LSD

• When taking a psychedelic for the first time, try to have your experience in nature or at home
• Do you want to trip at a party or festival? Adjust your dose to be smaller than what you are used to.
• Prevent nausea by eating something easily digestible at least 2 hours before taking your drugs
• Make sure to always have a sober person (a trip sitter) around when tripping.
• Pay close attention to the effects you experience: if you feel that they are too strong or unpleasant, ingesting vitamin C, dextrose or sweet drinks may help to alleviate this.
• Do not fight any unpleasant feelings during the trip, but let yourself float on the flow of the trip
• Do not combine psychedelics with other drugs (including alcohol) and medications. Cannabis in particular can greatly intensify and prolong the effect of psychedelics.
• Make sure you are free from responsibilities the day after using, take some time to process the experience
• Do not use psychedelics if you suffer from epilepsy or have a cardiovascular disease.

• When using a drug for the first time, take only a small dose to see how your body reacts to the substance
• Only use drugs when you are feeling well
• Use drugs recreationally, not to combat psychological issues like fatigue
• Avoid using drugs if you have (had) psychological afflictions or if you have a family history of psychological diseases (such as depression) in your family
• Test your drugs before use at a drugs-testing service
• Make sure to prepare a good set and setting for drug use
• Only use drugs sparingly. Keep track of your use over time.
• Decide in advance how much you are planning to use over the evening, and stick to that. 
• Do not combine drugs with other substances or medicines
• Do not participate in traffic after drug use
• Prevent infectious diseases; Use your own snorter/sniffer and do not share paraphernalia with others
• After insufflating, rinse your nose well with lukewarm saline water (for example, by using a nasal spray or nasal douche)
• Are you, or one of your friends not feeling well? Keep an eye out for one another, take care of each other and visit the first aid (if one is available)
• Call 112 in a life-threatening situation
• Eat healthy before and after drug use. In particular, foods with lots of antioxidants and vitamins (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, raisins, oranges, kiwi, broccoli). This is perhaps the most important tip! It can be difficult to eat during and after drug use, but make sure to try to eat something anyway. Eating well is a great way to reduce the hangover! If you can’t hold in solid foods, try juices, breakfast drinks, and smoothies.

Some complaints after using drugs can last longer, A medical explanation or even treatment may then be necessary. The Brijder has set up a national consultancy for party drugs related medical complaints. If you have medical complaints after the use of party drugs, you can call the consultancy: 088 – 358 29 40. This service is only available in the Netherlands.

Combining different drugs can be risky and unpredictable. If you combine, you are more likely to have problems with your health. Here we describe the effects and risks of a number of combinations that are common or that are very risky. Check combining drugs for more information.

LSD and MDMA (XTC)

Users sometimes combine LSD with ecstasy (candy flipping). Since LSD and ecstasy are both mind-altering drugs, they can reinforce each other. The effects of this combination can be unpredictable. No research has been done on combined use with LSD. If you choose to combine these drugs, take less of both than what you would take if you’d take only one substance.
If you take MDMA first and LSD later or if you take MDMA and LSD at the same time, keep in mind that the MDMA has already worn off before the LSD has worn off. The end of the experience can then be difficult. Some people feel a little down when the MDMA wears off. If you’re still tripping, that can be difficult.

LSD and cannabis

Some people like to smoke weed during or at the end of their trip. Keep in mind that it is difficult to predict how cannabis will affect the trip. It can be relaxed, but it can also turn a good trip into a difficult experience. Before you start smoking weed, think about whether it is necessary and what benefit you think you will gain from it.

How long a drug is detectable in your blood or urine depends on a number of factors. For example, how often and how much you use and your personal metabolism (the speed at which a substance is broken down by mostly your liver). Drugs are longer detectable in your urine than in your blood. LSD is detectable in the urine up to 48 hours after ingestion. In general, LSD is not tested for in a urine test.

Since the 1960s, LSD has been on List I of the Opium Act (substances with an unacceptable risk to public health, according to the government). Producing, trading, importing, exporting and possessing LSD is punishable by law. The government is cracking down on the LSD trade. There are severe penalties for illegal sales.

Check law and regulations for more information about the law.

