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

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.

Comments

All the Leaves Are Brown!

[Anonymous Coward]

And the sky is gray!

Re:All the Leaves Are Brown!

[amalcolm]

Hello lam post, what you knowing? I've come to watch your flowers growin'

Re:All the Leaves Are Brown!

[sensei moreh]

No need for a micro (or any other) dose of LSD to see that. All I have to do is look out the window. It's a pretty typical late fall day here in southern Minnesota.

Re:All the Leaves Are Brown!

[flopsquad]

'scuse me while I kiss this guy.

If you know that it was really "Kiss the sky" would you like the song less or more?

If "The Sky" is an air marshal that fancies himself a superhero, then exactly the same amount.

Re:All the Leaves Are Brown!

[PPH]

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Re:All the Leaves Are Brown!

[Barefoot Monkey]

If you wanna kiss this guy, better learn how to kneel

Because you're very short?

Re:All the Leaves Are Brown!

[davester666]

The gov't puts LSD in the water, just so people will stay in Minnesota.

Re:All the Leaves Are Brown!

[gzuckier]

If you know that it was really "Kiss the sky" would you like the song less or more?

if i knew that the song was really purple haze i might.

Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

Re:Important to note

[tomknight]

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.

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

Right! Drugs should be available to all.

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

Fortunately LSD has very little association with violent organized crime. The profit is way too low for them to bother, as it's not addictive (in fact, after taking it you cannot take it again within a few days).

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

My point was really that we should take this enthusiasm and use it to push for legalization so it ISN'T just a rich man's game.

Instead over the past 10-15 years we have expanded prosecution of the Analog Act to ban anything REMOTELY psychedelic.

Re:Important to note

[Kokuyo]

I agree, let's stop it with this prohibition bullshit.

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Only if you acquire them through illegal channels. If you can obtain them through your doctor (or from confiscated drugs if you have friends at DEA) you don't help criminals.

Still, being tired is the way your body tells you to slow down. While studies haven't been done on these drugs in particular we know that using caffeine instead of sleeping is bad for you in the long run. I don't see how any other drugs will be different.
Any substitute for sleep and relaxation is going to be a lot more complex than just your common drugs.
The body also gets your brain in order and sorts out memories while you are sleeping. Even if you find drugs to give your body everything that sleep provides the brain also has work to do.
Best case scenario would be if you could "sleep" while doing your workout or whatever, but you will still need to take a break from your work.

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

You are conflating psychedelic use with opiate use.

Re:Important to note

[GLMDesigns]

Of course if it was legal one wouldn't be "helping" criminals now would we?

Re:Important to note

[DamonHD]

Exactly: GP is attempting to fix the wrong problem...

Regulate, manage, tax, but don't prohibit except possibly a tiny number. Two of the four most harmful drugs are alcohol and nicotine so we should be able to regulate most of the rest at least as well...

Rgds

Damon

Re:Important to note

[Zero__Kelvin]

" and using these drugs helps criminals."

Wait, I'm confused. Exactly how does using these drugs help the US Government?

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

It does not happen when they stay with psychedelics drugs, see ELP, Jethro Tull and the Grateful dead's. Ice cream, opiates and alcohol, and to some extends stimulants are what kill musicians.

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoso keeps prohibition is the real criminal helper.

Re:Important to note

[Computershack]

It does not happen when they stay with psychedelics drugs, see ELP, Jethro Tull and the Grateful dead's. Ice cream, opiates and alcohol, and to some extends stimulants are what kill musicians.

Jethro Tull's front man, Ian Anderson, has never done drugs.

Re:Important to note

[mi]

Let's have a little equality.

Absolutely. Maybe, LSD should not be prohibited to begin with. Maybe, nothing should be prohibited at all — citizens of a free country ought to have the right to kill themselves in any way they wish. But the rules must be the same for everyone.

On that note, I argue for automated law-enforcement wherever practical — such as with traffic-cameras, which would fine an upstanding resident of the same town just as much as passer-by from 2 states away.

Re:Important to note

[plopez]

As a drug it is safer, at a pharmaceutical level of purity, than alcohol. However, street acid can be a bit spotting in terms of quality.

Re:Important to note

[plopez]

So what? That's just anopion, not a logical argument. Also the only reason criminals are involved in illegal drugs is because the drugs are illegal.

Re:Important to note

[plopez]

You forgot chicken sandwiches.

Re:Important to note

[zAPPzAPP]

If the worst thing about drugs is that buying them helps criminals, I think the solution to that would be easy...

Re:Important to note

[plopez]

By spreading fear and creating a need for prisons for contractors, guards, cops, wardens, etc.

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

What you heard (or *should* have heard) is that a large percentage of the LSD came from one lab, run by William Pickard, who was definitely not a biker.

Re:Important to note

[PCM2]

I had a high school friend who was a fan of LSD. Saying it isn't addictive is a lie. He was constantly touting the benefits, which I didn't see in his life.

Having a negative impact on your life is not the same as being addictive. Eating candy bars can have a detrimental impact if you do it enough, but that doesn't make them addictive substances. Sounds like your friend was just a big fan.

Re:Important to note

[PCM2]

You are conflating psychedelic use with opiate use.

A friend of mine used to do Olympic style weightlifting (the competitive kind, not the bodybuilding). His coach used to tell him that back in the 60s and 70s, those guys would down anything they could get their hands on. None of it was very well researched, so there were lots of theories about which ones could potentially be "performance enhancing." LSD was definitely something they were using, and it wasn't uncommon to see lifters have complete freakouts on the platform (though to be fair, they were probably on a ton of speed at the same time).

Re:Important to note

[king neckbeard]

One could not practically OD on LSD using any kind of reasonable street dosage. However, it Heroin or alcohol, yes, but there is a huge gap between the effective doses of lethal doses. A lethal dose of LSD would require the equivalent of chugging several hundred beers.

Re:Important to note

[Zero__Kelvin]

I guess it isn't important to note that this is a Schedule I compound?

Yes, that is correct. It i not important to note that for numerous reasons. The first and most obvious is that your statement is US specific, and there is rest of a whole world outside US Borders. But that isn't the biggest reason the information is completely irrelevant. This is a matter of science. While the power mongers would love to be able to legislate the facts, they can only misrepresent them in order to pass offensive laws; your "Scheduling" system that makes LSD illegal in the first place is but one example of why the legislature is irrelevant. We must do what is right, not what is legal. If we don't it will not be much longer until the former option evaporates.

Re:Important to note

[Patent Lover]

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.

You only help criminals by criminalizing drugs.

Re:Important to note

[Zero__Kelvin]

The "Spreading Fear" part doesn't make any sense to me; perhaps you could give an example.

To your second point you have confused "using" with "possessing." Possessing them certainly helps them that way if they can catch you, and we are on the same wavelength of course, but when I am using LSD those silly men with tin badges can't do a thing. They certainly aren't going to find 5 to 500 micrograms of LSD in my system, and then confiscate it :-)

It wasn't uncommon in the old days for people to circle up, and one guy would go around and dose each person in the circle. I am not saying the reason for doing this was to get the following benefit (as I believe it was done even before LSD was illegal), but the advantage to this at the very least is that only one person ever possesses it! They drop a drop of liquid on each tongue, and there is literally no way they can arrest the 50 people in a circle for possession!

And for the record, if you have never done it nobody can describe to you what you will experince, but if it is really pure LSD then it will be one of the most important and beneficial events in your life (unless you have schizophrenia, or some similar per-disposed mental imbalance), so long as you have the proper setting and mindest at the start of the trip, and only do it with a guide who has a good head on his or her shoulkders to trip with you.

Note that this is different than with micro-dosing, where some one could actually slip it to you and you would just "feel strange or different" that day.

Re:Important to note

[ColdWetDog]

I agree, let's have a little equality. Legalise and/or medicalise all drugs, disband the DEA permanently, and stop feeding the prison industry's insatiable appetite for nonviolent human beings.

That's right. And in your happy fantasy world, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is the name of store....

Re: Important to note

[GWBasic]

There is no good reason for these drugs to be illegal, and they are not manufactured by organized crime cartels that import cocaine and heroin. LSD is much more potent, so a small batch distributed among friends goes a long log way. Furthermore, most of the manufacturers are chemists associated with tech; its somewhere between a hobby and a religious devotion. Think of LSD more like making beer during prohibition, and sharing with friends. If you think that someone who made beer during prohibition is a criminal, than your distinction between right and wrong is corrupted by government propaganda and politics.

Re:Important to note

[ColdWetDog]

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long

Re:Important to note

[ArsonSmith]

That's a law enforcement spread myth. while potency can very greatly due to the dipping process so you never really know how much is there, there has been no evidence of "quality" issues otherwise. I usually ask about the mic count on the tabs.

Re:Important to note

[oakgrove]

there is literally no way they can arrest the 50 people in a circle for possession

I'd suggest taking a long hard look at how the federal conspiracy laws are written and utilized in this country. There are many many people rotting away in prisons across the US for doing a lot less association with "criminal activity" than what you've suggested here. Sucks but it's true.

Re:Important to note

[flopsquad]

Well then. Apocryphal it is; I stand corrected.

