Landmark Trial Sees Few Differences In LSD And Psilocybin Trips

A new study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology has reported the results of the first modern clinical investigation to compare the acute effects of psychedelics lysergic acid-diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin.

Photo Insert: Mushrooms are natural, so they lead to mystical, organic, and introspective experiences while LSD is synthetic, generating electric, jagged, and sci-fi experiences.

The landmark study reveals little subjective difference between the two psychedelic drugs beyond the effects of LSD lasting longer than psilocybin, Rich Haridy reported for New Atlas recently.

Clinical research on the therapeutic uses of psychedelic drugs continues to move forward at an incredible pace. Scientists are currently investigating how psychedelics can be used to treat everything from depression and anxiety to cluster headaches and Alzheimer’s disease.

Anecdotally, the differences between LSD and psilocybin (the psychedelic substance found in magic mushrooms) often hinge on a natural versus synthetic binary. Mushrooms are natural, so they lead to mystical, organic, and introspective experiences while LSD is synthetic, generating electric, jagged, and sci-fi experiences.

But setting aside recreational contexts and zooming in on the acute effects of the specific drugs, there has been very little research directly comparing the two psychedelics.

One of the earliest studies directly comparing the effects of LSD and psilocybin was conducted in 1959 by controversial pharmacologist Harris Isbell. Isbell’s work on psychedelics began in the late 1950s, reportedly at the request of the CIA, and was mostly conducted using African American prisoners in jail for narcotic offenses.

Interestingly, his initial findings indicating the two drugs generate similar experiential effects echo the findings of this newly published research.

The new study, led by Matthias Liechti from the University of Basel, recruited 28 healthy participants, around half of whom had never taken a psychedelic drug before. Each subject completed five different test sessions: placebo, LSD (100 and 200 micrograms), and psilocybin (15 and 30 milligrams).

The sessions were double-blinded, randomized and each separated by at least 10 days. Across a number of scales used to measure subjective altered states of consciousness, the differences between the two psychedelics were mostly dose-dependent.

The highest psilocybin dose tested led to slightly lower subjective effects compared to the highest LSD dose. Physiologically, the effects of the two drugs were slightly different. Psilocybin seemed to lead to greater increases in arterial blood pressure, while LSD resulted in elevated heart rate. Overall, however, the researchers indicate these differences were somewhat negligible.

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