Bad Trips: The 12 Most Dangerous Psychedelics
Not all psychedelics heal. Some kill, hijack your mind, or leave you broken with nothing to show for it.
While psilocybin and LSD grab headlines for their therapeutic potential, there's another class of substances lurking in the shadows — compounds dangerous enough to kill with a single miscalculated dose, strip away your free will, or deliver chaotic, terrifying experiences that provide zero insight or growth — just mental static and lasting psychological damage.
A few of these substances have been used traditionally by skilled shamans — but are simply too volatile and unpredictable to offer any value to the modern psychonaut seeking meaningful exploration of consciousness. Others are employed by criminals to incapacitate victims or are sold by dealers under the guise of cheap acid.
Instead of expanding the mind, these substances cloud it with delirium, paranoia, and confusion. Some actively harm cognition and brain health rather than enhance and expand it.
Here are the 12 most dangerous and problematic psychedelics — ranging from criminally dangerous to simply worthless for consciousness work.
What Makes a Drug "Dangerous"
To understand danger, we need to talk numbers.
The most important number for measuring danger when it comes to toxicity is something called LD50 — this is the dose needed to kill 50% of the subjects it's administered to.
The way researchers test LD50 of various substances is just as grim as it sounds — give a group of mice increasing doses of a given substance, and count how much is needed to result in the overdose deaths of ~50% of those administered.
LD50 ranges significantly among psychedelics. Drugs like LSD have a remarkably high LD50 — somewhere in the ballpark of 12,000 micrograms (nearly 100X a typical dose). Others kill in substantially lower doses (fentanyl has an LD50 of 2000 mcg).
But lethality isn't the only factor. A drug can be "dangerous" in three main ways:
Physical toxicity — How close is the active dose to the lethal dose? (Measured by LD50.)
Psychological harm — What are the chances of the drug causing lasting trauma, psychosis, or cognitive damage?
Addiction potential — How likely is compulsive, destructive use?
Drugs like LSD and psilocybin have generous safety margins — you'd need to take 100+ doses to risk death. Others are far less forgiving. Even a small miscalculation can end in seizures, coma, or fatal overdose.
We've ranked the following substances primarily by their LD50 ratios — how little it takes to kill you versus how little it takes to get you high. But we've also factored in their potential for psychological devastation and addiction. Some substances on this list won't kill you, but they'll take pieces of your mind you won’t get back.
Here are the 12 most risky psychedelics and why they’re best left alone.
1. Scopolamine ("Devil’s Breath")
Eliminates free will, leaving users conscious but compliant.
There are few substances as terrifying as scopolamine. This deliriant drug, produced in plants of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family — such as the borrachero tree, datura, and mandrake has the unique capacity to eliminate one's sense of free will.
While scopolamine has legitimate medical uses (it's found in motion sickness patches), its effects make it uniquely suited for criminal exploitation. Unlike other incapacitating drugs that leave victims obviously impaired, scopolamine creates compliant victims who appear to be acting of their own.
For this reason, scopolamine has become a boon for criminals in places like Bogotá, Colombia, where the borrachero tree grows naturally. Just 1 mg of pure scopolamine powder, when blown into the face of an unsuspecting victim, causes them to fall into a compliant trance state.
Within this trance-like state, victims experience a total and absolute loss of free will. Criminals can simply give commands to the victim, and they will comply without resistance.
It's hard to tell when someone is being robbed under the influence of scopolamine because they appear to be acting willingly. There are reports of people draining their bank accounts, handing over valuable possessions, or removing items from their own house after being dosed and coerced with scopolamine.
It's drugs like this that challenge our understanding of free will, and what it truly means to be sentient.
Outside of criminal use, some people really do take scopolamine for its psychoactive effects. The borrachero tree and datura are both used in traditional shamanic rituals, though the experience is often described as terrifying rather than enlightening.
Shamans who work with scopolamine-containing herbs like datura (Toé) spend years apprenticing with the plant to understand its power — and many who attempt to work with the plant fail.
Scopolamine is the most deadly substance on this list, lethal in doses of around 10 mg.
2. Ibogaine
A powerful anti-addiction tool with high cardiotoxic risk and unsafe underground use.
Ibogaine presents one of the most complex risk-benefit profiles in the psychedelic world. It’s widely praised for interrupting addiction — often eliminating cravings for opioids, cocaine, or alcohol after a single session. For some, it works where nothing else has.
But ibogaine is also legitimately dangerous, with numerous reported deaths over the years — usually from cardiac complications. Ibogaine, the active alkaloid in the Tabernanthe iboga root bark, is directly cardiotoxic — causing irregular heartbeats and potentially fatal arrhythmias, especially in people with pre-existing heart conditions. Even healthy individuals can experience dangerous cardiac events during treatment.