Re:Important to note

[strabo]

...important to note that this is a Schedule I compound?

It's probably also worth noting that marijuana is also a schedule 1 drug, due to its "high potential for abuse", "no currently accepted medical use in the U.S.", and "potentially severe psychological or physical dependence".

NOTE: Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, marijuana) is still considered a Schedule 1 drug by the DEA, even though some U.S. states have legalized marijuana for personal, recreational use or for medical use.

Re:Important to note

[aaarrrgggh]

A memorable life experience was seeing a debate between Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy. If you want to know what a life of using LSD is like, Leary was the poster child.

Of course, another memorable life experience was a mushroom shake in Haad Rin at the full moon party, but I digress...

Re:Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

...(in fact, after taking it you cannot take it again within a few days).

False. You can without die believe me. I think you mean to say that when you take LSD, you wont take it again until a few months later, because of the vast experience you have to realize.

No. You take it the next day, and you don't feel a thing. I know exactly what I'm talking about. You need to wait at least 2 days between trips.

When I was a teenager, I used to eat the shit like it was candy. The acid hangovers were the worst. Gimme a Mogen David pukefest over an acid zombie run any day.

Been a while. A LONG while.

Have fun, brogrammers. Maybe you'll figger out that it didn't work so well for Ken Kesey and his lot, and maybe it don't work so well nowadays, either.

In the meantime, I'll be writing code with a [more-or-less] healthy neocortex.

Re:Important to note

[fahrbot-bot]

I had a high school friend who was a fan of LSD. Saying it isn't addictive is a lie. He was constantly touting the benefits, which I didn't see in his life.

Having a negative impact on your life is not the same as being addictive. Eating candy bars can have a detrimental impact if you do it enough, but that doesn't make them addictive substances. Sounds like your friend was just a big fan.

Things (not just substances) can also be mentally and emotionally addictive, not just physically.

Re: Important to note

[Anonymous Coward]

Took it for a week straight. Many doses. Gelatin, about 120 mics per hit. Laid it ourselves so we knew what we had. 3-5 hits per 24 hour period, Friday to Friday.

It works, but you adjust to it. Just like wearing goggles that make everything upside down. I came out of it better off mentally. Stopped hanging out with destructive users. Got my life on track. Don't regret it at all.

Re:Important to note

[angel'o'sphere]

Very strange and very wrong analogy.
I know hundrets of people who are addicted to candybars, and I'm sure, you too!
LSD is at least mentally addictive. Candybars are both, mentally and bodily addictiv!

Re:Important to note

[sosume]

Think of literally *any* activity, object or substance, and you can find a person who has serious addiction issues with it. Usually it has more to do with the personality type than the subject of their addiction.

Re:Important to note

[sjames]

Funny thing, strip the nicotine from the terrible delivery system (and the MAOIs it contains) and nicotine becomes much more benign.

But in general, most of the actual harm from drugs comes from the prohibition itself.

Re:Important to note

[Rinikusu]

So is weed. If they tested for weed at my last workplace, they'd have to have fired the whole the entire company, with the exception of some of the executives. They were more into coke. Microdosing LSD isn't really a big deal, although the strongest thing I take in the workplace is caffeine. I highly doubt anyone is going to rip off their clothes and proclaim their divinity on the doses we're talking about. Maybe if we had more women in the workplace this would be an interesting outcome...

Re:Important to note

[TechyImmigrant]

Think of literally *any* activity, object or substance, and you can find a person who has serious addiction issues with it. Usually it has more to do with the personality type than the subject of their addiction.

Too lazy to find the citation - it was an article in the New Scientist, but data from the heroin riddled veins of Vietnam vets returning to the USA backs this up. Home grown junkies are a self selected group. When you take a broad chunk of society and put them on heroin (as happened in the Vietnam war), they mostly drop it when they return home.

This was pretty good evidence that the addition is more a function of the addict than the drug.

Re:Important to note

[sjames]

Too bad he was deprived of his right to an attorney.

Re:Important to note

[bytesex]

Migrate to Europe. We generally don't mind softdrugs and lock picking tools. And we don't check FBI databases. If you can write software, you can work anywhere.

Re:Important to note

[sudon't]

I'm tired at the lack of acceptance, entirely based on ignorance and received disinformation.

The important question to ask is, how does the government have the right to tell people what they can and cannot consume? After all, it took a constitutional amendment to prohibit the sale and manufacture of alcohol, yet, they could not prohibit the consumption! Our forefathers still understood they did not possess this right over citizens. How was this lost? In what way are other drugs any different? Indeed, most recreational drugs are, if not entirely harmless, certainly less harmful than alcohol. The majority of harms associated with drug use are a direct result of prohibition, not the drugs themselves. The truth is, the government does not have this right. Drug prohibition is simply unconstitutional. The federal government has usurped the Constitution via the Commerce Clause, which has been interpreted to allow the government to do practically anything.

Why does drug-taking help criminals? Because taking drugs has been criminalized. Let us not forget that all drug prohibition has its roots in racism. "Health" is a much later justification, a justification made necessary by the slow erosion of the acceptability of overt racism, and made possible only by prohibition itself.

Re:Important to note

[meadow]

LSD is different than cocaine, which is steeped in blood. From a humanitarian point of view, cocaine use is utterly appalling.



Free Leonard Pickard

Re:Important to note

[umafuckit]

That's a law enforcement spread myth. while potency can very greatly due to the dipping process so you never really know how much is there, there has been no evidence of "quality" issues otherwise. I usually ask about the mic count on the tabs.

The concern is people being sold shit like Bromo-DragonFLY and being told it's LSD. Unless you test your drugs or your really know your source then you'll never be certain.

Re:Important to note

[meadow]

What's truly sick is that ephedrine is now illegal. It is one of the most useful herbs for natural energy and has many other important therapeutic uses.

Re:Important to note

[rea1l1]

In that case we should end all property laws as they negatively affect me and my ability to travel, eat, clothe myself, etc.

Oh, you think property laws are necessary? Well, my body is my property. I can destroy it as I please.

Re:Important to note

[rea1l1]

You are absolutely correct - now we need people like you to step up and lead social change.

Re:Important to note

[Immerman]

Yes, but pretty much *anything* can be psychologically addictive, so claiming it as a feature of a particular thing is a bit disingenuous. Not that some things don't have a wider or more intense appeal - I imagine far more people are addicted to chocolate or video games than horse droppings for example.

Re:Important to note

[HiThere]

That's not a good comparison. LSD is reportedly not addictive. Sugar is. (Mildly if taken in isolation.) Chocolate probably isn't, but it's usually packaged in a form that contains fats and sugar, which *is* an addictive combination.

P.S.: There are addictive personalities, and people who have them can easily become addicted to normally non-addictive substances. And there are also variations among people's chemistries, such that some of them readily become addicted to things that most people don't become addicted to. Reportedly there's a sizable fraction of the population that wouldn't become addicted to opiates. Supposedly when heroin was invented as a non-addictive cough syrup it was tested on 25 people who all happened to be of a groups that didn't become addicted to it easily.

Re:Important to note

[HiThere]

I don't believe you, though I suspect *you* believe you. Perhaps you should wonder what you were actually taking.

Re:Important to note

[HiThere]

They are by no means the most harmful drugs. Belladona would be a good choice if that was what you were considering.

Tobacco and nicotine are two of the most attractive of the moderately harmful drugs. Most people aren't really attracted to strychnine.

What happened is there is a puritanical groups that seized control, and they decided that they had the right to tell everyone what they should be like, and that what they should be like is the way god made them. There are advantages to this as well as disadvantages, so they were able to suppress all except the very most popular drugs. Their success can be measured by the fact that the DEA will prosecute doctors who prescribe too much pain relieving medication. The underlying belief is that if god causes you to feel pain, you should be in pain.

In most cases I believe that drugs should be legal to purchase, and to sell, and to manufacture, and to transport, but not to advertise either directly or through sponsorship of media that use "placement ads" for them. And in this I include pharmaceuticals used to treat illnesses as well as other drugs, and I feel no distinction should be made. (I.e., I don't feel any of them except antibiotics and, perhaps, a very few others should have their sale regulated.)

Re:Important to note

[HiThere]

It's important because this could have legal consequences. And that's the only reason.

If I call a mule's tail a leg, it remains a tail. Schedule I is only significant in the context of legal repercussions. It's not a valid logical category in any other context. It doesn't tell you, e.g., anything about possible medical uses, even though it explicitly purports to.

Re:Important to note

[Dorianny]

Funny thing, strip the nicotine from the terrible delivery system (and the MAOIs it contains) and nicotine becomes much more benign.

But in general, most of the actual harm from drugs comes from the prohibition itself.

Nicotine is a mild stimulant just like caffeine, by far the worlds most used drug. I really don't understand the growing condemnation of nicotine vaporizers. It is like drug court judges who force addicts to get off successful Methadone regiments because of moral opposition to drugs, while sipping on a cup of joe of course.

Re:Important to note

[bjwest]

I had a high school friend who was a fan of LSD. Saying it isn't addictive is a lie. He was constantly touting the benefits, which I didn't see in his life.

