10 ms·

MDMA Solo (2020) [pdf]

105 points by cstaikos 6y ago

cstaikos 6y ago
Some of the language is a bit intense/combative, especially in the beginning, but I do understand where he's coming from. I've done 5 or 6 solo sessions in the past year since reading this book, sometimes mixing a tab of LSD as well to go a bit deeper. They have all been different but have largely gone as described in the book. I've done a lot of therapy in my life and personal growth is a priority in my life. As a result of these sessions I've overcome some serious challenges that I had previously assumed were static aspects of my personality. It has been challenging to be sure, but much better to deal with things head-on for a short time, than to deal with them low-key forever. Thought the community here would appreciate this given the mild interest/openness to psychedelics. I'd be happy to answer any questions about my experience so far, ask whatever you'd like! [edit: missed a word]
- cj 6y ago
  Im glad to hear it was effective for you. Just curious, what were the static aspects of your personality that it helped with, if you’re willing to go into more detail?
  - cstaikos 6y ago
    Thank you! Here are a few examples - happy to discuss further if you'd like: I would say it a lot of it boils down to being more calm and my "self" in more situations, and less reactive. My relationship with work has improved drastically - I used to be quite afraid to speak in meetings and really tried to hide in a lot of situations, but find myself much more relaxed and even enjoy expressing myself with my colleagues these days. Also with work, I have a much easier time setting boundaries and letting work go when it's time to call it a day. I've found my relationships have deepened significantly as well as I am less guarded and more open to intimacy.
- alecst 6y ago
  I'd love to hear more, but I'm not sure what to ask. I guess I'll ask the easiest thing to ask, but the hardest to answer. How do you feel now compared to how you felt then?
  - cstaikos 6y ago
    Good question! Generally speaking I am more relaxed and calm, more my self! Certainly more hopeful as well, as when new challenges arise (or old ones come to the surface) I know that I have a (so-far) consistent way to dive in and resolve them.
- mrtn_rivera 6y ago
  What aspects of your personality that you considered static changed and in what way? Just curious
  - pas 6y ago
    answered here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25975621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25975621
- throw_this_one 6y ago
  How do you time the cid tab and the M? I've gathered that it's best to drop the L and then the M at about T+3 hours.
  - girvo 6y ago
    That’s what I used to do. +3 to +4 hours
  - cstaikos 6y ago
    Yep I've been doing T+2 hours myself!
umvi 6y ago
I don't use psychedelics and don't ever plan to, but this was still an interesting document to skim through, even if there are undertones of hostility towards "authority"
- loceng 6y ago
  MDMA has a very different profile compared to the majority of psychedelics, marijuana changes perception of reality far more than MDMA. Are you sure it's undertones on authority or on corruption and regulatory capture that conveniently lead, misguided government and its powers to demonize what are turning out to be far more effective treatment options than the patentable medications big pharma promotes?
  - Delk 6y ago
    I didn't read very far (might do so out of curiosity later), but on the early pages the hostility also extended e.g. to therapists, who often aren't even medical practitioners and presumably don't have a direct interest in medication. While therapists are of course also doing business or at the very least earning a living by providing the therapy, and it's thus true they might not be entirely disinterested, they may well have genuine concerns on the psychological and emotional safety of their patients. The combative and even arrogant attitude the early pages show towards well-intentioned professionals is, IMO, unwarranted.
    - cstaikos 6y ago
      Totally agree re: the tone. I think it's unfortunate because many folks will likely not see past it. I think the general message he's trying to get across re: therapists is that even the best intentioned therapist ultimately puts a ceiling on one's personal growth, as the dynamic inherently implies that the client in some way needs the therapist to heal. And that therapists have little incentive to acknowledge this dynamic.
- baby 6y ago
  I advise everyone to try this, at least once. IMO you are missing out on an incredible experience. Taking it with friends is like, next level.
lostgame 6y ago
I do not recommend this. MDMA is a much better experience socially than by your lonesome - from a ton of personal experience. You would be better suited to a solo mushroom or LSD experience, coming from someone who spent her 20s doing such things. YMMV, but just from almost a decade of experience, there are much, much better substances for solo healing experiences. I do not recommend any illegal substances but would not condone the use of MDMA in the appropriate social setting for the purposes of personal healing as I have had positive experiences myself with it. I have also seen people take it way, way too far. Again - YMMV.
- tachyonbeam 6y ago
  I second what you said. Psychedelics, mushrooms specifically, are completely unaddictive, but the same thing isn't true of MDMA. While I do believe that MDMA does have therapeutic benefits, it is amphetamine, a stimulant with strong euphoric properties, which is why it's commonly used as a party drug. It's a very "moreish" drugs, and it's pretty easy to end up on a drug binge that lasts all night, only then to have an uncomfortable comedown and to feel like shit for multiple days afterwards. The people I know who party on MDMA, they basically do it every weekend and can't seem to stop. I used to be like that myself, and it took me a few years to learn moderation. I fell in love with that drug, and it became a problem. Also, while mushrooms can be very introspective, MDMA is very much a prosocial drug, and you are completely missing out on the experience if you do it alone. I would save that drug for parties (in moderate amounts), and for psychotherapy, if you have a therapist that is open to that.
