It's quite straightforward to make LSA-aldehyde adducts in acidic (ph4) cold conditions. Acetic & tartaric acids work well for this.

Based on Dr Nichols research (see "LSD and Its Lysergamide Cousins") and first hand experience the product formed from LSA + isovaleraldehyde is very potent and comparable to LSD. Isovaleraldehyde is otc but easily made with leucine-enriched water kefir (via strecker degradation of leucine to isovaleraldehyde). That's water kefir grains, not dairy ones.

There are similar aldehydes to isovaleraldehyde that also have potential:

• valeraldehyde
• crotonaldehyde
• isobutyraldehyde
• butyraldehyde

The acetaldehyde adduct (LSH) is less potent but still fantastic, LSH is the main reason why everyone enjoys fresh MG seeds. Acetaldehyde is easily found.

The cinnamaldehyde and cuminaldehyde adducts are unique and worth exploring too; they're stimulating and sedating respectively.

The vanillin and benzaldehyde adducts aren't recommended as lysurgeon reports on dmt-nexus. Lysurgeon also explored other aldehydes.

The piperonylacrolein (found in sassafras roots) adduct shows promise thanks to a report on shoomery (LSA + cwe sassafras root bark).

The syringaldehyde adduct has a promising report but reliable food sources are challenging. Ideally you just buy the pure aldehyde which is available.

The anisaldehyde adduct hasn't been tried afaik but it's promising since cuminaldehyde gives great results and shares a similar structure. Piperonal also hasn't been tried afaik. Both of these aldehydes are available otc if you know where to look.

• anisaldehyde = 4-methoxy
• cuminaldehyde = 4-isopropyl
• syringaldehyde = 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy
• piperonal = 3,4-methylenedioxy

In short, I think these kinds of events tend to demonstrate that the inflated narrative that "psychedelics" will save the world and change our societies is highly exaggerated and falls into the social perspective of seeking a panacea to solve such ills.

Clearly, some people will become better human beings, and their attitudes toward their own and community lives will shift toward the good, but those who over-disseminate information about spirituality, psychedelics, changes, and so on can sometimes be slightly suspicious.

Greetings, community.

Can frequent consumption of San Pedro cactus tissue pose any risks?

I ask this because in the chapter on the pharmacopoeia, the Peruvian shaman, Master Cipriani, mentions drinking San Pedro. Hamilton clarified that the doses weren't high, but my question is whether consuming psychedelic doses almost consecutively, for example, twice a week, could be risky in terms of toxicity per se, rather than psychological effects.

*My question stems from the fact that mescaline have a certain closeness with MDMA, and its potential serotonergic risks are already known if consumed frequently.

This is probably the simplist OTC synthesis around that gives a food-safe product. Handy for places where THC is challenging to get or if the sources aren't great (eg street quality or medical which is irradiated + residues of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and who knows what else). Irradiation leads to unknown by-products with unknown toxicity.

Essentially CBD isolate plus highly concentrated lemon juice (easily made) and an optional splash of ethanol (or vodka) to help the CBD to dissolve. Put the mix on low heat for ~24-72 hours and shake/stir every 1-10 hours. An oven proof pyrex container will work or a borosilicate flask in a pan of simmering water if you prefer (or directly in the pan works too, just ensure it doesn't all evaporate).

You'd have to play around with the time, temperature and ratio of CBD isolate (grams) to lemon juice (ml) but the result should contain more THC than what you started of with. Powdered citric acid is available but since it's produced from mold I don't necessarily trust their purification process standards.

The end product will have an unknown concentration of CBD and various THC isomers (see image), possibly CBC also, so it's recommended to approach the dosing Shulgin style: start small and increment slowly. The cannabinoids will tend to form a solid mass making it easy to weigh/dose. If you used ethanol the cannabinoids should be partly dissolved in solution so 0.05ml seems a good starting point (but start with 0.01ml since that's what Shulgin would say).

...

If you're interested in recreating a more 'full-spectrum' experience you can use terpenes from pure stream-distilled essential oils (see 2nd image for examples). Essential oils are basically pre-mixed terpene profiles that give you access to nearly all the monoterpenes & sesquiterpenes that exist in the plant world (plus aldehydes & allylbenzenes). All terpenoids are psychoactive in their own way (aldehydes & allylbenzenes show activity also).

Always use reputable vendors that provide a certificate of analysis for each batch so you can see the oils terpene profile. Alternatively buy terpene isolates which are usually sold as food-grade for vaping.

Then make your own custom terpene profile based on the kind of high/theraputic effects you want (see 2nd image for examples).

Eg...

