Eutylone

Age: 24

Weight: 125 lbs

Dosage: 90 mg oral

Setting: Friend’s birthday party

T0:00- I got off work and got on the trolley. I was headed to a friend’s birthday party. I wanted to dose as quickly as possible after work since it was already pretty late, so I ended up dosing while on the trolley. I broke open the gel cap and directly swallowed 2 large crystals of Eutylone that totaled to 90 mg while I put on makeup. I wash the bitter crystals down with ginger ale.

T0:30- I only begin to feel the first notes as I walk up to my friend’s house. There is a spring in my step and I feel warmer than I should on this bitter February night.

T0:45- I am welcomed into the house and quickly shed most of my layers as I am now very warm. The first notes were tentative and uncertain, but now that I am free of winter’s grip, the drug comes hurtling through me unbridled. I find myself suddenly short of breath, there’s a benign tightness in my chest, as though I want to breathe faster than is physically possible. My heart is beating faster than normal, but it isn’t pounding or racing in any way that is uncomfortable. I feel giddy and elated, there are so many people here I want to talk to but I decide to anchor myself on one of my closest friends there for now, just so I don’t tire myself out.

T1:00- I’m talking a lot, I’m talking very fast. I feel like I have so much I want to say and the words spill out like a waterfall. There seems to be no interruption or inhibition between my brain and my mouth. I feel like I’m going so fast, though I don’t necessarily feel overstimulated or restless. I am perfectly content to sit still on the ground, there is no need to pace or let off excess energy. I roll a joint for myself and a few friends who choose to partake.

T1:15- I smoke a joint, it seems to flare up the mental effects a little, but its hardly noticeable against the ambient heat of this drug. I am still talking a lot. We are watching The Phantom Menace now for some reason. Despite my heightened sociability, I don’t feel that shameful sense of doubt I get normally on empathogens where I sense I am overwhelming people or being overly sentimental. In my mind at least, my words are profoundly neutral, though at a high density, and people are reacting positively to them.

The excess energy has crawled out to my extremities now, I find myself uncontrollably grinding my fingertips against rough surfaces. My hands are fidgeting and moving a lot though my larger muscles are still content to be at rest. A powerful bruxism has set in, I chew some gum to alleviate it. Other physical effects like nausea are absent, as are any sort of visual or other sensory effects. There is no sense of physical pleasure either, it’s all fairly neutral aside from the stimming in my extremities.

I tend not to like empathogens, it feels like a fake chemical happiness, a glittering façade over my often insufferably gloomy demeanor. I find MDMA exemplifies this to the greatest degree. With this substance though, it feels more like a genuine sense of self satisfaction and acceptance. I am okay with who I am right now and I am okay with sharing that with the people around me.

T1:45- An uptick in physical side effects signals the tail end of the peak- now I am entering into the familiar territory of cathinones. The shortness of breath and tightness in my chest builds and builds. I find myself swallowing a lot. My fingers are uncontrollably in perpetual motion. It feels like every fine muscle in my body is screaming for attention, though it is still within a tolerable threshold. Other cathinones I have experienced (Hexen, α-PCYP) have pushed the physical stimulation way past the limit of my comfort. I certainly wasn’t comfortable now, but it was tolerable, it didn’t have me reaching for benzos to calm it down. The hyperthermia has died down and a window opening to let out the smoke in the room has prompted me to rerobe most of my layers. All I want to do right now is languish and lounge on soft surfaces- I am blessed by a soft carpet that I can stretch out on like a cat and a large beanbag I can sink into.

 T2:15- The novelty has died down by this point, I no longer feel the thrill and motivation of speaking to people as I did before. I become more muted and selective in my speech- the verbosity and gregariousness I was expressing before seems tedious and tired now. All that’s left is the physical stimulant effects and a spacey burnt out sensation. It’s not unpleasant at all, just not as pleasant as before. All things considered, this is a relatively gentle comedown. I am still altered in the presence of friends and acquaintances and I am still able to socialize, I am just choosing not to unless someone else speaks to me first. I have found my comfort in fidgeting on the big beanbag. The most uncomfortable physical effect now is probably the excess swallowing. I feel like I am starting to get a sore throat from it.

T3:15- I am still burning at close to the same degree I was an hour ago. I am more taciturn now, content to chat just a little. The party is thinning out now and I feel like going home and relaxing in my own space. I am able to take public transportation home without any issue. The shortness of breath, the hand fidgeting and the excess swallowing persist. I don’t feel drowsy by any means, but I feel mentally exhausted as a stimulant comedown will do.

T6:00- I have been at home smoking weed and playing video games for some time. I am noticeably awake, though not aggressively stimulated, at least mentally. The physical effects still persist to this point. I am definitely unable to sleep as it stands. I don’t have much appetite either but I force down a meal. I decide to dose 1mg flualprazolam to sleep as I have to get up for work the next day. The physical stimulant effects seem to die down as the flualprazolam kicks in and are absent when I wake up the next day, save for a bit of extra finger fidgeting.

Conclusion: I won’t explicitly discuss price but I will say I got this for extremely cheap. The only reason I even decided to try it was because it was so cheap. I’m not normally inclined towards empathogens. However, I personally found this one delightful at this dose. It wasn’t the overclocked intensive stimulation some empathogens can give me, and I didn’t find myself veering into the territory of being overly sentimental or overwhelmingly social where I feel like I am annoying the people around me. It was ideal for a low-key social setting like the small intimate party I was attending. There were some annoying physical side effects, but they weren’t sufficient enough to negate or ruin the whole of the experience and subsided almost entirely with a night’s sleep (aided by a benzodiazepine to be fair). Best of all though, the comedown was relatively gentle, while the annoying side effects persisted there wasn’t any noticeable harsh drop off in mood or thought beyond a normal and manageable stimulant burn out. It was a gradual and gentle landing.

Seeing as this was a mostly pleasant experience, the drug is extremely cheap and easy to obtain, and it comes in the form of aesthetic large crystals, I can absolutely see either dishonest or misinformed dealers trying to pass this off as MDMA. It reiterates the need to always always test street MDMA, as it is one of the most commonly misrepresented drugs. Though personally, I think I prefer Eutylone at this sweet spot dose. Perhaps I simply need to try lower doses of MDMA in the future for a more pleasant experience.

