What is it & Benefits
Microdosing LSD, like microdosing mushrooms, has received a lot of attention of the last few years. Because of the legal status of LSD, not much research has been done on the subject in the last few decades. This means that most of the supposed benefits of microdosing LSD are anecdotal. But what users report is a better mood, increased focus, higher energy levels, feeling more creative, and an increased feeling of spirituality.
So what is microdosing? We have written on the basics of microdosing elsewhere (see: Microdosing 101: The Basics). But, in general, microdosing means taking a sub-perceptual dose of a substance. In the case of LSD this means taking a small enough dose to not experience any direct psychedelic effects. Instead, the idea is to subtly improve the experience of your day.
This article specifically focuses on microdosing LSD. For more information on microdosing magic mushrooms, click here.
Amount
When we talk about microdosing, we are talking about taking sub- perceptual doses. What does this mean? It means taking a dose small enough to not feel any direct effects. When microdosing LSD, there should be no noticeable psychedelic effects. That means: no changes in visuals, colors, or brightness, or hallucinations of any kind. The goal is to continue with your normal everyday life, but with some additional benefits.
When starting to experiment with microdosing, the general advice is to take between 1/20th and 1/10th of a normal dose. For microdosing LSD, this could mean 10-20ug. However, it might not be a bad idea to start with even a lower dose. Especially if you want to play it on the safe side and gradually increase your dosage when you feel more comfortable.
Preparation
There are a few issues with microdosing LSD that need to be addressed. Personally, I find it very important when self-experimenting to do it “scientifically.” This means reducing potential noise and influencing factors. With LSD, it is practically impossible to verify the exact dosage strength of the blotter (or liquid). Secondly, when using a full-dose blotter paper, the LSD might be spread out unevenly across the paper.
Solving the first issue will be difficult for the average user, and too time consuming. Of course it is vital to check and trust the source of the supplier, but there is not much you can do to change this. Depending on how cautious (or not) of a person you are, you are probably better off assuming some margin of error. Personally, I always assume that the prescribed dosages are 10-20% off and take precautions for that. You can do this by downsizing the dosage you use for microdosing.
Since LSD is usually supplied on blotter paper meant for a full dose, you need to have a way to divide it into microdoses. There are two ways to do this. The quick and dirty solution is to cut the blotter paper into smaller squares that equally represent your microdoses. That is: if the blotter paper has a prescribed dose of 100ug, and you want your microdose to be 10ug, just cut it into 10 tiny squares. (Of course, adjust your “expected” strength of the blotter paper to take into account your error margin.)
The second method, more accurate but time consuming, is to dissolve the blotter paper. If you want to do this, make sure you only use distilled water, because tap water will break down the strength of LSD (due to chlorine in the water). Then simply leave the blotter paper dissolving in distilled water over night. Let’s say you use a blotter paper with 100ug strength and 100ml of water. This means that 10ml of water will be a microdose (when going for 1/10th portion strength). The downside of this is that it requires a lot of measuring and you have to make sure that you work accurately. I prefer this method because the portion size will be more accurate than just cutting the blotter paper.
Also, the second method will work for diluting liquid LSD. If a single drop represents 100ug, then dilute it ten or twentyfold. This represents 10ug or 5ug. Then use those drops for your microdosing experiment.
Getting LSD
Due to the legal issues surrounding LSD, it might be difficult to get LSD legally – depending on where you live in the world. One option is synthesize LSD yourself, but unless you have a background in advanced chemistry, this is not recommended (at all!). Instead, your best opportunity is probably to find someone in your community who has connections to a supplier. Alternatively, it is relatively easy to order LSD from a Darknet site.
The main issue with LSD, compared to say magic mushrooms, is that is very difficult to verify the source, quality, and exact strength of the LSD dosages. When starting the microdose experiment, this is something that you should be aware of. In fact, if you’re worried about this as much as I am, you might want to start microdosing with magic mushrooms. These are less restricted worldwide, easy to grow yourself, and easier to dose with.
Schedule
In general, most users recommend sticking to a 3-day schedule when microdosing LSD. If you’re new to microdosing, this schedule is probably the best to stick with since it has been used succesfully by many different people.
Day 1: the day when you take the microdose of LSD, and when you will experience the effects. Psychedelics can last for a long time, so it recommended that you take the dose fairly soon after you wake up. Even if it’s only a microdose, and you won’t experience any psychedelic effects, it’s still best to take it early in the day. This way you avoid issues with falling asleep at night.
Day 2: don’t take a dose. You will probably feel some “differences” compared to a normal day (in mood for example).
Day 3: rest day, don’t take a dose. At this point, you should feel like the “normal you” again. If not, it might be best to take another rest day.
Day 4: the start of a new cycle, take a microdose this day.
The main thing to keep in mind when starting off with microdosing LSD is that you don’t want to change your everyday schedule and life. Since the goal is not to experience psychedelic effects, but to improve our lives, you want to stick to the things you normally do. This way you can check if microdosing improves the experience of your everyday life.
So stick to what you do normally: work, studies, sports, social life, sleep schedule, et cetera. Of course, you might want to start your microdosing experience on the weekend the first time. Just to be on the safe side, in case you experience something unexpected.
At the same time, I would strongly recommend to record how you feel and what your day was like. Why? Because depending on the dose you take, the effects can be subtle to very subtle (barely noticeable). If you want to compare how you feel on a microdose compared to a normal day, it is important to take note a few things. This way you can compare later on.
Question you might want to answer include the following: How is your mood? How productive were you? Were you more social or friendly than usual? Did you have more creative output? Change the questions as you see fit, and check the things that are important to you, but make sure you record at least something.
This way, after a few cycles, you can assess what benefits you personally gain from microdosing LSD, and if you want to continue using it. A good way to do this is to compare the short notes you taken during your microdosing experiment, your feelings about how it went, and perhaps also feedback that you have received from other people (compliments or observations, or perhaps if someone knew what you were up to, how did they experience it?).
So now what?
At this point it is important to figure out what the benefits (or downsides) to microdosing are for you personally. In theory, the potential benefits are great, but using psychedelics – in any form – is deeply personal. Things that one person feels or notices, might not be noticeable to someone else. Improvements in certain areas might not exist for all users.
This is why you develop your own journey, your own understanding, and why you take note of the benefits for you. Reading about these topics will help to get you started, but in the end self experimentation is where it’s at.
If you notice improvements in your social life, spirituality, productivity, creativity, or other areas, and the downsides of microdosing LSD are manageable, then it might be worth it to continue. Perhaps not a 3-day schedule which can be quite intense, but every now and then. If, on the other hand, you didn’t feel any improvements, or the downsides are too great, you should consider stopping the experiment.
Again, all of this deeply personal. You need to find out what works for you. At the same time, also consider sharing the results of your experiment. Not only can others help you with your microdosing experiment, they can also learn from the things you did.