  - monopoledance 6y ago
    > it is amphetamine That's like saying DNA is sugar. But yeah, getting all the oxytocin alone is kinda wasteful. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-019-0569-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-019-0569-3
    - tachyonbeam 6y ago
      The A in MDMA stands for Amphetamine, and if you look at drawings of the molecules, you'll see that MDMA is basically D-Amphetamine with extra stuff attached to it. All amphetamines release dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, just in different ratios. D-Amphetamine is heavier on the dopamine and NE, MDMA is heavier on the serotonin, but it's still a dopamine releaser, which contributes to its addictive qualities. What MDMA does, neurochemically speaking, is not that far from what methamphetamine does. Meth is much more addictive for a number of reasons, including the way people typically consume it (smoking vs oral), but MDMA is no toy.
ruined 6y ago
it's 2021 and hackernews has finally discovered getting high in your room alone
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- dang 6y ago
  "Don't be snarky." "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
aunty_helen 6y ago
Wait until you hear about ayahuasca.
- notretarded 6y ago
  Okay
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- turrini 6y ago
  I've drank Ayahuasca a couple of times and it's a radical life changing, when you experience, temporally, an ego-death.
  - voisin 6y ago
    How long does it last?
    - aunty_helen 6y ago
      Depends on how the shaman has prepared it. First time for me was 8 hours with a couple really intense hours in the middle. Second time was 3 hours but it was peaky. Would recommend if you're looking for a life changing medicine.
  - exikyut 6y ago
    I'm still trying to mentally model the concept of ego death. I get the impression this is possibly one of the most "hahahaha where do I even start" subjects in terms of theory vs experience, but still, I'm curious to see if there's a not horribly inaccurate way I can reason about it.
99_00 6y ago
How do I cash in on the psychedelics trend? I don't believe in the trend at all. But you won't believe the bubble Canada had in marijuana stocks before legalization. I totally missed it. But would love to cash in on this thread which I see as inevitable. Intevitable because, based solely on my feelings and no hard facts, social trends make it inevitable. Both Business, and cultural trends support it. Political trends aren't opposing it. Greed and trendiness. What more do you need?
- loceng 6y ago
  It's already happening - https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/23/peter-thiel-backs-psychedelics-startup-atai.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/23/peter-thiel-backs-psychedeli...
- baby 6y ago
  Mdma is not a psychedelic. Have you tried it?
  - 99_00 6y ago
    No. Is there any movement to legalize it?
    - baby 6y ago
      No idea, but I'd advise you to try it.
      - 99_00 6y ago
        I don't have a trusted source so there is no point in me even considering to try it.
        baby 6y ago
        The dark market is pretty effective I find
heyflyguy 6y ago
It's hard to read this as an anon, with experiences I would like to share but can't. This path, while non-standard, can fix things in you that are non-standard. I do respect opinions that say that going it alone is not ideal, however; I think going it somewhat alone with a trusted person you can talk through issues with is incredible. It can fix (literally in hours) what has been broken for decades. I easily could have wound up working a job with my first name on my shirt for the rest of my life, assuming I was incapable of greater things. Instead I had a random year traveling the world with a motley bunch that changed my life and my own perception of sanity. If you are opposed to such things, stay clear and take the regular route. If you are willing to take a chance; the road less traveled - you may just change your entire future trajectory. I wish now I could do it again, but life and time just gets in the way.
- exikyut 6y ago
  I am benignly very curious about what you would like to share but can't. Not in the "why not?!" combative sense, but rather because that aspect sounds like an interesting story in and of itself. Well, the parts that can be shared anyway :) The tidbits you've dropped do produce a lot of curiosity about the rest of the story too.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
f430 6y ago
Interesting fact about Psilocybe mushrooms: You can "program" it to be any drug you want. When you begin to feel the onset, gently ask for it to be like MDMA (or any drug you want), its effect was shockingly similar. Never ask Psilocybe mushroom what it is because I often have terrible trips. It's simply out of this world literally. “I’ve mentioned that psilocin, which is what psilocybin quickly becomes as it enters your metabolism, is 4 hydroxy dimethyltryptamine. It is the only 4-substituted indole in all of organic nature. Let this rattle around in your mind for a moment. It is the only 4-substituted indole known to exist on earth. It happens to be this psychedelic substance that occurs in about eighty species of fungi, most of which are native to the New World. Psilocybin has a unique chemical signature that says, “I am artificial; I come from outside.”
- exikyut 6y ago
