November 23, 2015
There's a new, old way to tap one's creative brain, and it's apparently being embraced by some professionals in Silicon Valley.
An article on www.rollingstone.com tells of "Ken," holder of a master's degree from Stanford and a tech worker, who subscribes to the idea of less is more when turning to drugs to ramp up his productivity at the office.
"Ken" takes LSD, or more accurately, "microdoses" the hallucinogenic drug, Rolling Stone reports.
A microdose is about a tenth of the normal dose – around 10 micrograms of LSD, or 0.2-0.5 grams of mushrooms. The dose is subperceptual – enough, says Rick Doblin, founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, "to feel a little bit of energy lift, a little bit of insight, but not so much that you are tripping."
For best results, [James] Fadiman [author of The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide] recommends microdosing every fourth day, taking the drug in the morning and then sticking to your usual daily routine. His correspondents have told him regular microdosing has alleviated a bevy of disorders, including depression, migraines and chronic-fatigue syndrome, while increasing outside-the-box thinking. "Microdosing has helped me come up with some new designs to explore and new ways of thinking," Ken says. "You would be surprised at how many people are actually doing it. It's crazy awesome."
Inc. Magazine talked to another user who publicly espouses performance-enhancing hallucinogen-taking:
John Andrew, a Canadian documentarian who is legally blind, took small doses of psilocybin mushrooms every day for six months in 2014 (a greater frequency than the standard protocol calls for). He says he started to feel positive effects after four weeks.
"I experienced this clarity that is almost indescribable," Andrew said [in October] while attending the Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics conference in New York City. "I felt a homeostasis, a feeling that despite what's going on, bad or good, everything was OK. I felt present, focused, a clarity that was telling me this is how I am supposed to feel."
PhillyVoice considers the use of LSD NSFW.
Read the full story at www.rollingstone.com.
