Legal Highs : A Harm Reduction Guide and Trip Report

What comes to mind when you hear the term "legal high"? Many people instantly think DXM (non-prescription cough syrups), "whippits" (whipped cream, air in a can) or very mild highs such as the classic nutmeg experiment many of us attempted as teenagers. I'm going to go a little deeper than that in this post and provide you with the knowledge and tools to have a fun, educational and most importantly, a safe experience.

I will be sharing with you my research and experience with the following substances :

• 1P-LSD
• Kratom
• Salvia
• K2/Spice
• Nitrous Oxide or "Whippits"
• Dextromethorphan (non-prescription cough syrups)
• Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)

1P-LSD

(newtotse.com)

1P-LSD is a derived from LSD and is commonly regarded as being virtually indistinguishable from LSD. It is essentially LSD with an alcohol molecule attached. This creates a legal loophole that allows people to sell 1P-LSD online.

You may be wondering, "If its an LSD analogue, is it as safe as pure LSD?" Based on my research online and experience, I say yes, it is. I scoured the web for any bad trip report or unsafe reaction caused by 1P-LSD and came up empty. Now it was time to try for myself.

SWIM ordered 10 20ug tabs of 1P-LSD from a website using litecoin (I will share the website with anyone who is interested in the comments!) and received them within the next couple weeks.

If you are interested in ordering please remember this is not risk-free!! 1P-LSD is not a scheduled drug in most of the world (bar Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, and a few others) but you can still be prosecuted in the United States if you are caught possessing or attempting to sell for human consumption (Federal Analogue Act). So while this is technically a legal high, please proceed with caution when dealing with it!

I have taken untested LSD 3 times so I have no way of knowing whether it was legit besides my experience. To avoid confusion I will compare my experience to a drug I am very familiar with, Psilocybin (shrooms).

At doses lower than 60ug it was a very light trip for me, barely above the psychoactive threshold. 80-100ug is a heavier trip that you can still socialize on but as with any psychedelic, SET AND SETTING IS KEY!! You can have a beautiful experience with this drug or a terrible one if you take it in the wrong environment so again, please do plenty of research and proceed with caution!

200ug was my highest dose taken as of now and it was truly an experience. It started similar to the 100ug but quickly showed its true colors. A couple hours in I decided to lay in my bed and meditate on anything I really needed to address mentally. The illusion I had set up to be myself quickly faded away and I saw only my physical being and my actions. At first it was very unpleasant as being confronted with your own shortcoming is never fun but then something interesting happened. I realized that all the choices I had made were neither good nor bad, they just were. I felt shame was unnecessary for this process and though it was strong in the beginning, it faded as my understanding expanded. When I came down I was left with the gift of a better understanding of my choices and habits as well as a new outlook on life in general.

1p-LSD is a wonderful tool for self-exploration and while it can be very recreational, make no mistake, this is not a "party drug". All in all I would recommend that anyone interested in experimenting with 1P-LSD follow the basic rules of LSD (such as set and setting) and exercise caution when purchasing or being in possession of it.

Kratom

(painnewsnetwork.org)

Kratom is generally regarded as a safe drug but as with any substance you should always do your research and exercise caution. There have been reports of people having seizures on kratom but from my understanding that is extremely rare. The worst side effect I have experienced from Kratom is nausea/vomiting (which still sucks!).

There are many different methods of ingestion including teas, capsules, the "toss-and-wash" method, chewing the raw leaves, and even smoking (however most people achieve little to no psychoactive effect using this method). I will be discussing the methods I have experimented with; teas, capsules, and toss-and-wash.

The toss-and-wash method is, in my experience, the most effective as well as the most uncomfortable method. The idea is to quickly swallow a certain amount of Kratom powder (not an easy task, kratom tastes gross!) with a glass of water. This allows the body to start digesting kratom almost immediately.

Kratom tolerance builds very quickly in a person and everyone has a "plateau dose". This basically means that any greater amount of the substance would not increase psychoactivity and would essentially be a waste. It is important to note that kratom can not be used multiple times on a daily basis if you wish to achieve a significant psychoactive effect.

The capsule method is effective as well and much more palatable than toss-and-wash. Either buy empty capsules and fill them or purchase pre-made kratom capsules. The doses varies on a person-to person basis but most people find their "sweet spot" within the 1-7 gram range. As with any unfamiliar substance, it is always wise to start small and work your way up.

The last method is making kratom tea. This is especially effective for people who want more a quicker onset than the capsule method but can't stomach the toss-and-wash. Preparation is relatively simple, same as making regular tea. Many people like to add lemon or spices to the tea to counteract the bitter taste.