  You'd likely need to have already experienced the drug in question in order for this to work, right? This is kinda interesting. It almost sounds to me like brain plasticity on overdrive, where you can basically dictate the interpretative model your brain uses to create reference points for what it's going through. It also suggests that there are additional subconscious layers beyond what drugs temporarily make consciously accessible, which this particular compound is activating and causing to behave in a way that filters an experience down that matches a certain set of experiential memories. Also makes sense why removing all the filters and going straight for "let's see what this thing really is" produces uncomfortableness - the distorted mess that comes out of a set of overdriven speakers is painful, semantically meaningless, and entropic to the point of having no discernible pattern.
  - f430 6y ago
    I really like your explanation. It's certainly not the case that psilocyn suddenly transforms into new chemical compounds at will, it almost certainly happens through perception and most likely experience is needed. > You'd likely need to have already experienced the drug in question in order for this to work, right? I am genuinely curious about this. It should be but I wonder if somebody who has never smoked a joint in their life would be comfortable with the idea of ingesting it to test this out. Most people seem to have horrible first trips because they are probably worried about going crazy so they do it in the comfort of their rooms which almost always triggers existential panic. I just happened to take it on a commute and walking to work, seeing nature, oh my, it was serenity, I felt like it was repairing my soul. Looking to repeat this I took it in my room alone; big mistake, the trip was quite disturbing but perhaps because my own life experiences were disturbing and I was only waking up to it. Thinking back, taking mushrooms alone in your room has consistently led to horrible trips but compensated by an overwhelming sense of healing and long lasting anti-depressant effect. Perhaps it is the ego which is actively trying to resist the Psilocyn Programming. Ego death literally feels like you are dying but on the other side is the realization, it is completely an illusion!
runlevel1 6y ago
> The Castalia Foundation disputes the theory that serotonin availability is a core determinant of mood in humans. Much is still not understood about serotonin, but this is ridiculous. This appears to be pseudoscience of the same variety as anti-vax literature and rumors of 5G causing COVID. EDIT: To clarify: I'm not disputing that MDMA could have legitimate therapeutic uses, but this is not a credible source.
- cstaikos 6y ago
  I agree that the language at times is a bit intense and I find that unfortunate as it takes away from the actual message. I would encourage you to read a bit further and see past that to the actual protocol!
- dang 6y ago
  Please don't respond to bad information (or information you feel is bad) by calling names. That's against the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, and it doesn't us learn. A better alternative would be to share some good information, or failing that, to just let the internet be wrong, which statistically speaking it already is about everything anyhow.
hn_asker 6y ago
The anti-authoritarian tone is typical with this subject matter during the Nixon era. The manual ultimately advocates for self-reliance. It uses MDMA as a tool. The current model for healing is still one of dependency in our society. I wonder if this model has done more bad than good. Most of the people we are supposed to trust don't really have the ethical responsibility needed to do their job if they're just looking out for themselves.
elipsey 6y ago
How is anyone able to be confident that they have found genuine MDMA in this age of global synthesis and export of other cheap and dangerous analogues?
- mettamage 6y ago
  In Amsterdam, you can test it for free. It's strictly speaking illegal, but in practice, the government doesn't prosecute these things as they try to attack it from the supply side and try to protect the consumer side. So you buy some MDMA, take a bit from it, bring it to the lab, get it test for free, and presto! The only risk is financial risk. Disclaimer: I've never done it, I've only see some (probably state-sponsored) videos on it.
- cstaikos 6y ago
  There are services that accept small samples by mail (from anywhere) which they then test for a small fee and email you results. You can also buy reagent test kits online, though they are a bit less accurate than what the testing services use. There are also very simple methods for "washing" what you buy to increase purity and thus dose more accurately + reduce side effects.
- digianarchist 6y ago
  MDMA can be reagent tested. Still this is the game we play when these substances are illegal.
- girvo 6y ago
  MDMA is so cheap to manufacture anyway, and analogs that are cheaper are usually massively qualitatively different (of course if you’ve not experienced MDMA yourself before that doesn’t help much) — but it’s also easier than ever to send off some of your sample to be tested in a lab if you’re concerned. A benefit of that global market, too!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
cheezeburger 6y ago
Of interest to this thread ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICj8p5jPd3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICj8p5jPd3Y Matthew Johnson: Psychedelics | Lex Fridman Podcast #145 Matthew W. Johnson is a professor and psychedelics researcher at Johns Hopkins.
cstaikos 6y ago
There is a subreddit for this also: https://www.reddit.com/r/MDMAsolo https://www.reddit.com/r/MDMAsolo
orasis 6y ago
There is a lot of paranoid shit in this writing. MDMA is a beautiful tool, but ask yourself: do you want to follow where this person is leading?