Having a negative impact on your life is not the same as being addictive. Eating candy bars can have a detrimental impact if you do it enough, but that doesn't make them addictive substances. Sounds like your friend was just a big fan.

Just because it's a popular food additive doesn't mean it's not addictive. There is evidence that that sugar is addictive, so your candy bar comparison may be moot.

Re: Important to note

[turbidostato]

"you see everything in HDR, hear everything from miles away and just see solutions after solutions to almost every problem."

You *think* you see everything in HDR, you *think* you hear everything from miles away, you *think* you see solutions to almost every problem.

One of my funniest experiences involving LSD is a friend of me taking a dose and telling me -about five hundred times, not an exageration, the real number, he couldn't feel any effect.

Re: Important to note

[Zero__Kelvin]

I never said it wasn't true. I merely said it has nothing to do with the subject, which is micro-dosing as a productivity booster and if it works or it does not. It is about things that are impossible to legislate, and bringing it up derails the conversation completely, as it has here :-(

Re:Important to note

[mikael]

This is a good interview, 197x

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:Important to note

[Parafilmus]

These are drugs... and using these drugs helps criminals

Actually, what helps criminals is the black market created by prohibition.

When we end prohibition, the criminal gangs will lose their market overnight.

Re:Important to note

[tburkhol]

Think of literally *any* activity, object or substance, and you can find a person who has serious addiction issues with it. Usually it has more to do with the personality type than the subject of their addiction.

That's a fair description of "addiction," like "gambling addiction," "sex addiction," or "shopping addiction." It's not a good description of clinical addiction, like heroin, where users experience physical pain and nausea. Get a headache if you don't get your morning coffee? Withdrawal. Actual addiction is very different from intense cravings.

A willful person can control his cravings, and he can 'power through' those withdrawal symptoms, but psychologists and media have done a terrible disservice by using the same word for internet addiction as for benzodiazepine addiction.

Re:Important to note

[angel'o'sphere]

This was pretty good evidence that the addition is more a function of the addict than the drug.
Of course!
Considering that nicotine is 100 times ore more addictive than heroine ....

Re:Important to note

[rch7]

It is classic excuse of drug addicts. Mental addiction is much stronger than physical one, and it isn't even researched well enough how all kind of repeated drug usage alter your brain.

Re:Important to note

[sjames]

It's almost as if the antis just wanted to force others to bow to their will and now they're ticked off that there is a solution that invalidates their best "objective" arguments. Thus they must stomp it out so they can go back to demanding that others bow to their will.

If they were actually objectively concerned about people's health or even the costs to society, they'd be dancing in the streets and arranging to get ecig starter kits to all smokers.

Re:Important to note

[lucien86]

Well the law is crazy after all.. The self-medicating drugs that you are allowed to use are booze and fags (cigarettes). The WHO estimate puts cigarettes at killing a total of about 600 million people, and (I think) just less than a million Americans a year. Alcohol kills something like 30,000 to 60,000 Americans a year.

They only ban the safer drugs like LSD, MDNA, marijuana.. (excepting heroine and coke and PCP)

Re:Important to note

[rmdingler]

Apocryphal is the new "Bless her heart!" It can be followed up by nearly any statement without risk of scorn.

Best use of a qualifier this weekend!

Re:Important to note

[rmdingler]

I imagine far more people are addicted to chocolate or video games than horse droppings for example.

That is a fairly human-centric point of view. My faithful posting companion, Miss Daisy, agrees to disagree and doesn't drive, despite the nom de coincidence.

She can't do chocolate, whines all during game time about the absence of an opposing thumb, and eats shit like it is going out of style... yes, like someone in mid-management.

Re:Important to note

[rmdingler]

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.

I can see the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith might've had longer careers had they abstained from the recreationals.

Re:Important to note

[vernonB]

Can't help but suspect that the reason LSD is classified as Schedule I, way out of proportion to its dangerousness and potential for abuse, is that it emancipates the mind. And we can't have that, can we?

Re:Important to note

[NostalgiaForInfinity]

Self destructive actions of an individual negatively affect society. In a simplistic nutshell, your freedom ends when it negatively affects others.

Sorry, that's not a principle people generally accept.

Re:Important to note

[flopsquad]

Without risk of scorn? I got downmodded twice! I might as well be wandering around here with a toilet seat around my neck. ::sobs ruefully::

Re: Important to note

[z0]

He wears the cone of shame!

Re:Important to note

[gzuckier]

I had a high school friend who was a fan of LSD. Saying it isn't addictive is a lie. He was constantly touting the benefits, which I didn't see in his life. Anything can be mentally addictive if it interferes with life enough, and let's not downplay that the article's premise is a dangerous one.

There's a vague but definite line between doing something repeatedly because you think it benefits you, and being addicted. Now, if he was constantly touting how horrible it was but continued doing it, that would be addictive.

Re:Important to note

[gzuckier]

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.

just to be a scientific devil's advocate; the music industry and its correlated lifestyle, particularly "the road", takes a really well documented toll on those involved, whether drug users or abstainers. similarly with the various other occupations where drug use and death rates are both high; homeless person, armed robber, drug dealer, etc.
while drug users in more stable lifestyles manage to avoid dying young much better, particularly users of the milder drugs.
it's probably more accurate to state that drug use is a symptom of a self-destructive personality; and maybe not even necessarily a self-destructive symptom, self-medicating is the parent of medical pharmacology, after all, not the criminal stepchild.

Re:Important to note

[gzuckier]

One could not practically OD on LSD using any kind of reasonable street dosage. However, it Heroin or alcohol, yes, but there is a huge gap between the effective doses of lethal doses. A lethal dose of LSD would require the equivalent of chugging several hundred beers.

these folks appear to be Underdosing. I hereby declare the acronym, UD. "What happened to Bill? Haven't seen him in years" "Didn't you hear? He UDed on LSD." Hmm, maybe the concept needs more work.

Re:Important to note

[gzuckier]

It does not happen when they stay with psychedelics drugs, see ELP, Jethro Tull and the Grateful dead's. Ice cream, opiates and alcohol, and to some extends stimulants are what kill musicians.

Jethro Tull's front man, Ian Anderson, has never done drugs.

Ted Nugent says he has never done drugs either, and if that's true it's very frightening.

Re:Important to note

[gzuckier]

So what? That's just anopion, not a logical argument. Also the only reason criminals are involved in illegal drugs is because the drugs are illegal.

Indeed. Like the idea that marijuana is a gateway drug to hard drugs; yeah, because the law essentially requires them to be sold by the same dealerships.

Re:Important to note

[gzuckier]

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.

You only help criminals by criminalizing drugs.

"I got really messed up on LSD yesterday and decided all the people around me were reptile aliens in disguise so I went out and bought a AR 15 to wipe them out, but luckily I forgot it on the subway"
"Omigod, that's terrible! Taking LSD!"

Re:Important to note

[king neckbeard]

A tenth of the lethal dose is still an insane amount to take. There would be no point in taking anywhere near that much.

Re:Important to note

[king neckbeard]

Yes, if you drunk a can of pure LSD, that would probably fuck your world up beyond repair, but that would be because it contains thousands and thousands of doses, and it would cost a fortune. My point in comparing to beer cans is that it would be such an atypical dosage that it's not happening by accident.

Re:Important to note

[tehcyder]

Self destructive actions of an individual negatively affect society. In a simplistic nutshell, your freedom ends when it negatively affects others.

Sorry, that's not a principle people generally accept.

Yes it is, otherwise you would have no laws at all, and everybody would be free to steal and kill with perfect freedom.

Re:Important to note

[tehcyder]

if it is really pure LSD then it will be one of the most important and beneficial events in your life (unless you have schizophrenia, or some similar per-disposed mental imbalance)

Unfortunately, a lot of people have undiagnosed mental illnesses.

Re:Important to note

[tehcyder]

Can't help but suspect that the reason LSD is classified as Schedule I, way out of proportion to its dangerousness and potential for abuse, is that it emancipates the mind. And we can't have that, can we?

You don't use chemicals to emancipate your mind. Try reading a few books.

Re:Important to note

[deadweight]

I am one of those. I do *not like* how narcotics make me feel and generally will use Advil instead of the prescription the doctor gives me. I also know people that LOVE narcotics. Luck of the draw with brain wiring I guess.

Re:Important to note

[NostalgiaForInfinity]

Yes it is, otherwise you would have no laws at all, and everybody would be free to steal and kill with perfect freedom.

Not at all. Lots of people reject this principle:

In a simplistic nutshell, your freedom ends when it negatively affects others.

but they accept some variant of this principle:

In a simplistic nutshell, your freedom ends when it involves physical violence against others or taking their property against their will.

Just because people accept governmental limits on some actions that "negatively affect others" doesn't mean that they accept limits on any and all actions that "negatively affect others".

Re:Important to note

[NostalgiaForInfinity]

Incidentally, this principle:

Self destructive actions of an individual negatively affect society. In a simplistic nutshell, your freedom ends when it negatively affects others.

was exactly the principle used to justify restricting emigration from East Germany. And by "restrict emigration", I mean "build the Berlin wall and shoot people trying to leave".

People have a widely recognized right to remove themselves from a society, by external or internal emigration. Once you accept that, you can't make a principled argument based on "harm to society" when people choose to remove themselves by other means, like suicide or drug use.

