Last Week in Psychedelic Sundays

The infinite vibratory levels, the dimensions of interconnectedness are without end. There is nothing independent. All beings and things are residents in your awareness. -Alex Grey

In this post, I will share with you some of what I found on my neverending journey through the psychedelic digital jungle of interesting articles, podcasts, and studies that I have found.

Taking a Deep Look at Psilocybin for Depression Research

Even though psilocybin-assisted therapy is working for people in initial studies, it’s often not a permanent fix. Watts says many people from her trial have found that their depression symptoms come back after a few months. However, when I ask her about this, and about the potential future of legal mushrooms for depression therapy, she’s hopeful folks will have more options, including opportunities to do psilocybin sessions once every few months or so. She also adds that she thinks there’s lots of room to develop integration practices for more long-term depression relief, which could include integration groups that go out and do meaningful activities together, like planting trees.

Ayahuasca, Depression and Me

I turned to ayahuasca: the spirit vine. Now, I’ve had transformational experiences with LSD and psilocybin, but that was back in the day in the l970s and 1980s, long before the availability of guides and integration circles. I gleaned valuable insights from psychedelics and never felt the need to explore them again. But I had never done ayahuasca. Nor did I have any desire to do so. In fact, when I found out that there was a retreat center just fifteen minutes away from our town in southern Europe, I was petrified at the prospect of participating in an ayahuasca session. In my extremely fragile state of mind, I thought I might die or go insane. At the very least, a giant anaconda would emerge from the jungle and devour me whole. Julie insisted. “I can’t go on living with you like this. You have to go.” So, I set my intention “to heal” and faithfully followed “la dieta” (the recommended restrictions on food, drink, and sex) for a week.

Meet 5-MeO-DMT, the 'powerful' psychedelic that improves depression in one hour

A new, powerful — yet still relatively rare — hallucinogen called 5-MeO-DMT has made its way into United States psychedelic circles, and research is backing its use as an effective treatment for certain mental health conditions. Said to be up to six-times more intense than it's sensationalized cousin DMT, researchers have found strong evidence to suggest that 5-MeO-DMT could be used to treat anxiety, depression, and addiction more efficiently than psilocybin.

Why ketamine is so good against depression

Ketamine was initially developed as an anesthetic for the battlefield, operating rooms, and veterinary practices. In rave culture, it is a popular recreational drug. But, somewhat recently, scientists have found that it can be used as a very potent therapeutic drug for treating depression — often easing symptoms when no other therapy works.

What is Psychedelic Microdosing?

Psychedelic microdosing is a practice that involves taking sub-threshold and sub-perceptual doses of psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin or N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in the pursuit of improving well-being and productivity. Sub-perceptual, in this case, refers to the fact that the effects of the drug are subtle but have an influence on some aspects of your cognition.

Explorer’s Guide: Microdosing Psilocybin Magic Truffles

Contents: What Is A Microdose? | Benefits | Negative Effects | Short Term vs. Long Term | Psilocybin vs. LSD | Microdosing Psilocybin | How Much Is A Microdose? | Finding Your Sweet Spot | Microdose schedule | Tolerance Buildup | When & How | Drying & Storing Truffles | Self Blinding Study

A Guide to Taking Ecstasy as Safely as Possible

There are typically two main factors to consider when looking at the contents of an ecstasy pill: purity and dose. Purity essentially refers to how much of your pill is actually MDMA (the active ingredient) and how much of it is something else—whether that be an innocuous cutting agent, a toxic contaminant, or some chemical that's a bit like MDMA but cheaper and/or more readily available. Dose refers to how potent the pill is, and thus determines how intense its effects are going to be. It’s the dose that makes the poison, according to an age-old adage of toxicology—which is to say that while cyanide can be harmless at small enough doses, even water can be poisonous if consumed in excess. It all depends on how much you’re having.

Santa Cruz Will Consider Decriminalizing Psychedelics This Week

“Plants and fungi with psychedelic properties have been used for thousands of years by indigenous communities for spiritual and medical practices and many are considered illegal in our country,” Cummings told Marijuana Moment in an email. “As we begin to better understand the health benefits of these plants and fungi, we need to not treat the people who use and research these plants and fungi as criminals, and lower barriers for research, clinical treatment, and personal.”

What’s Lost When Psychedelic Mushrooms Become Synthetic Psilocybin

For research in the United States, volunteers typically get the synthetic version of psychedelics. Does that matter?

Paul Stamets Announces Launch of First-Ever Mobile Microdosing Study

On Friday, November 15, renowned mycologist Paul Stamets announced the launch of the world’s first mobile microdosing study on the Joe Rogan podcast. In collaboration with MAPS Canada, the BC Centre on Substance Use, and Quantified Citizen, Dr. Zachary Walsh is conducting the study. Results will help researchers better understand the effects of microdosing psychedelics on cognitive performance and mental health.