Just curious in general as to which chemical/herbal shortcuts to LD people have experience with here, and how well they’ve worked for you in the past.
Here they are for me, in no particular order:
Melatonin–Fairly successful. Seemed to work best in small amounts (i.e., herbal tea with melatonin/valerian) rather than pills. Dreams were very bright and sharp in detail, often accompanied by a lightness-of-body feeling. Good dream recall.
Valerian–put me right to sleep but no effect on dreaming at all
Mint tea (assorted mint)–similar effects to melatonin. This seems pretty consistent whether it’s fresh spearmint from my garden or a box of mint tea from Starbucks. I don’t bother with melatonin anymore since mint seems to do just fine if I’m looking for an herbal aid. For all I know, though, it could be psychosomatic.
Vitamin B-6–Moderately successful using recommended dosage on bottle. Dreams were a little more garbled than with melatonin but still fairly lucid.
Calea zacatechichi–successful 1 time out of 6 with 1 500mg capsule. Dream was extremely long and unbroken even when I woke up in the middle of it. Same lightness-of-body as melatonin, to the point of feeling weightless or ghostlike. Lucidity incredible, to the point of instant wish gratification in the dream. Everything in very sharp detail. Teleportation, physical transformation, walking through walls, other supernatural powers present. Some parts of the dream were very similar to an OBE. The other times I’ve tried it with varying dosages (less than 3-4g) and methods of ingestion (smoking, etc.), no change in dreaming although other side effects such as muscle cramping and auditory hallucinations occasionally present.
5-HTP: Mediocre at best using recommended dosage on bottle. Assisted in falling asleep, easier to stay lucid during hypnagogia but little to no change in dreaming.
Salvia divinorum: After a moderate visionary experience with 100mg smoked 5x leaves, I noticed a sharp increase in my LDs for a few weeks afterward.
(Oh yes…and I seem to do all right with no chemical aid at all, too. 
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