We know one or two who have also used Hawaiian baby woodrose seeds to get high on LSA, but we don't know anything about the preparation thereof.

How stupid were you? Certainly enough to make yourselves sick off some seeds from the internet.

More then that who's being asked who's asking AND how something is asked can change a poll. You could write questions down and expect the same answers from anyone that reads it vs reading it to them as in that case the answer can charge based on how you ask it and even based on where you put emphasis on different words which can change how someone interprets the question.

There’s a lack of research on psychedelics and mental illness, and even less understanding of their interactions with drugs like SSRIs etc.

But there’s a vested interested in psych use to improve mental health, thus how do you provide advice while also being cautious of the potential for aggravation of any mental illness? Or do you caution against trying them at all?

I have dabbled in the mixing of psychs with SSRIs, more for curiosity, and haven’t had issues. I was lucky to have experienced friends that offered what they knew, but it’s still always a gamble.

There hasn't been anywhere near as much as research into this as there should be. This is a bummer, as many people are interested in taking psychedelics to alleviate mental health issues which they currently take psychiatric medications for.

The task of studying contraindications between psychedelics and mental health conditions is mind-bogglingly complex given the number of combinations possible, and we've yet to find a truly definitive guide to what we know thus far.

Here's one table we've found about combining antidepressants with psychedelics, though it doesn't include lithium specifically.

As to what's happening to your brain on lithium and psychedelics, it comes down to the specific psychedelic and your specific brain, which even a trained expert would not be able to fully determine or predict.

That said, if you have had negative experiences taking psychedelics on lithium, it's probably a good idea to avoid doing so in the future: your brain could be trying to send you a message, and it's a good idea to listen when that happens.

Ibogaine is unfortunately classified as a schedule 1 substance in the US, despite its promising clinical applications. Wikipedia has a great chart showing its status by country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_ibogaine_by_country

Two cautionary notes when seeking ibogaine: it is one of the riskier psychedelics to take, especially if there are underlying cardiac conditions - though the clinical research is not as robust yet as with some other compounds. We recommend that it is only done with careful consultation with your physician and a clear-eyed view of the personal health risks.

We would also recommend confirming that the sourcing of the iboga is done in an environmentally sustainable way, as increasing mainstream demand for ibogaine has resulted in unfettered deforestation that threatens the long term viability of ibogaine as a treatment option. More on conservation efforts here: https://chacruna.net/iboga_conservation/

Friend years ago got Hawaiian baby Woodrow seeds off the internet to try LSA. Pretty sure that’s the right name. We had to burn the hairs off them or something like that and eat them. Never been so sick but obviously survived. What did we do wrong and just how stupid were we?

We've seen some of the reports you mention, and to our understanding, the research is still too new and ongoing to be conclusive.

Microdosing exploded in popularity during COVID lockdown and there are more people doing it than ever before, so we're very curious to see if this could ultimately lead to larger sample sizes for microdosing research and/or more people who'd be willing to take place in microdosing studies, should the funding and interest become available to do more investigation.

Hi ! Has their been much research into psychedelics and the negative medication combinations? I’ve experienced rather negative trips whilst on lithium, unfortunately their wasn’t much or any information on this matter before I experienced it for my self. What exactly is happening to my brain whilst on lithium and taking psychedelics?

It should also be noted that some licensed mental health providers are offering psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy under the table, which is not great given that many of them have no training in this whatsoever. Even those who have received training in underground psychedelic therapy programs often have no idea how to source safely, as this horror story can attest.

It's mixed. We feel many ways about this.

On the one hand, everyone and their mom wants psychedelic therapy right now, but capacity in clinical trials is low, which means many people who could benefit from psychedelic-assisted treatment or the therapeutic support of a clinical trial can't get it. In this situation, taking psychedelics on your own and working with an integration coach could be the best option that's available for people who are going to do it no matter what, and can theoretically be beneficial. That said, we've also heard stories of this route going poorly for people, so it's not the best option by far and really comes down to the individual providing the service.

On the other hand, a lack of regulation isn't great when we're talking about the hearts and minds of people who are suffering. If you're gonna look for someone to do psychedelic integration work with, we'd recommend going through a licensed therapist who at least has *some* training and experience working with clients, whether or not that training covered psychedelics.

I'm currently experimenting with psilocybin microdosing to treat depression and anhedonia.

When I started this, there seemed to be early results that supported the idea. Small samples, a lot of anecdotal information. Not much peer reviewed material, but very encouraging all the same.

Since then, I've seen other reports that any beneficial effect might just be the placebo or expectancy effects at work.

So, what's the current understanding in the scientific community? Has it reached a consensus either way?

Is ibogaine treatments legal in the US and if so do you have any resources on finding someplace that offers it?

Early psychedelic researchers in the 1950's and 60's found LSD helpful in the treatment of alcoholism, and Bill Wilson (founder of Alcoholics Anonymous) had his own experiences with psychedelics which led him to the opinion that they were helpful in treating addiction.

Many mental health professionals today view addiction through the lens of trauma, which often an underlying factor in substance use disorders, and using psychedelics in a therapeutic setting can help treat some of these underlying issues.

For treating opioid addiction specifically, a psychedelic called ibogaine has shown a lot of promise. We know a couple people who have maintained long-term recovery after ibogaine treatment. Ibogaine has to be taken under medical supervision and is thus not cheap, but it seems to be the "magic bullet" for some people.

