Harm Reduction & Safety
Accurate safety information for every substance. Effects and risks rendered clearly — no raw data.
Set & Setting
Your mindset and environment are the single biggest predictors of experience quality.
Start Low
Always start with the lowest effective dose. You can take more — you can't take less.
Test Your Substances
Use reagent test kits to verify substance identity before consumption.
Peyote
Duration: 10-12 hours · Onset: 1-2 hours
Effects
- ⚡ Rich, colorful geometric visual hallucinations — often flowers, fractals, and natural patterns
- ⚡ Deep emotional healing and processing
- ⚡ Profound spiritual and nature-connected insights
- ⚡ Enhanced empathy and sense of universal connection
- ⚡ Extreme time dilation
- ⚡ Color saturation and pattern enhancement
- ⚡ Sense of cosmic unity with all living things
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Very long duration — plan an entire day with no obligations
- ⚠️ Severe nausea and vomiting extremely common, especially from raw cactus buttons
- ⚠️ Cardiovascular strain — elevated heart rate and blood pressure
- ⚠️ Dehydration risk throughout the long experience
- ⚠️ Peyote is a federally protected endangered species — using wild peyote is culturally and ecologically problematic for non-indigenous people
- ⚠️ Synthetic mescaline or San Pedro cactus (also containing mescaline) is a more ethical alternative
Ayahuasca
Duration: 4-6 hours · Onset: 20-60 minutes
Effects
- ⚡ Intense visions — serpents, jungles, celestial beings, and ancestral spirits
- ⚡ Emotional catharsis — purging (vomiting) considered an integral part of the healing
- ⚡ Deep introspection and life review
- ⚡ Mystical and spiritual experiences of profound depth
- ⚡ Sense of communicating with plant spirits or deceased relatives
- ⚡ Healing of trauma and deeply held emotional wounds
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Strict dietary restrictions required — no tyramine-rich foods for 2+ weeks (aged cheese, fermented foods, cured meats, alcohol)
- ⚠️ Life-threatening interactions with SSRIs, MAOIs, stimulants, and heart medications — can cause fatal serotonin syndrome
- ⚠️ Requires an experienced indigenous or well-trained facilitator — retreat quality varies enormously
- ⚠️ Purging (nausea and vomiting) is common and considered part of the healing process
- ⚠️ Not suitable for those with personal or family history of psychosis or schizophrenia
- ⚠️ Rare deaths have occurred in poorly supervised retreats — vet your facilitator thoroughly
MDMA
Duration: 3-5 hours · Onset: 30-60 minutes
Effects
- ⚡ Profound empathy and emotional openness — reduced fear and defensiveness
- ⚡ Euphoria and deep sense of well-being
- ⚡ Increased energy and sociability
- ⚡ Tactile enhancement and heightened physical pleasure
- ⚡ Reduced fear, anxiety, and emotional defensiveness
- ⚡ Heightened sensory experience
- ⚡ Increased capacity for introspection and processing difficult emotions
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Hyperthermia (overheating) is the primary acute risk — especially dangerous in hot, crowded environments with dancing
- ⚠️ Both dehydration AND overhydration are dangerous — drink approximately 500ml/hour if active, less if not
- ⚠️ Neurotoxicity risk with repeated heavy use — minimum 3-month gaps strongly recommended
- ⚠️ Dangerous interactions with SSRIs, MAOIs, and stimulants — risk of fatal serotonin syndrome
- ⚠️ Cardiovascular strain — avoid with any heart conditions
- ⚠️ Post-experience low mood ('Tuesday blues') common for 1-3 days — plan for recovery time
Harmala Alkaloids
Duration: 3-6 hours · Onset: 30-60 minutes
Effects
- ⚡ Mild psychedelic effects at higher doses when used alone
- ⚡ Dreamy, introspective states
- ⚡ MAO inhibition activates other psychedelics (especially DMT) taken alongside
- ⚡ Emotional introspection and processing
- ⚡ Mild visual imagery
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Strong MAOI — dangerous and potentially fatal interactions with SSRIs, stimulants, opioids, and tyramine-rich foods
- ⚠️ Dietary restrictions required: no aged cheese, cured meats, fermented foods, or alcohol for 2+ weeks
- ⚠️ Nausea and vomiting common
- ⚠️ Not for those with liver conditions
- ⚠️ Many harmala products sold online are not food-safe — source quality varies enormously
LSA
Duration: 6-10 hours · Onset: 1-2 hours
Effects
- ⚡ Sedative, dreamy visual states — gentler and less sharp than LSD
- ⚡ Mild hallucinations and color enhancement
- ⚡ Deep introspection and philosophical thinking
- ⚡ Emotional warmth and openness
- ⚡ Heavy body feeling and pronounced sedation throughout
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Nausea very common — often more pronounced than with LSD
- ⚠️ Vasoconstriction (blood vessel narrowing) — avoid if at any cardiovascular risk
