DOSE:

250 mg

oral

2C-I

(powder / crystals)

BODY WEIGHT:

70 kg

The following report of a 2C-I overdose is posted for harm reduction purposes as this is the first serious accidental high overdose case that I have read of, and it is important to note that the results were not deadly. This report is neither from the United States nor any other country where the mentioned chemicals were illegal substances at the time. I am posting this with the intent to remind those who personally explore research chemicals to try to be more careful than the accident victim was.

The person described is in his mid-forties. He had experience since the mid 1970s with over four hundred psychedelic experiences using LSD early on and more recently a large number and a wide variety of phenethylamine and tryptamine research chemicals, including about 8 times with 2C-I, several with 2C-B, cactus extract bioassays and many other experiences with an odd array of visionary plants as well as other oddities from the alphabet soup of research chemicals. The person and several acquaintances had used 2C-I from two different sources over the last few years. Typically the 14-16 milligrams was ingested orally for a dose. A few people preferred 10-12 mgs while a few hard heads preferred around 20. The average user felt that beyond 16mgs increased the cloudiness and lessened the spiritual aspects of the chemical. Most felt it 2C-I is far less “spiritual” and introspective than 2C-B, yet the former was more often euphoric and more mind numbing while the latter more neutral, the person's mood and personality more strongly influencing whether the experience was euphoric or not.

A few members preferred the 2C-I with beer or wine and used it to go about the town to party. On about 8 occasions 6 mgs was insufflated to obtain an experience much like 14 mgs orally, except the effects came on more rapidly and lasted 4-6 hours. On two occasions a few milligrams were smoked causing a milder and shorter yet clearly noticeable effect. The 2C-I as well as 2C-B were color examined with Marquis test kits and compared. In a summary note, the materials were not obtained from any of the dodgy, fly-by-night, internet chemical companies.




The person who overdosed on the 2C-I was typically very careful before taking any substance, doing extensive research with all available information and working his way up dosage-wise to try to ensure safety and avoid possible side effects. At the time of this accident the person enjoyed yoga and had become more and more disinterested in psychedelic research chemicals and found methylone to be his occasional favorite at the time. Methylone, is a non-visonary experimental chemical which possibly acts upon brain-synapse dopamine and/or serotonin and was studied as an anti-depressant, psychoanalytic tool. It was never marketed as such. The person used the drug for about a year approximately once a month at doses beginning at 150 mgs and eventually settled for 220 to 250 milligrams.

The effects were described as “pleasantly heart warming,” at the 30 minute peak at about the one hour point. In the following five days an afterglow “eased my ability to create near Kundalini bursts of qi energy which flowed through my body.” The effects at the one hour point were described as inducing an opioid-like warmth but also a gentle yet exhilarating sensation he compared to an “elevator falling, or a plane suddenly descending, combined with a rush of tingling throughout the body.” Furthermore, the peak effect induced a deeply relaxing, cathartic effect lasting no more than 20 minutes at maximum. After the peak the effects changed dramatically into “a deeply introspective, heart warming effect' with a physical background more like dexedrine. Compared to the peak, the latter part of the experience had milder, warm, body tingles and was somewhat sedative although insomnia lasted another six hours.

Now to the accident. One day he came home tired after a four hour drive and opened his cabinet full of research chemicals. The chemicals were stored in same-sized brown vials labeled with a felt tip black marker. At 7 pm he took what he believed was 250 mgs of Methylone, placed it in a gel capsule and swallowed it, on an empty stomach and proceeded outside for a bike ride. In about 20 minutes he noticed tracers and psychedelic effects coming on, uncharacteristic of methylone. He rode another ten minutes and the effects increased significantly. It then dawned on him, “Why am I seeing visuals?” “I didn’t take the wrong drug did I?” “This is not methylone!” “This must be 2C-I!” “Oh, no, what should I do?” He realized that he likely swallowed 2C-I rather than methylone. The dosage of each quickly buzzed through his head and realizing that 2C-I is active at a mere 10-16 milligrams, his dose of 250 mgs could be a critical amount, possibly even causing death. He new that soon he would be tripping extremely hard and might not be able to safely keep his wits together. His heart raced as he tried to keep from panicking as his mind imagined all the worst possibilities of what was about to ensue. The thoughts alone were nauseating.

He quickly rode his bicycle home and at about one hour after ingesting the gel capsule entered his home. Instantly, he filled a pitcher full of water, began gorging himself with it and bent down on his knees and stuck his finger down his throat to induce vomiting. He raced through the house looking for some activated charcoal that he had crushed up for a prior experiment. He was unable to think clearly from the combination of fear-induced adrenaline overload and rapidly ascending psychedelic 2C-I effects. His vision began to blur as he fumbled around for the charcoal. He filled a tablespoon full of the activated charcoal and swallowed, having no time to think about how horrible it was to do so. Again he gorged more water and vomited until his stomach was empty. More charcoal. More water. More vomiting. He repeated this for 15 minutes.

When it seemed that no more good could come of this he thought what his next step was to be. He wondered how much of the chemical had been absorbed. All of it? Half of it? There was no way to guess, nor was there any way to find out, the information was just not in existence. Nor was there any way to guess what the coming psychedelic effects of consuming such a quantity might be.

