Regarding the consumption of drugs, both medicinal and recreational, one of the worst things that can happen is a overdose. I didn’t personally live it, but it can be terrifying to think about it. Some drugs have a much higher risk of overdose than others.
For example, you are much more likely to feel dangerous toxicity levels when you consume methamphetamine or heroin than if you use, let's say, ketamine or MDMA.
VS Psychedeliques drugs
In fact, the psychedelic in general (natural and synthetic) include a very low risk of overdose. For many compounds from this class of drugs, it is almost impossible to reach this point.
What are the chances that an overdose of some of the most popular hallucinogens, such as mushrooms or LSD? Continue to read to find out more ...
What is an overdose or overdose?
Overdose (overdose) is the term designating the physiological reaction that occurs when we take too much from a substance or a combination of substances. Overdoses are often accidental, but can also be intentional and represent a significant part of suicide attempts (67 % to be exact). In addition, overdoses can occur from a variety of substances, including illicit and prescription drugs, alcohol And even some vitamins (although the latter are rare).
THE overdose can be fatal and the most frequent cause is generally a respiratory failure, although there are several other ways whose drug consumption can cause clinical overdose.
What to do in case of overdose (overdose)?
However, a overdose can be reversed And the person can be saved if the right medical treatment is administered in time (that is to say Narcan for opioid overdoses or stomach pumping and the use of active coal for alcoholic poisoning) .
What are the most dangerous substances in overdose?
Due to their mode of functioning in the human body, Opioids are among the most likely to cause overdose. Our body is full of opioid receptors, although they are mainly concentrated in the brain, central and peripheral nervous systems and gastrointestinal tract.
When small amounts ofopioids are used, these receivers are activated and the Fbodily anocesses begin to to slow down. However, if you take too much, these receivers become overloaded and end up stopping Completely ... causing an overdose and death possible.
Another very dangerous substance is alcohol, although in the context of excessive consumption, it is not an overdose, but rather a "alcohol poison"Sometimes, alcoholic poisoning occurs quickly and can affect breathing, heart rate, body temperature and suffocation reflexes. Alcohol poisoning can cause ethyl coma and even death.
Are illicit substances less dangerous?
The class of illicit substances the least likely to cause such damage is that of psychedelic. This is strange because many of them remain on the list of Annex 1 drugs DEA,
while more dangerous drugs who can really kill people - such as methamphetamine, cocaine and various opioids - are classified in Annex 2 or higher.
For the record, the DEA defines the drugs of Annex 1 like "drugs without medical use currently accepted and with high abuse potential"; and drugs with the highest number (annexes 4 and 5) are considered to be the safest. So, Psychedelics are on program 1 and methamphetamine is not, as if it had a sense.
Psychedelic and overdoses
Although you can technically make an overdose of psychedelics, it is rare with most and almost impossible with some. Now let's quickly discuss a concept known as "Effective dose against lethal dose".
This is the dose necessary to become high compared to the necessary dose for drugs to kill someone, and how this report is compared to other drugs.
For example, GHB, heroin and methamphetamine are among the most toxic substances, with lethal doses is several times higher than the effective dose.
Even the fatal dose to die by consuming Alcohol is only 10 times The dose necessary to get drunk. Compare this to the psilocybin, whose lethal dose is estimated at 1,000 times the effective dose, or even to ketamine, the lethal dose of which is 38 times the effective dose; It can easily be established that psychedelics - both natural and synthetic - are relatively safe.
Among substances less physiologically toxic, or those which require 100 to 1000 times the effective dose to cause death, are mushrooms to Psilocybine, LSD and marijuana.
There are no published cases documenting Deaths due to smoke marijuana or psilocybine mushrooms, so that the real lethal dose remains a mystery.
Difference between an overdose and a bad trip?
Some people can confuse them, but they are fundamentally different. The main contrast between the two is that Overdose is physical and that Bad trips are mental. Overdoses can be fatal, while bad trips are mostly frightening and confusing.
This distinction is extremely important because it really highlights the total madness of the idea of keeping illegal psychedelic drugs.
How drugs like theOxycontin and other opioids (who kill an average of 44 people per day in the United States) are legal With ordinances, while psychedelics, which are much safer, remain prohibited?
This does not mean that opioids should be prohibited. Yes, they should be regulated. But not completely forbidden. There is certainly a moment and a place where opioid drugs are useful.
But if we can admit this, why is the government so reluctant to admit that the psychedelic can be just as useful, if not more; And much safer because they can't cause physical overdose?
Risk of overdose with common hallucinogens?
Below, we will take a look at the four psychedelic The most popular, who also happen to be those currently at various stages of clinical trials, to see what are the toxicity levels for everyone.
