The Psychedelic Handbook

Rick Strassmann is neither an advocate nor an opponent of psycedelic drugs. He believes that we do not know enough about what psycedelics do, how they do it, or their positive and negative potential to come down firmly on one side or the other. So his position is to summarise what we do know, what we do not know, and why it matters: scientifically, psychologically and spiritually.

This book is divided into 4 parts:

- What are psychedelic drugs?

- How do psycedelic drugs work?

- The psycedelic drugs

- Mescaline
-LSD
-Psylocibin
- DMT/ Ayahuasca
- ibogaine
- MDMA
- Ketamine
- Salvia Divinorum

- Practical guidelines

It starts with the basic information you need to know about the substances, where they come from and how they have been used throughout history. The benefits and potential risks, and which substances actually get to be called psychedelics and why.
The book is written from a researcher's point of view, with the added benefit that in this case the researcher has experience of the substances themselves, which adds a personal touch.

The next step is to understand how psychedelics work in the body. How they enter the brain and how they manifest themselves afterwards. Physically, mentally, spiritually and subjectively. There is a separate chapter for each of the classic and new psycedelics. In these we delve deeply into the psychofarmacology, dosage and routes of administration, tolerance and addiction potential, and neurotoxicology of each substance.
Finally, we dive into the practical guidelines of how to trip. What to expect and how best to prepare. Set and Setting" is a very important concept for DR. Strassmann.
The set refers to the person taking the substance and the state of mind they are in at the time. Healthy or ill, stressed or relaxed, etc. The setting is where the journey takes place. There can be very different results when a psycedelic is used in a clinical hospital/research setting than when it is used in a cosy yurt in the woods. This concept will be explaind thouroughly and how use it to get the most out of your psycedelic experiences!