This isn’t a full-blown acid trip — or even close. If you see visions, it’s not a microdose. People who microdose don’t do it every day. Instead, they take tiny doses intermittently, on a schedule or when they feel it could be beneficial.

One small study suggests any psychological benefits come from users’ expectations — the placebo effect. But the science is still new and research is ongoing.

The substances are illegal in most places, but the wave of scientific research focused on the benefits of supervised hallucinatory experiences has spurred Oregon and Colorado to legalize psychedelic therapy. Further opening the door to microdosing, a handful of cities have officially directed police to make psychedelics a low priority for enforcement.

What are people who microdose reporting?

“I started microdosing and within a couple of months, I had a general sense of well-being that I hadn’t had in so long,” said Marine Corps combat veteran Matt Metzger.

He grows his own mushrooms in Olympia, Washington, where psilocybin has been decriminalized. Taking small amounts of psilocybin helps him cope with PTSD, he said.

In Loveland, Colorado, Aubrie Gates said microdosing psilocybin has made her a better parent and enhanced her creativity.

“It makes you feel viscerally in your body a new way of being, a more healthy way of being,” Gates said. “And so instead of just like thinking with your conscious mind, ‘Oh, I need to be more present,’ you feel what it feels like to be more present.”

What does the science say about microdosing?

These kinds of claims are hard to measure in the lab, say scientists studying microdosing.

For starters, belief is so important to the experience that empty capsules can produce the same effects.

In one study involving people who microdose, participants didn’t know until afterward whether they had spent four weeks taking their usual microdose or placebos. Psychological measures improved after four weeks for everyone in the study, regardless of whether they were taking microdoses or empty capsules.

“It appears that I was indeed taking placebos throughout the trial. I’m quite astonished,” wrote one of the study participants. “It seems I was able to generate a powerful ‘altered consciousness’ experience based only (on) the expectation around the possibility of a microdose.”

Scientists haven’t found lasting effects on creativity or cognition, according to a review of a handful of small placebo-controlled trials of microdosing LSD.

One small study did find glimmers of an effect of small LSD doses on vigor and elation in people with mild depression when compared with a placebo.

“It may only work in some people and not in other people, so it makes it hard for us to measure it under laboratory conditions,” said University of Chicago neuroscience researcher Harriet de Wit, who led the research.

The potential has spurred an Australian company to conduct early trials of microdoses of LSD for severe depression and in cancer patients experiencing despair.

Meanwhile, few rigorous studies of psilocybin microdosing have been done.

Psilocybin mushrooms are the most often used among psychedelic drugs, according to a report by the nonpartisan Rand research group. Rand estimates that 8 million people in the U.S. used psilocybin in 2023 and half of them reported microdosing the last time they used it.

A few words of caution about microdosing

Even microdosing advocates caution that the long-term effects have not been studied in humans.

Other warnings: Unregulated products from shady sources could contain harmful substances. And accidentally taking too much could cause disturbing sensations.

The nonprofit Fireside Project offers free phone support for people during a psychedelic experience and has received hundreds of calls about microdosing.

“People may call just to simply process their experience,” said project founder Josh White, who microdoses the plant iboga and LSD to “continue to deepen the insight about my life” that he gained in a full-blown psychedelic experience.

Balazs Szigeti of University of California San Francisco, who has studied microdosing, said it may be a way to harness the placebo effect for personal benefit.

“It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Szigeti said. “People who are interested in microdosing should give microdosing a try, but only if they’re enthusiastic about it, if they have a positive expectation about the benefits of microdosing.”

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A pair of California lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill on Tuesday to allow people 21 and older to consume psychedelic mushrooms under professional supervision as part of an agenda to tackle the state’s mental health and substance use crises.

It comes after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom last year vetoed legislation that would have decriminalized the possession and personal use of several plant-based hallucinogens, including psychedelic mushrooms. It was the first time the proposal by Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener made it through the legislature after years of stalling. In his veto message, Newsom, who championed legalizing cannabis in 2016, asked lawmakers to work on therapeutic guidelines and regulations.

Now Wiener has teamed up with Republican Assemblymember Marie Waldron on a proposal to allow participations to consume psilocybin — the hallucinogenic component in what’s known as psychedelic mushrooms — under the supervision of a licensed therapist. The bill also would include dimethyltryptamine (DMT), MDMA and mescaline. Colorado and Oregon have already decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms and established regulated systems for therapeutic use of the substances.

In California, San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Cruz have effectively decriminalized possession of psychedelic mushrooms, meaning a person cannot be arrested or prosecuted for possessing limited amounts of plant-based hallucinogens. “We know that Californians are struggling with mental health and addiction challenges, and we know that psychedelics, particularly when combined with therapeutic support, can be a powerful tool to help people get their health back,” Wiener said at a Monday news briefing. “We know that California veterans and first responders have particularly benefited from these substances, and we know that many more people can as well.” Waldron, who introduced a different bill to study the use of psychedelic therapy, said the bipartisan bill aligns with Newsom’s vision by providing safeguards around psychedelic therapy.

A person would have to go through a comprehensive screening to determine if they’re fit to consume hallucinogens for therapy and engage in follow-up assessments. The bill also would shift the state’s response to mental health crisis away from criminalization and punishment, Waldron said. California already has “a massive network” of underground therapists who provide psychedelic therapy, Wiener said. He added the bill would “bring them above ground” through a new state licensing board that regulates the services. The legislation does not allow for personal possession and use.

That means clients can’t buy the substance to go. The drugs would still be illegal under federal law. Wiener said he doesn’t want to wait on actions from the federal government and that state lawmakers could authorize such regulated psychedelic use, similar to previous efforts to legalize therapeutic use of cannabis to treat cancers or HIV. Touted as a mind-bending drug in the 1960s, psychedelic mushrooms have been used in religious or spiritual practices in some cultures for centuries and possibly thousands of years. Some researchers believe psilocybin and other drugs show promise in treating depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Food and Drug Administration in 2018 designated psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” and published draft guidance last year for researchers designing clinical trials for psychedelic drugs. The bill is sponsored by Heroic Hearts Project, a nonprofit working with veterans to overcome trauma. Juliana Mercer, a Marine Corps veteran and a Heroic Hearts Project board member, said she’s used psychedelics to manage her PTSD through programs outside of the U.S. Her organization recently sent a group of veterans to Oregon for regulated psilocybin use. “Through education and through regulation, we’ll be able to take people from doing this underground, where it may not be safe, into a place where they can do it safely,” Mercer said.

She added that will allow them to “access the healing that they deserve without fear of negative repercussions.” The California Coalition for Psychedelic Safety and Education, which opposed the measure to decriminalize psychedelics last year, also joined to support the bipartisan bill this year. Susan Sagy, executive director of the group, called it an approach “that balances the potential benefits of therapeutic treatment with the potential risks to public health.”

Proponents of the bill anticipate it would take 18 to 24 months to implement the program if the bill becomes law. The bill would also create an education program focused on harm reduction and the potential adverse effects of psychedelics.

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