Re: Important to note

[TechyImmigrant]

Eh, more like their situation/life circumstances than "who they really are"

This maybe true also. However someone's life situation can be affected by the person and the person can be affected by the life situation, so statistically untangling these confounding factors would require a randomized trial with interventions that wouldn't be allowed, E.G. Forcing people onto heroin and/or sending them to a war in Vietnam.

Re:Important to note

[beastofburdon]

Yes, and we should have politicians' heads on the chopping block for it.

Increase productivity??

[Viol8]

I don't think so. A small increase in creativity for a short period of time maybe. Though quite possibly it makes you *think* you're being more productive, just like people who take concaine *think* they're being incredibly interesting when they chat, whereas usually the complete opposite is the case.

Re:Increase productivity??

[jandersen]

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.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Capt.Albatross]

Agreed - self-reported results have little credibility (see homeopathy), and those of psychoactive substance use are particularly suspect.

And neither productivity nor creativity gains, even if real, are worth much unless accompanied by good judgement.
 

Re:Increase productivity??

[wisnoskij]

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.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Ol Olsoc]

I don't think so. A small increase in creativity for a short period of time maybe. Though quite possibly it makes you *think* you're being more productive, just like people who take concaine *think* they're being incredibly interesting when they chat, whereas usually the complete opposite is the case.

Same with ethanol. Nothing is more annoying than walking into a party where people have been drinking. It usually takes me a couple drinks before they stop being asshats.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Anonymous Coward]

ive tried just about everything that grows on plants, ive done lsd a few times before and for the past few years ive basically been tripping twice a year because i like it. My honest opinion? i highly doubt this works as advertised for the exact same reason you give. Furthermore, most people that i know who do lsd more often keep having "genius" ideas that have absolutely no real world application or practical value, the times i did lsd i kept having grand ideas aswell that just dont look as good once you sober up.

Theres probably some people here and there that this would work for, but i highly doubt its something most people should even wonder about... perhaps "microdose" helps because its not that much. but as someone who actually does drugs.. i have my doubts id sure as hell never want to try it at work

Re:Increase productivity??

[dinfinity]

Technically, what they say is interesting to themselves. They've just stopped caring whether anyone else thinks the same.

Not trying to get anyone here to develop a habit, but it always seemed to me that cocaine is a drug that would help shy and anxious people and would turn already confident people into overconfident assholes. Sort of like alcohol, I guess.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Anonymous Coward]

It lasts for around 16 hours and there are far worse things than LSD (most especially in micro amounts) that are over the counter including alcohol and cigarettes.

Re:Increase productivity??

[hey!]

Comparing recreational doses of cocaine to microdoses of LSD is an apples-to-oranges comparison though. Cocaine is a stimulant; LSD is a hallucinogen; it would make more sense to compare it to marijuana, although all these drugs have radically different (and very complex) mechanisms of action. Because we call them all "illegal drugs" doesn't mean they're the same thing or act the same way. Even the same drug at different dosages can have dramatically different effects.

It's very plausible that microdoses of LSD produce illusory creativity, since many drugs do indeed undermine self-perception -- not that that tends to be very reliable in humans anyway. But drugs are unlikely in my opinion to be a substitute for struggle in the creative process. Creativity has two components: novelty and appropriateness. Drugs are an easy way to get to novelty, but when it comes to judging appropriateness there's no substitute for plain, naked struggle with the obvious but inadequate approaches to a problem. Only then, after you've been forced to gain a deep and intimate connection to the problem's constraints, can some kind of flash of insight do you any good. Until you've struggled with a problem your insights are worthless, whether or not they come to you in a flash.

So it's essentially inconceivable that any drug could make you creative. However it seems plausible that some drugs could act as a kind of adjuvant to creative struggle when you're approaching a creative breakthrough. Such breakthroughs often come at a time when you're critical faculties are slightly deranged; when you're exhausted; dropping off to sleep; or just say "screw it for now" and do something unrelated.

Note that "plausible" isn't the same as "probable", much less "likely". The problem with information with drugs is that it's almost always slanted one way or the other. For example I think MDMA has a lot of potential to alleviate suffering, however research on it has been restricted by the fear that if it proves useful then controlling its recreational use will become harder. On the other hand I wouldn't take the word of recreational users and dealers unquestioningly either; I can easily find people who swear by homeopathy. There's a distinct lack of objectivity and reliability in information about recreational drugs.

The "good" news, I think, is that there's no substitute for creative struggle; and I think you can mentally train yourself to make that leap of intuition once struggle has prepared you.

Re:Increase productivity??

[SkunkPussy]

> No, and I never will. Only an idiot would sacrifice their mental health for a few hours of tripping.

So you won't ever know if its actually idiotic or not.

Re:Increase productivity??

[myowntrueself]

"Have you ever tried LSD? "

No, and I never will. Only an idiot would sacrifice their mental health for a few hours of tripping.

'Mental health' is way overvalued.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Anonymous Coward]

Amphetamine can make you cleverer if you do not abuse them. Look at Paul Erdos

Re:Increase productivity??

[bfpierce]

Taking 1/10th of the standard dose may not really impact judgement at all. Not that I'm saying it doesn't (since of course, no real research on that), but let's look a the possibility at least before going off on the 'don't trust a drug addict' nonsense.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Viol8]

I don't remember being drunk and unable to function for 16 hours after a pint of beer.

Re:Increase productivity??

[bfpierce]

That awkward moment when Ritalin helps with ADHD. And can be abused for attention span gains. Maybe there's something about 'dose' we're missing here in these studies? Maybe? lol

Re:Increase productivity??

[Computershack]

Then look at the countless number of people who have had their lives wrecked by it and not only those who were taking it. Long distance truckers on Amphetamine have had many accidents where they've killed some poor bastard in their car who was unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity of the truck driver on speed.

Re:Increase productivity??

[ceoyoyo]

His post was saying "don't trust a drug user, get some real data." Seems reasonable. Recreational drug users always espouse the benefits of their drugs. If they didn't believe, they wouldn't use them.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Joe_Dragon]

I have been on the other LSD.

Re:Increase productivity??

[plopez]

try a bottle of bourbon. 1 pint is approximately equal to 1/10th of a bottle of bourbon.

Re: Increase productivity??

[Anonymous Coward]

He's admitting to his own judgment becoming similarly impaired, at which point the (other) intoxicated people seem less annoying.

Re: Increase productivity??

[Bing Tsher E]

It apparently worked for Steve Jobs, or so he claimed. Steve dropped a lot of acid.

Re:Increase productivity??

[PCM2]

So it's essentially inconceivable that any drug could make you creative. However it seems plausible that some drugs could act as a kind of adjuvant to creative struggle when you're approaching a creative breakthrough. Such breakthroughs often come at a time when you're critical faculties are slightly deranged; when you're exhausted; dropping off to sleep; or just say "screw it for now" and do something unrelated.

Hell, I've solved weird computer problems before with a case of beer sitting next to me. I'm one of those weird people where micro-doses of ethanol -- say, downing can after can of Pabst Blue Ribbon -- actually mostly has a stimulant effect. It excites the part of my brain that likes alcohol but it doesn't get me drunk enough, fast enough to have the "downer" effect that it's supposed to have. (Real ale, wine, liquor, different story.) It will actually allow me to stay up all night, and at around 3am -- et voila!

Re:Increase productivity??

[jandersen]

Only an idiot would sacrifice their mental health for a few hours of tripping.

If LSD meant 'sacrificing your mental health' then it would be stupid, agreed. Fortunately this isn't the case - I know this from experience, whereas you don't. But hey, no problem, I don't particularly need to convince you.

Re:Increase productivity??

[shadowofwind]

Also, even though the hallucinogen use may not directly interfere with judgment, if it gives exaggerated feelings of insight that still tends to distort a person's perceptions about what is true and important.

Re:Increase productivity??

[captjc]

This phenomenon has a name: The Ballmer Peak

FTFY.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Anonymous Coward]

It lasts for around 16 hours and there are far worse things than LSD (most especially in micro amounts) that are over the counter including alcohol and cigarettes.

I used LSD many times while in college, and I believe that no one can safely drive while on a recreational dose.
And I definitely do not want to have a co-worker using LSD on the job - I would far prefer a drunk in the next cubicle (I'm a sysadmin)

Re:Increase productivity??

[danomac]

But you do get inspirations and ideas pouring into your mind all the time - I got tired of it in the end.

I was thinking that this explains a lot of the daft UI design we've seen recently.

Re: Increase productivity??

[Ol Olsoc]

He's admitting to his own judgment becoming similarly impaired, at which point the (other) intoxicated people seem less annoying.

Bingo!

Re:Increase productivity??

[hey!]

Here's my anecdote: Many interesting ideas I had back in the day came to me under the influence of pot. Some of those ideas brought me a great deal of money.

I never said this doesn't happen, but your reasoning is post hoc ergo propter hoc: your ideas came to you while you were stoned, therefore they must have come from the pot. In order to conclude that you'd have to have done all of your thinking about the problems while you were stoned.

