truly beautiful, enlightening experience. I still think of it sometimes. It’s very difficult to really explain in words, but it feels like kind of extreme empathy with all life. Buddhists would call it going egoless. I just felt very at peace: we all live, we all die, and it’s all okay. I’m not particularly religious or spiritual at all but that experience really changed me. It feels like life is in all these different forms, and you just happen to be one variation of it, but you could easily be any other living thing, so you just feel love and empathy for all life. And you know it’s finite and you’re not afraid of death. I would still attempt to avoid death, but I was just at peace with it if it was inevitable. Also, when you come back to reality you’re utterly, utterly convinced that you’ve experienced something profound, possibly, despite all your rationality, there’s a message form god inside this mushroom. It’s almost like the mushroom is laughing at you: “good luck going back to your normal life now.” You’re left with “wow? That was that?!” It’s annoying honestly, because I’m not religious at all and I know it sounds crazy to even say that out loud. Of course, that feeling does slowly fade away like a distance dream or memory. A great story it reminds me of is “The Egg” by Andy Weir: http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

wyldfire 7y ago
Hey, that was a good story. Thanks for sharing.
bambataa 7y ago
Out of interest, at what kind of dosage did you have the enlightening experience? I've had plenty of introspective experiences, but not much further, at what seemed to me to be fairly high doses.

sedeki 7y ago

For someone with psychological trauma in his/her past, is it worth the risk of messing with one’s head? I’m thinking about something like visiting a resort-like place (recommended here; forgot its name) where they have experienced ”mediators” that help you, and actual doctors.

chiefgeek 7y ago
I definitely recommend finding somebody who will at least sit with you, better yet, find a guide. Also, in my experience, therapeutic MDMA was more useful at getting to and releasing past trauma than psilocybin. The guides are all underground in USA due to what were largely racist and fear-based laws that were enacted in the 70s and 80s.
- tenaciousDaniel 7y ago
  ^ this. MDMA is kind of like a psychedelic, but it's more of an emotional psychedelic. The first time I tried it, I thought "wow this would be an incredible tool for therapy". But with MDMA it's critical to go to a reputable source, do not buy it through an illicit trade (ecstasy). edit: some other advice for MDMA. Do it with someone you trust, preferably someone who has done it before, don't do it in public, and make sure you don't have access to phones or any other means to contact people.
  - chiefgeek 7y ago
    Right. And don't make any life changing decisions for at least six weeks afterward. In fact, in the early 70's, it WAS used successfully as a tool for couples therapy.
tenaciousDaniel 7y ago
There are conflicting reports about this. Some people with latent mental illnesses can have them triggered by psychedelics. But there are plenty of people who anecdotally report being able to deal with past trauma through them. It's impossible to predict how you'd react, but it sounds like you're looking in the right direction. Find a safe, professional place, and start small. You definitely don't want to start with a high dosage.

pmoriarty 7y ago

For those of you wanting to pick or grow your own mushrooms, I suggest watching Identifying North American Psilocybin Species by Alan Rockefeller.[1] He's immensely knowledgeable on this subject, and covers some interesting legal issues as well. Also, keep an eye out for upcoming legislation on legalizing psilocybin and/or mushrooms in your local area. Vote and put pressure on your politicians to make this happen, if you believe it should. To have the best, most constructive experience, I'd strongly recommend reading The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide by James Fadiman.[2] No brief summary can do this book or the subject of having a good trip justice, but at the very least be sure to have an experienced person you like and trust sit with you during the entire time you're on the substance, and try to carefully prepare for the experience and don't just do it on a whim at a party or a concert. Though such settings could work out, you will maximize your chance of having a good experience by choosing a safe, quiet space, where you won't be disturbed. Be sure you don't have any other responsibilities for the day of the trip and perhaps the day after as well. Eat lightly the day before and day of the trip. Some people like to fast a bit, though make sure to stay hydrated. Have a clear, specific intention for the trip, and try to take something you've learned from the trip and make it a concrete part of your life afterwards. Depending on what you want to get out of the experience, you might also want to have some pictures of people you care about and maybe a rose to look at near the peak of the trip. There's a lot more to be said about this, and I'd really recommend you read the guide for more. The Secret Chief Revealed, about an underground psychedelic therapist, is another great resource.[3] If it is going to be your first time, make it really special. You'll never have a first time with this substance again, and you really don't want to squander the opportunity. Some people spend a lot of time later in life chasing the magic of that first time, and it's never the same. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL-7u80kjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL-7u80kjs [2] - https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeutic-Journeys/dp/1594774021/ https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeut... [3] - https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Conversations-Underground-Psychedelic/dp/0966001907/ https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Conversations-Undergroun...

