In his book “Drugs without the hot air”, David Nutt writes: “Although a bad LSD trip can be extremely frightening and distressing, psychedelics overall are among the safest drugs we know of. When the ISCD expert panel were rating LSD and mushrooms (which contain psilocybin) by our 16 criteria, they both scored either 0 or 1 (on 0-100 scales) in everything apart from specific and related impairment of mental functioning. It’s virtually impossible to die from an overdose of them; they cause no physical harm; and if anything they are anti-addictive.”
The research group at John Hopkins (2008), state”The most likely risk is overwhelming distress during drug action (‘bad trip’), which could lead to potentially dangerous behaviour such as leaving the study site. Before using psychedelics, it’s critical to educate yourself on responsible use, especially if you have a pre-existing mental health problem or a predisposition to them (close relatives with anxiety, depression, psychosis or schizophrenia).
