How do you like your eggs in the morning, man? If your answer is with a sprinkling of the hallucinogenic drug which inspired much of the music which came out of the ’60s and ’70s, then this one’s for you.
With the caveat ‘probably (definitely) don’t try this at home’ we bring you the news that having LSD for breakfast can, apparently, help with anxiety, headaches and also increase your concentration.
Rolling Stone magazine reports that Silicon Valley professionals are taking the drug at work to increase their productivity levels. A growing number of workers are taking what have been dubbed ‘microdoses’ of the psychedelic drug to improve their concentration and, they say, they’re getting great results.
How much is a microdose? Surely there’s a fine line between being wired and fully tripping out at your desk? Apparently, it’s between 10 and 15 micrograms, which is around a tenth of a normal dose.
A young man, going by the name Ken, who works for a tech start-up in San Francisco is quoted as saying, ‘I had an epic time. I was making a lot of sales, talking to a lot of people and finding solutions to their technical problems,’ after taking a microdose at work.
Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedlic studies, told the magazine that a microdose of LSD is ‘subperceptual’. This, apparently, translates as enough to ‘feel a little bit of energy lift, a little bit of insight, but not so much that you are tripping.’
Dr James Fadiman, who worked with LSD in the US until it was banned in 1966, said that there has been a steady and consistent increase in the number of people, like Ken, who are ‘microdosing’.
Fadiman told Rolling Stone that the typical user is an ‘ubersmart twentysomething’ who’s curious to see whether it will help him or her work through technical problems and become more innovative.
Earlier in the year, on this side of the pond, Professor David Nutt conducted a study which found that psychedelic drugs could prove to be highly effective treatments for depression and alcoholism. Early results from his trial, involving 20 people, suggested that psychoactive drugs could help reverse entrenched patterns of addictive or negative thinking.
He lamented that people were missing out on the potential benefits of drugs, due to prohibitive regulations on research into illegal recreational drugs, which means that studies like his are very difficult to conduct and nearly impossible to get funding for.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.