Empathogens & Entactogens #
Textbook Definition: Empathogens and entactogens tend to produce feelings of emotional communion and bonding with others, particularly in terms of empathy and oneness. At higher doses a sense of euphoria can also develop. This state is most widely reported with respect to MDMA, but is actually created via a substantial number of substances.
The following chemicals have been sampled and researched for inclusion within this section:
The first research chemical I ever sampled was an empathogen, even though I didn’t understand this at the time. The experience was one of warmth, touchiness, attraction, well-being, pleasantness, love, and the n-word; niceness. This was MDAI, and I liked it.
The n-word is often very appropriate to describe members of this class. There are no DMT-like hallucinations, no k-holes to fall into, and few super-functional binges to engage. There is euphoria, emotional communion, and empathy, sometimes with a touch of an effect from other classes, such as a slight stim here, or a bit of psychedelic headspace there.
This resonance with other classes also leads some users into the realms of combinations; meaning mixing with other drugs. Some of these are themselves widely used and extremely well known. Examples include candy-flip (MDMA and LSD), sugar-flip (MDMA and cocaine) and hippie-flip (MDMA and shrooms). It should almost go without saying that these should only be approached with extreme caution.
Despite the deceptively benign nature of some of the chemicals in this class, others can bite, so the general harm reduction rules should not be relaxed under any circumstances. Indeed, a number of specific safety regimes have been established, which should be followed (see the references within the MDMA entry, for example).
These are not drugs to take liberties with. Do not underestimate them.