Premium Microdoses a psychedelic subculture has quietly emerged in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, led by coders who take small doses of drugs like LSD or psilocybin on a regular basis—a practice called microdosing. The goal is to shift perspective the way a larger dose might, but without tripping or hallucinating. Microdosers say the process enhances their work, creativity and general mood, while tackling anxiety, insomnia and other issues that plague modern life.

But a close look at the research shows that the purported benefits of microdosing—including better sleep, more creativity and less stress—have yet to be validated by clinical studies. The problem is that psychedelics are controlled substances, so it’s hard to conduct the kind of rigorous drug testing needed to determine effectiveness. Instead, most of the available studies rely on self-reported data, which can be skewed by people’s expectations or other factors.

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The psychedelics in question aren’t your average drugs, either: Most are plant-based and often consumed in a brew, such as Ayahuasca, which contains DMT, a powerful hallucinogen known for its connection to spirituality and healing. Others are inhaled or swallowed in a pill, such as LSD and psilocybin.

And because microdoses are so small, they’re also difficult to track—especially in a large population. One study in particular, published in 2022, had a naturalistic design and surveyed 953 psilocybin microdosers over 30 days—but it was missing an important piece of the puzzle: It did not control for the participants’ baseline expectations.…