105 points by cstaikos 6y ago

Some of the language is a bit intense/combative, especially in the beginning, but I do understand where he's coming from. I've done 5 or 6 solo sessions in the past year since reading this book, sometimes mixing a tab of LSD as well to go a bit deeper. They have all been different but have largely gone as described in the book. I've done a lot of therapy in my life and personal growth is a priority in my life. As a result of these sessions I've overcome some serious challenges that I had previously assumed were static aspects of my personality. It has been challenging to be sure, but much better to deal with things head-on for a short time, than to deal with them low-key forever. Thought the community here would appreciate this given the mild interest/openness to psychedelics. I'd be happy to answer any questions about my experience so far, ask whatever you'd like! [edit: missed a word]

cj 6y ago
Im glad to hear it was effective for you. Just curious, what were the static aspects of your personality that it helped with, if you’re willing to go into more detail?
- cstaikos 6y ago
  Thank you! Here are a few examples - happy to discuss further if you'd like: I would say it a lot of it boils down to being more calm and my "self" in more situations, and less reactive. My relationship with work has improved drastically - I used to be quite afraid to speak in meetings and really tried to hide in a lot of situations, but find myself much more relaxed and even enjoy expressing myself with my colleagues these days. Also with work, I have a much easier time setting boundaries and letting work go when it's time to call it a day. I've found my relationships have deepened significantly as well as I am less guarded and more open to intimacy.
alecst 6y ago
I'd love to hear more, but I'm not sure what to ask. I guess I'll ask the easiest thing to ask, but the hardest to answer. How do you feel now compared to how you felt then?
- cstaikos 6y ago
  Good question! Generally speaking I am more relaxed and calm, more my self! Certainly more hopeful as well, as when new challenges arise (or old ones come to the surface) I know that I have a (so-far) consistent way to dive in and resolve them.
mrtn_rivera 6y ago
What aspects of your personality that you considered static changed and in what way? Just curious
- pas 6y ago
  answered here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25975621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25975621
throw_this_one 6y ago
How do you time the cid tab and the M? I've gathered that it's best to drop the L and then the M at about T+3 hours.
- girvo 6y ago
  That’s what I used to do. +3 to +4 hours
- cstaikos 6y ago
  Yep I've been doing T+2 hours myself!