As I said, I think it quite plausible that drugs can, at the right time, help you escape the limitations of self-censorship in your thinking. But in my experience people who are stoned all the time certainly have novel ideas, but those ideas aren't particularly useful. That's because creativity actually involves a kind of interplay of critical and imaginative thinking. Enough people have anecdotes like yours to think there's something to it, but the very nature of creativity -- at least as I'm defining it -- makes me doubt you can get it entirely out of a bottle.

For the record, I consider creativity the finding of novel approaches to a thing that are better in some way than pre-existing approaches. This almost certainly presupposes an intimate familiarity with pre-existing approaches, unless we count pure dumb luck as creativity. Picasso, for example, didn't draw the way he did because he couldn't to realistic work. He had very good drawing skills, and his early works were representational. That level of draftsmanship doesn't come without struggle; and from that he derived his interest in geometric figures, most easily seen in the development of his landscapes. Note if "House in the Field" seems a bit crude, it was painted when he was twelve years old.

Re:Increase productivity??

[Wahakalaka]

I've had very good, insightful ideas about programming while using. But if I use for the express purpose of finding those ideas, it doesn't seem to work. Feel like I'm forcing it and trying to start a car that doesn't have any gas. This "microdosing" sounds a lot like the latter.

Re:Increase productivity??

[ShanghaiBill]

I have been on the other LSD.

Me too. I have also been on an LST and an LHA.

Semper Fi

Re:Increase productivity??

[KingRatMass]

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!"

Re:Increase productivity??

[umafuckit]

Or look at Oliver Sacks: they nearly killed him.

Re:Increase productivity??

[barc0001]

So explain Adderall. It's a drug and known to increase productivity.

Re:Increase productivity??

[barc0001]

It's all about application. Will amphetamine make you better at writing a boring ass TPS report? Probably. Will it make you better at driving a 20 ton death machine down the highway? No.

Re:Increase productivity??

[i.r.id10t]

Dried or fresh? My first dose of mushrooms was enough caps to cover the palm of my hand ($3). Stems were there, but not recommended since they "tend to add more of a speed-y effect to your drip man"

Re: Increase productivity??

[Cederic]

Man, you're trying to state that all OTR Drivers (myself included) are doing mass amounts of speed, thus causing wrecks?

No, he's pointing out that the ones that did, caused a fuckload of accidents.

How much have you addled your brain on that shit, that you misinterpret someone to that extent?

Re: Increase productivity??

[thinkwaitfast]

Why?

Re:Increase productivity??

[sjames]

Then look at all the school children taking related stimulants.

Re:Increase productivity??

[sudon't]

"Have you ever tried LSD? "

No, and I never will. Only an idiot would sacrifice their mental health for a few hours of tripping.

Perfect example of how thoroughly permeated the culture is with disinformation, even in the internet age. Of course, the fact that legitimate research has been stymied for four decades doesn't help. Even for those of us lacking any negative attitudes about drug use, solid information is hard to come by, and a good deal of prejudice and misinformation has been absorbed.

FYI, that old chestnut from the sixties, that LSD will cause you to lose your sanity - it simply isn't true. If anything can be said in this regard, it's that those already suffering from severe mental illnesses probably ought to not use it.

Re:Increase productivity??

[sudon't]

I don't remember being drunk and unable to function for 16 hours after a pint of beer.

Obviously, you were in a blackout.

Re:Increase productivity??

[SuiteSisterMary]

Or US Military pilots on government-issue speed who drop bombs on blue targets

Re:Increase productivity??

[ptaff]

I think it was Timothy Leary who used to say: If you write stoned, edit straight; if you write straight, edit stoned. I guess that rule partially ensure the "struggle" you're talking about happens, and at the same time filters out self-indulgent crap ideas.

Re:Increase productivity??

[mikael]

How many tweaks can a tweaker tweak if a tweaker can tweak teaks.

Re:Increase productivity??

[hene]

Then look at the countless number of people who have had their lives wrecked by it and not only those who were taking it.

Amphetamine can make you cleverer, in short term. However large dosages and cumulative body damage will reduce your abilities in long run. I bet the biggest problem here was the dosage and long term side effects, and I think it is easier to keep dosage in check with LSD than amphetamine.

Pushing your body over the natural limit might not be easy. However it is intriguing idea to be able to do that. I have heard many times said from coffee that it does leave you with some net profit. I'm not 100% sure what is meant by this, but I guess that as long as you are able to rest back your "loan" and recover fully before next boost you should be find.

So if all LSD's health risks are related to large dosages it could theoretically work. Unfortunately, usually this kind of thing just don't work well on long term.

Re:Increase productivity??

[gzuckier]

I have been on the other LSD.

I can tell you from experience that FWD cars are a lot better to drive if they have a LSD.

Re:Increase productivity??

[gzuckier]

"Have you ever tried LSD? "

No, and I never will. Only an idiot would sacrifice their mental health for a few hours of tripping.

anybody posting on slashdot has very little left to lose

Re:Increase productivity??

[gzuckier]

I don't remember being drunk and unable to function for 16 hours after a pint of beer.

if you can't remember it, you probably should drink less.

Re:Increase productivity??

[gzuckier]

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.

but alcohol is a depressant, naturally it will impair your mental functioning; many people find that they can accidentally impair their mental functioning to permanently zero. whereas marijuana, for example, famously makes people so conscious of things that they drive at ten miles an hour, as opposed to the drunk blasting along Way Too Fast.

Re: Increase productivity??

[gzuckier]

He's admitting to his own judgment becoming similarly impaired, at which point the (other) intoxicated people seem less annoying.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmw...

Re:Increase productivity??

[gzuckier]

ive tried just about everything that grows on plants, ive done lsd a few times before and for the past few years ive basically been tripping twice a year because i like it. My honest opinion? i highly doubt this works as advertised for the exact same reason you give. Furthermore, most people that i know who do lsd more often keep having "genius" ideas that have absolutely no real world application or practical value, the times i did lsd i kept having grand ideas aswell that just dont look as good once you sober up.

Theres probably some people here and there that this would work for, but i highly doubt its something most people should even wonder about... perhaps "microdose" helps because its not that much. but as someone who actually does drugs.. i have my doubts id sure as hell never want to try it at work

i've found i can solve lots of problems with tiny amounts of lsd. oh wait, i mean cyanoacrylate.

Re:Increase productivity??

[KingRatMass]

The only difference you'll see in shrooms are the fruiting bodies called abhorts... also called pinheads or bowling pins. They are only 1/2 to 1" in size and the cap is virtually nonexistent, hence the name pinhead. Testing has shown that abhorts contain more psilocybin and psilocin than mature fruiting bodies. Unfortunately, most growers will keep these for personal consumption.

This is strain independent and doesn't appear to be genetically linked to a particular one. It's also unknown whether the mutation is caused by the higher level of psychoactive compounds or if the mutation causes the high levels. It does seem to happen more during the initial fruiting cycle. Ideally, all the fruiting bodies should be harvested early, before the cap veil breaks is when they are the most potent. Growers that go for profit will let the fruit go until the caps are fully formed to maximize yield, at a loss of potency for the consumer.

Re:Increase productivity??

[metrix007]

Your definition of creativity is ridiculously reduced in scope. What about art? That isn't anything to do with solving a problem, but rather about expression.

Re:Increase productivity??

[tehcyder]

Proof yet again that there are few things as tedious as a drug user recounting his experiences and expecting people to be impressed.

At least with drunks you get some comedy out of their stories.

Re:Increase productivity??

[tehcyder]

His post was saying "don't trust a drug user, get some real data." Seems reasonable. Recreational drug users always espouse the benefits of their drugs. If they didn't believe, they wouldn't use them.

This whole thing reminds me of the "I actually drive better after a few large whiskies to steady my nerves" bullshit that people used to come up with before everyone realised that drunk driving is not a terribly good idea.

Re:Increase productivity??

[i.r.id10t]

Growers? You mean the cow farmers?

At this dose

[Anonymous Coward]

I should note for those unfamiliar that at these intended doses the effect is "something like caffeine", and doesn't produce hallucinations (unless you're doing it wrong).

Timothy Leary really is dead

[sharkette66]

Or he is really pissed off. He'd probably consider this drug abuse.

Re:Timothy Leary really is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

He's outside, looking in.

Re:Timothy Leary really is dead

[Zero__Kelvin]

"Or he is really pissed off. He'd probably consider this drug abuse."

I bet he could write a basic Slashdot post even if very high on LSD, Once he eventually realized you don't know what a subject line is for, he would laugh his off for quite some time at such a ludicrous act, and then he would read it in it's entirety: "Timothy Leary really is dead Or he is really pissed off. He'd probably consider this drug abuse.", and would just be baffled, asking himself? "Where the hell would this guy get that idea?

Obvious idea

[Geoffrey.landis]

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.

Re:Obvious idea

[Anonymous Coward]

"The problem with LSD use in the '50s and '60s ... "
Problem? What problem?

Re: Obvious idea

[ceoyoyo]

SSRIs, the same drugs that a large fraction of the general US population is on.

Re: Obvious idea

[dunkelfalke]

The idea is not to get more of the populace taking those - that would be insane - the idea is to medicate people who have an actual depression.

