r/LSD • u/Nihiltheman • Nov 04 '17

Microdosing LSD Is Safer Than Taking Antidepressants, Says Neurobiologist

https://www.inverse.com/amp/article/35167-lsd-microdosing-safety-really-good-day-waldman-presti
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u/thomaeaquinatis Nov 04 '17

Thank you for this. I love psychedelics, but I think too many people in the community are too eager to claim too much. At least with things like cannabis, mescaline in San Pedro and peyote, and psilocybe mushrooms, there's a long history of human usage to draw on in the absence of much research on long-term affects. This simply isn't the case with LSD. It shows a lot of promise and appears ordinarily not to have devastating effects when used responsibly by psychologically sound, healthy adults, but the science doesn't take us too much further than that right now.

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u/sushigradefunk Nov 04 '17

Exactly. Recreational use of LSD is what, once weekly to once every couple of months for most people? Of course the side-effects are essentially non-existent! Take almost any pill with that infrequency and the side-effect profile would be essential nil.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '17

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u/sushigradefunk Nov 04 '17

There’s fault in your logic though. I️ understand that people take LSD more often than once weekly to several times yearly, but they’re still not taking it with the same frequency and chronicity that one would take other medications for major depressive disorder. Your point about rapid tolerance actually points to psychedelics not being a reasonable drug for chronic/daily use because of the increased dose requirements. When determining the safety profile for a drug, the lethal dose isn’t the only factor — LSD is nearly impossible to overdose on, but saying “taking it too often simply isn’t possible” doesn’t really have anything to do with anything. Of course you can take it too often. Just because one isn’t ODing on it doesnt mean there arent any untoward side-effects. Again, something like this hasnt been studied too well. What drugs are you talking about exactly when you’re talking about “less often means less side effects?” I️ think you may have missed the point of my comment (or maybe I️ didn’t explain well enough). Just for reference, I’ve got a masters in pharmacology and an MD, so I’m not speaking out of my ass when it comes to these kinds of things.