- ⚠️ More confusion and disorientation compared to LSD
- ⚠️ Commercial Morning Glory seeds are treated with pesticides — never safe to consume
- ⚠️ Drowsiness and lethargy throughout the experience makes it difficult to manage
Salvia Divinorum
Duration: 5-30 minutes (smoked), 1-2 hours (chewed) · Onset: Seconds (smoked), 15-20 minutes (chewed)
Effects
- ⚡ Complete disconnection from ordinary reality — one of the most alien psychedelic experiences
- ⚡ Bizarre, dreamlike narrative loops and reality fragmentation
- ⚡ Loss of body awareness and physical sensation
- ⚡ Reality shifting — becoming objects, merging with the environment, dimensional travel
- ⚡ Brief but extremely intense and disorienting experiences
- ⚡ Retroactive continuity — 'waking up' mid-experience with no memory of how it began
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Extremely disorienting — one of the most alien psychedelic experiences available
- ⚠️ Short duration but physical injury risk is real — users have no motor control during the peak
- ⚠️ A sober sitter is essential — no exceptions
- ⚠️ Confusion and agitation common on re-entry to normal consciousness
- ⚠️ Most users do not find it enjoyable — this is not a recreational substance
- ⚠️ Legal in many US states (not federally scheduled) but illegal in many others and several countries
Ibogaine
Duration: 12-24 hours (full experience), residual effects 2-3 days · Onset: 1-3 hours
Effects
- ⚡ Waking dream states lasting 12-24 hours — vivid, narrative visions
- ⚡ Intense life review — autobiographical memories replayed in detail
- ⚡ Deep introspection and confrontation with repressed psychological content
- ⚡ Anti-addiction properties — resets opioid receptors and dopamine pathways
- ⚡ Emotional processing and trauma resolution
- ⚡ Perceived communication with spiritual guides or ancestors
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Cardiotoxicity is the primary risk — potential for fatal cardiac arrhythmia
- ⚠️ Full medical screening including EKG required before any use
- ⚠️ Multiple deaths recorded in unsupervised settings — medical supervision is non-negotiable
- ⚠️ Contraindicated with heart conditions, QT-prolonging drugs, and liver disease
- ⚠️ Dangerous interactions with opioids, stimulants, and many psychiatric medications
- ⚠️ Should only be undertaken in medically supervised settings with cardiac monitoring equipment on site
Mescaline
Duration: 10-12 hours · Onset: 1-2 hours
Effects
- ⚡ Rich, colorful geometric visual hallucinations — flowers, mandalas, intricate natural patterns
- ⚡ Deep emotional healing and processing
- ⚡ Profound spiritual and nature-connected insights
- ⚡ Enhanced empathy and sense of universal connection
- ⚡ Extreme time dilation — hours feel like days
- ⚡ Color saturation and pattern enhancement
- ⚡ Sense of cosmic unity with all living things
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Very long duration — requires a full day with no obligations
- ⚠️ Severe nausea and vomiting extremely common, especially from raw plant material
- ⚠️ Cardiovascular strain — elevated heart rate and blood pressure
- ⚠️ Peyote is a federally protected endangered species — non-indigenous use raises serious ethical and ecological concerns
- ⚠️ San Pedro cactus (also containing mescaline) is a more ethical and legal alternative for most people
5-MeO-DMT
Duration: 15-45 minutes (toad venom/synthetic) · Onset: Seconds (vaporized)
Effects
- ⚡ Complete ego dissolution — considered the most powerful psychedelic by weight
- ⚡ White light or void experiences — non-visual, purely experiential
- ⚡ Unity consciousness — merging with everything, sense of being the universe
- ⚡ Intense spiritual and mystical experiences
- ⚡ Rapid and completely overwhelming onset with no gradual build
- ⚡ Rebirth-like experiences on return
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Extremely potent — active in milligram doses
- ⚠️ Can trigger traumatic reactivation of past trauma
- ⚠️ Requires an experienced, sober guide — absolutely no exceptions
- ⚠️ High risk of psychological overwhelm and physical disorientation
- ⚠️ Not suitable for those with psychosis, unresolved trauma, or cardiovascular disease
- ⚠️ Dangerous combined with MAOIs or lithium — potentially fatal
DMT
Duration: 5-20 minutes (smoked/vaporized), 4-6 hours (as ayahuasca) · Onset: Seconds (smoked), 20-60 minutes (ayahuasca)
Effects
- ⚡ Intense closed-eye visuals and immersive dreamscapes
- ⚡ Profound time distortion — 15 minutes feels like hours or lifetimes
- ⚡ Out-of-body and near-death-like experiences
- ⚡ Entity encounters — beings of light, machine elves, ancestors, interdimensional intelligences
- ⚡ Breakthrough experiences — complete dissolution of ordinary reality
- ⚡ Sense of contact with another dimension or intelligence
