Use Your Brain on Drugs

Drugs like psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms, play all sorts of tricks on the mind. They distort the perception of time, space, and self, and even untether the senses. Some researchers thought these strange effects might result from the drugs overexciting the brain. But the first study to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activity in people who’ve taken psilocybin finds that the drug reduces neural firing in key communication hubs, essentially disconnecting some brain regions from each other.

In Central America and elsewhere, hallucinogenic drugs have been used for centuries in healing and religious ceremonies. Recent years have seen renewed interest in exploiting them to explore the neural basis of spirituality and potentially to treat depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Yet neuroscientists know little about how these compounds act on the brain to cause such intensely altered experiences. Hallucinogenic drugs are tightly regulated, and few previous studies have tried to gauge their effects on the human brain. One study, using positron emission tomography (PET), found that psilocybin increases brain metabolism, especially in the frontal cortex.

Patients suffering from the agony of cluster headaches will take anything to dull the pain, even LSD, it turns out. Results from a pilot study presented here on Saturday at the International Headache Congress reveal that six patients treated with 2-bromo-LSD, a nonhallucinogenic analog of LSD, showed a significant reduction in cluster headaches per day; some were free of the attacks for weeks or months.

“Some of these patients are still reporting significant relief more than a year after they were treated with the compound,” says John Halpern, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School in Boston and one of the investigators involved in the study. “Nobody has ever reported these kinds of results.”

This acid-like designer drug is becoming increasingly prevalent in Britain’s clubs. Know the facts about foxy.

Street Names - Foxy Methoxy, 5-MeO-DIPT, fake ecstasy.

Description
Foxy is a synthetic drug with hallucinogenic properties. It belongs to a group of chemical compounds called tryptamines. This group also includes psilocybin and psilocyn, both of which occur naturally in magic mushrooms. Foxy comes in capsule form, as well as a powder or tablet. In tablet form it is sometimes passed off as ecstasy.

The effects:

• Foxy is a hallucinogen and often distorts the way users see, hear and perceive their surroundings;
• Effects can include hallucinations and a sense of euphoria. Effects depend on the strength of the drug, the user’s mood, their location and surroundings. This means a good trip is not guaranteed;
• Some users may experience nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea;
• High doses can mean experiencing a similar effect to LSD;
• The effects of Foxy reportedly last 3 - 6 hours, based on a dose of 6-10mg.

The risks

• Bad trips can be terrifying, and seem very real. Dizziness, disorientation, fear, paranoia, and panic may arise during a bad trip;
• The likelihood of a bad trip will increase when users are in a bad mood, anxious, nervous, uncomfortable or have a history of mental health issues;
• Foxy can complicate existing psychological issues such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia;
• With lowered inhibitions, users are at an increased risk of accidents as well as unprotected sexual activity. (It might mean forgetting to use condoms);
• Foxy is relatively new to UK recreational drug culture, and so the long-term risks are not entirely known.

The law

• Foxy and other hallucinogens are Class A drugs;
• It is illegal to supply or possess this drug.

Risk Reduction

• As foxy is a dose-dependent drug, users are advised to wait until the effects kick in from taking a small amount before they consider taking any more;
• Avoid taking foxy if you’re feeling at all unsettled or uncomfortable with your surroundings. It can have a negative impact on any hallucinatory effects;
• Do not mix foxy with alcohol or other drugs.

223 different reports of people’s experiences using the psychedelic drug 2-CB. Good and bad trips.

Great step by step guide to help you calm down if/when you’re having a bad psychedelic trip.