Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

psychsafetyalliance OP t1_itslnjj wrote

Reply to comment by Meat_Cube in We are Dax Jackson and Ally Lee of Psychedelic Safety Alliance. We are here to provide scientific, no-BS adult harm reduction education around psychedelics. by psychsafetyalliance

If we're gonna get technical (and we will, we're nerds), the term "tolerance" refers to your body's lowered response to a drug after taking it, so we're going to address what it seems you're getting at here, which is building a base of experience in working up to higher doses.

We don't like the term "heroic" for high doses because that term has some Epic Badass Connotations to it, which we feel is misplaced given that higher doses are more likely to lead to difficult trips, not being able to navigate you environment safely, unearthing major trauma you weren't prepared to deal with, and seems to anecdotally increase the risk of lingering negative consequences like psychotic episodes and HPPD.

That said, working your way up to higher doses over many sessions can give you a better idea as to what's par for the course and what's not. This can help you determine what kind of help/support you need in a given moment (a trusted friend on the phone vs. a hospital, for instance). Also, if you happen to be one of those rare people who reacts poorly to a given drug due to some genetic factor, health condition, or mental health condition, it's often less bad to learn that at a lower dose.

It's always better to be cautious than totally fucked.

6

Meat_Cube t1_itsmna6 wrote

Thanks for the reply.

I think Terrence McKenna coined the term heroic because of old tales about journeys that people would take which you likely will mentally with that size dose. I don’t think it was meant to be macho in a traditional sense

3

psychsafetyalliance OP t1_itsmxca wrote

Word. We're familiar with McKenna and don't think it was meant to be macho in a traditional sense either, which is why it's a bummer that it's sometimes taken that way out of context.

3

psychsafetyalliance OP t1_itsnxbg wrote

As far as information about "tapering on" specifically, we're not aware of much in the way of dedicated research or anecdotal data on how to do it. One strategy informed by Alexander Shulgin's approach could be to raise your dose at small, consistent increments (indexed to the dosage range of the particular substance in question) over successive sessions.

For instance, many drug databases like Erowid or PsychonautWiki list a range of dosages from "threshold" to "heavy." You could start at the low end of a "threshold" dose, then do something on the higher end of a threshold dose. Then something on the low end of a "light" dose, then something on the high end of a light dose, and so on.

1

chivalrousninjaz t1_itt6p6y wrote

Replying to this because I want to highlight that experience in 1 is not experience in another. A friend of mine is very well versed in lsd. I have seen them take what we estimate to be doses of .8 to 1.25mg. (Naturally we can't be certain because it's not well regulated) But whatever the number these were VERY high doses well beyond what people usually take. They're familiar with the substance and can remain "calm" on these herculean doses. They assumed the experience would translate to psilocybin because they are similar. He was very wrong. At 7 grams they had a few hours where they were absolutely convinced they were dying to the point of considering 911. From how they describe it they honestly should have called. To this day they still exhibit PTSD from the event.

3

deviltamer t1_itw8yr2 wrote

Bruh 7g on mushrooms And 1250 ug LSD ??

They're very different chemicals and experiences differ even at low doses. These doses seem only someone who's been abusing them can bear recreationally given how easy it is to lose tolerance for both drugs.

1