Another layer of risk comes from the types of people who tend to administer this drug. I know of no substance where plastic shamanism is more prevalent than in the ibogaine retreat industry. People take ibogaine once, feel it's their calling, and then start administering it to others without proper medical training, screening protocols, or safety guardrails. This problem appears to be growing as ibogaine gains popularity.
A lot of people get upset when you criticize ibogaine — but this isn’t an attack, it’s just the facts. Ibogaine is not the miracle cure many make it out to be, and ignoring its risks does a disservice to the very people it's meant to help.
3. 5-MeO-AMT ("Fake Acid")
A counterfeit psychedelic with delayed onset, heavy body load, and high overdose potential.
There’s no shortage of fake acid on the market these days. Vendors often pitch obscure research chemicals as “legal LSD” or pass them off entirely as the real thing (we’ll explore Bromo-DragonFLY and other NBOMes that are also prevalent in shady LSD tabs later on).
What makes 5-MeO-AMT stand out is that it’s not an NBOMe at all — it’s a tryptamine, a class of psychedelics more closely related to LSD and psilocybin.
Like LSD, 5-MeO-AMT activates the 5-HT2A receptor and is potent enough to be delivered on blotter paper, mimicking the real thing in both form and function.
But beyond those superficial similarities, the experience is worlds apart.
Unlike the lucid, often meaningful introspection offered by LSD, 5-MeO-AMT is widely described as disorienting, physically punishing, and psychologically chaotic. Most users report intense nausea, body tension, and a pervasive sense that something is deeply wrong.
The effects of this drug are less than ideal, but the real danger lies in its delayed onset (often 3–4 hours to peak) and narrow safety margin. Believing the dose to be weak, users may redose too early — only to be hit with an accidental overdose a few hours later. These overdoses can lead to vasoconstriction, serotonin syndrome, seizures, and death.
While 5-MeO-AMT has occasionally been explored on its own terms, its primary role today is as a counterfeit LSD analog — and in that role, it poses significant risks to uninformed users expecting something far milder.
4. Flakka (& Other Synthetic Cathinones)
Induces extreme paranoia, psychosis, and violence with rapid addiction potential.
Flakka became infamous through viral videos of users exhibiting bizarre, violent behavior — running naked through streets, attacking random strangers, or trying to break into buildings. While these clips might seem like internet curiosities, they represent a genuinely terrifying class of substances that can turn ordinary people into erratic and unpredictable zombies.
Synthetic cathinones like flakka (α-PVP), "bath salts" (MDPV), and related compounds are designed to mimic cocaine and methamphetamine. The problem is that their effects are far more chaotic and dangerous than the drugs they're meant to replace.
Flakka users report feeling chased by invisible enemies, that their skin is crawling with bugs, or that they need to escape imaginary threats. This isn't just paranoia — it's full-blown delusional psychosis that can remain in place for days after use.
The physical effects are equally terrifying. Flakka causes extreme hyperthermia, with body temperatures reaching levels that can damage internal organs. Users are often seen stripping off their clothes because they're literally overheating.
Synthetic cathinones like flakka and MDPV are also extremely addictive — these drugs hijack the brain's reward system more aggressively than almost any other substance — creating intense cravings after just one use.
5. Cocaethylene (Cocaine + Alcohol)
Formed when cocaine and alcohol mix — more euphoric, more addictive, and far more lethal.
Cocaethylene is one of the deadliest drugs people make without knowing it. It forms automatically in the liver when cocaine and alcohol are used together — a common combo at parties, clubs, and festivals.
The high feels smoother and longer-lasting than cocaine alone. It sharpens the buzz, cuts the edge off being drunk, and makes users feel like they can keep going all night.
But that “upgrade” hides a major danger: cocaethylene is far more toxic to the heart than either cocaine or alcohol by themselves. It also lingers in the body much longer, placing prolonged strain on the cardiovascular system.
Worse, the perceived smoothness encourages more redosing of both — turning a casual binge into a deadly feedback loop.
The risks don’t stop at heart failure. Cocaethylene is also more likely to trigger paranoia, psychosis, and violent behavior — sometimes in people with no prior mental health issues.
Most users don’t even realize they’re creating a more lethal compound every time they mix coke and alcohol. But toxicology reports show it’s involved in the majority of cocaine-related deaths.
6. GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate)
A euphoric sedative with a razor-thin safety margin and a long history of abuse.
GHB is a powerful CNS depressant that occurs naturally in the brain in trace amounts. In small doses, it produces feelings of euphoria, sociability, and relaxation — often compared to alcohol or MDMA, but cleaner and more body-centered. This has made it popular in nightlife, party, and fitness scenes (where it’s sometimes abused for sleep and fat loss).
