Turning to psychedelic drugs is not strange, but if you find yourself craving a trip more than once a week, there might be a problem.

If you’re unhappy with your reality, how much of a foreign chemical are you willing to put into your body to alter that reality?

“There is no drug that is safe,” said Raymond Quock, a professor teaching Psychology 265: Biopsychological Effects of Alcohol and Other Drugs. “All chemicals are harmful, but the determining factor is dose.”

If you have taken or witnessed someone take LSD, shrooms, or smoke another substance, over time you probably saw changes unfold. Of course, external reality differs from what the high person is witnessing.

“Colors seem saturated,” said one WSU sophomore who wished to remain anonymous. “Patternless forms become very deep and seem to take on patterns. Time becomes harder to track.”

Psychological factors affect what you may witness when under the influence. One student’s experience may be positive but another’s might be mentally or physically detrimental.

I’ll reiterate that wise advice: don’t blindly base your choices on someone else’s experience.

The perfect high and dosage go hand-in-hand through the hallucinogenic park of the mind. Quock said people develop an immunity to psychedelic drugs, so a dosage that worked great last time might not do anything next time. That is the risk factor in this equation because there’s no standard dose.

“Even something that people perceive as safe is going to be toxic if there is a high enough concentration,” Quock said.

Sadly, people can also develop a tolerance for marijuana.

I don’t think anyone needs a sign stating “drugs are bad” because, clearly, no one seems to listen. If you are going to read this and try it anyway, manage your dosage to safely trip. The issue with people who use at a higher concentrated amount is their consistency.

Just because it was fun yesterday, doesn’t mean you have to keep using every day. Just go to the gym or something.

There could be benefits to psychedelics use, Quock said. They could treat depression, for instance. For the time being, Quock said government regulations block extensive research of psychedelics. Until researchers can gather more information, I say better safe than sorry.

Quock said a certain amount every once in a while should keep you on the safe side. If that isn’t good enough for you to reach your peak of enlightenment, tread carefully. LSD literally keeps you in a happy place for practically half-a-day. If you need that daily or weekly, ask yourself what you’re going through that requires that level of altered experience. Maybe therapy or lifestyle changes would be better options.