I take sertraline (just 25mg, that is half of the usual starting dosage) to medicate my double depression and so far it has been a great help. For the first time in two decades I feel even-tempered and more or less happy with my life. There are side effects, but it is absolutely worth it.

The SSRIs probably aren't the cause for shootings, the underlying depression, which apparently wasn't successfully treated is far more likely the cause.

Funny fact, I used to own firearms (for target shooting), but sold them years ago. Never had the urge to kill anybody but myself, though.

Re:Obvious idea

[aliquis]

"The problem with LSD use in the '50s and '60s ... "
Problem? What problem?

60s? What 60s?

Re: Obvious idea

[Anonymous Coward]

But the purpose of serotonin was only discovered after the LSD was found and their structural similarity was noticed. That meant a huge leap for psychiatric medication. We would still have many uses for LSD as a medicine in psychotherapy and a cure for alcoholism (and possibly for ADHD), but thanks to our beloved president Nixon who stopped the LSD-induced peace parades in order to go for Vietnam war, LSD was prohibited.

Re:Obvious idea

[hene]

Problem? What problem?

It was the cops that started all the problems..

Re:Obvious idea

[dsmatthews9379]

It is all in your mind, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm... Change your mind and save your money.

Microdosing?

[Crowd Computing]

So this is like homeopathic drugs where you get all the effects of getting high minus the hangover?

Re:Microdosing?

[Anonymous Coward]

no, lsd is active at this dose, but your not gettting high. 25ug of LSD feels a lot like a cup of coffee that last about 7 hr, with an added serotonergic anti-depressant like effect, it also prevent migraine for up to 2 weeks. According to the experiment I performed on my wife, 5-methoxy-methylisopropyltryptamineg is even better at killing and preventing migraine. A violent cluster headache accompanied by vomiting will be stopped in 5 minutes using 1.5mg sublingualy.

Now I understand

[Ol Olsoc]

How we got the Internet of Things.

Re:Now I understand

[nitehawk214]

I must have taken the wrong drugs, because all I see is the Internet of Colors.

Have sales persons done this for years?

[Coisiche]

This might just explain some of the product/service claims that sales persons tend to make.

The problem...

[i.r.id10t]

The problem I see with this - and base this statement on first hand experience - is that you either tend to be very distracted and always looking at the next thing, or you tend to be incredible focused on one single thing for a very long time.

Granted, dosing wasn't an exact science and far from measured, much less consistency of product between uses. And the only "micro" part of any dose I did was when a friend found some 15+ year old purple microdots when he was moving (they still worked, sorta... only had a couple and there were 4 or 5 of us sharing them and we all ended up adding some blotter to our systems to really get going)

Re:The problem...

[Jason Levine]

The problem I see with this - and base this statement on first hand experience - is that you either tend to be very distracted and always looking at the next thing, or you tend to be incredible focused on one single thing for a very long time.

My brain is like that already without any help from drugs! So does this mean I'm living a free, perpetual low-level acid trip?

Re:The problem...

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem I see with this - and base this statement on first hand experience - is that you either tend to be very distracted and always looking at the next thing, or you tend to be incredible focused on one single thing for a very long time.

That is why you need a good project manager.

OTOH, if you have a good project manager you won't end up in the bad crunch situations and won't need the drugs to begin with.

Re:The problem...

[flopsquad]

That is why you need a good project manager.

NEEDED: Project manager with 2+ years experience in mobile application development and 5+ years guiding psychedelic journeys. Strong Objective-C skills, CPR training, and soothing voice a plus. Job responsibilities include managing deadlines and freakouts. Applicants should include resume, cover letter, and a freehand sketch of a random design drawn while listening to a jam band.

Re:The problem...

[ArsonSmith]

Actually, yes. Most likely your brain makeup may be very similar to someone else's after a small dose.

Re:The problem...

[i.r.id10t]

Applicant should also have a large collection of Allman Brothers music in various digital formats...

I was beginning to wonder what is in the water

[Anonymous Coward]

This explains a lot. Tricking your brain doesn't make you more productive, it just makes you feel more productive. Step away from the keyboards, junkies.

Welp That explains a lot

[Casualposter]

Micro doses of potent drugs explains the whole concept of windows 8 and a lot of the invisible features of iphone operating systems. Yep - I've been wondering if they were on drugs as the current designs kinda look like it.

Or... just hear me out now...

[nitehawk214]

We could take a break when we hit a creative block.

Re:Or... just hear me out now...

[PCM2]

We could take a break when we hit a creative block.

Take that crap with you to Canada, you Commie.

Re:XXXXXX cures everything

[nitehawk214]

Double Porn cures everything?

Old News.

[0100010001010011]

Digging through older code the only logical conclusion I can reach is a lot of LSD must have been involved.

Reply All did a Podcast on this

[supremebob]

The Reply All podcast did an episode on this. One of the podcasters even went as far as microdosing himself to see if it really worked. It made for an interesting show:

https://gimletmedia.com/episod...

(I don't work for Gimlet. I just thought that it was a good episode.)

The MBA who thought he was God.

[BoRegardless]

Now I think I know what he was on. We knew he didn't know what he was talking about and he spewed out Death by PowerPoint that was so bad.

He had to have been on something like LSD to convince himself that he was so damn good, or a damned God.

Very short half life.

How do they measure the dosing?

[swb]

LSD doses at tripping strength are tiny by measurement standards. How are they cutting something measured in such tiny amounts with any accuracy? And how do they know the strength of their sources?

Re:How do they measure the dosing?

[zygotic mitosis]

Dissolve a tab in 1L water. Mix well. Pour 100 mL portions as needed

Re:How do they measure the dosing?

[clovis]

LSD doses at tripping strength are tiny by measurement standards. How are they cutting something measured in such tiny amounts with any accuracy? And how do they know the strength of their sources?

This, and also, we know how people are.
If they don't get that creative flash with 10 micrograms, they'll keep taking more throughout the day.
And then he's going to try to drive home.

Re:How do they measure the dosing?

[swb]

Because a "tab" is a known quantity?

Back in the day you kept track of the picture on the blotter because experience suggested that it might take 3 hits of "globe" to get the job done but if it was "orange sunshine" you really only needed one. And that windowpane? You either got nothing or you lost track of the next 36 hours completely.

Fixed dilution makes sense if you know what you're starting with, but my experience was you didn't really until you had sampled the batch a few times to figure it out.

I read of guys into powdered drugs with good lab skills who test and refine everything they buy so they can get the dose right, but that's almost practical with stuff dosed in the 10-20 mg range. At the microgram range? You'd need a decent starting quantity and a mass spectrometer.

Re:How do they measure the dosing?

[KingRatMass]

Do a google search for "chinacat crystal to blotter"... It will explain a lot of the methodology that was used years ago but it still applies today.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Sneeka2]

Whatever fancy term you call it, taking drugs at work doesn't sound like an entirely sane thing to do, and most certainly not a longterm solution to anything. Because you just know it will become somewhat compulsory once this new creativity becomes the new norm and you won't be able to keep up sober. Oh, Silly Cone Valley...

Re:What could possibly go wrong?

[messymerry]

Don't knock it 'till you've tried it...and penguins are the best...

Re:Simon & Garfunkel

[hackwrench]

And the leaves that are green turn to brown.

Feeling Groovy

Galifornia Dreaming - The Mamas and the Papas

Re:Anxiety management

[McGiraf]

Xanax and Valium are drugs....

Re:XXXXXX cures everything

[malditaenvidia]

This just in: snuff films are the cure for everything,

Re:XXXXXX cures everything

[flopsquad]

What is this double porn you speak of, and how can I get two of it!?

Re:Not stupid persons.

[hackwrench]

Eveerybody is stupid when it comes to a vast number of things. It's not sufficient to uncategorically say that a group of people aren't stupid when it comes to making a point. From my perspective your description of how addiction works is so lacking details and seeming to get some of the details it does present wrong to be completely useless. That goes for how overdoses happen as well.

If you're a $100k/yr engineer

[rsilvergun]

such things don't apply. In America we have a multi-tiered justice system. It's pretty well documented. Wealthy and educated people get treatment programs, while poor (and let's face it, black) people get jail. It's because what we're really using our drug policy for is to keep the poors in check. Think of it this way. If your poor chances are you or one of your friends is using drugs to cope with poverty. Now, our drug laws, in particular our asset forfeiture laws are basically guilt by association. Combine that with juries that are inherently conservative (since you generally have to be well off to be able to afford to server on a jury for any length of time).

So when poor people show up in wealthy neighborhoods they not only stick out like a swore thumb, but odds are good the cops can bust them for the drugs at least one of them is carrying. This keeps poor people out of wealthy school districts and parks, and lets the wealthy enjoy their (much, much better) public services.

Basically, our drug policy is central to maintaining our class divide...

Re:If you're a $100k/yr engineer

[siphonophore]

interesting...interesting.. [reads "..using drugs to cope with poverty.."]. oh, he's one of those. snooze. pass.

Re:If you're a $100k/yr engineer

[evilviper]

It's pretty well documented. Wealthy and educated people get treatment programs, while poor (and let's face it, black) people get jail. It's because what we're really using our drug policy for is to keep the poors in check.