Hallucinogens You Probably Haven't Heard of: Aptiganel

*WARNING* The substances mentioned in this series have little to no record of human use, and thus the effects they have on humans are either poorly understood or entirely unknown. Much of what this information is simply hypotheses based on animal trials or very small human sample sizes. Very little information exists about their acute or long-term toxicity. Under no circumstances should any of these substances be ingested by a human outside of a clinical setting where psychological and physiological effects can be closely monitored and extremely precise doses can be prepared and TITRATED. DO NOT seek any of these out if you do not have access to those resources.

Hello, for today's installment we will be looking at Aptiganel, aka Cerestate, or CNS-1102, an aborted pharmaceutical intended for treatment of strokes whose failure led to the collapse of its development company, Cambridge Neuroscience inc. It may not be obscure for anyone who was involved in that company. Its failure was due to it doing pretty much the opposite of what it was designed for, in addition to some side effects. Considering it is an NMDA antagonist those side effects end up being very interesting!

A problem child

Aptiganel is basically an amino-naphthalene (or naphthylamide if you will (If you're not familiar with the molecules, naphthalene is the chemical used in mothballs, naphthylamide just means that with a nitrogen and 2 hydrogens stuck onto it)) joined to a 3-ethyl-Methyalaniline (with an extra amino group mixed in). As far as I know this isn't structurally analagous to any known psychoactive chemicals, though it could perhaps be a base that could be expanded upon. 

Aptiganel was first developed as a treatment for ischemic stroke, based on the observation that high levels of gluatamate are released in the event of a stroke, further exacerbating the problem. Thus it stands that an NMDA (glutamate) antagonist should soften the blow a little1. This hypothesis was laid out in "Cerestat and other NMDA antagonists in ischemic stroke" by KR Lees, who notes
"The competitive and noncompetitive glutamate antagonists share a propensity to cause confusion, agitation, or hallucinations. Moreover, progression to catatonia has been noted with Aptiganel hydrochloride at high doses. These effects have been dose limiting."
Exciting!

A phase II study published around the same time as this observed the effects of prolonged infusions2. Total doses of 15, 32, 50, and 72 μg/kg were used (for a 62 kg (137 lb) person this comes out to doses of 930, 1984, 3100, 4464 μg total).
Really interesting results- one volunteer who had received 66 μg/kg before the doses were stopped had vivid open eyed hallucinations of domestic animals, which were received amusingly. He also stated he "believed his fingers and toes were disappearing and repeatedly counted them". This is consistent with the loss of proprioception from dissociatives and the anesthesia of extremities. He also stated having an unclear memory of these events after he had recovered. These effects first appeared 30 minutes after initial dose and persisted for 90 minutes, after which the volunteer felt sedation and drowsiness. Another volunteer had vivid recollection of memories. Many patients also noted a tingling sensation on their skin and through their extremities, also reminiscent of dissociatives.
All in all, there was a low proportion of volunteers that experienced these effects, and they were in the upper dosage ranges. It is possible that the upper dose ranges used in this experiment (lets just say 3-4.5 mg for simplicity sake) would form the lower bounds of a psychoactive dose.

Another study went into further detail on the side effects3. This delved into higher doses, at 4.5 and 6 mg. Patients in the higher dose ranges consistently developed marked sedation, with occasional agitation and hallucinations. This is perhaps reminiscent of a "hole".

These were published concurrent to the running of phase III clinical trials. So what happened next? Phase 3 trials determined that Aptiganel did nothing to abate the damage caused by strokes4. In fact a higher mortality was seen in stroke patients treated with Aptiganel vs. those treated with Placebo. Add a litany of concerning side effects and you get a failed drug. The trials were not even run to completion due to the mortality rate. Cambridge Neuroscience had invested a lot in this drug, and it turns out that it was likely even worse for patients than taking nothing. Oof. Tough break. They were forced to lay off half of their staff and sell off a great deal of their equipment, eventually selling the entire company to CeNeS Pharmaceuticals5.

So what do we have here? Aptiganel certainly won't help you if you have a stroke. However, in doses <10 mg, there are notable CNS effects that resemble that of "recreational" NMDA antagonists, with the capability of even producing vivid open eyed visuals. Perhaps someone more experienced with the world of dissociatives would have been able to provide a meatier description of the effects, but it is clear that Aptiganel is psychoactive to some degree.

But is it safe? Trials showed an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, but this is seen with most dissociatives already in safe ranges. Other side effects like nausea and headache are also fairly common and unalarming in dissociatives- thus it is probably not TOO dangerous, though if you dare to go out and seek this, effects should be clinically monitored, titrated up from a very low dose. Also if you have had a stroke recently, this drug is probably very unadvised.

Sources and Further Reading:
1-Lees KR, (1997) Cerestat and other NMDA antagonists in ischemic stroke. Neurology 49(5 Suppl 4):S66-69
2-Muir KW., Grosset DG., Lees KR. Effects of prolonged infusion of the NMDA antagonist aptiganel hydrochloride (CNS 1102) in normal volunteers. Clin Neuropharmacol. 1997;20:311–321
3-Dyker AG, Edwards KR, Fayad PB, Hormes JT, Lees KR, (1999) Safety and Tolerability Study of Aptiganel Hydrochloride in Patients With an Acute Ischemic Stroke. Stroke 30:2028-2042
4-Albers GW, Goldstein LB, Hall D, Lesko LM (2001) Aptiganel hydrochloride in acute ischemic stroke: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 286:2673–2682
5-https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/1998/05/04/daily8.html

Hallucinogens You Probably Haven't Heard of: Halogenated Mescaline Analogues

*WARNING* The substances mentioned in this series have little to no record of human use, and thus the effects they have on humans are either poorly understood or entirely unknown. Much of what this information is simply hypotheses based on animal trials or very small human sample sizes. Very little information exists about their acute or long-term toxicity. Under no circumstances should any of these substances be ingested by a human outside of a clinical setting where psychological and physiological effects can be closely monitored and extremely precise doses can be prepared and TITRATED. DO NOT seek any of these out if you do not have access to those resources.

the Mescaline molecule with the ring positions labeled

For this installment of obscure and unknown, I will be looking at halogenated mescaline compounds. Mescaline a as a base molecule is a phenethylamine with methoxy groups at the 3,4, and 5 positions on the phenyl ring. Substitutions can arise from several places on the molecule. The ones listed here show substitutions either on the end of the 4-methoxy group or at the 2 and 6 positions on the phenyl ring. In my opinion, these compounds show the potential to be much much more interesting than the mescaline analogues we see on the market right now (Escaline, Proscaline, Allylescaline, Methallylescaline etc.) Why those ones, with frankly unremarkable psychedelia and a heavy body load have been mass produced and marketed as opposed to these ones is beyond me- They don't seem like the most difficult syntheses but perhaps someone who knows their organic chemistry better can correct me there. 

