California entered a new era after the day limit -- election. After years of prohibition and denigration marijuana use became legal. That raises the question is marijuana the only illicit drug that needs reevaluation. And new book makes the case that it may be time to take a second look at LSD as a mood stabilizer and treatment for depression. Joining me is Ayelet Waldman author of "A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life" , LSD is known as an hallucinogen. Back in the day people to trips.. Currently, there a lot of people that take LSD to hallucinate. They take a large dose like 200 micrograms and that makes them have visions and auditory hallucinations and symptoms that frankly mimics psychosis or even schizophrenia. How is it different microdosing? It's taking a very small dose, and my case I took a 10 milligram dose. My goal was to alleviate depression. There is research that indicates taking large doses, hallucinogenic doses can alleviate depression and anxiety. I was anxious about taking large doses. I thought I would try the microdosing thing that everyone is talking about. It seemed to have a similar effect in terms of combating what had, at the time was intractable depression. How often would you take this microdose? I was following a protocol that had been around in the underground community, I should say I came to this from a place of desperation. I have a mood disorder and my medications stopped working. I've tried many medications and I was desperate. I follow this protocol which had to take 10 micrograms of LSD every three or four days. You take it one day, you feel the effects that day at the next day you continue to feel the effects and on the third day it's a reset. You are back to normal and you can assess the two days that have gone before. On day for you take it again. I did that for months. This is such a small dose of LSD, how do you know it's working? What was it like? It's a complicated question. How do we know any medication works. It's possible that the improvement that I experienced, which was dramatic, was purely placebo. It's a powerful effect. My depression lifted instantaneously. I had much more equilibrium. I was less likely to lose my temper. Is less irritable, less likely to fall into despair boat. It was also possible that was a placebo effect. The reason I wrote the book is because the results were dramatic. I would like to see more research. We are beginning to see research, not in the United States and LSD but in Europe. The research on full on hallucinogenic doses of LSD given to people facing severe depression and anxiety has been remarkable. Those are so açai been studies. -- So açai been. People who take full doses of psilocybin has their fear alleviated and that can last for a lifetime. It certainly lasts for periods of months. We haven't yet seen an official microdose study, a real study, double-blind with measured quantities and verified medication. We haven't seen not done yet so we don't know if microdosing has the same effect. There a lot of people doing this to the personal ad hoc studies and they have noticed the same effects Another thing you write is that microdosing did not have the side effects of the other types of treatment you tried for your depression had. We vilify drugs like LSD and psilocybin, the side effect profile of drugs that are legal and prescribed to millions of people are really profound. If you have received relief from taking an SSRI do not stop taking it. Those drugs have saved lives but they have serious side effects. My personal side effects were substantial weight in, decreased libido, agitation, things that made taking them uncomfortable and unpleasant. Then they would add another drug to combat those side effects and by the time you're done your taking four different medications and you're not sure what you are taking and why you are taking it if one is for the side effects than one is for the depression and you end up with the big pharmaceutical soup. What was remarkable to me, this drug the one that's been around for a really long time, that a lot of people have used tens of million people have used, it was effective. We have fears and anxieties around LSD. One of which is that it's illegal. That was my biggest fear. I'm inclined by nature to research. I'm a practical person. I set about doing my research and when I studied the data I discovered in all the history of LSD usage both clinical, therapeutic before was criminal and recreational, after it was made criminal and in the 60s before. There have been precisely to recorded cases of LSD overdose leading to death. Both of those recorded cases seemed to be suspect. One it seems like the person died of exposure and the other is also a problematic report. There are few medications that we can say that about, it's difficult to ascertain what a fatal dose is the cause people haven't died. Overdoses of Tylenol kills hundreds of people year and puts thousands into the emergency room. It's an unusual drug that is so safe. But of course, it's illegal. I'm a law-abiding citizen. I'm a mother of format. -- For -- I was desperate. This experiment came from a place, I was googling the effects of suicide on children. I was in a black place. When the decision presented itself to me, what would be worse for my family, me risking arrest or me ending my life? It became clear that this was something I wanted to try. As I understand it you are no longer microdosing LSD. I'm not and it's because once I felt better, once I felt like I wasn't in danger anymore. The fact that the drug was criminal became much more important to me and I no longer felt comfortable breaking the law. That's not to say that if I once again fell into that place of horrible despair I might not make up different choice. I can't know. As more and more research about the benefits of psychedelics and the utility of drugs like LSD, so açai been combating things like nicotine addiction and opioid addict, it's more likely that there will be medications developed to help people. It's kind of a race for me. I hope the next time I mood cycles into a depression will not be until some country somewhere has made legal this medication that helps me and at that point I will get on a plane to get the drugs that made me feel better. I've been speaking with Ayelet Waldman author of "A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life" .
Ayelet Waldman decided to try microdosing to combat her depression when her medication stopped working.
Microdosing involves taking a small amount of LSD, in her case 10 micrograms, every three to four days. A dose of LSD taken with the intent to bring on visions and auditory hallucinations is 150 to 200 micrograms.
"I was really, really desperate. And this experiment came from a place where I was Googling the effects of suicide on children. I was in a black, black place. And when the decision presented itself to me, 'what would be worse for my family? Me risking arrest or me ending my life?' It became clear that this was something that I wanted to try," said Waldman, who is a novelist and former public defender.
Waldman said after taking her first microdose her depression lifted instantaneously. She noticed that she was less likely to lose her temper, less irritable and less likely to fall into despair. She also noticed that she had far fewer side effects with microdosing than with other medications she had used to treat her mood disorder.
But, Waldman admits that what she experienced could be due to the placebo effect. She would like to see more research done on microdosing, but because LSD is illegal, the research that has been done is limited.
Waldman wrote about her 30-day experiment with microdosing in her new memoir “A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life.”
Waldman joins KPBS Midday Edition on Tuesday to talk about her microdosing experience.
