How to Microdose Psilocybin According to Paul Stamets

When it comes to psilocybin mushrooms, few people are more knowledgeable than famed mycologist Paul Stamets. Since his first book was published in 1978, Psilocybe Mushrooms & Their Allies, Stamets has been considered an expert in the field of psychedelic mushrooms. 

Therefore, when considering microdosing the psychedelic, it is worth learning the schedule and routine that Stamets advises. This regimen is known as the Stamets Stack.

What Is Microdosing and What Are the Benefits?

Microdosing is the act of taking a very small dose of a psychedelic, in this case psilocybin mushrooms. If done properly, the dose should be sub-perceptual, or non-hallucinogenic. In other words, the person taking the dose should not feel psychedelic effects, and their ability to function in their regular work, family, or school environment should remain intact.

Despite not feeling perceptual effects, microdosing magic mushrooms have anecdotally been reported to provide a range of benefits, from improving creativity, decreasing stress, boosting mood, and helping you achieve states of flow. It is also said that the benefits are accumulative, and grow over time.

Here, it is important to note that while the anecdotes number in the hundreds of thousands, current scientific study is torn on whether there are concrete positive effects to microdosing, or whether the measured benefits are due solely to the placebo effect.

What Is the Stamets Stack?

Like any emerging health regimen, the best practices are still heavily debated. Despite this, there are two well-known routines: the Fadiman Protocol; and the Stamets Stack.

Psychedelic Spotlight has already written Microdosing Psilocybin for Beginners in 5 Easy Steps, a guide heavily inspired by the Fadiman Protocol. In brief, this involves taking around 0.1 grams of dried magic mushrooms once every three days. The idea behind this is that on the first day, you feel the full effects of the dose, on the second day you feel half the effects, and the third day is a tolerance break. This break is important since even on such a low dose your body can still build up a tolerance

The Stamets Stack differs in two key respects: in the schedule, and in combining the psilocybin mushroom with other ingredients.

Starting with the schedule, under the Stamets Stack a person takes their microdose for the first four days of the week, and then the last three days are a tolerance break. The logic behind this is that by taking the microdose four days in a row, the body will more easily gain the accumulative effects of the psychedelic microdose, while the three days off at the end of the week are enough for a tolerance break.

The second difference is arguably the most important. Paul Stamets recommends not taking psilocybin or dried magic mushrooms alone, but rather in combination with Lion’s Mane mushrooms and an ingredient called niacin. Stamets coined the term “stacking” to describe this combination, hence the name the Stamets…