Today I will be looking at Trifluoromescaline, 2-chloromescaline, 2,6,-Dichloromescaline, and 2,6-Dibromomescaline.

Trifluoromescaline

Trifluoromescaline is an intimidating looking molecule- Fluorine is a notoriously testy atom, with its extreme reactivity-it is notable in a number of extremely deadly toxins like Sarin or Hydrofluoric acid, though basic knowledge of organic chemistry denotes that it can be stabilized within certain compounds and doesn't need to be marred by these scary associations.

This molecule gives us not just one but three Fluorines to work with. What do they do when included in a structure like this? Fluorine increases the bioavailability of these compounds and also results in higher retention, meaning an increase in potency and duration can be expected. The only other known trifluoromethyl psychedelic is 2C-TFM, which indeed doses in the >10 mg range. 

Indeed Trifluoromescaline stands out a great deal in both of those regards. In his seminal literature review, "Fluorine in psychedelic phenethylamines", Daniel Trachsel cites Trifluromescaline of having a dosage range of 10-40 mg and a marathon duration of 14-24 hours1! That is a potent damn psychedelic. (I tried to track down his source for that to elaborate on the specific effects and how exactly this was tested on human beings to get that result. I couldn't find one and am presuming that the brave Mr. Trachsel pulled a Shulgin and tested it on himself). As Mescaline can dose in the 300+ mg range, a compound active at 10-40 mg is a massive increase in potency. This sounds like a really interesting compound to study for those who seek longer trips.

It should be noted that increase hydrophobicity and retention courtesy of the highly electronegative fluorines can sometimes be indicative of higher toxicity. Tread carefully.

2-Chloromescaline

2-Chloromescaline is an odd little compound that is only mentioned in the paper "Cactus Alkaloids XXXVI. Mescaline and related compounds from Trichocerus peruvianus" by Pardanani et al. You may look at that title and think- wait a minute? This is a naturally occurring cactus alkaloid? Why is there no information on this? Well this odd compound appearing in extractions remarkable to the researchers performing the study too, who later found out that it was actually a byproduct of their extraction process. Though this compound has 0 history of human use, the paper acknowledges that it has a similar log-P value to DOM, indicating that it is active insofar as being accepted by receptors. This is still just conjecture based on physical properties and the true effects it will have on a human nervous system cannot be known until it is tried. It is expected that this would have a higher potency and longer duration than mescaline.



2,6-Dichloromescaline

Information on this compound comes exclusively courtesy of two intrepid explorers, "The Inner Frontiersman" and "Toad", published in the 1997 Spring Entheogen review (Oh to have been a part of the 90's psychonaut community). They produced the compound themselves, based on a theoretical synthesis in 3. Inner frontiersman was the guinea pig, while Toad provides commentary on the synthesis.

Inner Frontiersman trial began with a dose of 10 mg (though due to scale error he later states it could've been anywhere from 6-21 mg). Several small redoses were administered about 2 hours in. What follows is a long and intense experience, lasting about 22 hours total. It featured intense electric stimulation, uncontrollable laughing, ego dissolution, a "mental sex change", and vivid visuals along with moments of sheer anxiety and terror. The peak was a grueling 9 hours. He recommends perhaps starting with a lower dose, around 3-5 mg. 

The full report is linked in the "Sources and Further Reading" section.


2,6-Dibromomescaline

This is another densely packed phenethylamine, similar to 2,6-Dichloromescaline every single spot on the phenyl ring is occupied. The information on this compound comes from a single erowid trip report, submitted by an author named "tngrn" in 2016. I could find nothing else on this compound beyond a simple mention of its synthesis in 18987, 2 years after the initial discovery of mescaline. Why the hell anyone was playing with substituted psychedelic alkaloids (likely without even understanding they were psychedelic-this predates the term 'Psychedelic') in 1898 is beyond me. If I recall any organic chemistry correctly, it may be because bromination of a phenyl ring isn't the MOST difficult process (though honestly I got a C- in that class. Please issue a correction if necessary). But then it begs the question as to why no one attempted this synthesis for over a century? Nonetheless, the given context for this experiment was that the author attended a psychedelic meetup where this substance was presented by a mysterious figure. If it truly is an easy synthesis, then it can be presumed that this was just a singular batch cooked up in some kitchen chemistry. All participants in this experiment were informed of the dosage and likely duration, indicating that enough testing of this substance had occurred to establish those properties. How this information came about however, is entirely lost to time.

The dose of 50 mg was administered in solution. The onset was about 45 minutes after dosing. It should be noted that dosing in solution usually yields a faster onset than dosing in gel caps. The effects described are unique and fascinating- This appears to be a primarily visual substance, with the author noting little change in his physical, mental, or emotional state. Pure psychedelic eye candy- though it was not the intricate kaleidoscopic visuals of other psychedelics. Colors were desaturated, textures were glossed over, nothing was particularly bright or vivid. His reaction to these visuals was entirely neutral. No closed eyed visuals were noted. In total darkness however, the author noted vivid visuals of stripes and bands. The effects seem to have maintained their intensity for about 6 hours, with the author going to sleep at T6:30.

This demonstrates an interesting and unique compound, though this is also a sample size of 1. Given these unique properties it is a surprise to me that this compound has never been produced for the market, given the presence of all variety of other mescaline analogues (most of which are in my experience, inferior to what is described in this report). I hope we explorers will be able to taste this someday, it seems that its unique properties would have use somewhere in the realm of utilitarian use of psychedelics, or at least as an interesting novelty!