With Kratom it is important to start small as well as chose your strain carefully. I have experienced different effects from Bali and Maeng Da strains. A good Bali Kratom high feels very similar to painkillers such as percocet (however much safer and even a cleaner feeling). Maeng Da can be more accurately compared to a strong caffeine.

Kratom is a safe drug for the most part but always check the web for any bad reactions and as with any new drug always experiment in a safe place!

Salvia

(en.wikipedia.org)

Salvia has been used in Mexico for centuries; it's name roughly translates to "Divine Sage". Salvia can be chewed or smoked, however, at least in the United States it is almost always smoked. It is banned in 29 states in the U.S. as well as Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, South Korea and more. Interestingly enough, Estonia, Finland,Iceland and Norway all treat Salvia as a medicine that can be obtained with a prescription.

Salvia can be smoked in its dried leaf form or as an extract; I have only experienced dried leaf so that is what I will be focusing on. Even in pure dried leaf form, Salvia is a hallucinogen and should be used with EXTREME CAUTION!! Do not smoke salvia while standing up, it is best to be laying down in a comfortable environment to prevent injury.

It is important to note that salvia must be smoked quite differently than other plants such as cannabis, a toke off a pinner joint probably wont blast you off. The preferred method for most (at least for dried leaf) is to smoke salvia from a bong (preferably a gravity bong) and hold in each hit for about 30 seconds, taking 1-3 hits total. You should be sure you won't be bothered for the next 15 minutes or so, as that could disrupt your experience.

As for extracts, the safety precautions and experiences may vary wildly from dried leaf so keep that in mind when experimenting.

I legally purchased 1 oz (28 grams) of salvia online for about 20 USD. Upon receiving the herb I prepared the gravity bong began my experiment. The first I took was small and I did not follow the correct procedure of holding it in for 30 seconds. Strangely enough this made me somewhat lucid but also HIGHLY irritable. Later the same night, I tried again. This time I loaded the bong and held my hit in, counting the seconds as I packed the next bowl. After 30 seconds had elapsed I took hit #2 and set the bong down.

Perhaps somewhat naively, I waited for a sedative feeling to rush over me and take me to a psychedelic dream world. I was laying on the couch looking at the television when all of the sudden my entire frame of vision began to swirl together in the center of the TV. I remember having a strange feeling of being caught high on salvia by someone even though the only person home was my dad and he already knew. Most of the trip is a haze now but I do remember the come down. I sat down on the couch on couch opposite the one i was laying on and began trying to piece my life back together. I suffered from temporary amnesia as I started remembering the answers to simple questions such as, "Where am I?", "Whats my name?" and "What does my face look like?".

My entire trip only lasted about 5-10 minutes although my sense of time was definitely distorted during the peak. It was not a particularly enjoyable experience, though I am glad I did it and will probably do it again at some point.

Possibly the strangest part of this experience was how drastically it altered my experience with cannabis for the following week or so. Every time I would smoke during that period of time, I felt incredibly high, almost as if on a light trip of some kind. As for the scientific cause for this I have no idea and it may not be the same for everyone.

Treat salvia as you would any other psychedelic and follow the basic guidelines of set and setting. I look forward to trying extracts and sharing my experience with you guys!

K2/Spice

(drugfree.org)

I would like to start by saying K2/Spice is an extremely dangerous substance and I do NOT condone or promote its use for any reason. The reason spice is especially dangerous is because its not just one drug; spice is a term used to describe a plant matter (usually a blend involving damiana) that has been sprayed with a chemical such as JWH-018. However, due to law changes the suppliers would just create a new drug with similar effects so that they could sell it legally. This means the person that buys the bag of spice at the gas station was essentially the guinea pig for each new experiment.

I was personally addicted to spice for years and saw major side effects in many of my friends such as respiratory issues, vomiting, extreme paranoia, elevated heart rate, and even vertigo and loss of consciousness. So why are people attracted to such a terrible drug? Well, one of the big reasons is drug testing for criminal probation. For many people who use cannabis on a regular basis, it would be a hindrance to their life and well being to quit for an extended period of time. Once on probation people virtually have no choice, either quit smoking weed or quit smoking weed while in jail. People pick up a spice habit because it can't be detected in standard drug tests, it's cheap, and it's marketed as a fun, safe alternative to weed.

