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California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

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Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#131
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microdosing is the homeopathy of psychedelics. Despite being a meme for years now there has been approximately one blind study, and that one done by an amateur, gwern: https://www.gwern.net/LSD-microdosing tl;dr it's bogus. Lots of anecdotal reports of its efficacy though, but again, why don't these amateur recreational users blind their doses? They're prone to placebo otherwise.

Even 0.1 g of psilocybin mushrooms is enough for me to notice changes in consciousness / perception / bodily sesnsations. I and plenty others consider it a micro dose but it is definitely a sub-tripping dose (you need 1 or 2 g for that usually). Granted, there is confusion over terminology here but _small amounts_ ie. sub-balls-to-the-walls-tripping-with-visuals of psychedelics can definitely be helpful and contribut…

> can definitely be helpful and contribute to increased well being, concentration, problem solving, energy, mood, etc.

Why would nature not have us operate at peak efficiency with regards to problem solving, unless there was a side effect. I'm very interested in micro dosing, and nootropics, but I would have to think there is a downside.

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#132
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even 0.1 g of psilocybin mushrooms is enough for me to notice changes in consciousness / perception / bodily sesnsations. I and plenty others consider it a micro dose but it is definitely a sub-tripping dose (you need 1 or 2 g for that usually). Granted, there is confusion over terminology here but _small amounts_ ie. sub-balls-to-the-walls-tripping-with-visuals of psychedelics can definitely be helpful and contribut…

> can definitely be helpful and contribute to increased well being, concentration, problem solving, energy, mood, etc. Why would nature not have us operate at peak efficiency with regards to problem solving, unless there was a side effect. I'm very interested in micro dosing, and nootropics, but I would have to think there is a downside.

Being (too) high 24/7 likely has downsides in the long term but as with any exercise it's possible you can improve your performance without downsides if you have adequate rest and recovery.

There are things that are not on by default within us humans. These came to mind quickly:

For example modulating your breath (deep slow breathing) can give your consciousness a boost or help induce relaxtion.

Meditation exercises or when you calm down to slow breathing and pay attention to sensations and thoughts has been shown to modify brain matter [0], and according to eastern scriptures and personal experience, increases awareness.

Touching the roof of your mouth with your tongue (taoist technique to connect the two main channels) has been shown to boost performance. [1]

Ymmv but long term daily use may contribute to increased sensitivity to emotions and have you be 'way out there, mayne' a bit too much. Not very scientific, I know.

[0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/ [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3940506/

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#133
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even 0.1 g of psilocybin mushrooms is enough for me to notice changes in consciousness / perception / bodily sesnsations. I and plenty others consider it a micro dose but it is definitely a sub-tripping dose (you need 1 or 2 g for that usually). Granted, there is confusion over terminology here but _small amounts_ ie. sub-balls-to-the-walls-tripping-with-visuals of psychedelics can definitely be helpful and contribut…

> can definitely be helpful and contribute to increased well being, concentration, problem solving, energy, mood, etc. Why would nature not have us operate at peak efficiency with regards to problem solving, unless there was a side effect. I'm very interested in micro dosing, and nootropics, but I would have to think there is a downside.

This is due to 'least-necessary-energy-required' principle that all living organisms employ in one way or another. Hard lessons from long evolution I presume. It's not that rare in wild nature to die from starvation, so why burn through your reserves unless its life-or-death scenario.

Peak performance is taxing, just look at how our bodies react to stress/threat which mobilizes whole body.

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#134
post #87
post #6

You can currently buy psychoactive mushrooms in stores in The Netherlands. Buying mushrooms illegally from a legit dealer in the US means making sure they have several uniform bags of the product. You want to make sure they're grown safely in a lab or farm. There are too many people who will go out and just pick mushrooms, which is incredibly unsafe. Unless you're an actual mycologist, it's difficult to tell what's s…

> You can currently buy psychoactive mushrooms in stores in The Netherlands. No you can't (anymore). They are illegal since 2008. I remember when they became illegal since me and my friends used to experiment with them, but a few unfortunate accidents/deaths involving tourists combining them with other (illegal) drugs lead to their prohibition. * * https://www.drugsenuitgaan.nl/hulp-en-advies/veel-gestelde-v...

