“LSD, MDMA, ketamine, ibogaine: for years I tried any potentially therapeutic substance I could get my hands on. I found my way to empty rooms in quiet places and would take these drugs while listening to music, hoping to find a path to peace.” Al talks about his own experiments with psychedelics, shares insights about how psychedelics have given him a tool, but not the answer, for dealing with mental health issues and speculates over whether psychedelics may be useful in increasing the well-being of society as a whole.

When you’re beginning your journey of drug use, it is easy to get a bit overenthusiastic and end up lost, especially when you don’t have any elders around to help guide you. Akshay spent a lot of time worrying that cannabis and LSD had given him drug-induced anxiety, depersonalisation and psychosis, but he eventually realised that the people who were trying to help him held some negative attitudes towards drugs, and he needed a more supportive — and experienced — community around him.

We know how hard it is to see a friend having a rough time. So here are some top tips from peer experience that might help you to support and guide someone through this experience