Psychedelics Improve Physical Performance

Major League Baseball is currently in its 140th season. Over 210,000 Major League Baseball games have been played over the decades. How many of those games do you think were thrown by pitchers under the influence of LSD? Presumably, the number can be counted on one hand.

We know of at least one. And he happened to throw a no-hitter.

That's right. On June 12th, 1970, Pittsburgh Pirates' Dock Ellis pitched one of the league's 299 no-hitters while high on acid.

Tripping balls and throwing strikes.

Listen to his hilarious retelling of the historic game here:

210,000 thousand games. Only 299 no-hitters—and one was accomplished in perhaps the only game ever pitched while tripping...

Notwithstanding Dock's self-deprecating account of the performance, I submit this was not purely coincidental.

Though it may sound dubious to the uninitiated, psychedelics can in fact improve physical performance.

The dose makes the poison. While a large dose can well be properly hallucinatory and debilitating, a modest dose can do the opposite. It heightens senses, increases focus and physical prowess.

And the internet increasingly abounds with reports of such.

Here, for instance, Joe Rogan discusses his freind and worldchampion kickboxer who has allegedly been "fucking people up while he's on mushrooms" lately. Rogan relays "he says he can see things coming before they happen; he said he literally feels like he's got some kind of psychic ability when he's sparring...and he definitly looks way sharper than he's ever looked before."

Here, a professional jiu jitsu fighter reports similarly regarding his use of LSD.

"Based on the tangled reputation that LSD has had since the mid-1960’s it would seem impossible to believe that various experienced individuals have climbed some of the hardest big walls in Yosemite, heli-skied first descents off Alaskan peaks, competed in world-class snowboarding competitions, raced motocross bikes, surfed enormous Hawaiian waves, flown hang-gliders above 18,00 feet, or climbed remote peaks in the Rockies, the Alps, the Andes, and even above 8000 meters in the Himalayas–all while under the influence of LSD."

—James Oroc

In a MAPS newsletter (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), author and athlete James Oroc discusses how in the world of extreme sports psychedelics enjoy an "almost sacred reputation," with the community insisting "many incredible feats" have been accomplished whilst under their influence. Oroc concludes his article, writing:

"...LSD can increase your reflex time to lightning speed, improve your balance to the point of perfection, increase your concentration until you experience “tunnel vision,” and make you impervious to weakness or pain. LSD’s effects in these regards amongst the extreme-sport community are in fact legendary, universal, and without dispute."

While surely a wee overstated there, the phenomenon is indubitably real. Indeed, Dr. James Fadiman has collected hundreds of "microdosing" reports and has concluded the practice "clearly increases [athletic] performance."

In a word, psychedelics can bring you into "flow." Into the zone. Complete immersion into the task at hand.

Mushin. No mind.

I am not a fantastic billiards player. But I have 'ran the table' at least once (pocketing all the required balls consecutively without ever giving the opponent an opportunity to shoot). And guess what?

Yup. Fucking people up while on mushrooms. 😜 #Legalize

I am a lawyer and writer with a forthcoming book tentatively entitled, "PSYCHEDELIC REVOLUTION: Living Better with Psychedelic Drugs and Why Prohibition is Unconstitutional." See here for a transcript of a talk I recently gave outlining parts of the central thesis of this book.