Good point. Perhaps it was implied, but it should have been explicitly pointed out: multiple drugs do NOT necessarily play well together. You may do just fine on drug A, and just fine on drug B but have a radically different experience if you take both A and B. And that experience might include death.
Doctors ask you to enumerate EVERY drug you are taking before they prescribe another drug. Pharmacies now have computer programs to sweep through all the drugs they have sold you to look for known bad combinations. It has taken lifetimes of experiences with large numbers of patients taking infinate combinations of drugs to discover which combinations are problematic. We don't have that documented experience with psychedelics. At least, we don't have enough of that experience.
There is a published table of Red/Yellow/Green combinations. That's helpful. Nevertheless, it's better to be cautious and avoid combining psychedelics.
Yep - some important nuance is the Psychedelic itself. Example: many people report adding a small amount of Psilocybin with MDMA can help smooth the experience & make it less intense. I personally enjoy cannabis with MDMA.
But…that is totally different than stacking Tier 1 Psychedelics like Bufo & Iboga. That is a recipe for disaster.
How much escalation do you need in one weekend? In 2021, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of Australia banned the use of kambo in Australia and classified it as a schedule-10 poison. It is listed in the category for "substances of such danger to health as to warrant prohibition of sale, supply and use".[6][a]
Kambo is one of the few substances in this space that I actively dislike…I think it's far riskier than most acknowledge.
Seeing Kambo stacked alongside Iboga, Bufo, mushrooms & everything else raises an obvious question: if one experience is supposedly profound enough to change your life, why does the itinerary keep expanding? At some point, exploration becomes escalation.
I’ll admit that I sometimes experiment with layering very small amounts - maybe an Amanita drink, a microdose, a little cannabis - just to see where it takes me. But that feels very different from frequently stacking large doses of powerful medicines on top of one another.
It feels like we’ve gone from a psychedelic desert straight to an all-you-can-eat buffet, and now some people are trying to consume everything at once. Hopefully, this is just a phase, and we’ll eventually learn that being selective can lead to much richer experiences.
Another thought. A profound psychedelic experience can feel like receiving a package from the universe. Once the message has arrived, does it really matter whether it came through ayahuasca, san pedro, or mushrooms - or which carrier delivered it? At some point, the work is not to keep ordering more packages. It’s to open and integrate the one you already received.
Love this, Lena. So much wisdom in this comment…thx for sharing it.
Totally with you on polysubstance use with ‘entry-level’ Psychedelics. Example - I love smoking a joint when the MDMA is wearing off. That is very different than stacking Iboga with Bufo! I worry that people are going to get seriously hurt with these powerful combinations
And I love the package analogy. It’s so important to take some time to let the message simmer…it doesn’t always appear overnight IME. This is true regardless of who (or what) sent it.
im exhausted just thinking about this level of use. feels like partying disguised as healing 🤷♂️
Seriously…it feels excessive.
Good point. Perhaps it was implied, but it should have been explicitly pointed out: multiple drugs do NOT necessarily play well together. You may do just fine on drug A, and just fine on drug B but have a radically different experience if you take both A and B. And that experience might include death.
Doctors ask you to enumerate EVERY drug you are taking before they prescribe another drug. Pharmacies now have computer programs to sweep through all the drugs they have sold you to look for known bad combinations. It has taken lifetimes of experiences with large numbers of patients taking infinate combinations of drugs to discover which combinations are problematic. We don't have that documented experience with psychedelics. At least, we don't have enough of that experience.
There is a published table of Red/Yellow/Green combinations. That's helpful. Nevertheless, it's better to be cautious and avoid combining psychedelics.
Yep - some important nuance is the Psychedelic itself. Example: many people report adding a small amount of Psilocybin with MDMA can help smooth the experience & make it less intense. I personally enjoy cannabis with MDMA.
But…that is totally different than stacking Tier 1 Psychedelics like Bufo & Iboga. That is a recipe for disaster.
How much escalation do you need in one weekend? In 2021, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of Australia banned the use of kambo in Australia and classified it as a schedule-10 poison. It is listed in the category for "substances of such danger to health as to warrant prohibition of sale, supply and use".[6][a]
Yeah well, if you count a trip to the morgue or ICU in your weekend, that’s closer to performative masochism than mind expansion.
Kambo is one of the few substances in this space that I actively dislike…I think it's far riskier than most acknowledge.
Seeing Kambo stacked alongside Iboga, Bufo, mushrooms & everything else raises an obvious question: if one experience is supposedly profound enough to change your life, why does the itinerary keep expanding? At some point, exploration becomes escalation.
I’ll admit that I sometimes experiment with layering very small amounts - maybe an Amanita drink, a microdose, a little cannabis - just to see where it takes me. But that feels very different from frequently stacking large doses of powerful medicines on top of one another.
It feels like we’ve gone from a psychedelic desert straight to an all-you-can-eat buffet, and now some people are trying to consume everything at once. Hopefully, this is just a phase, and we’ll eventually learn that being selective can lead to much richer experiences.
Another thought. A profound psychedelic experience can feel like receiving a package from the universe. Once the message has arrived, does it really matter whether it came through ayahuasca, san pedro, or mushrooms - or which carrier delivered it? At some point, the work is not to keep ordering more packages. It’s to open and integrate the one you already received.
Love this, Lena. So much wisdom in this comment…thx for sharing it.
Totally with you on polysubstance use with ‘entry-level’ Psychedelics. Example - I love smoking a joint when the MDMA is wearing off. That is very different than stacking Iboga with Bufo! I worry that people are going to get seriously hurt with these powerful combinations
And I love the package analogy. It’s so important to take some time to let the message simmer…it doesn’t always appear overnight IME. This is true regardless of who (or what) sent it.
Good catch! This is the sort of manic escalation that led to the 50 year Nixon suppression of all psychedelic research and careful use.
Thanks, Mark. Yep…it does damage culturally & with people essentially playing ‘doctor’ with these powerful tools there will be casualties.