What's even better documented is the fact poor black people get harsher sentences, because poor black people vote for politicians who advocate tougher sentences in their jurisdictions.

It's unfortunate, but it's caused by sociological factors, NOT a grand conspiracy by white people to keep black people down...

Re:If you're a $100k/yr engineer

[gzuckier]

such things don't apply. In America we have a multi-tiered justice system. It's pretty well documented. Wealthy and educated people get treatment programs, while poor (and let's face it, black) people get jail. It's because what we're really using our drug policy for is to keep the poors in check. Think of it this way. If your poor chances are you or one of your friends is using drugs to cope with poverty. Now, our drug laws, in particular our asset forfeiture laws are basically guilt by association. Combine that with juries that are inherently conservative (since you generally have to be well off to be able to afford to server on a jury for any length of time). So when poor people show up in wealthy neighborhoods they not only stick out like a swore thumb, but odds are good the cops can bust them for the drugs at least one of them is carrying. This keeps poor people out of wealthy school districts and parks, and lets the wealthy enjoy their (much, much better) public services. Basically, our drug policy is central to maintaining our class divide...

weirdly enough, lots of places the treatment programs are so booked up that you can't voluntarily put yourself in one, so you have to get arrested and assigned; but that's only if you're considered "likely to benefit".

There haven't been very many studies

[rsilvergun]

of the effects of most other recreational drugs. Congresses banned them ages ago to stifle debate on our drug policy.

If you want a good example of an "evil" drug that isn't look at Sly Stalone's Steroid use. Sure, it needs to be done under a doctor's supervision, but he's living the life of a man in his 30s while in his 60s. Meanwhile the rest of us pleebs can't get that because baseball and football have vilified the drug.

LSD does have benefits

[plopez]

It can help reduce prison recidivism. See http://www.psypost.org/2014/01...

The first studies on this were done in the 50's and 60's by Leary et. al. , who also pioneered the use of group therapy for prisoners.

It also seems to help alcoholics. If you google it up you will find that it has a huge potential for therapeutic use and Further research.

Despite growing evedence for useful applications of LSD it was banned in 1966 in a "Reefer Madness" like hysteria.

Re:LSD does have benefits

[plopez]

The therapeutic uses I heard of have always coupled it with therapy in a group guided by an experienced professional.

Re:LSD does have benefits

[umafuckit]

I could definitely see this working. The goal would be to integrate a positive/illuminating experience into your life. Without that it will fade. I had a very powerful experience only last weekend on mushrooms. I was very shaken (in a good way) at the time and felt that my life would be forever changed afterwards. Even the next day that feeling was totally gone. Like it never happened.

Re:LSD does have benefits

[tehcyder]

The therapeutic uses I heard of have always coupled it with therapy in a group guided by an experienced professional.

Fascist!

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Re:LDS

[PPH]

you diseased weak minded truth hating freaks

I think that's a big yes on the adverse psychological effects.

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Re:and using these drugs helps criminals.

[Errol backfiring]

..., and using these drugs helps criminals.

On the contrary. Making these drugs illegal helps the criminals. If you could buy these drugs in the supermarket (like that other drug, alcohol), no criminal would be interested.

The light that burns twice as bright ..

[nickweller]

The effects of long term use most probably lead to a decrease in mental acclivity, a bit like burning a candle at both ends . "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

Cluster Headaches?????

[Malc]

Is there something special about Silicon Valley professionals that cause the incidence of cluster headaches to be much higher than than in the general population (to the point it's mentioned in the story)? According to Wikipedia at least, 0.2% of people suffer from cluster headaches, which seems pretty infrequent. Compare with migraines for instance, which affect 15% (19% of men), which I don't see too many people getting on a daily basis (my wife suffers, and at one migraine every 1-2 months it's difficult to remember when one caused serious disruption, but then again she's Aussie and thus tougher than most Silicon Valley professional :P ).

Re:Cluster Headaches?????

[i.r.id10t]

Cluster headaches are kinda weird. Some of them just happen, some of them have triggers. A friend of mine suffers from them... triggers for him include various nitrates/nitrites used in preserving food (no pickles, commercial jerky, etc), MSG and other "flavor enhancers", chocolate, alcohol, and the bad part for him most narcotics. When he gets on a hard cycle of them, sometimes the only thing he can do is get to an ER and a doc who is willing to give him a massive dose of demerol - enough to keep him out for 6-8 hours, or enough time to break the headache cycle *and* the headache the narcs give him.

Re: Cluster Headaches?????

[Malc]

Yeah they sound horrible. Never met anybody who gets them though.

Re:Cluster Headaches?????

[i.r.id10t]

Yup. Only non-drug treatment that worked was electrical implants for stimulation. Unfortunately, the "temporary" implants worked and were paid for by insurance, but insurance won't pay for the long-term ones, and private pay would be about what a new car costs...

Re:Cluster Headaches?????

[Zeroko]

I am not a medical doctor of any sort, but that sounds almost like phenol intolerance. Has he ever tried either taking a bath with epsom salt or eating some egg yolk when he gets a headache? (Both act via sulfur compounds, which can counteract the effect of phenol intolerance, or at least helped for someone I know who gets headaches from similar sorts of things. Much moreso the salt bath, but egg yolk might be worth testing as it would be more portable...just make sure it is just yolk, since the white has the opposite effect (makes it worse).)

Francis Crick may have done the same thing

[TarPitt]

There is some evidence that he was taking small doses of LSD for this purpose when he helped uncover the double helix structure of DNA: NY Times and Reddit discussion

Re:Francis Crick may have done the same thing

[umafuckit]

So, the illicit LCD use explains why he broke into Rosalind Franklin's lab and stole her research results that were critical for his insights?

You clearly don't know your history, nor have you read the article you link to. Crick and Watson didn't "break into her lab." She was working in Maurice Wilkins' lab. She had a bad relationship with Wilkins and Wilkins showed some of her results to Crick and Watson without her permission. Crick and Watson made their first model based on a talk she gave, but the model was incorrect because Watson misremembered the water content of the sample from the talk. Also, Franklin was resistant to the idea of a helix and so was barking up the wrong tree.

If you can't afford a lawyer

[dlenmn]

That would be sound advice if he had an actual lawyer who knew that his ownership of a lockpick wasn't illegal. Instead, he only had an overburdened public defender who didn't know better. I wouldn't blame fightermagethief if he didn't break the law.

Re: Too much money

[PopeRatzo]

Just to keep you happy, let's assume while doing all this they wore Pabst Blue Ribbon ball caps and/or tee shirts.

Meshback trucker caps just to be "ironic".

Some of the great ideas while programming on LSD..

[raftpeople]

What if the cursor for my app was a dragon? And as you completed work on the screen it got bigger...it could use flames out of it's mouth to delete files...this is going to be awesome.

Placebo

[umafuckit]

I've seen no evidence so far that these claims of positive effects (which are notable by their suspiciously wide variety) aren't just placebo. I like experimenting occasionally with psychedelics and have 10 blotters of 1p LSD waiting for the right moment, but I think it's not helpful to anyone when people make unsubstantiated claims of positive effects about psychedelic substances (and weed). It just makes the community appear eccentric and non-critical.

Re:Placebo

[umafuckit]

Of course, it's in the freezer in a small air-tight sachet. IIRC, once you've ruled out light it's exposure to oxygen that's the main issue. The gas in the original vials from Sandoz was pure nitrogen and were supposed to have a very long shelf life. Anecdotally, I've heard that blotter can last for years in the freezer. I'm curious if this is true, because if so I may stock up on the 1p LSD before it gets banned.

Re:Placebo

[KingRatMass]

Blotter is not a good way to store LSD long term, regardless of environmental conditions. In distilled water or crystal form can both be stored for decades if kept away from light, heat and oxygen. Erowid has a story of a qualitative bio-assay of some Sandoz that was synthesized in the 50's and there was no apparent degradation during the 50+ years of storage. The product was stored in crystal form. There are rumors that several storage vaults were established to keep Owsley's product long term... These stashes were allegedly opened after his death and again this past summer for the GD50 events. It's also been said that The Family keep their product stored for several years and doesn't cook constantly, to avoid busts.

Re:Placebo

[umafuckit]

Thanks for the info. You can buy 1p LSD in both a dropper bottle and as power so I am interested in knowing which is going to be the most stable, should I choose to make the investment in a larger purchase. The issue with the Sandoz story you cite is that Sandoz made their vials in an inert atmosphere, so it could be that it isn't dissolving the LSD that leads to the improved preservation but the lack of oxygen. Blotter has a high surface area, so maybe that's what drive a higher degradation rate.

Re:Placebo

[KingRatMass]

1p appears to be a modern variant of ALD52... just a different N1 substitution. So it should be fairly stable.

I typed my last message faster than my brain could think... I meant to say alcohol or crystal. Must be all the lost brain cells from the years of LSD usage.

Re:Placebo

[umafuckit]

Ah, alcohol... What concentration?

The thing is that everyone seems to say different things about stability. this page suggests that when not in solution it's more stable. There's a guy here saying that storage in ethanol causes loss of potency. Here it's recommended to keep it dry and same here, but they're clearly having blotter in mind. This one says it's very unstable as blotter but can be kept in aqueous with preservatives.

