Introducing My Friend to Psychedelics

[Snader]

So, now it's time I could use some help from responsible psychonauts and people who really understand psychedelics as a part of personal development.

I've kinda always been respected in my friend circles as being a guy my friends can count on and always come ask for help or advice. I have lots of Orange friends who I have managed to inspire to dig into some personal development and even some spirituality through my own example.

One really good friend of mine have been interested in psychedelics for over a year now and we have both agreed that he's not ready for that yet. Yesterday he came to me saying he's pretty sure he's ready, and I agreed. He is stable and happy. He has everything he cares about in life in place and I can really see that in his face. So, now I've started planning his first trip.

Because he is a really good friend of mine that I really care about and this stuff is something I will probably be doing more in the future, I want to start doing this right from the start.

Psychedelics will do the work as they are meant to, but as much as I can affect the process, my agenda is to make him have an eye opening experience, to make him see the potential of those substances as a way to teach one about life and oneself. I would like to open his mind for more personal development. 

Some relevant facts of him:

 - He is 23 years old

 - He's smart, loving and relatively open-minded

 - He's bit of a restless party soul. 100% extroverted. He has kinda hedonistic approach to life... tends to seek immediate pleasure a lot and doesn't really care or even sometimes understand how it affects him negatively. He's relatively responsible, even though he sometimes turns a blind eye out of stubbornness

 - He has smoked weed quite a lot and tried some coke at a party once or twice, but never psychedelics

 - He is stage Orange living in a materialist paradigm, but is carefully stepping into some Green territory

 - He doesn't consciously do personal development, but he has developed quite nicely on some domains of life. He has absolutely zero understanding towards spirituality, non-duality or epistemology. We have mutual Green friends which he rarely criticizes, but doesn't give much value to stuff they say or value and sometime makes fun of them

 - He trusts me and my lead completely. Could put his life into my hands

I don't want to leave too much wiggle room for him while he's tripping, as I can imagine him as an example reaching for his phone to check messages when he feels anxious or put on some music as a distraction, but I also don't want to push him too much to fuck up the trip and give him wrong picture of those beautiful substances. He's type of a guy who can after one bad trip say that psychedelics are not for him. He isn't ready to handle much confusion that threatens his ego.

Here are some preliminary plans I've come up with:

 - Dosage could be something like 1,5g of dried shrooms (Red Boy strain), from a batch I've tested already. Gonna brew the shrooms and make a nice tasty tea out of them. That way I know nausea is unlikely

 - Gonna do it in his place to make the environment familiar and safe for him

 - Gonna make sure his whole weekend is clear for the experience (Friday preparation, Saturday tripping, Sunday integration)

 - Gonna stock the fridge full of healthy and fresh food

 - Gonna make sure his place is clean

 - Gonna make sure we don't get interrupted by phones or doorbells or anything else

 - Trying to make him turn inside more than outside 

 - I try to avoid playing music even I know he would love it. I feel it would take him away from the personal development perspective I've told him I want him to approach psychedelics with (I told him he can have fun with them some another time, but not on the first trip. He seemed okay with that). Gonna have a playlist of his favorite songs just in case things go south

 - Have a car on standby and a hospital close if things go REALLY SOUTH for some freakin' weird reason

 - Gonna be there with him all the time with my loving and caring presence. Gonna gently calm him if/when necessary. If you guys have any calming phrases you've found handy, please share them with me

That's pretty much my first thoughts and plans. What do you think? What would you maybe do otherwise or add? Any adjustment of details? Any points on making the trip profound but not too deep? All tips and advice are more than welcome and really appreciated. This is really important to me and I'm rally excited of this. I have other friends too that I think in the near future would benefit from psychedelics a great deal through my guidance.

 

 

[Grateful Dead]

Sounds great

I wouldn't focus on personal development on the first trip.

When I introduce someone into psychedelics I always start the trip in nature. Later when we move inside, I play some music and relax.