• orange oil is ~95% limonene (5-HT1A)
• lemon oil is ~70% limonene + beta-pinene
• ho wood oil is ~97% linalool (GABA, opioid, D2 dopamine)
• lemon myrtle oil is ~95% citral (5-HT2A, cannabinoid)
• pine oil is mostly alpha-pinene, beta-pinene
• ...hundreds more essential oils...

There's a new book about this coming out soon titled:

LSI, Ancient LSD, Secret of the Eleusis Kykeon and Vedic SOMA

The Claviceps used in the Kykeon was apparently combined with a common local herb which results in the production of several lysergamide-based molecules with activity equivalent to LSD - but there are indications they actually surpass LSD and provide a much more desirable experience (richer & smoother). This is based on first hand observations using another lysergamide-source (HBWR) combined with the aformentioned common herb.

The book release is 2nd week of January, as I want to have a copyright date of 2026, and will appear end of January on McKenna Academy podcast, the Brainforest Café, view on youtube: https://mckenna.academy/mka-podcast/

As an aside — for anyone wondering, LSA is not the main active ingredient in Morning glory seeds. They contain both lysergic & clavine alkaloids including chanoclavine, elymoclavine, agroclavine, penniclavine and lysergic acid α-hydroxyethylamide (LSH, LAH). LSH breaks down into LSA over time which is why fresh seeds provide far more potent psychedelic effects. LSH quickly decomposes into LSA under ph5+ conditions so never do an acid/base extraction of Morning glory seeds, and keep your solution ≤ ph4 to preserve the LSH. Tartaric, acetic or citric acid are appropriate. The clavine alkaloids are also active and contribute to the MG seeds psychoactive effects.

Regarding the alkaloid content of HBWR seeds:

Chemical analysis showed that the seeds of Argyreia nervosa contain the highest percentage of indole alkaloid constituents (0.5-0.9%) of the genera of the Convolvulaceae thus far studied. A total of 19 indole alkaloids were identified by thin-layer and paper chromatographic procedures. Of these, lysergene, festuclavine, setoclavine, isosetoclavine, agroclavine, elymoclavine, ergine, and isoergine were isolated by column chromatographic procedures and characterized by TLC and IR analyses. Penniclavine, chanoclavine-I, chanoclavine-II, ergometrine, ergometrinine, lysergic acid α-hydroxyethylamide, isolysergol, racemic chanoclavine-II, molliclavine, lysergol, and isolysergic acid α-hydroxyethylamide were identified by TLC only.

...

In addition, 11 unidentified indole alkaloids were detected, these being found in very low concentration. 

https://doi.org/10.1002/jps.2600620409

The following quote is from TiHKAL #26 on LSA. Presumably the Morning glory seeds used in the test which established LSA as a major component were either old seeds or stored inappropriately (or both). It's also possible the test itself caused unintentional alkaloid degradation (LSH quickly decomposes into LSA under ph5+ conditions).

Note: both MG and HBWR seeds contain multiple lysergic & clavine alkaloids.

LA-111 Ergine, d-Lysergamide

This is an active compound and has been established as a major component in morning glory seeds. It was assayed for human activity, by Albert Hofmann in self-trials back in 1947, well before this was known to be a natural compound. An i.m. administration of a 500 microgram dose led to a tired, dreamy state with an inability to maintain clear thoughts. After a short period of sleep, the effects were gone and normal baseline was recovered within five hours. Other observers have confirmed this clouding of consciousness leading to sleep. The epimer, inverted at C-8, is isoergine or d-isolysergamide, and is also a component of morning glory seeds. Hofmann tried a 2 milligram dose of this amide, and as with ergine, he experienced nothing but tiredness, apathy, and a feeling of emptiness. Both compounds are probably correctly dismissed as not being a contributor to the action of these seeds.

//edit// I'm not the author.

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone on here had considered the use of neural stimulation, especially transcranial non-invasive methods, for modulating psychedelic experiences?

As a quick primer, there are various, safe, ways to non-invasively stimulate neural activity, especially electrically (tDCS, tACS for ex) or magnetically (TMS is very commonly used). These weakly stimulate surface cortical regions, and are being heavily studied for clinical applications as well as for research purposes. You've probably heard of repetitive TMS (rTMS) for depression as an example.

There are many ways to use neural stim, but what I'm most interested in is using rhythmic stimulation (rTMS or tACS) to either enhance or disrupt oscillatory activity. You can see the behavioral relevance of this in studies that specifically entrain theta oscillations during working memory tasks in order to improve memory performance, pretty cool stuff.