umvi 6y ago

I don't use psychedelics and don't ever plan to, but this was still an interesting document to skim through, even if there are undertones of hostility towards "authority"

loceng 6y ago
MDMA has a very different profile compared to the majority of psychedelics, marijuana changes perception of reality far more than MDMA. Are you sure it's undertones on authority or on corruption and regulatory capture that conveniently lead, misguided government and its powers to demonize what are turning out to be far more effective treatment options than the patentable medications big pharma promotes?
- Delk 6y ago
  I didn't read very far (might do so out of curiosity later), but on the early pages the hostility also extended e.g. to therapists, who often aren't even medical practitioners and presumably don't have a direct interest in medication. While therapists are of course also doing business or at the very least earning a living by providing the therapy, and it's thus true they might not be entirely disinterested, they may well have genuine concerns on the psychological and emotional safety of their patients. The combative and even arrogant attitude the early pages show towards well-intentioned professionals is, IMO, unwarranted.
  - cstaikos 6y ago
    Totally agree re: the tone. I think it's unfortunate because many folks will likely not see past it. I think the general message he's trying to get across re: therapists is that even the best intentioned therapist ultimately puts a ceiling on one's personal growth, as the dynamic inherently implies that the client in some way needs the therapist to heal. And that therapists have little incentive to acknowledge this dynamic.
baby 6y ago
I advise everyone to try this, at least once. IMO you are missing out on an incredible experience. Taking it with friends is like, next level.

lostgame 6y ago

I do not recommend this. MDMA is a much better experience socially than by your lonesome - from a ton of personal experience. You would be better suited to a solo mushroom or LSD experience, coming from someone who spent her 20s doing such things. YMMV, but just from almost a decade of experience, there are much, much better substances for solo healing experiences. I do not recommend any illegal substances but would not condone the use of MDMA in the appropriate social setting for the purposes of personal healing as I have had positive experiences myself with it. I have also seen people take it way, way too far. Again - YMMV.

tachyonbeam 6y ago
I second what you said. Psychedelics, mushrooms specifically, are completely unaddictive, but the same thing isn't true of MDMA. While I do believe that MDMA does have therapeutic benefits, it is amphetamine, a stimulant with strong euphoric properties, which is why it's commonly used as a party drug. It's a very "moreish" drugs, and it's pretty easy to end up on a drug binge that lasts all night, only then to have an uncomfortable comedown and to feel like shit for multiple days afterwards. The people I know who party on MDMA, they basically do it every weekend and can't seem to stop. I used to be like that myself, and it took me a few years to learn moderation. I fell in love with that drug, and it became a problem. Also, while mushrooms can be very introspective, MDMA is very much a prosocial drug, and you are completely missing out on the experience if you do it alone. I would save that drug for parties (in moderate amounts), and for psychotherapy, if you have a therapist that is open to that.
- monopoledance 6y ago
  > it is amphetamine That's like saying DNA is sugar. But yeah, getting all the oxytocin alone is kinda wasteful. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-019-0569-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-019-0569-3
  - tachyonbeam 6y ago
    The A in MDMA stands for Amphetamine, and if you look at drawings of the molecules, you'll see that MDMA is basically D-Amphetamine with extra stuff attached to it. All amphetamines release dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, just in different ratios. D-Amphetamine is heavier on the dopamine and NE, MDMA is heavier on the serotonin, but it's still a dopamine releaser, which contributes to its addictive qualities. What MDMA does, neurochemically speaking, is not that far from what methamphetamine does. Meth is much more addictive for a number of reasons, including the way people typically consume it (smoking vs oral), but MDMA is no toy.

ruined 6y ago

it's 2021 and hackernews has finally discovered getting high in your room alone

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
dang 6y ago
"Don't be snarky." "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

aunty_helen 6y ago

Wait until you hear about ayahuasca.

