Taking too much LSD can result in terrifying hallucinations and disorientation, but a person cannot technically take so much LSD that it kills them (this is where psychedelics differ from things like heroin, Xanax – even alcohol; there is no known lethal dose of LSD, even in the case of a woman who accidentally took 550 times the amount of a “normal” LSD dose).

That said, a person might experience such a “bad trip” from too much LSD that they self-harm in some way in the midst of it, for instance believing they can fly from a tenth-floor window ledge. The danger with too much LSD is not so much what it would do to you, but what you might do to yourself.

However, when it comes to microdosing LSD, a person would be ingesting such a small amount of it that any noticeable effects should be minor and, hopefully, all positive. According to Rico Doblin, executive director of psychedelic research nonprofit MAPS, with microdosing “your cognitive processing is slightly enhanced in certain ways – more creative, more focused, a little bit of a mood elevation – but you’re not in any way tripping. And you can drive. You can do all sorts of things that you wouldn’t do if the dose were higher”.

Microdosing has its share of sceptics, most especially in the medical and scientific fraternities. David. E. Nichols, an adjunct professor of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry at the University of North Carolina, USA: “There is absolutely no credible research on microdosing as of today.” For many medical doctors, the wealth of personal accounts about microdosing online clearly hold little weight, no matter how detailed they might be (doctors usually prefer to tell patients what different things do to them, not the other way around). Yet because there isn’t yet a lot of hard science around the practice of microdosing, information of its benefits or effects must come largely out of the personal accounts of microdosers (James Fadiman has collected hundreds of these, apparently). Here are a few we have found online:

“I know what I need to do and I’m not distracted. I had significantly fewer impulses to jump over to Facebook, texting, or email, and was more content to go for a long period focusing on one thing without additional stimulation.”

“The microdosing lessened the force of the riptide of negative emotions that so often sweeps me away, and made room in my mind not necessarily for joy, but insight” – l

“It interrupts your regularly scheduled programming. Default networks of the brain quiet down, making way for new channels and connections. So previously segregated regions of the brain begin communicating. Like upgraded lighting to dim fluorescents and brighten shadows in your mind. Illuminating corridors and doors you never knew existed.” –

“
“The effect is subtle. After an hour, colors seem richer, edges more defined. Sunlight assumes a different quality, flickering softly at the edge of my peripheral vision. It’s like looking at the world in HD after a lifetime in low resolution. I feel calm and present. Optimistic, even. Small stressors are easier to shake off. At dinner that night I feel personable… “ – Dan Dalton

“It’s basically like taking a cup of coffee …You’re just able to be a little more free and a little more honest with your emotions without breaking down. There’s more of a mental clarity.”- Marc Morgan

That all sounds pretty good but, on the flip side, some recent research has surmised that microdosing LSD doesn’t really do much at all – “despite all the anecdotal evidence, the first double-blind, placebo-controlled study on LSD microdosing finds that taking tiny amounts of acid doesn’t do much more than get you just a little bit high.”