Barely able to dial the phone, he called a friend who lived a nearby, and told him there was an emergency and to come over immediately. His friend was not by any means well informed on research chemicals but had once or twice taken mushrooms twenty-five years prior. He arrived in 15 minutes and was told what happened. They discussed going to an emergency room for gastric lavage but knew that doing so would mean the end of his present career as the police would certainly be involved. They hesitantly agreed to hold on and wait a while to see what drug effects ensued. The friend was pointed to the book, Pihkal by the Shulgins in hope of finding more information about toxicity but of course there was none. The best news was that it was generally a short acting drug, the majority of the experience lasting 6-8 hours. There was no guarantee that such a large dose would last a similar amount of time however.

Meanwhile, the swirling patterns and visual effects were increasingly distorting the victim’s vision and balance making it hard to stand up so he laid down on his sofa. He noted there was little in the way of stomach discomfort, nor headaches as some have reported from 2C-I. From the sofa he watched as his friend sat by and further scanned Pihkal with a mystified look. He eventually came across a story of a person accidentally taking 2C-B at 100 mgs. From Pihkal: “I weighed correctly. I had simply picked up the wrong vial. My death was to be a consequence of a totally stupid mistake.” “Two hours later he knew that he would live after all and the effect became marvelous.” It was hardly a comforting passage. With this parameter from a somewhat similar drug taken at less than half the amount he had taken, the situation continued to be disconcerting to say the least.

The drug’s visual effects continued to increase at the two hour point when the victim felt chilled and his friend gave him a blanket. He remained lucid in respect to being able to maintain a conversation. He did his best to remain calm and tried to not pay attention to particular visuals so as to not aggravate the effects. Swirling on his bare arms appeared hundreds of ants and spiders, insects crawled and scurried across the floor and ceiling, peripherally creatures darted back and forth. The air was thick like water. His friend's face was constantly morphing from one person to the next. Bands of color swirled across the room like ribbons. There was surprisingly no particular physical malaise other than dizziness if he stood up, which seemed mainly from not being able to tell exactly which way was down since the floor could not be seen clearly due to the dancing visuals display. So he remained down for the remainder of the peak.

The victim had much experience in psychedelics and had had a few rough sections during LSD trips years before, in addition to the powerful visual effects of Ayahuasca and Ibogaine. He knew how to focus the mind elsewhere from the “unreal” visions to minimize their impact on the mind. He had helped several others in the past who had endured bad trips and was considered among the strongest, most experienced member of most groups of trippers, so was called upon to support any member who became frightened or overwhelmed while tripping. He had helped overdose victims by convincing them not to worry, that the effects would soon subside and that all they had to do is realize that what they saw was not real, that the drug would have no permanent effects, and that they were safe among friends. Unfortunately the 2C-T-7 insufflation overdose reports came to mind where people reportedly died, so the “talking down” rule wouldn’t necessarily apply in this case. Death was a possibility, so was brain damage or Parkinson’s disease or some other permanent problem. More immediately, the possibility of the drug effect increasing to the point of oblivion, mental destruction and eventual hospitalization and police etc., existed.

Well, at two and a half hours the experience peaked and maintained a hellacious plateau for four additional hours, then slowly descended. Once the descent began he knew he had made it through the hardest part and survival seemed certain. The worries of imagined hospitals, career loss and police matters diminished, a great sigh of relief was had by both. A subtle fear shifted now to possible brain damage or other consequential after effects. That, he knew, would have to be dealt with if it came, so he pushed that out of his mind.

By 4:00 am he was “down” enough that his friend asked if he’d be all right to be left alone so he could go home to his wife and kids. It seemed so. Together they walked outside for a few minutes in the summer air before his friend went home. Looking about, he realized that the current drug effects were now quite like a normal 2C-I level experience at about 16 mgs, quite manageable, even pleasant, if one wanted such a thing after all that. By 5 am he was able to sleep and so slept until noon. The next day he had minor visual effects and was tired, but no worse so than with many other psychedelics.

In the following weeks he felt hypersensitive to anxiety and minor depression set in. There were no other noticeable effects such as headaches or any physical malaise. His friend said he hadn’t been acting quite right, seeming to be generally more dour than normal. Another week later deeper depression came on and for the first time in his life he went to a psychiatrist and was given 50 mgs of daily Zoloft, which he was told to take at least 6-7 months. He also took Reboxetine a Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor at 8 mgs daily since research indicated it might help lessen HPPD and depression. After 10-11 weeks his depression subsided and he continued on the anti-depressants. Some very minor visual effects, trails and dancing swirls remain but less so than the after effects in the year following a year of near weekly LSD use in the 1970s. The question now is what will happen when he goes off the Zoloft and Reboxetine and whether there will be any long-term effects.

Exp Year: 2003	ExpID: 30394
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jan 27, 2004	Views: 54,102
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2C-I (172) : Small Group (2-9) (17), HPPD / Lasting Visuals (40), Post Trip Problems (8), Overdose (29), Train Wrecks & Trip Disasters (7)