Sources and further reading:
1- Trachsel D (2012) Fluorine in psychedelic phenethylamines. Drug Test Anal, 4(7-8):577-90
2- Trachsel, D (2003), Synthese von neuen (Phenylalkyl)aminen zur Untersuchung von Struktur–Aktivitätsbeziehungen. Mitteilung 2. HCA, 86: 2610-2619. (In German)
3- Pardanani JH, McLaughlin JL, Kondrat RW, Cooks RG (1977), Cactus Alkaloids XXXVI. Mescaline and related compounds from Trichocerus peruvianus. Lloydia, 40(6):585-90.
4-The Inner Frontiersman, Toad (1997) Dichloromescaline https://www.designer-drug.com/pte/12.162.180.114/dcd/chemistry/dichloromescaline.html
5- tngrn. "Almost Exclusively Visual: A Night of Zebras: An Experience with 2,6-Dibromomescaline (exp109137)". Erowid.org. Dec 3, 2017. erowid.org/exp/109137
7- https://chemistry.mdma.ch/hiveboard/newbee/000469542.html a hive thread that cites some further reading (towards the bottom)

Hallucinogens You Probably Haven't Heard of: 2-MDP

*WARNING* The substances mentioned in this series have little to no record of human use, and thus the effects they have on humans are either poorly understood or entirely unknown. Much of what this information is simply hypotheses based on animal trials or very small human sample sizes. Very little information exists about their acute or long-term toxicity. Under no circumstances should any of these substances be ingested by a human outside of a clinical setting where psychological and physiological effects can be closely monitored and extremely precise doses can be prepared and TITRATED. DO NOT seek any of these out if you do not have access to those resources.

Hello, this is next in a series I started with one entry years ago and never got back to. I'm back at it now. With New Frontiers I hope to delve into the potential of extremely little-known drugs (Only looking into hallucinogens for now sorry)- many are simply novel chemicals with little studies having been done so far. Others existed as candidates for pharmaceuticals but were aborted during clinical trials due to the sort of side effects that I am specifically seeking. Others are simply understood to be hallucinogenic and have been for a while, but for one reason or another have just been neglected for study. Hopefully by delving into these, it can shed light on potential base structures for producing analogues that may produce more useful and desirable effects relative to the known substances. There seems to truly be no upper bound on the variety of psychoactive substances.
Today's hallucinogen will be:

2-MDP

2-MDP is an NMDA antagonist and a dissociative anesthetic. It bears a passing resemblance to a variety of anticholinergic deliriants, though it is decidedly a dissociative, with an α-methyl side chain negating all anticholinergic effects1,3. The first mention of this chemical was a 1966 annual report on medical chemistry, where it is listed as a potential CNS stimulant1. In the early 1980's, the role of NMDA antagonists in producing a state of dissociative anesthesia was definitively cataloged, characterized by the standards of PCP, Ketamine, and MK-801. It was in the mid 1980's that several studies were done to establish 2-MDP as an NMDA antagonist and determine potential medical uses, either as an anesthetic or an anticonvulsant2,3,4. It was ultimately abandoned for the "PCP-like" behavioral effects observed in animal test subjects  and limited medical effects and was never officially tested on humans2,3,4.

Most discussion will be about the (-) isomer, which was initially demonstrated to be more potent than the (+) isomer in terms of receptor activity2. Later studies determined the (+) isomer was inactive as far as anesthetic and psychoactive or behavioral effects3.

Only one study delved into the psychoactive effects of 2-MDP, "Phencyclidine-Like Behavioral Effects of 2-Methyl-3,3-diphenyl-3-propanolamine (2-MDP)", by Tang, et al. Behavioral effects were characterized for rats and rhesus monkeys through observation and performance in a series of tests. Test performance in the rats very closely mimicked that observed for PCP, and it can be extrapolated that similar effects may be observed in humans.
Meanwhile, the effects of attempted anesthetic doses in monkeys showed:
"After a 1 mg/kg dose, there was calmness, ptosis, salivation and reduced spontaneous movements. Additional doses up to a total of 5 mg/kg produced a cataleptic state with weak responses to manipulation. Most of the overt effects disappeared six hours after the injections."
The triggering of a catatonic state recalls the "hole" experience of high doses of dissociatives.

Indeed, doses of dissociatives intended for total anesthesia are significantly higher than doses used recreationally. Based on the primate trials, a "recreational" psychoactive dose (in other words, a non-full anesthetic) on a human is indicated to be in the >1 mg range, meaning this would be easier to dose than some research-only dissociatives that dose in the μg range (CNS-5161, MK-801, 8A-PDHQ, PD-137889 etc). The initial study indicates it has stimulant properties at 1/3 an equivalent dose of amphetamine, perhaps placing a low-end dose at ~10-20 mg1. However, this cannot truly be known for sure until trial are attempted in humans, and as of now it would likely be highly unsafe to do this outside of a clinical setting.

There's no telling what the unique features and subtleties of a dissociative experience from this chemical would be in humans. Only somatic and physiological effects have been observed in other animals. Close to nothing is known about its toxicity either acutely or chronically. It is at least less likely to induce seizures than PCP at extreme doses4. An extreme dose of 100 mg/kg was demonstrated as lethal, though it is unknown how close this is to a lower range of a lethal dose4.

Also very interesting was a note that at the very least, stimulant effects were observed in cats and dogs for up to 24 hours1. Dissociative anesthetic effects were noted to have faded in about 6 hours in monkeys3. Thus, this indicates that this substance may yield a very long lasting experience, with the dissociative component presenting for around 6 hours and a long stimulating afterglow. Once again, how this would present specifically in humans is still unknown.

Because of the unique chemical structure it is hard to extrapolate a safety profile from known dissociatives. This is one that should be absolutely approached with caution.

Sources and Further reading:
1-John H Biel. Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 2. Academic Press 1966. p18
2-Blake JC, Davies SN, Church J, Martin D, Lodge D. 2-Methyl-3,3-diphenyl-3-propanolamine (2-MDP) selectively antagonises N-methyl-aspartate (NMA). Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 1986 Jan;24(1):23-5.
3-Tang AH, Cangelosi AA, Code RA, Franklin SR. Phencyclidine-like behavioral effects of 2-methyl-3,3-diphenyl-3-propanolamine (2-MDP). Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 1984 Feb;20(2):209-13.
4- Hayes BA, Balster RL Anticonvulsant properties of Phencyclidine-Like drugs in Mice Eur J Pharmacol. 1985 Oct 29;117(1):121-5.