LSD is made from the ergot fungus. This is an extremely poisonous fungus, which was used by midwives at the end of the Middle Ages to induce the birth of the child in pregnant women. When chemists started working with ergot in the 1930s and isolated various compounds from it, they discovered lysergic acid. This discovery allowed LSD to be made for the first time by chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938. The drug had no visible effect on animals, so his boss was not interested in it at first. In 1943 Hofmann looked at the material again. He accidentally ingested some of it and noticed the effects himself: “(…) At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxication, characterized by extreme stimulation of the fantasy. As if in a dream I saw with my eyes closed a steady stream of the most fantastic images passing by, extremely strange shapes, accompanied by a motley, kaleidoscopic mixture of colors (…).”

Hofmann couldn’t lose the feeling that he had made an important discovery and decided to experiment on himself. On April 19, 1943, now known as “bicycle day,” he discovered the mind-altering effect of LSD. He took a dose of 250 micrograms, not knowing how strong the effect would be. He shared his experience with colleagues. Sandoz, the company Hofmann worked for, sent it to psychiatrists and psychologists who experimented with it in their psychotherapy.

In the 1960s, LSD became the drug of the global hippie culture with the psychologist Timothy Leary as the prophet of the psychedelic revolution. Today LSD is no longer so mainstream, but it is still very popular with psychonauts and in certain scenes.

Check out a video from ATTN about the history of LSD!

Reading suggestioin: Brian Blomerth’s Bicycle day.

You may feel nauseous from psychedelics. So try not to eat 2 hours before. If you do get nauseous, drinking ginger tea could help. Furthermore, it is better to accept the nauseous feeling, and look for a little distraction every now and then. If you are nauseous, try not to move too vigorously. The feeling often goes away on its own.

Read carefully about all the effects, risks, dosages and tips & tricks!

Drug

The effects of psychedelics are different for everyone and can be more intense than you expect. Think about your dosage in advance, it’s better to dose on the low side the first time. You can always take more another time. Also have your drugs tested before taking it. Do not combine it with other drugs.

Set

Make sure you are feeling good. And make sure you have enough ready-made food for the whole day. This is useful when you get hungry or are low on energy. Make sure you don’t have to do anything on the day itself. And preferably also take the day off to let everything that you have experienced sink in.

Setting

It is certainly wise to have a sober person with you to guide you (a tripsitter), preferably someone who has experience with psychedelics. Take it in an environment that feels relaxed with people you feel comfortable with.

Read more about tripping at home, drug, set & setting and drug testing.

That’s right! Dark chocolate can enhance a trip. However, a bar of dark chocolate is no guarantee for a harder trip. To have a real effect, you have to eat large amounts of cocoa. That is extremely bitter and not tasty and it can also make you nauseous!

No, that is incorrect! There are people who think that LSD stays in your spinal cord or fat.

If you have taken a drug, your liver breaks down the drug and it is mainly excreted through the urine. The drug doesn’t stay in your spinal cord or fat. The only exception to this is cannabis. That also goes out of your body, but stays in your body a bit longer than most other drugs. This is because cannabis is very fat soluble.

Always make sure that you are and remain safe yourself. If you are in danger, you cannot help the person in need.
Find a quiet place with the one who is having a hard time. Don’t try to deny that he/she is having a bad trip. Try to reassure him/her: he/she has taken drugs and the effects and thus the bad trip always wear off. Ask the person about what they are experiencing and try to talk the trip on a positive side without downplaying it. For example, by giving a positive meaning to the things he/she sees. Try to do things that make him/her feel comfortable, such as moving or singing. See if it makes sense to talk about pleasant things. Distraction can also help, for example by drawing. Let your voice sound calm and reassuring.
Make sure that the user does not end up in dangerous situations such as traffic. Call emergency services if it becomes unsafe for the user or his environment or if the bad trip is too intense to solve it yourself.

The short answer is no.

Find a quiet place for the one who is having a difficult experience. Talk to them about what’s going on. Don’t try to deny that he/she is having a bad trip. You can look for a different environment. If you are outside, it can be nice to go inside. Or vice versa. Try to do things that make them feel comfortable, such as exercise or play a game. Try to reassure him/her: a bad trip will always pass. When someone has calmed down, the experience can eventually become positive again.
It is ALWAYS preferable to try this first. A benzo is therefore not ‘the’ solution for a bad trip but can be a last resort, when someone remains in his negative “loop” despite everything. Judging the right time to give the benzo can be very difficult for other trippers as well as for the trip sitter. In addition, benzos in combination with other sedatives such as GHB and alcohol can be dangerous. Therefore, it is preferable to leave this decision to professional emergency services and call professionals in when the person with the bad trip can no longer be calmed or is a danger to themselves or others. Always trip with a tripsitter who can make these kinds of decisions sober.