How do you feel about the numerous trip guidance providers that are popping up in countries where this is not regulated, such as Canada and The Netherlands? They do not provide licensed therapy but advertise and profile themselves as able to assist with various anxieties, fobia, addictions, and self exploration. How does this impact legitimate clinical studies and future therapeutic professionals?

The major issue here with this last method is that you still have to source your own psychedelics through unregulated underground markets, which can lead to all kinds of issues with adulteration and misrepresentation. This isn't really an issue for whole psilocybin-containing mushrooms, but when you get into the realm of pressed pills or bags of off-white powders, things get more risky.

To help people navigate underground markets as safely as possible, we made a resource called Dealing With Your Dealer which you can download for free.

We also recommend testing your drugs using chemical reagents and fentanyl strips.

These methods used together are fairly accessible for most people, but they can't catch all adulterants, so if you have $100-150 to spend in the name of safety, we also recommend using a laboratory service like DrugsData.org , energycontrol-international.org , or GetYourDrugsTested.com (depending on where you live). This is the only way to guarantee you know what you have and can make an informed choice about whether you want to take it.

What are your opinions on using psychedelics to treat substance use disorders, specifically opiates?

If being our geeky selves can be of service to the community, bring it on.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is still illegal in the US, with the exception of ketamine therapy in some places.

Finding ketamine therapy in your area can be a simple as a Google search. Bigger cities are more likely to have ketamine clinics if they're legal in your state.

Until psychedelic-assisted therapy becomes legal, the next-best option which many people use is to use psychedelics on their own, and work with a psychedelic integration therapist to plan their journey beforehand and make sense of what came up during their journey afterwards. The Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies has a list of integration therapists HERE.

Mental health professional who works with psychedelics will tell you that it's usually not what comes up during the session that leads to healing, but rather, what you do with it afterwards that has the lasting benefit, so this option is actually pretty good for a lot of people.

Go be fair, open source software is increasingly becoming compromised. Some of the modern attacks would not stand against election systems, like someone taking over an old domain that didn’t get paid for so they can get someone’s custom email so they can reset the password to an account that owns a repo. Or someone making a pull request with a bug fix and also oh ya here’s a little call out to a C2 server.

It's been a few years since the NAS published "Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy" which does mention RLAs; has anything changed to make RLAs more immediately compelling? Do you have any other commentary on that document, and/or how it should be updated?

Happy to help! That's why we came back for another round - there are just so many questions, especially as psychedelics have been moving more into the mainstream.

Our masterclass is available on our website, which we update quarterly with new research and resources: https://www.psychedelicsafetyalliance.org/courses

We've also got an email list we regularly send out resources to: https://www.psychedelicsafetyalliance.org/f/psychedelic-safety-resources

Regarding legalization, it is our sincere hope that our country will continue to move in that direction. The recent announcement by the Biden administration formally announcing the failure of the policies around marijuana was an exciting step in the right direction: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/06/statement-from-president-biden-on-marijuana-reform/

The FDA's incremental progress in approving MDMA and psilocybin therapies has also taken some promising steps forward in recent months: https://theintercept.com/2022/07/26/mdma-psilocybin-fda-ptsd/

It's been the work of countless activists and researchers over decades, but I think, as a community, we're getting there!

Your instinct is right here in yes - it DOES depend on a whole array of different factors!

MDMA in particular has some unique properties that make it potentially harmful to take frequently, especially in higher doses. While there are some steps you can take to minimize the harm that MDMA has on your brainpan (we wrote up a guide on the science behind neuron-saving supplementation here: https://www.psychedelicsafetyalliance.org/f/mdma-harm-reduction) MDMA is not something that is appropriate to take more than once every few months, at least if you value your ability to consistently use your dopamine and serotonin receptors.

As a general rule of them with psychedelics, especially ones like LSD and psilocybin that don't build as much of a tolerance, we like to advise folks wait until they have fully integrated their last experience before moving on to the next one. Have you really absorbed whatever teachings your experience had to give? Has your body fully recovered and your mind returned to baseline? What benefit would you get out of doing it again that you can't achieve by doing something less risky? What's the minimum effective dose and frequency to get you what you want? Some people find that a regular microdose protocol gives them much of the benefits with less of the hassle of a regular macrodose, for example. Psychedelics are incredible tools, but you want to make sure you're applying them with intention and care.

We should also add here that there are two kinds of crises one can experience while on psychedelics: Medical Crisis and Psycho-Emotional Crisis.

People experiencing an acute medical crisis sometimes need hospitalization, as a medical crisis can be fatal in some instances. Getting people in this camp medical attention can often keep them alive or prevent things from getting worse.

People experiencing a psycho-emotional crisis can often present as being in bad shape and really scared, possibility to a legitimately traumatic level, even to the the point where they think they're dying, but actually are not dying. Getting people in this camp to a hospital can often subject them to environments and situations which can make things more scary or traumatic.

To help some festival first responders in our network determine the difference between the two types of psychedelic crises, we made this nifty Crisis Laminate, which you can download for free, print out, and take with you when you're out in the world.

Okay I see! Maybe not conducting your own research but consolidating the research that is already out there. Really appreciate any effort anyone puts in to spread harm reduction for recreational users.

Is there a resource of providers of psychedelic-assisted counseling per state? And if so, is it accessible by a layman?