echlebek 7y ago
If you pick wild mushrooms be careful. A lot of people eat these by mistake and die. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerina_marginata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerina_marginata

prostheticvamp 7y ago

1) this study only had a six month follow up. Where did the headline pull five years’ from? 2) there was no placebo group, just low dose and high dose. The investigators called low dose “placebo like,” which anyone familiar with microdosing knows is bullshit. 3) the study size is still fucking tiny. With less than 30 subjects per arm, you can’t take the central limit theorem for granted. With 566 patients screened and 51 accepted, I’m particularly leery - especially since they offloaded all discussion of their exclusion criteria to a supplement no one ever looks at. 4) They used a crossover study. What this means is, as per their methods: Patient enrolled at week 0. Got low dose (or high dose) at week 4, on average. Got the other dose (high, if the first was low) at week 9. Follow up with outcome measures at week 24. Crossovers are used to amplify your sample size IFF the effect of the drug is expected to be significantly shorter than the time period between administrations. In this case, that’s not true: NO previous research suggests that the mood effects of shrooms last significantly <4 weeks. And they know that, which is why their follow up was at 6 months. In short, this study wasn’t “high dose shrooms show improvement in mood for six months, as shown by comparison to placebo.” It wasn’t even “high dose shrooms show greater improvement in mood at six months than low dose shrooms”. It’s “people that take high dose shrooms and then low dose shrooms show better mood in a few months than people that take low dose shrooms and then high dose shrooms, with statistically invalid tests, and no placebo to show that this wasn’t just baseline improvement because, hey, people do cope over time.” Shit study. Shit shit absolute bullshit. Edit: My bad. I was looking at the original crap study. Not the 5 year follow up of the crap study. Old crap still crap.

Noos 7y ago
I noticed this in the study paper too: "Participants who reported use of cannabis or dronabinol were instructed not to use for at least 24 h before sessions." I wonder why there isn't any number of how many people used cannabis during the trial or its effect compared to people who didn't.
oarabbus_ 7y ago
>2) there was no placebo group, just low dose and high dose. The investigators called low dose “placebo like,” which anyone familiar with microdosing knows is bullshit. Care to elaborate? Microdoses are supposed to be below the active threshold.

burnJS 7y ago

Side effects may include https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mmamania.com/platform/amp/2012/9/9/3306749/mma-fighter-sentenced-50-years-prison-ripped-friends-heart-out-cooked-it https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mmamania.com/platform/amp/2...

WarOnPrivacy 7y ago

Example #4,990,275 of an effective treatment denied to Americans, because we bizarrely allow a police agency (DEA) to set national medical policy.

pastor_elm 7y ago
Are they medically allowed anywhere?
- tsukurimashou 7y ago
  medically I don't know but in the Netherlands you can buy magic truffles in Smartshops the same way you can buy weed in coffeeshops.
neonate 7y ago
Although it's happening slowly, this is clearly in the process of changing.

m3kw9 7y ago

Yep, the worst thing about dying is the process, so this is a pretty big win for those that works

Noos 7y ago

I'm really skeptical of studies like this. There's a lot of motivated reasoning in proving the medical benefits of recreational drugs to aid in legalization; medical marijuana was one such example. And usually in threads like this it's almost always users coming up with glowing conversion stories of how LSD changed their life. I don't like how HN has blind spots like these culturally. Just how Ritalin was used for ADHD in children and the worries of overdiagnosis should really make people skeptical about this, if just to make you think what the side effects or problems were from something that is a useful cure.

magic_beans 7y ago
Can you link me to a study that doesn't have a motivated reason for proving something behind it?

oxfordmale 7y ago

There is a clear survivor basis in this study...

the-alchemist 7y ago

Some important details from the source: - "Eighty percent of the patients reported that their symptoms faded, and the effects lasted six months, the 2016 study found. At the time, this long-lasting effect was a landmark finding." - "The new study ... followed up with 15 of those patients nearly 5 years later, and found that up to 80 percent were still experiencing significant improvements in cancer-related depression and anxiety. Nearly all of the participants attributed their positive life changes to the psychedelic-assisted therapy." - "Next, he said, researchers need to conduct studies looking at brain scans taken before and after people are given the psychedelics, and also look for biomarkers that could indicate changes in the body." So this is a follow-up study. Do an experiment, check six months later, and five years later. Incredible, really. Forget the drug: we have scientifically figured out a life-changing procedure for easing cancer patients' anxiety for _years_ with a single dose. And it's super cheap! The article also says they're going deep into the research, scanning brains next. Hopefully we'll see results sooner than another five years. :-P I think the more interesting news is that the government have even allowed such an experiment. Anyone know where this research took place? P.S. NBC's summary doesn't say (anyone have a sci-hub link to the original?) whether (or how) they accounted for the difference in time. i.e., the world was much different than it was five years ago, and people's anxiety changes too.

hermosabeachbum 7y ago
Many of the studies are being conducted at NYU and Johns Hopkins. You can find studies at www.maps.org. Disclosure: I am a participant in a double-blind study at NYU that is researching the use of psilocybin for alcohol use disorder. The results (wanting you drink less) have been incredible. Life changing. The team at NYU is amazing. This is not just taking medicine. It is done with therapy, psychiatrists who are present during sessions (“sitters”) and a heavy focus on set, setting and integration.

hemantv 7y ago

My experience after getting really high on cbd is I see two completely infinite worlds. One the universe which is ever expanding and one mind where number of connection make it as big and complex as universe. I never noticed this fact until I was high that all the universe complexity exist in our own mind. It has infinitely many layers.

stallmanite 7y ago
That is one heck of an atypical CBD experience! Sounds more like 5-MEO-DMT territory. You’re doing something right man.