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Sudden, completely overwhelming onset when smoked — no time to adjust
- ⚠️ Psychologically overwhelming — can trigger terror alongside awe
- ⚠️ A trusted sitter is strongly recommended if smoked or vaporized
- ⚠️ Dangerous MAOI interactions — relevant for ayahuasca preparation
- ⚠️ Not recommended for those with psychosis history or cardiovascular conditions
Psilocybin
Duration: 4-6 hours · Onset: 20-60 minutes
Effects
- ⚡ Visual distortions and geometric patterns — especially vivid with eyes closed
- ⚡ Deep euphoria and sense of wonder
- ⚡ Profound spiritual and mystical insights
- ⚡ Ego dissolution at higher doses
- ⚡ Enhanced introspection and emotional processing
- ⚡ Color enhancement and synesthesia
- ⚡ Increased emotional sensitivity and openness
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Anxiety and paranoia possible, especially in unfamiliar settings
- ⚠️ Rare risk of triggering psychosis in those predisposed
- ⚠️ Nausea common during onset (first 30-60 min)
- ⚠️ Elevated heart rate and blood pressure
- ⚠️ Set and setting are crucial — mindset and environment shape the experience profoundly
- ⚠️ Avoid mixing with lithium (seizure risk) or SSRIs (reduced effects or serotonin syndrome risk)
Ketamine
Duration: 45-90 minutes (IV), 1-2 hours (oral/nasal) · Onset: Seconds (IV), 5-15 minutes (IM/nasal), 20-30 minutes (oral)
Effects
- ⚡ Dissociative detachment from body and environment
- ⚡ K-hole at higher doses: complete ego dissolution and immersive inner journey
- ⚡ Dream-like floating sensation
- ⚡ Analgesia and profound pain relief
- ⚡ Reduced emotional reactivity — useful for trauma processing
- ⚡ Time distortion
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ High addiction potential with regular recreational use
- ⚠️ Ketamine bladder syndrome from chronic heavy use — can require surgery
- ⚠️ Dangerous combined with CNS depressants (alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines)
- ⚠️ K-holes can be disorienting and frightening, especially unexpectedly
- ⚠️ Cardiovascular effects — increases heart rate and blood pressure
- ⚠️ Cognitive impairment with heavy long-term use
2C-B
Duration: 4-6 hours · Onset: 45-75 minutes
Effects
- ⚡ Strong visual hallucinations — patterns, colors, geometric fractals
- ⚡ Sensory enhancement and heightened tactile sensation
- ⚡ Euphoria and emotional warmth
- ⚡ Increased sociability and empathic connection
- ⚡ More cognitive clarity than LSD at moderate doses — often called 'lucid'
- ⚡ Heightened sexual sensitivity
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Cardiovascular stimulation — elevated heart rate and blood pressure
- ⚠️ Anxiety and overwhelming visuals possible at higher doses
- ⚠️ Very dose-sensitive — small increases produce large changes in intensity
- ⚠️ Nausea common during onset
- ⚠️ Combined with MDMA significantly increases intensity of both substances
- ⚠️ Vasoconstriction at higher doses
Cannabis
Duration: 1-3 hours (smoked/vaped), 4-8 hours (edibles) · Onset: Immediate (smoked), 30-90 minutes (edibles)
Effects
- ⚡ Euphoria and relaxation
- ⚡ Altered time perception — time feels slowed
- ⚡ Increased sensory appreciation — music, food, art enhanced
- ⚡ Heightened creativity and associative thinking
- ⚡ Hunger (munchies) and dry mouth
- ⚡ Memory impairment during intoxication
- ⚡ At high doses: anxiety, paranoia, or hallucinatory effects
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ High-potency products (>20% THC) significantly increase anxiety and paranoia risk
- ⚠️ Edibles are frequently overdosed — start with 5mg THC and wait 2 hours
- ⚠️ Regular heavy use associated with cannabis use disorder in ~9% of users
- ⚠️ Adolescent use associated with worse long-term cognitive outcomes
- ⚠️ Can trigger or worsen psychosis in predisposed individuals
- ⚠️ Driving impairment is real — avoid driving for several hours after use
LSD
Duration: 8-12 hours · Onset: 30-90 minutes
Effects
- ⚡ Intense visual hallucinations and geometric patterns
- ⚡ Synesthesia — cross-sensory perception (hearing colors, seeing sounds)
- ⚡ Profound time distortion — minutes feel like hours
- ⚡ Deep spiritual and philosophical insights
- ⚡ Enhanced pattern recognition and creative thinking
- ⚡ Ego dissolution at higher doses
- ⚡ Emotional amplification — both positive and difficult emotions intensified
Safety Notes
- ⚠️ Extremely potent — active in microgram doses (100-200mcg typical)
- ⚠️ Long duration requires a full-day commitment with no obligations
- ⚠️ Can trigger or worsen latent mental health conditions — screen carefully
- ⚠️ Rapid tolerance development — ineffective if repeated within days
- ⚠️ Set and setting are critical — mindset and environment shape everything
- ⚠️ Dangerous interactions with lithium (seizure risk) and MAOIs