DMT (Changa)

Age: 24

Weight: 125 lbs

Dosage: 1 bowl, smoked

Setting: My house

Preface: I tried DMT several times, though none of the experiences were particularly noteworthy. Just a mild psychedelia, visuals begin to creep in, it builds like a plane ready for takeoff, just for a minute, then- the engines sputter, it brakes on the runway and rolls to a stop, everything’s faded back to baseline. I mostly attribute this to user error in consumption/a baseline tolerance. I’ve tried it sandwiched in bowls of cannabis, in lightbulb vaporizers, digital vaporizers, dab rigs, a homemade “machine”, all of which yielded subpar results. Well I had come across Changa (DMT infused MAOI-containing plant matter (Typically B. caapi but can be others) which can be smoked from a bowl with regular smoking technique, fairly idiot-proof.

            The setting was sitting on my bed in total darkness and silence, save for ambient city noise. I did not keep rigorous timestamps for this experience. It followed a narrative with a fairly uniform intensity throughout.

            When I was ready, I lit the bowl- the plant material smoldered but was quickly smothered by the DMT, bubbling and sizzling as it melted. I held each hit in for 10-30 seconds, but the smoke was harsh and it was difficult not to cough it out. First hit, felt nothing, second hit, felt nothing, third hit (a big one), I began to feel a little different, flashes in the darkness beyond my usual HPPD, a sense of lightheadedness and unease, the tension, the energy, it all built up. There was now a little nest built, a crystalline cherry encrusted with embers of plant material. Each hit felt like it was making my body lighter, a stimulating shot of helium through my veins, I perked up as it crept up on me, my extremities tingling with excitement. It felt like rain falling on my face, taking me apart bit by bit. The bowl was finished and the ambient sounds around me had coalesced to a flanging buzzing, steadily increasing in pitch and frequency. I lied down on the bed as the visuals coalesced into a great radiant form, pulsing with concentric striations. I closed my eyes and prepared for what was to come.

            There was no plunge, not so much of a rush as a gentle stream, continuing at a consistent intensity for what I would gauge was about 3 or 4 minutes. I began to worry again that it would not be enough, that I was undershooting again, I was wishing that I had more substance to undisputedly push me over the edge. Fiending and fiending, it will never die. I had been gently passing through a tunnel, ringed by tessellated rhombic forms, all flowing and pulsing with stripes. The visuals were nonetheless dim and indistinct, their details muddled in darkness.

            I began to worry that my worry about not achieving an intense experience would interfere with me truly surrendering to the experience- what a contradiction! I must live in the moment, I must surrender to it, I am not trying to take it, it is trying to take me.

As my mind wandered, the stripes radiated faster, my heart pounded faster, my extremities crept numb. It felt like my veins were pulsing and throbbing, twitching under my skin, especially in my skull. The rushes of blood in my temples were pelting my neurons with shockwaves. My muscles tensed and I felt as though I was vibrating too fast to be contained in my body. As the stimulation and numbness build, I get a distinct sense of disintegrating, my body starting to vibrate away bit by bit.

            The radiating forms became more distinct, larger, pointier, faster, more aggressive, the colors becoming more vibrant, the energy seizing through this, more and more of myself being sheared apart by this grand acceleration-

            My room began to shrink around me, a strange 2-dimensional abstraction uselessly and annoying floating in my field of vision. I felt like I could see it with my eyes closed.

            And then- this divine wind, so furiously taking apart everything, began to dismantle my head. It felt like the back of it had exploded into the wall behind me, which suddenly gave way to a great inky blue void, an abyssal cavity dotted with multicolored constellations. My brain was a tornado spinning deeper and deeper into the abyss, all I could do was lie there and feel the pieces orbit in a great tunnel before coming apart and disintegrating into the void.

I feel like I could see my room from every possible angle at once as it shrunk down to a little island floating in space, meaningless and frail, just like me, shrinking away and leaving oozing tracers behind it as it faded.

            My consciousness, freed from my skull, drifted into the space along with all the rubble of the rest of my mind, asteroids orbiting a mysterious light in the distance that I was slowly being drawn to.

            Upon my arrival I was greeted with a complex of floating orbiting islands, all of them overlaid with shiny chrome and gold. Temples with gleaming coiled columns, sweeping marbled surfaces, and swift dances of light across their graces. Silver gildings dripped from their interstices like honey from a beehive. Their garden was overcome with sprites of phasing whistling and whooping noises, contorting themselves into my ears, constructed from the ambient sounds around me

            My field of ‘vision’ is suddenly taken again by radiating forms choking in from the edges, ringed with a white aura. The visuals turn into great 3-dimensional polygons like snowflakes crusted in pyramids, great and green and reminiscent of goat heads- Suddenly a flash.

            A large glyph appears right in the center of my vision, remaining dead center no matter where my eyes track, it is roughly in the shape of Polynesian tribal designs with sweeping tangled forms and sharp edges. Four chains of smaller similar patterns extend outwards in the four cardinal directions. It is stark plain white but is ringed in a colorful aura that is always changing shades. It is constantly self-transforming. It is surrounded by pixelated images of sky and clouds.

            There is a sudden sense of presence. The glyph is flashing and transforming directly in response to my sentience, signaling, flaring, transmitting- it is not language or speech, it is thoughts and essences planted directly into my head accompanied by a persistent sense of scratching and warbling. Voices spoken from broken entanglements. It greeted me, let me know through cryptic terms that it would be my liaison in this realm. It planted thoughts to that essence.

            I still felt like I was zooming through a tunnel, my head disintegrating behind me. The sense of motion was persistent.  Beautiful images blossomed as I sunk deeper and deeper into a glassy still pool with flower petals floating upon it, radiant red crystals and flourishing fronds tipped with iridescent dewdrops, rushing through the glory of this glowing garden, my thoughts were chaining freely into one another, touched by flower buds, dancing gracefully like a figure skater. For my sake the glyph generated an image of a beautiful forest painted in brush strokes with a frozen pond where my thoughts could wander and glide and gracefully dance with one another, entirely uninhibited.

            Then, unexpectedly, it offered me the ability to generate images- to hand me the controls for a second. This was a shock, we had hardly met. In hallucinatory explorations, I have always held controlled image generation as a lofty goal, and perhaps it read my thoughts, but I was stunned and honored to receive the offer any way. I meditated to try and clear my mind, brush all the forms and colors out of the way, until eventually I had a blank black canvas.

