Candy flipping

Candy flipping is a colloquial term, or drug slang, which refers to the psychoactive experience of combining LSD and MDMA (or MDA, a related substance). These two chemicals have been used separately in past psychoanalytical and psychotheraputic experiments and even treatment. Together, these substances are alleged to allow the user to reach a psychological state in which they feel able to freely and critically analyse their emotions, personal belief systems, relationships (especially with any others who may be present) et cetera. However, candy flipping often tends to be a purely recreational event.

Experience

The two drugs are reputed to complement each other, giving a "layered" aspect to the experience, resulting in the user feeling more empathetic and "in touch" with their subconscious and their emotions, as well as being extremely interested and excited by ordinary sensory stimulation. However, specific details about the effects are hard to list as they depend on the ratio and strength of both dosages and even then they vary from user to user and rarely produce the same kind of "experience" in a repeat user. Plus, according to personal preference, users tend to take one drug long before the other, in order to "ride the high" created by the first drug, with this naturally being at a different point in time each time done. With both drugs having relatively long-lasting effects, the intense and often euphoric experience of candy flipping can last for hours.

Dosage

There are several schools of thought on the appropriate time to take the two drugs. Some people prefer to take the MDMA first, to put them in a good mood before they take the LSD. Other people say that the LSD should be taken first and, just after the peak of the LSD experience, the MDMA should be taken. This is generally 3-4 hours after the LSD was taken. More rarely both drugs might be taken at the same time, perhaps mixed into a drink, but many people feel that the effects are better if they are taken at different times. It is however generally agreed that the candyflip is a unique experience which is quite distinct from the effects of either drug taken alone or simply the individual effects of both drugs simultaneously.

Legality

Both substances involved are classified as Schedule I by the US Department of Justice (under the 1967 Controlled Substances Act) and as a Class A drug by the British Home Office (under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act) and thus those caught with either, let alone both, faces a potentially long jail sentence. Legal restrictions on an international scale are governed by the United Nations' Convention on Psychotropic Substances (also 1971). However both LSD and MDMA are often classified as soft drugs by the scientific community, so these laws are controversial.

Health

Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy without the guidance of a trained counsellor of some description can be especially jeopardous under these sort of conditions, as the user is always likely to touch upon a subject which is not easily handled in an intoxicated mindset. Mood swings are also an issue, as are other side-effects, including panic attacks and depersonalisation. In the long-term, overuse of them can result in depression or minor mental health problems, although a large number of users tend to try it purely for novelty. To date, there have been no clinical trials which have investigated the effects of combining LSD and MDMA, with all information about candy flipping coming from anecdotal evidence from users, and while interviews and surveys with simultaneous users of LSD and MDMA have been published in some mainstream journals, formal research into this area is very scarce.

See also

• Hallucinogenic drug
• Psychedelic drug
• MDMA
• LSD
• Poly drug use
• Psychonaut
• Transpersonal psychology
• Psychedelic psychotherapy
• Candy Flip, a 1990s dance music band