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WARNING: Always start with lower doses due to differences between individual body weight, tolerance, metabolism, and personal sensitivity. See responsible use section.
DISCLAIMER: PW's dosage information is gathered from users and resources for educational purposes only. It is not a recommendation and should be verified with other sources for accuracy.
Saffron is a herb that is often sold as a dietary supplement and is researched as an antidepressant, anxiolytic, ADHD treatment, wakefulness-promoting agent, aphrodisiac, and other purposes. It has also been historically used to improve mood, energy, and as an aphrodisiac. Saffron is largely used as a nootropic, and recreational use is uncommon, however saffron is capable of producing stimulant and enactogen effects comparable to but milder than substances like methylone at doses considerably higher than the doses used for medicinal purposes, according to many experience reports.
Saffron contains three major psychoactive compounds - cis-crocetin, trans-crocetin, and safranal. Saffron contains crocins which do not pass the blood-brain barrier and are not absorbed into the bloodstream, however a portion of crocins are converted to cis-crocetin, trans-crocetin, and safranal, which are responsible for the majority of its psychoactive effects.[2][3][4]
Saffron contains multiple active compounds that are responsible for its effects, cis-crocetin, trans-crocetin, and safranal being responsible for the majority of its effects [5][6][7]. Cis-crocetin is shown to be stimulating and act as a monoamine oxidase A & B inhibitor and potentially a dopamine-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, and safranal tends to be sedating and possibly acts as a GABAa agonist and serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and does not inhibit monoamine oxidase.[8][9] Both cis-crocetin and safranal act as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.[10] Trans-crocetin acts as an NMDA antagonist.[11]
Disclaimer: The effects listed below cite the Subjective Effect Index (SEI), an open research literature based on anecdotal user reports and the personal analyses of PsychonautWikicontributors. As a result, they should be viewed with a healthy degree of skepticism.
It is also worth noting that these effects will not necessarily occur in a predictable or reliable manner, although higher doses are more liable to induce the full spectrum of effects. Likewise, adverse effects become increasingly likely with higher doses and may include addiction, severe injury, or death ☠.
The effects of saffron tend to be described as similar to stimulants and psychedelicmicrodoses. It is often used as a nootropic and to reduce symptoms associated with mental disorders like depression and ADHD. Very high doses have been compared to empathogens such as mdma and methylone, but with weaker effects.
Physical effects
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Stimulation - Saffron typically is stimulating in a similar but weaker manner to substances such as methylphenidate, and encourages physical activity. Saffron produces stimulation through increasing dopamine and norepinephrine via reuptake inhibition and monoamine oxidase inhibition.
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Cognitive euphoria - Saffron is known to have powerful mood-enhancing effects and is often used as an antidepressant for this effect.[14] At very high doses, this effect has been compared to empathogens like methylone, but milder, likely due to the shared mechanism of increasing dopamine and serotonin.
Insomnia - Saffron's stimulating effects can cause insomnia in some users, however this effect is generally mild, and some users report sleepiness from saffron rather than wakefulness, possibly due to varying concentrations of active compounds
Experience reports
There are currently 0 experience reports which describe the effects of this substance in our experience index.
This toxicity and harm potential section is a stub.
As a result, it may contain incomplete or even dangerously wrong information! You can help by expanding upon or correcting it. Note: Always conduct independent research and use harm reduction practices if using this substance.
Warning:Many psychoactive substances that are reasonably safe to use on their own can suddenly become dangerous and even life-threatening when combined with certain other substances. The following list provides some known dangerous interactions (although it is not guaranteed to include all of them).
Always conduct independent research (e.g. Google, DuckDuckGo, PubMed) to ensure that a combination of two or more substances is safe to consume. Some of the listed interactions have been sourced from TripSit.
5-HTP - Saffron may cause serotonin syndrome when combined with 5-HTP
Caffeine - Saffron may inhibit the metabolism of caffeine, leading to stronger and prolonged effects, and potentially leading to effects like anxiety
Opioids - Saffron potentiates opioids and could lead to excessive respiratory depression, and combining opioids with serotonergic substances can cause serotonin syndrome