[eggopm3]

Be prepared for any possibility you can think of. He might be way more or less sensitive to the substance than you expect or react in an unexpected way. When I introduced a friend to psychedelics he turned out to be several times more sensitive than I am and when he took 1.5 grams he had a total breakthrough experience so I had to readjust my plans on the fly to accommodate for it. Still went well though.

[Thought Art]

I have friends who are open to psychs but not personal development. I tripped with them and we all broke through and it was really healing. We had the conversations I was trying to have but couldn't because of their ego resistance. Very healing.

[Snader]

7 hours ago, acidgoofy said:

I wouldn't focus on personal development on the first trip.

That's a solid advice. I'm just bit afraid of him starting to see the party potential and wanting to start using psycs for only hedonistic purposes. Anyway in theory also that approach might in itself lead him perhaps to some hippie fests, which is actually really good for his development  I might be too biased to make him look at the world like I do. 

 

8 hours ago, acidgoofy said:

When I introduce someone into psychedelics I always start the trip in nature. Later when we move inside, I play some music and relax.

We have beautiful nature close here so that would be great! With weed he tends to get paranoid and we have a freezing cold winter now, so that's unfortunately crossed over.

[Snader]

6 hours ago, eggopm3 said:

Be prepared for any possibility you can think of. He might be way more or less sensitive to the substance than you expect or react in an unexpected way. When I introduced a friend to psychedelics he turned out to be several times more sensitive than I am and when he took 1.5 grams he had a total breakthrough experience so I had to readjust my plans on the fly to accommodate for it. Still went well though.

Gotta keep that in mind. Maybe I need to loosen my grip a bit and give him room to take the trip to direction he tends to take it and play more within those frames.

[Snader]

5 hours ago, Thought Art said:

I have friends who are open to psychs but not personal development. I tripped with them and we all broke through and it was really healing. We had the conversations I was trying to have but couldn't because of their ego resistance. Very healing.

Sounds cool! He likes to have conversations of -- from his perspective mystical experiences -- while stoned, so I'm really waiting for what he has to say when he goes to take that introduction tour into psychedelic realms.

[martins name]

Gave my weeb friend 100ug lsd once. He listened to metal and contemplared for a couple of hours than he emerged and told me he regret messing up highschool and that he needs to try harder in life. Success. 

[Snader]

4 minutes ago, martins name said:

Gave my weeb friend 100ug lsd once. He listened to metal and contemplared for a couple of hours than he emerged and told me he regret messing up highschool and that he needs to try harder in life. Success. 

Words are cheap. I want to see integration and implementation of those insights in one's day to day life. Then I talk about success. 

[martins name]

@Snader he took some initiatives in life afterwards but seemed to forget about it after a while. Still it was a wake-up call he's never had before. He's a very asleep person with very little ambition, someone you maybe wouldn't think would benefit from psychedelics, but he did. Any positive nudge for someone is a success.

[Snader]

Just now, martins name said:

@Snader he took some initiatives in life afterwards but seemed to forget about it after a while. Still it was a wake-up call he's never had before. He's a very asleep person with very little ambition, someone you maybe wouldn't think would benefit from psychedelics, but he did. Any positive nudge for someone is a success.

Yeah, you're right. You can't really expect someone to do some psychedelics once and become Jesus Christ for good. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

[Lynnel]

@Snader

While not being on the phone and very focused on the experience is very important, which is what the tripsitters are also for, music CAN be extremely helpful. Don't dismiss it for his and your own sake !

For me it creates a very positive background, and for most of my experiences it has helped a great deal.

Sometimes, if music gets too overwhelming, I will turn it off and just focus on the experience in complete silence, but I always put it at the start of the trip. So don't ban music right away in the preparation stages

Also, I would at least do some yoga and/or a meditation practice, otherwise your friend might not go as deeply and not be able to integrate his experience.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Lynnel
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