But that couldn't be further from the truth. In my experience of about 7 years (on and off) I had many different "brands" of spice do many very different things. Around 2012-2015 a lot of it gave me strong visual hallucinations. Some brands produced more of a body high but in every case it came with some level of discomfort. The scary part is that even though the high is incredibly unpleasant in most cases, its still incredibly addictive! I can still recall "bad trips" when I would tell myself I would never smoke the stuff again, only to find myself loading another bowl 30 minutes later.

In conclusion I don't feel I gained much from spice, except maybe a greater understanding of addiction, and definitely do not wish to experiment with it again. I strongly recommend against experimenting with spice but if you must, please realize you never know what you are getting and take set and setting very seriously. Overdoses are common on spice so if you do chose to use it start small and NEVER use it while driving!

Nitrous Oxide "Whippits"

(reddiwip.com)

Nitrous Oxide also called "whippits" or ""hippy crack" is found in a number of items including whipped cream dispensers and keyboard cleaner. The gas is inhaled and held in the lungs to achieve the high, which consists of an extreme lightheadedness and numbness of the body.

The most obvious danger of using whippits is passing out from lack of oxygen to the brain and injuring yourself. But that lack of oxygen to the brain can also cause irreversible neurological damage in a short amount of time. I have experimented with the whipped cream canisters plenty of times and never noticed any serious side effects, although that's not to say I didn't cause damage. I experimented with nitrous oxide in the form of keyboard duster one time and that resulted in a massive headache as well as a fear that I had done serious damage to my body.

I don't feel I gained anything from nitrous oxide and in fact, I probably lost a few brains cells in the process. I don't feel any of the damage I've done was irreparable but I still do not wish to experiment with the drug further. If you choose to use whippits please only use when sitting or laying down and be conservative with your dose and frequency of use.

Dextromethorphan (DXM) (non-prescription cough syrups)

(dollargeneral.com)

Most commonly known as "robo-trippin" or "getting tussed up", DXM is a powerful drug most of us keep in our homes without knowing it. Most cough syrups contain a relatively small amount of DXM, so users often drink one or more full bottles in order to achieve the desired effect. This can be dangerous because as the DXM dose increases so does the does of everything else in the cough syrup like anti-histamines and expectorants.

I have experimented with cough syrup multiple times and almost every time, I felt like absolute shit the next day. I have heard stories of people extracting DXM to have a more positive experience but I have never tried it so I will leave that for you to research if you're interested. The high for me was almost like a drunk feeling combined with a high somewhat similar to cannabis (but still very different).

Vomiting is very likely to occur when using cough syrups in excess of the recommended dose and other conditions such as respiratory issues and irregular heart beat have been reported. I do not wish to use this drug again nor do I recommend it but if you must, please pay careful attention to dosage and always be sure to sleep on your side in case vomiting occurs.

Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)

(slideshare.net)

Every human being in the world as well as most plants and animals are in possession of a schedule 1 drug (U.S.) at any given time. In the words of the late great Terence McKenna, "Everyone's holding." DMT is chemical humans produce in the pineal gland. It is released in massive amounts when we're born, when we dream, and when we die. DMT is the intense out of body experience that leads people to claim they've been to heaven or hell and back after a near-death experience. This is also why are dreams are so strange and seem comparable to a drug trip because that's essentially what they are!

Now DMT is legal in the form of dreams but in the U.S. an many other countries possession of DMT outside the body can land you in prison! That being said, it is important to exercise caution when dealing with DMT. Many people make powdered DMT or consume it in the form of Ayahuasca. Both methods can be prepared in a standard kitchen but they are 2 very different experiences. I have never tried either substance (though I am planning to) so I am strictly speaking from my extensive research on the web.

DMT is very short-lived (usually around 15-30 minutes) whereas Ayahuasca lasts hours. Both are incredibly psychedelic and hallucinogenic experiences and the users sense of time is usually very distorted. People often describe both powdered DMT and Ayahuasca as life-changing experiences and almost always have positive things to say.

I would not recommend trying Ayahuasca without a professional's supervision (i.e. doctor, shaman, etc.) because the long duration increases the risk greatly. Powdered DMT is widely regarded as being extremely safe and non habit-forming! Make sure as with any psychedelic you follow basic set and setting rules and never smoke DMT while standing.

I'm overflowing with excitement to try DMT in its powdered form and share my results with you guys! Until then I will continue to enjoy it in its dream form.

If you guys have any questions or if you would like to share an experience please leave a comment below! Enjoy the highs and lows of psychonaut adventure and remember, when it comes to drugs, safety should always be your top priority!

Thanks so much for reading! Have a nice trip! ;)