[imiric]

> The fallacy is that if you do not get the positive effect (i.e., getting high), you won't get the negative effect (i.e., addiction, tolerance, and the slew of other health damaging effects for each particular drug).

Addiction is hardly a problem for psychedelics, as most users don't use them regularly. In fact, they can be used as treatment for other addictive substances[1].

High doses and long term usage does carry some risk of health issues, mostly psychological, but these are much less severe than effects from similar uses of alcohol or tobacco. Besides, this risk is pretty much nonexistent in the context of microdosing.

Psychedelics have been used in cultures around the world for millennia, yet have been severely understudied in modern medicine. The least we can do is to stop categorizing them alongside much more harmful drugs like heroin and meth, and to fund further research that can determine and mitigate any harmful effects, so that we can establish a legal framework for people to consume them safely.

[1]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25563446/

[hristov]

"Addiction is hardly a problem for psychedelics, as most users don't use them regularly."

Yeah, but if you agree with the concept of microdosing you will be using them regularly. That is exactly what microdosing is about.

[imiric]

As others have mentioned, psychedelics are not physically addictive like nicotine or heroin. They are habit forming like anything else and should be used in moderation, but microdosing if done correctly shouldn't cause any harm.

That is just my layman understanding, and more research is surely needed.

According to this study[1]:

> One common schedule is to microdose every three days. The idea behind this regimen is that there may be a residual effect from each microdose that lasts one to two days afterwards. Most popular press stories on microdosing have mentioned this three day cycle.

So every three days with these small doses seems hardly more harmful than taking a multivitamin, yet the effects are so anecdotally positive.

Another relevant quote:

> There has been no specific research into the safety of microdosing, however research with higher doses of psychedelics suggests that these substances are relatively safe. Individuals do sometimes have disturbing experiences on psychedelics, including negative emotions, perceptual disturbances, and even psychotic symptoms, and these effects can have a persisting negative impact for some people. In general, however, psychedelics are not addictive, and large scale population studies have not found any association between use of psychedelics and negative mental health outcomes.

[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6364961/