What are the dangers of psychedelics?

[PepperBlossoms]

I had the large excessive ego, sometimes it would get to be a very dark experience, and sometimes I would want to be reliant on it for coping but no so much on the last one as much.  I also had this thing where I felt like my brain was fried and didn't work as well (I think I wasn't drinking enough water before, during, and after the experience).  I found that drinking more water significantly helps.  Then there is also the danger of the law not allowing it.

There was also the danger of being so into searching for truth that I was questioning people without considering their feelings/needs/circumstances and came off as an asshole, but yet, to one degree, well those things were definitely worthy of being said but maybe in a different manner and I was also way too pushy on my new insights onto people who were not ready for that type of thinking and it really didn't seem to inspire them either.  There is the danger of noting the toxicity in things and then having such a large ego that I called people out on it and ended up tarnishing the relationship (which was probably on marshmallow foundation).

I think I temporarily lost my ability to be proficient at my job and the ability to prioritize tasks (maybe like how pluralist stage cannot prioritize stuff)... but I ended up realizing that that job was not fulfilling either and left anyway.

[Carl-Richard]

48 minutes ago, Jodistrict said:

“I avoid synthetic drugs and prefer the organic hallucinogens, because I believe that a long history of shamanic usage is the first seal of approval that one must look for when selecting a substance for its possible effects on personal growth. And if a plant has been used for thousands of years, one can also be fairly confident that it does not cause tumors or miscarriages or carry other unacceptable phys­ical risks. Over time, trial and error has resulted in the choice of the most effective and least toxic plants for shamanic use.

Other criteria are also relevant when evaluating a substance. It is important to use only those compounds that do not insult the physical brain; regardless of what the physical brain does or doesn't have to do with the mind, it certainly has much to do with the metabolism of hallucinogens. Compounds alien to the brain and therefore difficult for it to metabolize should be avoided. One way of judging how long a relationship between humans and a plant has been in place is to notice how benign the compound is in human metabolism. If after you have taken a plant, your eyes are not in focus forty-eight hours later, or your knees are feeling rubbery three days later, then this is not a benign compound that has evolved into a smooth hand-in-glove fit with the human user.”

Terence McKenna. Food of the Gods (Kindle Locations 3668-3672).

Alcohol

[Jodistrict]

3 minutes ago, Benton said:

Pffft. Thats bogus. Taking acid is definitely easier on the body than ayahuasca.

Just look at actual affects and research instead of whatever other people think. And even then. Its going to come down to how we personally are affected. You can take a high acid dose without a specific diet or throwing up. I’ve taken 10 tabs + and its never made me sick. Ayahuasca made me real sick. 

It's not making you sick.  It is purging you.  In the jungle, there are many medicines that just purge, i.e. make you vomit, and it is considered a natural form of detoxifying the body.   That's the difference between medicine and entertainment.  

[Jodistrict]

28 minutes ago, Benton said:

I’ve consumed many things that make me “purge”. Not my favorite. Not saying that there isn’t value to spiritual purging. But I have realized that I don’t need to be tripping balls and throwing up at once. Ayahuasca is great actually. But I prefer freebase Dmt. Or boofing harmala and edibley consuming dmt. Elmimates nausea.

I was much more than entertained on acid? Imagine being an infinite fractal! Imagine having no body and only an infinite free fall of Love/Consciousness.

Ayahuasca is great. But unless some new and drastic info comes up. Such things as trusting it over a tested tab of LSD seem silly to me.

When LSD first started being used in the 60s, the scientists published a widely believed report that LSD caused chromosome damage.  It wasn’t until fairly recently that the study was debunked.  These are the people you are trusting.   When you properly purge with Ayahuasca, the purging can push you into a deep state with intense visions. 

[Carl-Richard]

29 minutes ago, Jodistrict said:

When LSD first started being used in the 60s, the scientists published a widely believed report that LSD caused chromosome damage.  It wasn’t until fairly recently that the study was debunked.  These are the people you are trusting.   When you properly purge with Ayahuasca, the purging can push you into a deep state with intense visions. 

You can't convince me to not drink alcohol as my preferred entheogen with your McKenna quote.

[SgtPepper]

Some risks and dangers, I have experienced myself...

It can give you episodes of derealization, depersonalization, and paranoia. Periods or moments of physical discomfort, mental discomfort, and thought loops. Sometimes they happen during the trip, or things like depersonalization and derealization can stay for 24-72 hours post-trip and attached to these feelings can be thoughts that everything is meaningless, and it feels very real. 

I've done powerful doses of psychedelics like ~ 25 times; micro-dosing once a week for months. I've also had lots of positive, heavenly, thoughtful/insightful, grounding, and gratifying experiences. I've never had a problem with the law or medically, and I have no regrets.

In retrospect, these challenging episodes or emotions actually helped me mature and connect to living with more meaning.

I haven't found them to be addicting. Most of my powerful doses happened in a period of 8 years. I spaced out trips between periods of 3-6 months. Occasionally I would trip twice in one month during those 8 years. Now I just trip about 2 times a year and micro-dose during 1 out of the 4 seasons. 

I think the biggest danger is getting caught with them by the law. After many years, I still think they're unbelievably amazing, like shout it from the rooftops amazing. I used to be a bit more zealous about it, but now I see not everybody is called to it.

