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Paper short abstract:

Microdosing - the practice of regularly taking very small doses of psychedelic drugs - has emerged in the last few years as a fast growing self-enhancement practice in Europe and the US. This paper offers an ethnographic account of a user-generated microdosing trial held in Lisbon.

Paper long abstract:

Psychedelic drugs are regaining scientific interest since the 1990s, with a growing number of studies exploring their applications in therapeutic settings and as self-enhancement substances. The compounds of this family - both natural occurring and synthetic - are illegal internationally since the late 1960s though, making it hard for studies on human subjects to be approved. As a consequence, some researchers are exploring peculiar forms of remotely-coordinated, user-generated trials, relying on an international network of psychedelic self experimenters.

In November 2019, a group of people in Lisbon joined one of these studies, proposed by the Beckley Foundation / Imperial College (UK) with the goal of comparing the effect of psychedelic microdosing with placebo response. The experiment consisted in taking four capsules per week during four weeks: twelve of them contained placebo, while four contained a very small dose (8-12ug) of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD). Following an online manual, the capsules were prepared in a way that each participant was not aware of whether he/she was taking a dose on a specific day (a procedure called "self-blinding"), but this information could be disclosed at the end of the study. Along the weeks, questionnaires and cognitive tests were regularly undertaken by the participants through an online platform.

The author followed this collective experiment - from its set up to the release of individual data - and realised an extended focus group with the participants, sharing thoughts and feelings on topics like cognitive enhancement, performance at work, self-observation, expectation and conditioning.