I remember when they were banned in the UK - wanted to try them that weekend (had tickets for Black Sabbath) but they couldn't be had at any money the last few days

Seems weird that some drugs and some countries are moving away from legalisation but it's got to be evidence based imo

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because there aren't studies on something does not mean it is not true. Science lags, and citizen scientists are left to explore and confer with each other to find what works and what does not. It is ignorant to ignore and belittle the progress in many fields that occurs before it is formally verified.

A classic research paper illustrating your point: http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459

Love this study, thanks for reminding me that there are no randomised controlled trials of people using parachutes when they jump out of planes. I guess everyone should stop using parachutes then...

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope they don't. It's much easier to kill yourself and others by home distilling than by taking shrooms.

Why, because fires? But people who are interested in home distilling are already doing it. I don't believe significantly more people would start distilling at home because it's pretty costly and it's much easier just to buy hard liquor. Admittedly, I don't know the numbers on how many fires are started by distilling every year. Regardless, you can legally distill for fuel purposes, which tells me that the government…

> I don't believe significantly more people would start distilling at home because it's pretty costly

what is costly here - water, sugar or yeast? or 4 typical cooking pots needed to perform actual distillation? (an old USSR way where non-government distillation was illegal, and thus you couldn't have at home any special hardware for distillation :)

>and it's much easier just to buy hard liquor.

completely agree. Back in the USSR it was done only because where was an issue with getting the liquor - not available and/or government would price it too high. (Because of tight availability and high price the hard liquor - a bottle of vodka - was basically "liquid money/gold" widely used as payment/barter for various services/goods.)

>If you mean that people are going to go blind, well that doesn't happen unless you adulterate your own moonshine with industrial methanol, which would be idiotic.

unfortunately happened a lot during the USSR "almost Prohibition" in the mid 198x. Methanol, insecticide, whatever other killer chemicals - just to increase the "kick" per given volume - really reminds the today's situation with added fentanyl in heroin in US. That craziness was pretty much gone once the "almost Prohibition" was lifted.

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can currently buy psychoactive mushrooms in stores in The Netherlands. Unless something has changed within the last year, this is no longer the case (in Amsterdam at least). They do sell something called "Magic Truffles" but AFAIK they're no where near as potent. It was possible to buy mushrooms there until a few years back but apparently it was putting stress on paramedics and police due to "drug tourists" havin…

You can still buy those growboxes though. Just-add-water mushrooms :)

Where?

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#138

Sensible Move - Magic Mushrooms are a truly wonderful very safe natural drug which does not harm others, like violence inducing Alcohol. Some suffer bad trips especially Women, but like a bad dream soon passes, with no harm done. One positive of the damp weather in Wales UK is abundant Magic Mushrooms in the Welsh Valleys in September to October. I took tens of thousands age 17 to 21 then grew out of them, fond memor…

Citation needed on women suffering more "bad trips" than men.

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean I was pretty happy out here in San Francisco but you might pull me in with this one

Well, then, here’s some more: if you have some free time, you can make that truck pay for itself plowing parking lots. Lots of friends of mine with 4x4s did that when we lived in Indiana. Might not pay for the truck, but it was reported that it easily paid for the plow and hydraulics in one winter.

I bet it’s really satisfying too, like those videos of people power-washing dirty sidewalks.

Re: California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference of effect of LSD and magic mushrooms is not very large. Classic psychedelics have a lot in common, the differences are mere nuances.

Have you experienced this first hand? For me, mushrooms are either on or off. From what I know about LSD dosage (I haven't taken it) is that it's much more variable.

Do you mean that they either work or don't?

I mean the Psilocybin content can vary depending on how the mushroom grew and was stored and deteriorate over time.

Whereas with LSD, even when the tabs are weak, there is at least something on there, at least that'd be my explanation.

My experiences are several years in the past, so memory is hazy, but LSD always felt 'sharper' with fractal like infinite details on textures and the like. Mushrooms on the other hand felt more 'organic', but the head space was quite similar.

I tried microcoding with mushrooms once and I think the effects were similar as to what people are describing with LSD microcoding.

However the whole microcoding seems to edge between placebo and real response, almost by definition.

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