From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lysergic acid diethylamide (
LSD), also known as
acid, is a
hallucinogenic drug. Effects typically include altered thoughts, feelings, and awareness of one's surroundings. Many users
see or hear things that do not exist.
Dilated pupils, increased blood pressure, and increased body temperature are typical. Effects typically begin within half an hour and can last for up to 12 hours. It is used mainly as a
recreational drug and for
spiritual reasons.
While LSD does not appear to be
addictive,
tolerance with use of increasing doses may occur. Adverse psychiatric reactions such as
anxiety,
paranoia, and
delusions are possible. Long-term
flashbacks may occur despite no further use. Death as a result of LSD is very rare, though occasionally occurs via accidents. The effects of LSD are believed to occur as a result of alterations in the
serotonin system. As little as 20
micrograms can produce an effect. In pure form LSD is clear or white in color, has no smell, and is
crystalline. It breaks down with exposure to
ultraviolet light.
In the United States, as of 2017, about 10% of people have used
LSD at some point in their life, while 0.7% have used it in the last
year. It was most popular in the 1960s to 1980s. LSD is typically either swallowed or held under the tongue. It is most often sold on
blotter paper and less commonly as tablets or in
gelatin squares. There are no known treatments for addiction, if it occurs.
LSD was first
made by
Albert Hofmann in 1938 from
lysergic acid, a chemical from the fungus
ergot. Hofmann discovered its hallucinogenic properties in 1943. In the 1950s, the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) believed the drug might be useful for
mind control so tested it on people, some without their knowledge, in a program called
MKUltra. LSD was sold as a medication for research purposes under the trade-name Delysid in the 1950s and 1960s. It was listed as a
schedule 1 controlled substance by the United Nations in 1971. It currently has no approved medical use. In Europe, as of 2011, the typical cost of a dose was between 4.50 and 25 Euro.
Uses
Recreational
Pink elephant blotters containing LSD
LSD is commonly used as a recreational drug.
Spiritual
LSD is considered an
entheogen
because it can catalyze intense spiritual experiences, during which
users may feel they have come into contact with a greater spiritual or
cosmic order. Users sometimes report
out of body experiences. In 1966,
Timothy Leary established the
League for Spiritual Discovery with LSD as its
sacrament.
Stanislav Grof has written that religious and mystical experiences observed during LSD sessions appear to be
phenomenologically indistinguishable from similar descriptions in the
sacred scriptures of the great religions of the world and the texts of ancient
civilizations.
Medical
LSD currently has no
approved uses in
medicine. A meta analysis concluded that a single dose was effective at reducing alcohol consumption in
alcoholism. LSD has also been studied in depression, anxiety, and drug dependence, with positive preliminary results.
Effects
Some symptoms reported for LSD.
Physical
LSD can cause
pupil dilation, reduced
appetite,
and wakefulness. Other physical reactions to LSD are highly variable
and nonspecific, some of which may be secondary to the psychological
effects of LSD. Among the reported symptoms are numbness, weakness,
nausea,
hypothermia or
hyperthermia, elevated
blood sugar,
goose bumps, heart rate increase, jaw clenching, perspiration,
saliva production,
mucus production,
hyperreflexia, and
tremors.
Psychological
The most common immediate psychological effects of LSD are
visual hallucinations and
illusions (colloquially known as "
trips"),
which can vary greatly depending on how much is used and how the brain
responds. Trips usually start within 20–30 minutes of taking LSD by
mouth (less if snorted or taken intravenously), peak three to four hours
after ingestion, and last up to 12 hours. Negative experiences,
referred to as "bad trips", produce intense negative emotions, such as
irrational fears and anxiety, panic attacks, paranoia, rapid mood
swings,
intrusive thoughts of hopelessness, wanting to harm others, and
suicidal ideation. It is impossible to predict when a bad trip will occur.
Good trips are stimulating and pleasurable, and typically involve
feeling as if one is floating, disconnected from reality, feelings of
joy or euphoria (sometimes called a "rush"), decreased inhibitions, and
the belief that one has extreme mental clarity or superpowers.
Sensory
Some sensory effects may include an experience of radiant colors,
objects and surfaces appearing to ripple or "breathe", colored patterns
behind the closed eyelids (
eidetic imagery),
an altered sense of time (time seems to be stretching, repeating
itself, changing speed or stopping), crawling geometric patterns
overlaying walls and other objects, and morphing objects. Some users, including Albert Hofmann, report a strong metallic taste for the duration of the effects.