The problem is that GHB’s active dose and lethal dose are dangerously close.
Just a small miscalculation — especially when combined with alcohol — can result in loss of consciousness, respiratory depression, seizures, coma, or death.
Its effects also come on fast and fade quickly, which encourages redosing — often leading to accidental overdoses. Once unconscious, users are vulnerable to injury, aspiration, or exploitation. For this reason, GHB has also become known as a date rape drug alongside ketamine and the benzodiazepine, Rohypnol.
Recreational use aside, GHB is highly addictive. Chronic use leads to severe withdrawal symptoms that can be life-threatening and often require hospitalization.
While GHB does have limited medical use (as sodium oxybate for narcolepsy), its abuse potential and danger in unsupervised settings make it one of the most treacherous substances often lumped together with psychedelics or party drugs.
7. DPH (Diphenhydramine)
A legal antihistamine that induces terrifying hallucinations, amnesia, and near-total dissociation from reality.
Diphenhydramine — sold under brand names like Benadryl — is an over-the-counter antihistamine used to treat allergies and insomnia. But at high doses, it becomes a powerful deliriant, producing hallucinations so realistic and immersive that users often can’t tell they’re hallucinating.
DPH trips are rarely euphoric or insightful. Instead, they’re defined by dark, frightening experiences — shadow people, imagined conversations with non-existent people, insect hallucinations, and extreme confusion. Many users describe forgetting where they are, how they got there, or even who they are.
The danger goes beyond psychological horror. DPH is cardiotoxic, neurotoxic, and anticholinergic, meaning it severely impairs memory, attention, and motor control. High doses can cause seizures, heart arrhythmias, kidney failure, or death — especially when combined with other medications like acetaminophen (often included in multi-formula tablets).
Despite being completely legal, DPH has earned a reputation as one of the worst drug experiences possible — a chemical that offers no insight, no clarity, and no value as a psychedelic.
8. Nutmeg (Myristicin & Elemicin)
A harmless kitchen spice that becomes a disorienting, drawn-out deliriant when smoked.
Nutmeg might sound like a joke entry, but in high doses, it's a surprisingly powerful deliriant — the effects of which can last well over 24 hours.
The active compounds — primarily myristicin & elemicin — can cause intense confusion, anxiety, dry mouth, nausea, paranoia, and dissociation.
Trips are frequently described as deeply unpleasant, with lingering brain fog and physical discomfort often persisting for days afterward.
Because it's legal and easy to access, nutmeg is sometimes experimented with by young or inexperienced users looking for a legal high.
Nutmeg might be legal and easy to find, but that doesn’t make it worth trying — it’s the psychedelic equivalent of licking a battery… technically psychoactive, totally miserable.
Just 1–2 tablespoons of nutmeg powder is enough to cause seizures, dehydration, dangerously rapid heart rate, and even death.
9. DXM (Dextromethorphan)
A legal cough suppressant that becomes neurotoxic at high doses.
DXM occupies a strange place in the psychedelic world — it's sitting right there on pharmacy shelves, completely legal, leading many to assume it's relatively safe. This assumption has proven deadly for countless teenagers and young adults who view cough syrup as a harmless way to explore altered states.
The reality is that DXM abuse carries serious risks that go far beyond a bad trip. At the doses needed for psychoactive effects (often 10-20 times the recommended cough suppressant dose), DXM can cause Olney's lesions — permanent brain damage that shows up as holes in brain tissue on MRI scans. While this neurotoxicity was initially discovered in rats, there's growing evidence it could occur in humans too, particularly with chronic use.
DXM's danger is compounded by what else comes in those bottles. Most cough syrups contain acetaminophen, which becomes hepatotoxic (liver-damaging) at high doses. People chugging entire bottles of Robitussin aren't just risking a DXM overdose — they're potentially destroying their liver from in the process.
The drug interactions are where DXM becomes truly lethal. Combining DXM with SSRIs, MAOIs, or even some over-the-counter medications can trigger serotonin syndrome — a potentially fatal condition involving hyperthermia, muscle rigidity, and cardiovascular collapse. Many DXM deaths occur not from the DXM itself, but from these dangerous combinations.
Even "pure" DXM extracted from cough products isn't safe. High-dose DXM experiences can last 6-12 hours and often involve complete dissociation from reality, putting users at risk of accidents, hypothermia, or dangerous behavior they won't remember.
10. PCP (Phencyclidine)
Dissociates users from reality while triggering violent, erratic behavior.
Everybody knows the reputation of PCP by now, and while I've argued this hysteria has been overblown in the past with sensationalized news stories and ridiculous media hype around "superhuman PCP zombies" — there are clear reasons to avoid this substance.