notretarded 6y ago
Okay
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
turrini 6y ago
I've drank Ayahuasca a couple of times and it's a radical life changing, when you experience, temporally, an ego-death.
- voisin 6y ago
  How long does it last?
  - aunty_helen 6y ago
    Depends on how the shaman has prepared it. First time for me was 8 hours with a couple really intense hours in the middle. Second time was 3 hours but it was peaky. Would recommend if you're looking for a life changing medicine.
- exikyut 6y ago
  I'm still trying to mentally model the concept of ego death. I get the impression this is possibly one of the most "hahahaha where do I even start" subjects in terms of theory vs experience, but still, I'm curious to see if there's a not horribly inaccurate way I can reason about it.

99_00 6y ago

How do I cash in on the psychedelics trend? I don't believe in the trend at all. But you won't believe the bubble Canada had in marijuana stocks before legalization. I totally missed it. But would love to cash in on this thread which I see as inevitable. Intevitable because, based solely on my feelings and no hard facts, social trends make it inevitable. Both Business, and cultural trends support it. Political trends aren't opposing it. Greed and trendiness. What more do you need?

loceng 6y ago
It's already happening - https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/23/peter-thiel-backs-psychedelics-startup-atai.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/23/peter-thiel-backs-psychedeli...
baby 6y ago
Mdma is not a psychedelic. Have you tried it?
- 99_00 6y ago
  No. Is there any movement to legalize it?
  - baby 6y ago
    No idea, but I'd advise you to try it.
    - 99_00 6y ago
      I don't have a trusted source so there is no point in me even considering to try it.
      - baby 6y ago
        The dark market is pretty effective I find

heyflyguy 6y ago

It's hard to read this as an anon, with experiences I would like to share but can't. This path, while non-standard, can fix things in you that are non-standard. I do respect opinions that say that going it alone is not ideal, however; I think going it somewhat alone with a trusted person you can talk through issues with is incredible. It can fix (literally in hours) what has been broken for decades. I easily could have wound up working a job with my first name on my shirt for the rest of my life, assuming I was incapable of greater things. Instead I had a random year traveling the world with a motley bunch that changed my life and my own perception of sanity. If you are opposed to such things, stay clear and take the regular route. If you are willing to take a chance; the road less traveled - you may just change your entire future trajectory. I wish now I could do it again, but life and time just gets in the way.

exikyut 6y ago
I am benignly very curious about what you would like to share but can't. Not in the "why not?!" combative sense, but rather because that aspect sounds like an interesting story in and of itself. Well, the parts that can be shared anyway :) The tidbits you've dropped do produce a lot of curiosity about the rest of the story too.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

f430 6y ago

Interesting fact about Psilocybe mushrooms: You can "program" it to be any drug you want. When you begin to feel the onset, gently ask for it to be like MDMA (or any drug you want), its effect was shockingly similar. Never ask Psilocybe mushroom what it is because I often have terrible trips. It's simply out of this world literally. “I’ve mentioned that psilocin, which is what psilocybin quickly becomes as it enters your metabolism, is 4 hydroxy dimethyltryptamine. It is the only 4-substituted indole in all of organic nature. Let this rattle around in your mind for a moment. It is the only 4-substituted indole known to exist on earth. It happens to be this psychedelic substance that occurs in about eighty species of fungi, most of which are native to the New World. Psilocybin has a unique chemical signature that says, “I am artificial; I come from outside.”

