Editor’s note: Rob Long is not a medical professional or licensed provider of psychedelics. He may, in fact, be high while writing this column. Nothing herein constitutes pharmaceutical advice or guidance, and should not be used to inform diagnoses or treatment.

“The only way I can finish a writing assignment on time,” a screenwriter friend told me recently, “is if I steal some Adderall from my kid.”

We were talking about the trouble we have getting things done, feeling inspired, being able to focus. I told her I had used Adderall in the past, but didn’t like the jittery feeling it gave me. It didn’t do much for my creativity either.

I suggested she look into microdosing psychedelics instead. She rolled her eyes.

I know, I know. Microdosing is one of those irritating and trendy topics that your irritating and trendy friends keep talking about. It’s popular in the entertainment business, where I make my living (or try to) and extremely prevalent in the tech industry—those two things should be enough to turn you off permanently. Elon Musk, with his notorious use of Ketamine (which he has said he is prescribed to help treat depression) is a one-man Just Say No campaign.

But, for a moment, I asked her to hear me out. Microdosing involves taking small, sub-perceptible amounts of a psychedelic drug like LSD or psilocybin (the psychedelic agent in ‘magic mushrooms’) every four days. Not enough to get all Lucy-in-the-Sky, but enough to lighten the mood and open up new creative pathways. I’ve been doing it for five years, and it’s been hugely helpful to me during the writing process. In my business, you only get paid when you turn in the script, and five micrograms of LSD twice a week for three weeks gets me to that........

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