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I've recently seen a post online stating the question: "What would happen if a blind person tried hallucinogenic drugs." (This entails 5-HT2A antagonists like Lysergic acid and psilocybin, the most common hallucinogenic drugs)

Do blind people have the possibility to experience visual hallucinations and does this differ if someone is born blind or became blind sometime after early childhood?

Butterfly and Bones
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Hyfnae
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I guess the best way would be to convince a blind person to take some psilocybin mushrooms or LSD. Perhaps they would actually see some fractals and stuff, since those visions are generated in the corresponding areas of the brain. Even if not, then the blind person would definitely feel the psychedelic effects: the acute perception of self and the surrounding.

Upd: found this blind man telling about psychedelic experience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uXDUIC2FWM

user2361
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    Hi @user2361. Thank you for your answer, which is very interesting. While I do agree with several points in your post, would you mind adding some references to support your claims? (in accordance with Health SE policies http://health.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer) Thanks, best regards – M. Arrowsmith Oct 02 '16 at 17:29
  • @user2361 Unfortunately I do not know any blind people, much less those willing to be subject to an experiment along those lines. I just wonder if there are case studies on this subject. – Hyfnae Oct 02 '16 at 18:07
  • I would be really happy to provide any references to psychedelic use in blind people, hover I can't find any studies on pubmed. Although, such studies would be interesting and contributing to our understanding of the brain functioning. – user2361 Oct 02 '16 at 18:16
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    Guess what, I've actually found a blind person telling about experience with LSD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uXDUIC2FWM – user2361 Oct 02 '16 at 18:23
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There are TONS of trip reports on various sites—namely Reddit, Erowid, and DMT-Nexus. And while much of this is anecdotal evidence, one could do a lit review of these as a first step toward a more rigorous study.

And several of those studies have been done as well. A link to one such study is mentioned in the following Reddit thread: if your (sic) blind and take acid or shrooms.... The actual article can be found on LiveScience.com.

Shannon Scott Schupbach
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  • Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Community Dec 01 '22 at 19:07