Haven't really tried the 1P yet. Did a 50 mic test dose about 6 weeks ago and not much happened. Last week was a very intense mushroom trip, so I'm going to stay sober for at least 4 weeks or so before going for the 1P.

Re:Placebo

[KingRatMass]

Everclear... 190 proof if available, 151 if not. The problem with H2O versus ETOH is the amount of dissolved oxygen. DO increases at temperature decreases. So that plays a factor in long term cold storage. Here's a link to a story of someone claiming to do a layup of some Tornado Juice.... If the stories are correct, that TJ has sat for a VERY long time... Maybe 20 years.

Good luck with the qualitative bioassay... Remember, if you get confused, just listen to the music play.

To the Elders... Thank You... For a Real Good Time!

LSD says "That's RIGHT!" Judgement is what's lost

[Anonymous Coward]

... self-reported results have little credibility ... and those of psychoactive substance use are particularly suspect. ... neither productivity nor creativity gains, even if real, are worth much unless accompanied by good judgement.

And LSD (especially if combined with a stimulant, such as caffeine) is particularly problematic in this respect.

One of its effects is to make the detection of patterns much more pronounced - both conceptually and perceptually.

Thus you may see things that might be there but below threshold, or might be illusionary - such as "trailers" (the perceptual blur behind a moving object from visual persistence, the origin of the "speed lines" drawing convention), the radial lines of light from the gap between a window shade and the window edge projected on the ceiling, the roughness of the ceiling's plasterwork, "auras" (halo-like visual artifacts around objects, especially those for which the brain has special recognition processors, such as people). You see them greatly exaggerated (ceiling roughness looking like it's six inches deep, in necker-cube alternation with rays from the window/shade gap exaggerated to Japanese sunburst-flag contrast levels, auras exaggerated to the visibility of those in religious artworks). You see artifacts WITHIN artifacts, perhaps to several levels (auras with several levels of structure - almost fractal, symmetric patterns elaborated into "mandalas", like Tibetan meditation-focus artwork). You notice things around you that you would normally filter out (animal behavior, plant structure, ...)

Conceptually it works similarly. Weak connections become glaring. Connections between these newly-noticed connections also become noticable, perhaps to several levels of elaboration. Trains of thought chug away for hours, past many switches and crossings, into lands you've never visited, arriving at odd destinations by routes that seem plausible at every step. This may lead you to some valid concept or relation that you would otherwise have missed, and thus actually contribute to creativity.

IF it's REAL.

As with its formalism, the Scientific Method, Half of creativity is finding apparent connections. The other half is sorting out the real ones from the flood of bogus ones that seem plausible but don't apply to the real world, or are just flat-out wrong.

Unfortunately, one of the mechanisms that is affected is the part of the mind that sorts out the real from the bogus. It gets stuck on "That's RIGHT!" Everything you come up with is not just passed, but flagged as brilliant. Handy for folowing a train of thought into strange and wonderful new countries, by not rejecting the path less traveled. Terrible, at least for techies trying to come up with working software, if the second bridge is out, or the third tunnel leaves the real world, and your train of thought takes you several stages into Oz or Never-Never land. (Which, by the way, may be just FINE for fantasy authors.)

Your bullsh*t detector gets stuck on "smells like roses". If you don't get it sorted out as you come down (and the detector starts working a little bit), you may internalize the bogosity you experienced, incorporating it into your mind's idea structure. Do this a lot and you might become the kind of "genius" that nobody understands, not because "their ideas are too complex for ordinary minds to comprehend", but because they've gone loony.

Think of the major figures in the early years of LSD use, some of them certified geniuses when they started, and how they progressively drifted away from conventional rationality into mysticism, and compare it with the above description of the drug's effects.

Now maybe tiny doses of LSD can enable the connection-finding without smashing the bull detector, and actually result in a useful mind enhancement. (That's what they WERE looking for, and why the drugs were labelled "Psychedelic" - mind-expanding - in the first place.) But, IMHO, if there's one drug in existence that is subject to systematic errors in self-perception and errors of judgement, LSD is it.

LSD? Silicon Valley?

[LynnwoodRooster]

That explains a lot about the recent trends in UIs...

Permanent brain rewiring

[kheldan]

Never tried LSD, not 100% sure anyone I've known actually did either, but I remember being told that with some people it can do some permanent rewiring of their brain, even after only one use -- and that the 'rewiring' may not be something you wanted. If true, then they're taking an awfully bad risk screwing around with this stuff.

Re:Permanent brain rewiring

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not going to "rewire" your neurons in one night. On the other hand, you may "see", which is to say "know" things about the world that can't be "unseen" afterwards.

Daily Scrums

[avandesande]

Must be a hoot!

Not At All Surprising

[0xG]

I remeber reading - decades ago - how the US Military (some division or other) was researching drugs that would increase human intelligence - if only for a short while. No doubt that work continued. One of the most promising was "Lysergine", which is (I believe) a chemical percussor to (or derivative of) LSD.

Let freedoms ring

[mi]

Self destructive actions of an individual negatively affect society

Examples?

your freedom ends when it negatively affects others.

False. My calling you names or otherwise being offensive (including, gasp, making racist and sexist statements), for example, however negatively it might affect you and millions of others, does not end my freedom of speech.

Re:Let freedoms ring

[xvan]

Obviously you have not heard about cyberbulling Legisltion.

Re:Let freedoms ring

[mi]

Obviously you have not heard about cyberbulling Legisltion.

I have — and do hope, some day it will reach the Supreme Court...

Re:Let freedoms ring

[tehcyder]

your freedom ends when it negatively affects others.

False. My calling you names or otherwise being offensive (including, gasp, making racist and sexist statements), for example, however negatively it might affect you and millions of others, does not end my freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech is a separate issue, although even in countries with near-total freedom of speech like the US you can (rightly) be sued for slander/libel.

We are talking about things like the "freedom" to drink drive and kill someone.

Limitless

[cstacy]

There's a new TV show this season that is all about a smart pill.

One of what?

[rsilvergun]

seriously. Did it ever occur to you that one of the main reasons people are poor (and stay poor) is grappling with mental illness? When you're wealthy you take drugs under supervision of a doctor. When your poor you take what you can get and hope for the best.

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Re:and using these drugs helps criminals.

[kenai_alpenglow]

Glad to know all those folks bootlegging cigarettes aren't criminals...Oh, and those Ohio folks crossing into Richmond, IN to get cheaper booze no longer have to be worried about getting picked up. If you have an artificial difference in price, there will be those who exploit it--doesn't matter if it's considered criminal or not. You just end up with a different...ahem..."methods of commerce".

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And the sky is gray

[Gazzonyx]

Greetings from the Great North (that is, West St. Paul). I can confirm we've got the same here and at the office in Minneapolis. See you again in 6 months or randomly in an underground tunnel/walkway in the Cities.

Re:LSD says "That's RIGHT!" Judgement is what's lo

[Rob Lister]

If I had any mod points I'd up you one, AC. That's a very good description of the effect. In my youth I used to use monthly or so. I can honestly say I never had a bad trip. It was always fun. I certainly do not regret it. But I never did anything productive on it. Certainly nothing the later sober me would consider worthy.

I don't know what a micro dose would do but I suspect it would just piss me off.

It's not true that this is not supported

[ToddInSF]

by research.

Psilocybin, the active ingredient in mushrooms, has been proven in studies to reverse neural damage.

The effects have been known by researchers around the world, literally, for decades.

Re:LDS

[gzuckier]

> Not supported by scientific research

Since fucking when has THAT mattered to you diseased weak minded truth hating freaks?

why you guys hating on the mormons?

Re: Too much money

[gzuckier]

Just to keep you happy, let's assume while doing all this they wore Pabst Blue Ribbon ball caps and/or tee shirts.

Meshback trucker caps just to be "ironic".

i just want to point out that meshback sounds like an arabic word, so you're probably some sort of terrorist.

Re:XXXXXX cures everything

[gzuckier]

Double Porn cures everything?

no, silly, he means Vin Diesel Vin Diesel.

Re:Anxiety management

[gzuckier]

Xanax and Valium are drugs....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Not to change the subject

[gzuckier]

but how are any of these "related links", as billed at the bottom of the page?
Gunmen Kill 12, Wound 7 At French Magazine HQ
10 Confirmed Dead In Shooting at Oregon's Umpqua Community College
Los Angeles Raises Minimum Wage To $15 an Hour
How To Execute People In the 21st Century
Writer: "Why I Defaulted On My Student Loans"

Re: Simon & Garfunkel

[amalcolm]

Some of my best friends are lampposts, you insensitive clod!

Re:XXXXXX cures everything

[nitehawk214]

Two of doubleporn would be XXXXXXXXXXXX, or X^12.

Someone is trying to slip in some propoganda

[beastofburdon]

That said, it's important to note that such benefits are not supported by scientific research — yet.

Where did this come from? It is not in any of the links, nor is it even implied in them.

Also, it is very far from the truth. There have been several studies which have shown that LSD and psilocybin can treat depression quite well, and they can even eliminate cluster headaches.