            I tried to think of a coherent image, but I couldn't, I didn’t even know where to begin to what to make, this was all so exciting. My sight lines generated showers of sparks and bursts of color everywhere they landed. This all feels like a dream, I wonder if I’ll remember it, I’m having trouble piecing together a coherent form.

This all feels like a dream.

Will I remember any of this?

            I suddenly snap back, I am not in the same place. It appears I’ve become distracted, that I’ve exited out of this generational program. I felt so honored to have been given the reins but it appears I have failed. The glyph matter-of-factly transmits to me that I failed because I got distracted. That I have to focus, while surrendering myself to the experience. It leaves me alone to ruminate more.

            I begin to think of the report I want to write about this and realized I am becoming concerned with remembering and recording this experience, to the point where it’s interfering with the present live experience itself. I feel like I am trying to watch more memories while my arms are already completely full of memories. I envision myself inside a palace, armfuls of stones, trying to pick up another. It felt like trying to catch a waterfall with a butterfly net. A brief admonition: “Just surrender yourself, keep moving”.
And so I do- I feel what’s left of my physical body dissolve and come apart bit by bit, I surrender my head to the soundwaves generated by nothing and everything, they chew me apart, sparks and light are shooting off into infinity.

            I begin to wonder about the glyph appearing to me so vividly, and in my deep thinking about it, it appears. I begin to wonder, are we friends? Are we on speaking terms? Or does it feel like I summoned it? It seems to be asking me why it is there, impatient, irritated. I indeed appear to have summoned it, but I have nothing to talk to or present to it, I made it come out here to gawk at it.

I sheepishly transmit the confession that I merely wished to witness it.

It seemed incensed at this frivolity.

            The background turned a swirling flow of red and orange, the glyph turned to metal and rapidly exploded a series of arms outwards into an disc bearing down on me, composed of angular spiral arms in thorns, the shape reminiscent of a sonnenrad. White glowing teeth appeared at its epicenter, bearing the full terror of their form and gums at me. I felt spinning wheels of spikes trace across my existence, cutting up everything raging and flashing.

I seem to have angered it.

            But it felt unreal, it didn't feel true, it felt like a façade. I transmitted to it that it SEEMED angry but didn't FEEL angry. Suddenly, its fury died, its energy faded. It admitted that it had just been messing with me, testing me? Did I display some sort of special sensitivity? It quickly bristled with spines again to humble me before dismissing itself. Here was floating alone again in a void, confused, manipulated, a forest of pillars covered in glyphs, with grand radiant canopies stretched between them.

            This was a gentle place, serene like water dripping in a sunbeam in an abandoned building. It was a garden, graced with fountains and ivy climbing over the pillars, with flowers in bloom everywhere I looked. Memories cascaded like snow or pollen, coming to rest gently on and around me- memories of places I had grown up in, of my first psychedelic experiences as a teenager, of my childhood home, they all came back in stunning, pure nostalgia, like revisiting the places on a warm summer night. All of these places and memories were uninhabited, with placeholder phantoms standing in the place of the people who were otherwise present in those memories like wispy psychedelic mannequins. I began to experience a deep sentimentality, I began to think of my family, my parents, of being raised as a child.

            I was stricken with worry about their fate amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. I began to project how I would feel if they were to pass from it, to empathize with that potential future trauma.

            But I also quickly reminded myself that that wasn't real, that I can't predict the future, that there is no use to needlessly worry and feel afraid, and so I returned to the experience.

            By now it had begun to feel like a movie, where even if I like it I still kinda wanted it to end soon. I felt that I had overstayed perhaps? Where had my liaison run off to? I was adrift, sitting in the backyard of the party while the lights and music muttered nearby. I opened my eyes, my room had a dense cloud of smoke hanging in it, tracing out beams of light from the windows. This does nothing to lessen the intensity, the distinct sense of rush and motion in my veins and nerves. There are a lot of triangles and spiky forms running across my vision leaving tracers like a glitching computer. I lie back and let out a long sigh. It feels like a cold breeze is gently blowing across my face, I feel like I am in the dappled light of a forest floor and like I am surrounded by a muted and luxuriously soft grass.

            I look at the time- it is now about 30 minutes from when I began smoking. I put on music, it musters up a bit of synesthesia, playing out in residual colors, tracers, streams of neon polygons. I get up to open my window to let out the thick smoke and turn my lights back on. The glyph never even stopped in to say goodbye.

            The next two hours of so in the night were an excited stimulation, I still felt energy pouring into my limbs and light visuals still danced in the corner of my eye. I felt blissful to come back into my comfortable room, to have had such an exhilarating experience.

The night faded into the same as any other night, the chemical receded from my neurons,

I missed it dearly, and I hope to visit again soon, there is still much that I need to learn.

3-FPM

Age: 24

Weight: 125 lbs

Dosage:

T0:00- 25 mg 3FPM intranasal

T1:30- 40 mg 3FPM Oral

T9:30- 30 mg Oral

T11:30- 15 mg intranasal

Setting: My house

Preface- Just another day in quarantine, I spent the day watching movies with a sick 14 day free trial for criterion and smoking weed. Nothing worth describing. I had been awake since 1 PM. I stayed up late watching Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker. I drank an energy drink and ate an edible beforehand, at around 1:30 AM, thinking it would hit at some point during the movie. The movie had finished and I still hadn’t felt it much, I figured my tolerance had just gotten higher. Around 5:30 AM I decided to go to bed. Unfortunately, and for some strange reason, the edible did not show its face until now. I was extremely stoned to the point where it felt like I had ingested psychedelics. My mind was racing and light visuals traced themselves out in the darkness of my predawn room. I tried to lay there and force myself to sleep, a bit irritated that my friend, weed, had been so late to its appointment. After about an hour of tossing and turning, as the sun rose, I realized sleep was futile. I didn’t want to sleep through the entire day though, so I decided just to power through and keep myself awake on 3-FPM until a reasonable bedtime the next day. I decide I will take my first dose when I actually start to feel tired. This ends up being around 10:30 AM.

T0:00- Cut out a 25 mg line and snort it. It stings quite a bit initially, not as bad as the intense explosive all-consuming pain of snorting a 2C-x but definitely enough to make me recoil and gather myself as a tear streams from my eye. The feeling passed entirely after about 3 minutes though and there was no lingering discomfort beyond the normal bitter drip.