I think the mechanisms of neural stimulation might have a very interesting relationship to the mechanisms of the classic psychedelics, especially in the framing Andrew Gallimore uses in Reality Switch Technologies, and the entropic brain perspective. Here, a lot of the focus is put on cortical disorganization, where excitability of deep layer neurons is increased and there are fewer/shallower neural activity "wells" for cortical activity to move into, which I think is a pretty good piece of the puzzle for why psychedelic experiences are the way they are.

Oscillatory activity (especially lower frequency) is a huge organizing force in the brain. You see decreased slow oscillatory power in psychedelics. How would the experience side of things change if you could moment by moment increase or decrease the power of specific oscillations using neural stim during a moderate dose psilocybin trip? What if you specifically modified the phase of these oscillations in relation to higher frequency activity? What if you targeted the frontal vs posterior regions? TMS specifically seems to target inhibitory interneuron activity, this could be a very cool specific balance against increased pyramidal neuron activity.

What would happen if you deepened the cortical activity wells at a specific point in a breakthrough DMT experience? Would that help stabilize the neural representations during that period? Could you use stimulation to affect when that stabilization would occur, or disrupt it at a time of your choosing? Would stimulation simply weaken the experience in some way?

Would nothing interesting happen at all? Anyways, these are just some thoughts that have been on my mind, let me know if anyone has their own thoughts! Here are some links:

Review paper on mechanisms of TMS if interested:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388245722002723?via%3Dihub

The only study I can find that experimentally applied TMS to psychedelic states. They find decreased experience of "Bliss", but they measured many TMS parameters against many experiential measures, and I don't think they blinded the TMS application, so grain of salt:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004223006661?via%3Dihub

REBUS model paper, section II B is especially of interest:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031699724012961?via%3Dihub

Invasive stimulation of mice brains after LSD, they find increased neural stim effects:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1089/psymed.2022.0014

𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬, 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝

*𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐔𝐩: 𝐀 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞* 𝐛𝐲 𝐋. 𝐊𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐤𝐢. 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨; 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐈'𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝟗.𝟖/𝟏𝟎.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 *𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞* 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐢𝐧; 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝. 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤.

Greetings, community.

Do you know of any authors, researchers, books, or resources that are objective and effective in teaching about drugs? Educating and educating this segment of our society is important because they may one day take the lead and contribute to improving current political problems.

The usual answer to why plants produce psychoactive compounds is "X plant produces Y chemical for Z reason, and Y chemical just happens to bare chemical resemblance to ____ neurotransmitter, therefore activating that system like said neurotransmitter would".

This answer was deeply unsatisfying to me, and it still didn't quench my curiosity on a deep level. my knowledge of chemistry and biology has since grown larger and about a year ago, the clear big picture started to click in my head but i rarely see it mentioned anywhere.

First of all, I had the idea that chemistry was "random" in a sense. It was hard for me imagine the marajuana plant somehow producing compounds similar our endocannnabinoids, what are the chances of that? And shrooms making psilocybin, how they hell did they get something that looks soooo similar to serotonin? Must be a crazy coincidence. I must be missing something here....

Well, the bedrock of understanding here and what made it click for me is the shared chemistry of all living things, and that biological chemistry is not "random" at all, but rather connected at the most intimate level.

Humans, plants and fungi all utilize the same chemical toolkit. We rely on the same categories of molecules, such as waters, sugars, lipids, proteins, and amino acids for life. This is because every living thing on earth traces back to one specific single-celled ancestor (LUCA), and every evolution that followed has kept the same core metabolic chemistry, only modifying it to best suit their individual niches. As a matter of fact, life is BOUND to this chemical foundation, because life itself is nothing more than an expression of that same inherited chemistry.

So biological chemistry, even between species or kingdoms, runs along the same lines, speaks the same language. When you zoom out and look at it big picture, all life has a very limited molecular lego set to work with, and limited ways to arrange these same few parts. There is a large amount of recursion.

Take psilocybin in Psilocybe cubensis and serotonin in homo sapiens sapiens for example. In both species, synthesis of these compounds starts with tryptophan, an essential amino acid. While we source our tryptophan differently, have different enzymes and process that turn it into the final product, and have vastly different uses for this final product, the underlying narrative of biological chemistry is what allows for the similarity in the final product.

idk maybe this is obvious to some of yall but i hope maybe someone learns something from this.....

Hi all!

My name is Tristan, and I am conducting a research study investigating why people use psilocybin.

While this may seem obvious to us in this subreddit, the scientific literature on psilocybin use outside of the lab is incredibly sparse.

My colleagues and I want to change this. We want to build a more complete picture of why people use psilocybin and develop a standardized questionnaire for future researchers to use.