LSD causes an
animated sensory experience of
senses,
emotions,
memories, time, and
awareness
for 6 to 14 hours, depending on dosage and tolerance. Generally
beginning within 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion, the user may
experience anything from subtle changes in perception to overwhelming
cognitive shifts. Changes in auditory and visual perception are typical. Visual effects include the illusion of
movement of static surfaces ("walls breathing"),
after image-like
trails of moving objects ("tracers"), the appearance of moving colored
geometric patterns (especially with closed eyes), an intensification of
colors and brightness ("sparkling"), new textures on objects, blurred
vision, and shape suggestibility. Some users report that the inanimate
world appears to animate in an inexplicable way; for instance, objects
that are static in three dimensions can seem to be moving relative to
one or more additional spatial dimensions. Many of the basic visual effects resemble the
phosphenes seen after applying pressure to the eye and have also been studied under the name "
form constants". The auditory effects of LSD may include
echo-like
distortions of sounds, changes in ability to discern concurrent
auditory stimuli, and a general intensification of the experience of
music. Higher doses often cause intense and fundamental distortions of
sensory perception such as
synaesthesia, the experience of additional spatial or temporal dimensions, and temporary
dissociation.
Adverse effects
Addiction
experts in psychiatry, chemistry, pharmacology, forensic science,
epidemiology, and the police and legal services engaged in
delphic analysis regarding 20 popular recreational drugs. LSD was ranked 14th in dependence, 15th in physical harm, and 13th in social harm.
Of the 20 drugs ranked according to individual and societal harm by
David Nutt,
LSD was third to last, approximately 1/10th as harmful as alcohol. The
most significant adverse effect was impairment of mental functioning
while intoxicated.
Mental disorders
LSD may trigger
panic attacks
or feelings of extreme anxiety, known familiarly as a "bad trip." Review studies suggest that LSD likely plays a role in precipitating the
onset of acute psychosis in previously healthy individuals with an
increased likelihood in individuals who have a family history of
schizophrenia. There is evidence that people with severe mental illnesses like
schizophrenia have a higher likelihood of experiencing adverse effects from taking LSD.
Suggestibility
While publicly available documents indicate that the
CIA and
Department of Defense have discontinued research into the use of LSD as a means of
mind control, research from the 1960s suggests that both mentally ill and healthy people are more
suggestible while under its influence.
Flashbacks
Some individuals may experience "
flashbacks" and a syndrome of long-term and occasionally distressing perceptual changes.
"Flashbacks" are a reported psychological phenomenon in which an
individual experiences an episode of some of LSD's subjective effects
after the drug has worn off, "persisting for months or years after
hallucinogen use".
Several studies have tried to determine the likelihood that a user of
LSD, not suffering from known psychiatric conditions, will experience
flashbacks. The larger studies include Blumenfeld's in 1971and Naditch and Fenwick's in 1977, which arrived at figures of 20% and 28%, respectively.
Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder
(HPPD) describes a post-LSD exposure syndrome in which LSD-like visual
changes are not temporary and brief, as they are in flashbacks, but
instead are persistent, and cause clinically significant impairment or
distress. The syndrome is a
DSM-IV diagnosis. Several scientific journal articles have described the disorder.
HPPD differs from flashbacks in that it is persistent and apparently
entirely visual (although mood and anxiety disorders are sometimes
diagnosed in the same individuals). A recent review suggests that
HPPD (as defined in the DSM-IV) is uncommon and affects a distinctly vulnerable subpopulation of users.
Cancer and pregnancy
The
mutagenic potential of LSD is unclear. Overall, the evidence seems to point to limited or no effect at commonly used doses. Empirical studies showed no evidence of
teratogenic or mutagenic effects from use of LSD in man.
Tolerance
Tolerance to LSD builds up over consistent use and
cross-tolerance has been demonstrated between LSD,
mescaline
and
psilocybin.
This tolerance is probably caused by
downregulation of
5-HT2A receptors in the brain and diminishes a few days after cessation of use.
LSD is not addictive. Experimental evidence has demonstrated that LSD use does not yield
positive reinforcement in either human or animal subjects.
Overdose
As of 2008 there were no documented fatalities attributed directly to an LSD overdose. Despite this several behavioral fatalities and suicides have occurred due to LSD.
Eight individuals who accidentally consumed very high amounts by
mistaking LSD for cocaine developed comatose states, hyperthermia,
vomiting, gastric bleeding, and respiratory problems–however, all
survived with supportive care.
Reassurance in a calm, safe environment is beneficial. Agitation can be safely addressed with
benzodiazepines such as
lorazepam or
diazepam.
Neuroleptics such as
haloperidol
are recommended against because they may have adverse effects. LSD is
rapidly absorbed, so activated charcoal and emptying of the stomach will
be of little benefit, unless done within 30–60 minutes of ingesting an
overdose of LSD. Sedation or physical restraint is rarely required, and
excessive restraint may cause complications such as
hyperthermia (over-heating) or
rhabdomyolysis.
Research suggests that massive doses are not lethal, but do typically require supportive care, which may include
endotracheal intubation or respiratory support. It is recommended that high blood pressure,
tachycardia
(rapid heart-beat), and hyperthermia, if present, are treated
symptomatically, and that low blood pressure is treated initially with
fluids and then with
pressors if necessary. Intravenous administration of
anticoagulants,
vasodilators, and
sympatholytics may be useful with massive doses.
