Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

LSD Microdosing Gaining Popularity For Silicon Valley Professionals (rollingstone.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the business-trip dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Rolling Stone reports that an unusual new trend is popping up around the offices of Silicon Valley companies: taking tiny doses of LSD or other psychedelic drugs to increase productivity. "A microdose is about a tenth of the normal dose – around 10 micrograms of LSD, or 0.2-0.5 grams of mushrooms." According to the article, the average user is a 20-something looking to improve their creativity and problem-solving skills. Some users report that the LSD alleviates other problems, like anxiety or cluster headaches. That said, it's important to note that such benefits are not supported by scientific research — yet.

7 of 446 comments (clear)

  1. Important to note by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I guess it isn't important to note that this is a Schedule I compound? That many people are jailed for life over such things? That if they were not rich silicon valley elite there's a good chance their lives would be ruined for doing such a thing?

    1. Re:Important to note by tomknight · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Indeed.

      I'm tired of the total acceptance of drug taking in the higher echelons of society. The little jokes in the media world about powdering your nose, about the use of Bolivian Marching Powder to help get through deadlines.

      These are drugs, no matter how wealthy or powerful you are, and using these drugs helps criminals.

      Let's have a little equality.

      --
      Oh arse
    2. Re:Important to note by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The music industry has a well documented path for those who think this is the solution to higher creativity, higher productivity, and dealing with crunch times.
      In fact, it is not hard to find a dozen well known names that have passed due to drug overdose, in the industry that "used" them just to get through the schedules.

      And these aren't stupid people. They were good enough to learn how to play instruments better than you or I, train their voices for singing, and in some cases write their own music. They didn't start off with the intent to harm themselves, but the problem is that for most people, addiction follows recreational use. Even if the drug itself is seemingly free of the worst side effects, the person can become dependent and in that dependency can create life long problems for themselves.

      And if they can't fix it, with the resources available to them, then what are the odds that a code slinger in CA has a better shot.

  2. Obvious idea by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, I'm surprised that it's taken so long for this idea to be tried.

    LSD was the first of the serotonin-modification drugs to be discovered; and apparently the most potent of them. The problem with LSD use in the '50s and '60s was that the doses were so high that the users went off on psychedelic trips. Serotonin modification drugs developed later, starting with the SSRI family such as Prozac and its derivatives and work-alike compounds, turned out to be very valuable in treating depression (although they have their own side effects). The idea of switching back to the original serotonin-modification drug, LSD, but using it at a dosage that doesn't cause the tripping, always seemed like an obvious approach to try.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  3. Re:Increase productivity?? by jandersen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have you ever tried LSD? The effect is somewhat different from what you think, possibly; a major component is that it works like speed, to some extent, and it keeps going for ~8 hours. I'm not sure how much work I would be able to do in that state, but I know some people can (John Lennon famously did at least for a while). I've only ever taken large doses, but even then you don't simply disappear into a wild maelstrom of hallucinations - it is more controllable than that. But you do get inspirations and ideas pouring into your mind all the time - I got tired of it in the end.

  4. Re:Increase productivity?? by wisnoskij · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That is what all studies with drugs have found, that I have looked at. Alcohol does not actually make you a better driver, nor you objectively more handsome, it just impairs your judgement of these things.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  5. Re:Increase productivity?? by KingRatMass · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Large Doses??? Like being puddled or printed?

    Please do not confuse taking a ten strip at Burning Man as being analogous with a true ++++ on the Shulgin Scale. Once you start pushing above 1mg, weird shit does happen. The dosage I just gave was NOT a misprint, puddles and prints will go 1 or 2 orders of magnitude beyond that. It's one thing to climb a mountain, another to stand on the plateau at the top and an entirely different experience when you jump off the cliff into the maw of eternity. Don't take my word for it, get on the bus and ask any knowledgeable member of the Family.

    But my goal isn't to diminish your experience... our job is to shed light and not to master. The idea that a threshold dose is preferable is bit absurd though. Once could easily have ++ or a +/- from the exact same dose at different times. Each experience is unique unto itself and some times is independent of dosage. I've learned by personal experience that a low dose trip can produce a negative feedback loop into a bad trip easier that a large dose. Probably because I flirted with and fixated on the illusion of control versus just surrendering to the experience.

    "Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right!"