Danger of psilocybin:
Mushroom overdose is very rare. In fact, recent studies confirm that only 0.2 % of magic mushroom users require emergency medical care after consuming ... the lowest of all recreational drugs, including cannabis.
An "overdose" of psilocybin, or rather a Bad trip, can cause various psychological symptoms, the main one is a Very intense panic crisis.
One of the risk of eating magic mushrooms, especially if you pick them yourself, is to choose the bad guy. Considering that there are more than 14,000 different types of mushrooms in the world, it is easy to conclude that some of them have very similar characteristics, which makes them difficult to distinguish in real situations. Eating poisonous mushrooms can be fatal, that's something you will have to be very careful.
Danger of LSD?
Like psilocybin, an LSD overdose is almost impossible. This does not mean that it is sure to consume it in high doses, and yes, you can actually feel a toxicity of the LSD. But because it is so strong, it is very rare that someone can consume as much.
Again, you can make a Bad trip to LSD. And as it is a hallucinogen so powerful and durable, people can have accidents or physically injured when they are smashed. There have been self -harm and suicide attempts Under the influence of the LSD, but according to the research that I could find online, it is also quite rare.
Danger of ketamine?
Ketamine has existed for some time, but has recently experienced an increase in its adoption by the general public with the approval of esketamine by the FDA, the research in progress on another drug called Arketamine and a strong increase in the number of Doctors arranged to provide standard ketamine to non-medicinal nonsense. .
However, it is possible to do Ketamine overdose, more probably than with other psychedelic. The fatal dose of ketamine is approximately 40 times the effective dose, so although it is much more toxic than psilocybin, it is always much safer than most recreational drugs (and even many prescription drugs).
Danger of MDMA?
It is extremely important to remember here that there are great differences between the Pure MDMA and the Ecstasy (which contains MDMA). One of the most important differences is that overdoses are relatively common with ecstasy, while with pure MDMA, this is unlikely.
Indeed, the Ecstasy is MDMA mixed with another type of drug, which means that an adultery is added to increase its power (and often to increase the profits of manufacturers). There methamphetamine is a adulteent current in Ecstasy, which makes it much more dangerous than its pure form.
Potential interactions between antidepressants and psychedelics
Psychedelics, including psilocybin, are generally studied and intended to be used in patients with psychiatric disorders which can already be treated by antidepressant drugs, typically inhibitors of the serotonin transporter. Case reports have indicated that the chronic administration of inhibitors selective of the reuptake of the serotonin like the fluoxetine and the sertraline reduced THE effects of LSD in recreational users. Therefore, we assumed that antidepressants reduce generally there answer to psychedelic.
Studies on psychedelic substances, danger?
According to a recent publication in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin (hallucinogenic fungi) and DMT can present significant risks for people with personality disorders, in particular:
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Risk of psychotic decompensation : People with history of psychosis or psychotic disorders have an increased risk of psychotic decompensation when taking psychedelics. These substances can trigger or exacerbate psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusional ideas and loss of contact with reality.
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Risk of exacerbation of symptoms : For personality disorders such as borderline disorder, narcissistic disorder or anti -social disorder, psychedelics can intensify certain symptoms such as impulsiveness, emotional instability, risky or aggressive behaviors.
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Risk of "Bad Trip" (negative experience) : People with personality disorders are more at risk of living a negative or "bad trip" experience under psychedelic, with an amplification of negative emotions, anxiety, paranoia or suicidal thoughts.
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Risks linked to the non -medical context : Apart from a controlled medical framework, taking psychedelics by people with psychiatric disorders involves increased risks of dangerous behavior for themselves or their entourage.
Due to these significant risks, most clinical studies exclude people with history of psychotic disorders or serious personality disorders. a assisted therapy is recommended before any therapeutic use of psychedelics.
Conclusion on the dangers of psychedelics:
There are two main things that readers would like to retain this article. Firstly, psychedelics are without danger and it is unlikely that you will take a overdose. This should at least appease the concerns of some people to try them.
Second, because they are so much safer than other drugs, it makes no sense to keep them illegal, since the reasons for the prohibition are clearly not in our interest.
Drug classification table
Source: https: //www.revmed.ch/REVUE-MEDICALE-SUISSE/2011/REVUE-MEDICALE-SUISS-288/une-Nouvelle-classification-des-drogues
In addition:
Watch this video of the excellent youtub channel Damien Maya
"The truth that disturbs about psychedelics"
Warning :
All the information contained in this article is based on sources and references, and all the opinions expressed are mine. I do not give advice to anyone and although I am happy to discuss subjects, if someone has another question or concern, he should ask for advice from a competent specialist. People who suffer from psychiatric, neurological or cardiovascular disorders or who use psychiatric drugs should completely avoid psychedelic and other drugs.