The Safest Drug You Can Possibly Take (Hint: Not Weed)
Who knew?
Drugs are fun. Some of them, anyway. Others are straight-up no-nos. If you’re anything like me, a little experimentation is welcomed, but dying or getting hurt because of it is totally not cool.
If you are paranoid and anxious about altering your mind, it turns out that eating magic mushrooms is the safest way to enjoy a good trip.
While tripping has recreational benefits, there are many health perks of dosing with mushrooms. From improved creativity to mental health problems, dealing with trauma, and removing blockages to growth — micro dosing magic mushrooms has become more popular as the public discovers the alternative method.
According to a yearly Global Drug Survey — during which nearly 20,000 people across 25 countries were polled regarding their psychedelic use — magic mushrooms were deemed the safest drug you could take.
In fact, "shrooms" have been shown to relieve anxiety and depression and could also help with addiction.
After the poll, more than 11,000 people said they did psychedelics, and only 4.2 percent said they needed emergency medical care.
Founder of Global Drug Survey, and addiction psychiatrist consultant, Adam Winstock, told The Guardian that the biggest risk in taking shrooms is that people sometimes eat the wrong kind.
"Magic mushrooms are one of the safest drugs in the world," he said. "Death from toxicity is almost unheard of with poisoning with more dangerous fungi being a much greater risk in terms of serious harms."
If you take actual magic mushrooms, the risks are really rather low. However, it’s still possible that you could have a bad trip.
Your own personality and mindset mostly determine this. Still, you can lower the chances of a bad trip by doing them somewhere safe and comfortable, being around friends, and not mixing with alcohol or other drugs.
There are even dispensaries completely dedicated to offering mushrooms in many forms. If looking at the funny fungus is off-putting to you, you can consume it in chocolate bars, gummies, and even teas.
Do your research and know exactly what you are taking and your intentions for doing so. It is vital to prepare yourself in order to prevent anxiety levels from rising and your body from going into a state of shock as it receives this foreign substance.
While a bad trip is a huge fear for people testing out shrooms, it turns out that they aren’t all that bad. In fact, a study through Johns Hopkins found that 84 percent of shroom users who had a bad trip said they benefited from it somehow.
So, whether you are well-seasoned in shroom-tripping or you are thinking about doing it for the first time, you can rest easy knowing that you’ll be pretty safe.
Shannon Ullman is a freelance writer who has been traveling the world for more than 10 years.