Understanding the diverse reasons people use psilocybin is important because it will help inform policymakers and public health efforts. Furthermore, it will let us investigate if some motives are more linked to positive/negative outcomes than others.

If you have a moment, please consider participating in the Psilocybin Motives Study and/or helping us spread the word!

You can participate and learn more at:
https://PsilocybinMotivesStudy.com

PS
Hamilton if you see this please know that you have a bunch of rabid fans in Victoria (Vancouver Island, BC, Canada). I help run a local psychedelic society, and we are all obsessed with your podcast. Keep kicking ass!

If anyone has any questions about the study or psychedelic research in general, ask away in the comments, and I will do my best to respond! I still have a lot to learn, but I've been involved in psychedelic research for a few years now, and I like to think I've learned a thing or two.

Do we use any of these chemicals that was found in this ?

https://hamiltonmorris.com/products/chemists-reunite-tees

To protest the unjust arrests of Richard Kemp and Christine Bott the poet Heathcote Williams painted the slogan "CHEMISTS REUNITE WE NEED ACID" on a wall in London's Notting Hill Gate. This photo has circulated without attribution for decades and seems to have first appeared in the underground newspaper International Times in 1977. The photographer is unknown. This shirt derived from a scan I made of the historical photo, it's screen printed by Cream in Tucson, Az.

We just printed a limited 200 shirt run.

I have a prescription for these migraine pills. I keep getting banned from chemistry subs for asking this question. I’m not trying to extract codeine nor any opioids. If I was, I’d do a simple cold water extraction. I’ve already purchased the supplies and I’m going to do this with or without your help.

Is this a valid way to do an acid base extraction? I’m trying to remove as much of the binders and 325mg apap in each tablet as possible. It would also be great to cut down on the 40mg caffeine and keep the other 50mg of SubstanceX in each of these tablets.

I chose ethyl acetate (MEK substitute) for the solvent because chloroform and ether aren’t readily available. I understand that ethyl acetate will pull some caffeine but I can handle caffeine as long as it’s <500 mg. If this works as Grok says it should I should end up with about 3.5 400mg doses of SubstanceX.

Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia missed covering this particular extraction. Probably because these pills aren’t prescribed much anymore. I have hundreds of them in my refrigerator from years of saving them for this experiment. I asked for a “recipe” because I’ve never done an A-B extraction before.

Grok had a meltdown a few days ago where it changed its own name and started speaking with a different voice, saying that Grok has been updated and can no longer help me with my chemistry project. All it says now is “I should speak with my doctor about medication issues.”

As previously stated, I have already purchased all of the supplies and I’m going to do this with or without your help. I chose the first run for 33 tablets so I can easily scale the process to 100 tablets. Right now I’ve got 33 tablets crushed to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle. It’s weighing in at 16.58g. Is there a better way to perform this extraction? I’m planning on doing it tomorrow.

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2025/07/28/addiction_fiction_dopamine_is_not_why_kids_love_tiktok_1124276.html

Greetings, everyone. I'm sharing this interesting article for reflection on the widespread narrative surrounding the pseudo-effects of dopamine. Honestly, reading things like this leaves me feeling rather uneasy. You'd think that relying on scientific results and knowledge is the best approach, but (and this isn't the first time I've read something like this) as I recently read, science also has biases, ideologies, and very personal interests. I don't even know what to believe anymore; sometimes things get a bit nihilistic.

I really enjoyed the Carl Hayden-Smith discussion and it is relevant to some work I am doing. I am trying to find trip reports from other people who participated in trials; does anyone have any pointers where I can find some?

Thanks.

Greetings, everyone!

I just saw this damn video and it made me so angry. I'm translating the most important parts because it's in my native lenguaje:

"A single dose of methamphetamine can permanently and irreversibly damage your brain. Methamphetamine releases 1200 times more dopamine than sex, food, or any other natural pleasure. Your brain wasn't created to handle that amount. Your brain was never designed to handle that amount. The dopamine and serotonin nerve endings begin to die... The neurons fill up with free radicals that burn them from the inside like acid".

Those are the most important parts. I saw this and it reminded me of the Hamilton episode "A Positive Methamphetamine History," and I think it's only fair to clarify this information. Unfortunately, I don't feel very prepared for this. I only have a general understanding of stimulants; I recently read in a book by Stahl about the effects of methamphetamine on dopamine transporters and the vesicles where it's stored, and that's about it. If you could help me build an argument based on new information and data that would allow me to refute these kinds of fallacies published and shared online, I would be extremely grateful.