T0:15- I was starting to get a bit drowsy but I’ve definitely woken up now. There is little presence of the drug beyond a sense of alertness and my fatigue clearing away like clouds before a blast of sunlight. I decide to play some Total War.

T0:20- The baseline alertness has been replaced with certain stimulation, its subtle but definitely there and highly functional. There is no tweakiness, no overstimulation or racing thoughts, there is none of the obsessiveness and compulsion that can arise with other stimulants, I feel warm and almost an elevated degree of sober. There is just the slightest noticeable increase in heart rate. I am engaged with the task at hand and having a lot of fun with it.

T1:15- Already feeling drowsy and exhausted again. This drug when snorted feels like a less euphoric coke with less rush. I decide I’m going to drop an oral dose on top, which usually lasts me much longer.

T1:30- After lazing around for a bit I weigh out a dose and dump the powder directly down my throat. It mostly bypasses my tongue but I still get a bit of bitterness. However it’s a slightly sweet bitterness that doesn’t make me gag and retch like the absolutely toxic flavor of many other chemicals. I would say its akin to an extremely bitter artificial sweetener. I lie down for a bit knowing that even if I doze off a little the chemical will jerk me awake.

T2:00- I am slightly more alert again, though physically I feel very tired and lying down feels very nice. I no longer feel like I am on the threshold of falling back asleep. I decide to watch Dr. Strangelove.

T2:40- It’s a good movie, funny and a bonified classic. When it began I felt like I had to be lying down on my soft bed but a sense of stimulation has slowly crept back in, building and building. I am now sitting upright, I have surpassed merely being alert and am definitely stimulated now. I am fidgeting a lot.

T4:00- The movie has ended, I can feel my heart racing in my chest and my breathing feels shallower. I feel a compulsion to move around a lot. It feels though that this is mostly physical stimulation, mentally I am mostly just very awake, the kind of long awakeness where my eyes feel shadowy and hollow as I gaze into things while unable to rest. I have no appetite even though I need to eat- I haven’t eaten anything since my dinner last night and I’ve been continuously awake since then. but I smoke a bit of cannabis and enough appetite sneaks in for me to eat some leftover noodles, though the pleasure of eating and the otherwise good tasting food fall on a deaf tongue. Eating good food brings me no joy, it just feels like a necessary task.

T6:00- I have mostly just been reading stuff on social media and talking to people and watching videos of competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee. I find myself being extremely verbose in my contact with others, writing out long detailed responses to everything. It feels like it takes 0 effort. I also try to finish another trip report, though I find this writing to be tedious and difficult. Time passes quickly, I hardly notice it leave.

T9:00- I have been playing Dynasty Warriors 3 for the last few hours, obsessively working on my task of getting 100% of the items in the game. I didn’t really feel exhausted or bored, I felt like I could’ve kept up the rather tedious task indefinitely even though it wasn’t particularly exciting. This reminds me of when I used to take 3-FPM before work (Usually 40-50 mg oral), and I could just whittle away at menial tasks without losing focus or energy for hours and hours. Despite the enhancement of mindless tasks, I have found it doesn’t do much to improve cognitive ability, intake, memory, or focus tasks without some tangible output and was ineffectual as a study drug. After hours of that however, I can feel the drug start to wear off and I begin to feel tired again. I decide to redose. I’m trying to decide whether or not I want to watch a movie.

T9:30- I take another 30 mg, oral again, dumped straight down my throat. I don’t really feel like the sleep deprivation has gotten to me yet. I’ve developed a headache, for which I take acetaminophen.

T11:00- I end up wasting more time watching more competitive smash. I feel that fresh sense of alertness again, though my body is slowly getting more and more exhausted and my mind begins to sizzle away into a stimulated daze, just energy but nowhere for it to go and no way for it to be used. The rest of the mechanisms in there have separated from the energy and it just sputters useless now as my mind fades to blank. I have been awake for about 30 hours now.

T11:30- I decide to cut myself one last booster dose of 15 mg to insufflate, just for fun. At this dose it really does feel like a calmer cocaine, without any of the desire to redose. I wasn’t getting tired yet but this definitely perks me up a little more.

T13:30- I decide I am going to finish reading the Manga Berserk- I had read up to all that had been produced in 2013 and hadn’t read any of what had come out since then. Berserk is one of my favorite pieces of media of any kind and I am excited to get back into it. I also decide to feed myself again, this time aided with a hit of cannabis from my gravity bong. The weed feels almost hallucinogenic as it pairs with the stimulation to draw out currents of iridescent visual snow, barely perceptible flashes of motion at the edges of my vision, flashing overlays on my field of vision. I eat more and it feels and tastes better this time but it still takes me a while to finish.

T16:30- I am going to get ready for bed. I don’t feel particularly exhausted however. I take 2 back to back gravity bong hits of weed and turn my lights off.

T16:40- I am now on 34 hours without sleep, and perhaps that has made things a little weird. As I browse my computer, I start to notice more aggressive visuals. The cursor on my computer jumps and twitches as I use it, flickering like it’s being hit with blasts of static. The visual snow becomes a whiteout, cascading down in curtains and disintegrating everything it passes in a mess of muted colors. There are waves and ripples of color travelling through my computer screen, and a vivid flashing image of twisting metal coils is overlaid over my entire field of vision for brief spates. There are lights in the dark spaces in my room, muted globs conforming to the vague shapes of objects in the darkness. Dark shadows and silhouettes in my window begin to shake and breathe and twitch, I almost expect them to start growing limbs and freely moving about. My heart is racing noticeably, but I otherwise just feel physically tired. The light from my computer screen crackles and flickers like a flame, and the ambient light coming through my window shifts in color and brightness, the shadows cast by it stretching and bending on their own. When I shut my computer and become completely immersed in darkness it is as though wires have been stretched across my vision and someone is plucking them.

T17:20- I have been aimlessly reading things on the internet, so much is so interesting right now. I fall into all sorts of holes of reading about various topics. As I type my keys seem to flee from my fingers, scuttering off like roaches in light, only to snap back into place. Damn I’m high.

