💧 The wild story of the world’s first LSD synthesis how-to video

PLUS, peep these glow in the dark mushrooms

Author

Mary Carreon // Senior Editor
19 Dec

Welcome back to The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s psychedelic newsletter serving up news, culture, and events from the underground straight to your inbox.

Per usual, today’s dispatch is packed with wild stories. One of which is about Willy Myco, the multi-hyphenate mycologist, chemist, and content creator, who traveled to Pakistan to record a step-by-step instructional video on how to make LSD. It’s the first REAL, detailed recording of someone making the compound — not a cheesy voiceover tutorial on LSD synthesis paired with flashy visuals of molecules. This story truly has it all: calls from the FBI, scientists in Pakistan, death threats, and more. From the bottom of my bleeding heart, you DON’T want to miss drugs journalist Patrick Maravelias’ dazzling DB debut. You can find it below! ⚛️ 🧪

If you keep scrolling, you’ll find an opus on the evolution of modern psychedelic art (another story that truly has it all) by prolific writer and journalist Julia Edelman, and stories on glow-in-the-dark mushrooms, why people have bad trips, and so much more.

Sending sunshine,

Mary CarreĂłn
Senior Editor

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Willy Myco Just Released the First-Ever Video Demonstrating How to Synthesize LSD

Mycologist and chemist Willy Myco recently lectured on psychedelics at Pakistan’s University of Okara in exchange for filming a researcher there synthesize LSD.

For the better part of 86 years, chemists have largely kept the LSD synthesis process under lock and key. Obtaining a single gram of one precursor can involve a circus of bureaucratic hoops, and invites an unsettling level of FBI scrutiny. 

The whole process is known only to a select few around the world, most of whom are tied to large-scale organized crime syndicates. So Willy Myco, a leading mycologist, chemist, and psychedelic content creator, set out to jailbreak the process and produce the first-ever full-length, step-by-step instructional video on how to make LSD.

The chemistry was the easy part. 

Making the video was a lot more complicated than anticipated. 

It is one of the wildest content-creation stories of all time, involving hacker-level digital security precautions, multiple lawyers, and an obscure university in Pakistan.

Our Latest

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Learn with Us

🌍 Want to see the earthly wonders that inspired Pandora, the planet from the Avatar movies? Check out these glow-in-the-dark mushrooms.

🍄 In ancient China, reishi was known as “the mushroom of immortality.” If you’re curious about cultivating something other than psychedelic mushrooms, here’s what you need to grow this health-boosting mushroom at home.

🚷 Why do people have bad trips? We break down 5 of the most common reasons. The most important, in the words of Anthony Bourdain, “Do not ever take LSD with assholes.” Read the whole article here.

DoubleBlind Digs

Here are today’s recommendations to help you live more psychedelically… 

  1. Looking for a high vibrational gift for someone special? Anima Mundi makes some incredible alchemical products for every aspect of health. They’ll even give you a free 15 min herbal consult to help you pick the right thing for you. Check them out here.

  2. Get some new “supplements” for a sexy holiday getaway. Fiore’s all-natural and organic plant-based formulas enhance arousal and sexual intimacy, opening the door for better sex. A deeper pleasure awaits 👈

  3. Shaman’s Market is your one-stop shamanic gift shop this holiday season. Everything is fair and ethically traded and directly supports Indigenous populations. From sage and palo santo to drums, clothes, and tinctures, you’ll find the best, heart-centered gifts here.*

*We may make a commission from purchases made through these links, but we only feature brands and organizations we trust. Proceeds help us keep our psychedelic journalism alive.

Together With Wakeful Travel

Want to cultivate a deeper relationship with fungi? Or maybe just need a gift for a mushroom-curious person in your life? This mycologist-written Mushroom Cultivation Journal transforms the complex process of growing mushrooms into an accessible, intentional, and reflective process. Order by Dec 20 to get it by Christmas!

Latest Youtube Video

Music videos have been around for over 60 years now 🤯. A few notable collaborations between directors and musicians to collaborate in mixed media truly pushed the envelope of creative psychedelic expression. In this video, we explore some of some of the trippiest music of the last decades. Watch it here.

Around the Web

  • Scientists just discovered the closest natural relative to Psilocybe cubensis, and its DNA points to a common African origin. Is this proof of the Stoned Ape theory? Read the full story on Australia’s ABC News. 

  • Did you know NPR has a psychedelic podcast? Check Luminous for an in-depth look at some of the biggest questions around psychedelics, human consciousness, the nature of reality, and what happens to an octopus on MDMA. Listen here.

  • Take a break from the holidays and chill out with an hour of epic nature time-lapse videos.

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