For me, the ergoloids (LSD, hydergine, nicergoline, ergometrine) are just chemical perfection. For example, my brain reacts so amazingly well to LSD: I can function perfectly in so-called "normal" society, with perfect cognitive lucidity on up to 4-5 decent hits and I have never had anything even resembling a bad experience, on a low dose, a high dose or anything in-between.
If LSD were more available and cheaper, I would love to try the famous "Hofmann cocktail." That is, take a few hits of LSD, drop them in like 500ml of distilled, deionized water (with a tiny bit of ascorbic acid in there for oxidative protection) in a light-proof bottle and put the bottle in the fridge. Then every day, take a couple of swigs for a nice, low-dose nootropic effect. In essence, what you are doing here is using it as a non-visual psychedelic--something that expands cognition, sans any "hallucinogenic" trippy perceptual effects. Apparently, this became Hofmann's favorite way of using LSD, rather than taking it in mindfuck, full immersive doses.
Thankfully, hydergine can also serve this purpose rather well, but I've always wanted to try it with real LSD, just as an experiment. I would also love to try lisuride for the same reason. It has similar a similar receptor binding profile to LSD, but is a very weak (as in sub-hallucinogenic) partial agonist at the 5-HT2A receptor, with a tad more dopaminergic impact. The cool thing (other than the fact that it is legal) is that it is also extremely potent, with doses around 250ug and acts as a functional antagonist at the 5-HT2B receptor, so there is no risk of cardiac fibrosis like there is with the dopaminergic ergoloids pergolide and carbergoline (both of which have the same efficacy as 5-HT itself in activating the 2B receptor). Of the ergoloids, lisuride, LSD, bromocriptine and nicergoline have the lowest risk of cardiac fibrosis, as they are far weaker than 5-HT itself at the 5-HT2B receptor.
Edit: To add, I do not agree with the idea that LSD has no nootropic effects at high doses. I think perhaps that just the opposite might be true--high-dose LSD might be too nootropic to be successfully integrated during the acute experience. A parallel to amphetamine can be drawn: at moderate (therapeutic) doses, amphetamine is godsend for increasing focus and concentration, but at tweak-a-thon (recreational) doses, it is too focusing and can lead to obsessional/stereotyped thinking. Similarly, at low doses, LSD expands cognition and increases the capacity to see new solutions and ideas, whereas at high doses, there is such an intense flood of new ideas that it is hard for most people to stay on task. That said, both types of LSD experience have their place.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