T18:30- I realize that I am up at 5 AM again, fully alert and wide awake. I realize this is how I started, by staying up too late and figuring it wasn’t worth it to try to sleep. I decide it would probably be best to get some sleep so I dose ~2 mg of Flualprazolam sublingually from a propylene glycol solution, my usual unstoppable hypnotic. This has me asleep in about 20 minutes. I wake up feeling normal the next day, in the early afternoon.

Conclusion: I am not sure how I managed to achieve such powerful visuals at the tail end of this drawn out experience. I would guess it was a combination of my persistent HPPD, a fairly acute dose of cannabis, compounded effect from the stimulants, and lack of sleep. It was interesting to bring about, though it was kind of annoying to be stricken with that so late at night. I need to stop doing that. 3FPM is a delightful functional stimulant, I would consider it to be a more euphoric and giddy and sociable caffeine, generally subtle but definitely makes its presence known. I can imagine it could be a fun party drug if you did a bunch of bumps of it. Intranasal doses seem to lass for significantly less time than equivalent oral doses. In past experiences, the comedown from oral doses had me feeling fairly cranky and irritable, while the comedown from intranasal doses was very suddenly exhausting and usually just put me right to sleep.

4-HO-MALT

Age: 24

Weight: 125 lbs

Dosage: 40 mg oral in gel cap

Setting: Around the city, my house

T0:00- Dose taken while riding the subway. I ride it along the outdoor elevated portion towards its northern terminus. It’s a nice day out so I decide I will walk along the length of the elevated portion back to my house.

T0:30- The first notes of the experience start to bubble up- a bit of anxiety and light visuals. Interestingly enough there is no bodyload, which is usually the first note of any psychedelic experience for me. The opening salvo is always a pang of nausea and a visceral shock to my nerves, but that is noticeably absent.

T1:20- I’ve been walking for some time now. The whole street has a festive atmosphere with people blaring music out of amplifiers on the sidewalks and hanging out in the street in throngs, though this is a festival stricken by a severe opioid crisis and many of the people were seeking, dispensing, or administering their various highs. Police in mobile guard stands stood watch over the open market only to interfere if violence broke out. People twisted and faded in and out around me, circling into my sphere of existence as their voices flung and danced around me, shouts and mutters, some of them smoky and scraped and scarred, others booming and melodious. The sun is shining and beating down and people appear to be in good spirits, the energy coalescing into discrete blocks that drift around me as I walk. No one pays me any attention which is good because I do not know how well I would be able to interact with anyone right now. I feel strange and anxious and sweaty, but I don’t feel the anxiety in my gut. There is still no nausea or bodyload to note, the trip is well contained within my central nervous system. I feel giddy and jubilant like I am sailing with a strong headwind. Energy wells up inside of me, it’s a nice loose stimulation though and doesn’t bear the wound up tension that many other drugs can bring. Auditory effects are negligible beyond a more acute awareness of the space and direction of sounds, and an amplified sort of doppler effect as I move path stationary noises.

The visuals have set in more and more, they are mostly transparent overlays on everything else and are reminiscent of Mesoamerican glyphs, with intricate and well defined tangled forms, sinuous like serpents, with fronds and feathers blossoming at their apices. They carry a greenish tint but fade fairly easily into the environment.

T1:52- Bathed in smooth sparkling sunlight, the trip is drenched with euphoria and optimism. I feel like I can only think about happy things, that even the grim things I can think about are still touched with happiness and pleasantry. It feels like it’s a façade, it feels like happiness misplaced, naïve and wrong, though not as intensely or artificially as with empathogens. It is still the deep, profound euphoria that comes from psychedelics, but it feels odd and out of place. I don’t get that sense of wanting to proclaim my newfound pleasure or revel in it, rather is sits there matter of fact, like a bird watching me from a tree. Also odd and out of place is the continuing lack of nausea or any kind of bodyload. The streets become less crowded the further I walk and find myself becoming more absorbed in gazing at things, textured surfaces, the sky, tree branches, etc.

The visuals dance around as bas-reliefs on mottled surfaces, still reminiscent of flowers and serpents. My thoughts are racing, tearing their way through my baseline of apprehension and turning themselves towards the sun so they can bask in its light. It’s such a beautiful day and it feels as though there will be a beautiful tomorrow too.

T2:00- I have ended up walking around the older part of the city. I walked by the base of the great suspension bridge that spans the major river into another state. The piers are titans of stone blocks each as large as my bedroom, seeing this monument cast stark against the blue sky feels surreal, it feels like a vision or a shot of a movie. There is a subtle derealization carried with the sublime sense of aesthetics. Patterns weave their way out of the stone and drizzle from the sky, still writhing and entangling, still immaculately textured. I still feel elated, not overclocked with a stimulating euphoria, rather it is a peaceful sense of being exactly where I belong, of basking in the beauty of so much around me.

T2:17- The sun is setting now and its dyeing the sky with streaks of brilliant magenta. Ripples creep and crawl through the sky and dissolve into forms that twist into the lids of a thousand eyes, though it is barely perceptible. I am stopping to take a breather next to a park, I’m pleasantly sweaty and my body feels excellent from the light exercise. There is still miraculously little to no physical discomfort to report. Thoughts are stimulated but gentle. I set out for home. All of the buildings look particularly stark and powerful against the backdrop of the sky.

T3:00- I am back at my house now. I am alone in my room, smoking more weed. It causes the experience to bubble up a bit, though at this point I am mostly just riding on the afterglow. What remains of the trip is slight like dust bunnies in the corner. It is bereft of color and dancing light. I still feel chipper and energetic.

T5:00- Mostly back to baseline by this point.

T6:00- Definitely back to baseline.

Conclusion: 4-HO-MALT is one of the few psychedelics where my body does not react like I have been poisoned with something. None of the pangs of nausea or tension of visceral anxiety, none of that twisting discomfort that always rocks the comeups of my trips. I didn’t think it was possible. Otherwise this trip is pleasant, bubbly, and optimistic in the way a child is on a sunny day. Mostly in the realm of the cognitive, with the visuals being slight and lacking in vibrant colors, with a fairly generic tryptamine overlay of the flowing blossoming organic crossed with the sharp lines of the synthetic. It is a short sweet and light experience that might be a candidate for a good easy starter psychedelic for the curious but uninitiated. Not necessarily shallow, but also not with enough depth to cause panic or resounding problems. I would definitely be interested in exploring higher doses of this substance to see whether the manageable pleasantry of this substance eventually caps off and disintegrates.