PCP's unique danger lies in its unique combination of dissociative and stimulant effects. Unlike pure dissociatives that might leave you introspective and calm, PCP can make users feel invincible while simultaneously disconnecting them from our shared reality. This creates a perfect storm for aggressive, unpredictable behavior — especially at higher doses.
The psychological aftermath is often worse than the acute effects. Long-term PCP use commonly results in persistent paranoia, memory problems, and difficulty distinguishing reality from hallucinations — effects that can linger for months or years after stopping use. The drug itself isn't inherently toxic like some substances on this list, but the psychological damage it causes can be permanent.
PCP is just one of hundreds of compounds in the arylcyclohexylamine family, which also includes ketamine. This is one of the largest and most powerful groups of dissociatives available. While some (like ketamine) have proven medicinal value, their benefits quickly reverse course with repeated use, causing delusion, thought loops, depression, poor concentration, and severe anxiety instead of the improvements users seek.
11. Synthetic Cannabinoids
Ultra-potent THC analogs that cause seizures, psychosis, and unpredictable reactions.
Synthetic cannabinoids are the bait-and-switch of the drug world. Sold as "legal weed" at gas stations and head shops, these substances promise a marijuana-like experience without the legal hassles. What they deliver instead is a completely unpredictable chemical roulette that's landed thousands of people in emergency rooms.
The deception starts with the marketing. Products like Spice, K2, and Black Mamba are packaged to look like harmless herbal blends, complete with colorful graphics and names that suggest natural ingredients.
In reality, the only actual "herbs" you're getting is some dried leaf material (usually damiana or marshmallow leaf) that's been sprayed with random chemicals like JWH-018, 5F-ADB, or AM-2201. These compounds can range anywhere from 4 to 800 times stronger than THC.
Unlike actual cannabis, which rarely causes lasting psychological damage in healthy people, synthetic cannabinoids regularly trigger violent, paranoid episodes that can persist long after the drug has left your system.
The strongest compounds currently in circulation — like HU-210 and 5F-ADB — have caused deaths from single uses, while others result in permanent liver, kidney, or brain damage.
12. Bromo-DragonFLY
A long-acting hallucinogen with deadly vasoconstrictive effects and zero margin for error.
Bromo-DragonFLY is one of the most dangerous and long-lasting psychedelics ever synthesized. Named for its dragonfly-shaped molecular structure featuring two benzofuran rings that branch off from a central phenethylamine backbone.
This is classified as an NBOMe — which is a group of synthetic psychedelics that mimic classical hallucinogens. NBOMe's like bromo-DragonFLY are notorious for being both exceptionally potent and unpredictable. Many compounds in this group, including bromo-DragonFLY, are often sold as fake "acid" despite sharing no connection with any of the lysergamides. They also have a tendency of causing extreme vasoconstriction and serotonin toxicity — leading to limb loss, seizures, and even death.
At first glance, the effects of Bromo-DragonFLY are strikingly similar to LSD or DOB (hence its passing as a fake version of these drugs), but its duration, potency, and toxicity make it significantly riskier.
A single dose of bromo-DragonFLY can last up to 36 hours, with some reports of trips lingering for three days or more. It also has a notoriously slow come-up phase, often taking 2 or even 3 hours to kick in — people often double-dose, thinking the acid they bought was bunk, only for it to kick in about 2 hours later with the full force of two doses.
The unpredictability of its effects makes it one of the most dangerous psychedelics to take unintentionally, and serves as an excellent reason to ALWAYS TEST YOUR SUBSTANCES with reagents before you take them.
Substances That Give Psychedelics a Bad Name
Not all psychedelics are created equal.
Some open the door to insight, healing, and radical self-awareness. Others—like the ones we’ve covered here—slam that door shut and set the room on fire.
These aren’t just “bad trips.” They’re substances that:
Hijack your body without your consent
Deliver zero therapeutic value
Are often sold as something else
Can kill, traumatize, or permanently damage your brain
Many share the same warning signs: unpredictable onset, extreme toxicity, or a history of being weaponized by criminals. Some appear in retreat spaces with no medical oversight. Others masquerade as classics like LSD while delivering nothing but confusion, nausea, and panic.
The takeaway isn’t that all psychedelics are dangerous. It’s that discernment matters more than ever. In a world where substances like psilocybin, mescaline, and LSD are being studied for legitimate mental health benefits, there’s little excuse for messing with the ones that offer nothing but chaos instead of clarity.
Your consciousness is not a testing ground. Treat it like something worth protecting.
Further Reading
Enjoying Tripsitter? 🍄
Don’t Journey Alone! Tripsitter was built by a community of psychedelic advocates — but it’s people like you that allow us to thrive.
You can also follow us on Bluesky or subscribe to our Reddit.