Tim Doody profiles Dr. James Fadiman, a researcher involved in psychedelic drug research in the 1960s who is still arguing for medicinal uses today. Doody evokes themes the Dish has covered before – the spirituality and beauty many experience on psychedelics, as well as the government’s refusal to acknowledge results – but here he touches on some new territory, including the future of micro-dosing:
Fadiman defines a micro-dose as 10 micrograms of LSD (or one-fifth the usual dose of mushrooms). Because he cannot set up perfect lab conditions due to the likelihood of criminal prosecution, he has instead crafted a study in which volunteers self-administer and self-report. Which means that they must acquire their own supply of the Schedule 1 drug and separate a standard hit of 50 to 100 micrograms into micro-doses. (Hint: LSD is entirely water-soluble.) … “Micro-dosing turns out to be a totally different world,” Fadiman extolled.
“As someone said, the rocks don’t glow, even a little bit. But what many people are reporting is, at the end of the day, they say, ‘That was a really good day.’ You know, that kind of day when things kind of work. You’re doing a task you normally couldn’t stand for two hours, but you do it for three or four. You eat properly. Maybe you do one more set of reps. Just a good day. That seems to be what we’re discovering.”
The Dish 