Microdose, or midcrodosing, refers to the practice of taking a very small portion of a typical dose of a medication or psychoactive substance. Microdosing often allows you to experience mild benefits of psychoactive medications that might otherwise produce a hallucinogenic experience if taken at a full dose.

For example, if a typical full dose of a medication is 20 micrograms, a microdose might be 1 or 2 micrograms.

Usually, a microdose is taken on a regular basis (say, every few days), as opposed to one, large dose taken periodically. Some of the substances studied when taken as a microdose include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin (from mushrooms).

What Are The Benefits Of Microdosing?

Microdosing could help to make changes in the brain usually associated with psychoactive substances—without relying on a full-fledged psychedelic experience.

Scientists have seen evidence of changes in brain connectivity and activity after study participants consumed a microdose of LSD. The changes they observed were similar to those typically observed at higher doses.

Similarly, a study in Denmark showed that a psilocybin microdose produced activation of serotonin receptors in the brain—almost half of them. This type of observation lends support to the idea that microdoses of psychoactive compounds could produce the mood-lifting benefits that larger doses of these same substances have a reputation for.

Is Microdosing Legal?

In the United States, on the federal and state level, if a substance is illegal, possession of any quantity of that substance is also illegal. Here is more information on the legality of psychedelics in your state.