exikyut 6y ago
You'd likely need to have already experienced the drug in question in order for this to work, right? This is kinda interesting. It almost sounds to me like brain plasticity on overdrive, where you can basically dictate the interpretative model your brain uses to create reference points for what it's going through. It also suggests that there are additional subconscious layers beyond what drugs temporarily make consciously accessible, which this particular compound is activating and causing to behave in a way that filters an experience down that matches a certain set of experiential memories. Also makes sense why removing all the filters and going straight for "let's see what this thing really is" produces uncomfortableness - the distorted mess that comes out of a set of overdriven speakers is painful, semantically meaningless, and entropic to the point of having no discernible pattern.
- f430 6y ago
  I really like your explanation. It's certainly not the case that psilocyn suddenly transforms into new chemical compounds at will, it almost certainly happens through perception and most likely experience is needed. > You'd likely need to have already experienced the drug in question in order for this to work, right? I am genuinely curious about this. It should be but I wonder if somebody who has never smoked a joint in their life would be comfortable with the idea of ingesting it to test this out. Most people seem to have horrible first trips because they are probably worried about going crazy so they do it in the comfort of their rooms which almost always triggers existential panic. I just happened to take it on a commute and walking to work, seeing nature, oh my, it was serenity, I felt like it was repairing my soul. Looking to repeat this I took it in my room alone; big mistake, the trip was quite disturbing but perhaps because my own life experiences were disturbing and I was only waking up to it. Thinking back, taking mushrooms alone in your room has consistently led to horrible trips but compensated by an overwhelming sense of healing and long lasting anti-depressant effect. Perhaps it is the ego which is actively trying to resist the Psilocyn Programming. Ego death literally feels like you are dying but on the other side is the realization, it is completely an illusion!

runlevel1 6y ago

> The Castalia Foundation disputes the theory that serotonin availability is a core determinant of mood in humans. Much is still not understood about serotonin, but this is ridiculous. This appears to be pseudoscience of the same variety as anti-vax literature and rumors of 5G causing COVID. EDIT: To clarify: I'm not disputing that MDMA could have legitimate therapeutic uses, but this is not a credible source.

cstaikos 6y ago
I agree that the language at times is a bit intense and I find that unfortunate as it takes away from the actual message. I would encourage you to read a bit further and see past that to the actual protocol!
dang 6y ago
Please don't respond to bad information (or information you feel is bad) by calling names. That's against the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, and it doesn't us learn. A better alternative would be to share some good information, or failing that, to just let the internet be wrong, which statistically speaking it already is about everything anyhow.

hn_asker 6y ago

The anti-authoritarian tone is typical with this subject matter during the Nixon era. The manual ultimately advocates for self-reliance. It uses MDMA as a tool. The current model for healing is still one of dependency in our society. I wonder if this model has done more bad than good. Most of the people we are supposed to trust don't really have the ethical responsibility needed to do their job if they're just looking out for themselves.

elipsey 6y ago

How is anyone able to be confident that they have found genuine MDMA in this age of global synthesis and export of other cheap and dangerous analogues?

mettamage 6y ago
In Amsterdam, you can test it for free. It's strictly speaking illegal, but in practice, the government doesn't prosecute these things as they try to attack it from the supply side and try to protect the consumer side. So you buy some MDMA, take a bit from it, bring it to the lab, get it test for free, and presto! The only risk is financial risk. Disclaimer: I've never done it, I've only see some (probably state-sponsored) videos on it.
cstaikos 6y ago
There are services that accept small samples by mail (from anywhere) which they then test for a small fee and email you results. You can also buy reagent test kits online, though they are a bit less accurate than what the testing services use. There are also very simple methods for "washing" what you buy to increase purity and thus dose more accurately + reduce side effects.
digianarchist 6y ago
MDMA can be reagent tested. Still this is the game we play when these substances are illegal.
girvo 6y ago
MDMA is so cheap to manufacture anyway, and analogs that are cheaper are usually massively qualitatively different (of course if you’ve not experienced MDMA yourself before that doesn’t help much) — but it’s also easier than ever to send off some of your sample to be tested in a lab if you’re concerned. A benefit of that global market, too!

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

cheezeburger 6y ago

Of interest to this thread ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICj8p5jPd3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICj8p5jPd3Y Matthew Johnson: Psychedelics | Lex Fridman Podcast #145 Matthew W. Johnson is a professor and psychedelics researcher at Johns Hopkins.

cstaikos 6y ago

There is a subreddit for this also: https://www.reddit.com/r/MDMAsolo https://www.reddit.com/r/MDMAsolo

orasis 6y ago

There is a lot of paranoid shit in this writing. MDMA is a beautiful tool, but ask yourself: do you want to follow where this person is leading?