It can give some a bit of an ego complex, but I think that happens more in New Age/Neo-Advaita circles in my experience. It raised by self-esteem because I see I am a child of God, but it also made me surrender and be humble to God. 

Edited April 25, 2022 by SgtPepper

[Jodistrict]

1 hour ago, Benton said:

You are essentially just trusting people as well? I have heard both the shamans and the scientists out. I’m going to stick with lsd over ayahuasca easy. I have tripped many ways and for me the best way to consume dmt definitely is not ayahuasca. Too much value is attributed to getting sick as purging. Consciously accepting suffering is purging to me. And just allowing myself to experience it. I don’t need a vine for that. But it can be useful.

 

I trust the medicine.    

[BipolarGrowth]

In my personal experience, I’d be more concerned with the risks of never taking them. 

[The Rainmaker]

Psychedelics, when mixed with black magick or any occult practice, can have dire consequences for the psyche. This combination will awaken you to a dark and seedy underworld hidden below the surface, hidden exquisitely in plain sight by the media. You will realize what a perverted and hedonistic and corrupt place this world is. You will recontextualize innocent memories in a more sinister context and that has the possibility of making you paranoid to the level of dissociations. 

[The Rainmaker]

Another danger of psychedelics (particularly if you're combining them with the occult) is the overwhelming attachment to youth and the past that practitioners develop. 

One thing that people on this forum don't talk enough about is this: the deeper you dive into these waters, the more you realize that an overwhelming amount of people involved have what I call a Neverland complex. And no, I don't just mean that in the context of Peter Pan. 

[RMQualtrough]

Panic fear mental breakdown...

[Thought Art]

Dangers: Going hog wild on them because they made you feel safe for the first time in your life and then you abuse them. Or tripping in low quality ways. Losing sense of concensus reality because others aren’t in your bubble and spouting spiritual truths on facebooks…The dangers. Are being a fucking idiot with them. 

[Jodistrict]

The danger is the same danger of using any powerful medicine without a doctor.  The medicines should be used in ceremony or a safe space under the direction of a shaman.   In ayahuasca ceremonies, I have witnessed many purges, where someone is screaming madness and filling multiple buckets with vomit, but then is happy the next day, because there was someone there who knew how to take care of them and help them to liberate.   Doing “psychedelics” alone is entertainment and thus easily abused.  But it is not the “psychedelic” (which is chemically safe to the body) that is the problem.           

[Thought Art]

21 minutes ago, Jodistrict said:

The danger is the same danger of using any powerful medicine without a doctor.  The medicines should be used in ceremony or a safe space under the direction of a shaman.   In ayahuasca ceremonies, I have witnessed many purges, where someone is screaming madness and filling multiple buckets with vomit, but then is happy the next day, because there was someone there who knew how to take care of them and help them to liberate.   Doing “psychedelics” alone is entertainment and thus easily abused.  But it is not the “psychedelic” (which is chemically safe to the body) that is the problem.           

Don’t create false dichotomy that “with shaman good, without shaman bad”…

your shaman may sexually abuse you or they may really help you. There is risk in anyway you go.
 

Doing trips alone can be deeply spiritual. 
 

Tripping is not a one sized fits all deal. 

Some trip alone

some trip with a psychologist 

some trip with a friend who is a sitter

some trip with a shaman

each has its own thing

Edited April 26, 2022 by Thought Art

[StarStruck]

On 24-4-2022 at 8:15 PM, Preety_India said:

Broadly, what are the dangers of psychedelics? 

I'm getting increasingly frustrated how this place keep promoting psychedelics so freely. 

 

Getting bald and premature aging. It activates a lot of things in the body. Bad trips can cause a lot of stress which is obvious what can it can cause but I think even good trips have a toll. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by StarStruck

[Grateful Dead]

If you know how to use psychedelics and are mentally stable, then the danger is very small. But if you use them carelessly, it's about as dangerous as playing with a loaded gun

[Thought Art]

2 hours ago, StarStruck said:

Getting bald and premature aging. It activates a lot of things in the body. Bad trips can cause a lot of stress which is obvious what can it can cause but I think even good trips have a toll. 

Lol? 
 

As if there was One psychedelic

[StarStruck]

1 hour ago, Benton said:

Where are you getting this from?

What? That stress causes premature aging and hair loss? Quick google search will give you billions of studies. 

With psychedelics a lot of life energy gets pumped through your system, if you think this doesn’t have any side effects, then I would like to sell you some land in Florida. 
 

if somebody tells you something is good and says there are no bad (i.e side effects) some bells should be ringing. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by StarStruck

[Adodd]

4 hours ago, StarStruck said:

What? That stress causes premature aging and hair loss? Quick google search will give you billions of studies. 

With psychedelics a lot of life energy gets pumped through your system, if you think this doesn’t have any side effects, then I would like to sell you some land in Florida. 
 

if somebody tells you something is good and says there are no bad (i.e side effects) some bells should be ringing. 

Okay there are probably some kinds of effects, sure. But where is the claim coming from that it causes balding? that's a pretty specific claim. I'd also be interested to know how you know this. And "It pumps you with life energy." doesn't really answer that.

[Ulax]

Psychosis