Pharmacology
Pharmacodynamics
Binding affinities of LSD for various receptors. The lower the
dissociation constant (K
i),
the more strongly LSD binds to that receptor (i.e. with higher
affinity). The horizontal line represents an approximate value for human
plasma concentrations of LSD, and hence, receptor affinities that are
above the line are unlikely to be involved in LSD's effect. Data
averaged from data from the
Ki Database
Most
serotonergic psychedelics are not significantly
dopaminergic, and LSD is therefore atypical in this regard. The agonism of the
D2 receptor by LSD may contribute to its psychoactive effects in humans.
LSD binds to most serotonin receptor subtypes except for the
5-HT3 and
5-HT4 receptors.
However, most of these receptors are affected at too low affinity to be
sufficiently activated by the brain concentration of approximately
10–20
nM. In humans, recreational doses of LSD can affect
5-HT1A (K
i=1.1nM),
5-HT2A (K
i=2.9nM),
5-HT2B (K
i=4.9nM),
5-HT2C (K
i=23nM),
5-HT5A (K
i=9nM [in cloned rat tissues]), and
5-HT6 receptors (K
i=2.3nM).
5-HT5B receptors, which are not present in humans, also have a high affinity for LSD. The psychedelic effects of LSD are attributed to
cross-activation of 5-HT
2A receptor heteromers. Many but not all 5-HT
2A agonists are psychedelics and 5-HT
2A antagonists block the psychedelic activity of LSD. LSD exhibits
functional selectivity at the 5-HT
2A and 5HT
2C receptors in that it activates the
signal transduction enzyme
phospholipase A2 instead of activating the enzyme
phospholipase C as the endogenous ligand serotonin does. Exactly how LSD produces its effects is unknown, but it is thought that it works by increasing
glutamate release in the
cerebral cortex and therefore
excitation in this area, specifically in layers IV and V. LSD, like many other drugs of recreational use, has been shown to activate
DARPP-32-related pathways. The drug enhances dopamine D
2 receptor
protomer recognition and
signaling of D
2–5-HT
2A receptor complexes, which may contribute to its psychotic effects.
The
crystal structure of LSD bound in its active state to a
serotonin receptor, specifically the 5-HT
2B receptor, has recently (2017) been elucidated for the first time. The LSD-bound 5-HT
2B receptor is regarded as an excellent model system for the 5-HT
2A receptor and the structure of the LSD-bound 5-HT
2B receptor was used in the study as a template to determine the structural features necessary for the activity of LSD at the 5-HT
2A receptor.
The diethylamide moiety of LSD was found to be a key component for its
activity, which is in accordance with the fact that the related
lysergamide lysergic acid amide (LSA) is far less hallucinogenic in comparison. LSD was found to stay bound to both the 5-HT
2A and 5-HT
2B receptors for an exceptionally long amount of time, which may be responsible for its long
duration of action in spite of its relatively short terminal half-life.
The extracellular loop 2 leucine 209 residue of the 5-HT2B receptor
forms a 'lid' over LSD that appears to trap it in the receptor, and this
was implicated in the
potency and
functional selectivity of LSD and its very slow
dissociation rate from the 5-HT
2 receptors.
Pharmacokinetics
The effects of LSD normally last between 6 and 12 hours depending on dosage, tolerance, body weight, and age. The Sandoz prospectus for "Delysid" warned: "intermittent disturbances of affect may occasionally persist for several days."
Contrary to early reports and common belief, LSD effects do not last
longer than the amount of time significant levels of the drug are
present in the blood. Aghajanian and Bing (1964) found LSD had an elimination half-life of only 175 minutes (about 3 hours).
However, using more accurate techniques, Papac and Foltz (1990)
reported that 1 µg/kg oral LSD given to a single male volunteer had an
apparent plasma half-life of 5.1 hours, with a peak plasma concentration
of 5 ng/mL at 3 hours post-dose.
The
pharmacokinetics
of LSD were not properly determined until 2015, which is not surprising
for a drug with the kind of low-μg potency that LSD possesses. In a sample of 16 healthy subjects, a single mid-range 200 μg oral dose of LSD was found to produce mean
maximal concentrations of 4.5 ng/mL at a median of 1.5 hours (range 0.5–4 hours) post-administration. After attainment of peak levels, concentrations of LSD decreased following
first-order kinetics with a
terminal half-life of 3.6 hours for up to 12 hours and then with slower
elimination with a terminal half-life of 8.9 hours thereafter.
The effects of the dose of LSD given lasted for up to 12 hours and were
closely correlated with the concentrations of LSD present in
circulation over time, with no acute
tolerance observed. Only 1% of the drug was eliminated in
urine unchanged whereas 13% was eliminated as the major
metabolite 2-oxo-3-hydroxy-LSD (O-H-LSD) within 24 hours. O-H-LSD is formed by
cytochrome P450 enzymes,
although the specific enzymes involved are unknown, and it does not
appear to be known whether O-H-LSD is pharmacologically active or not. The oral
bioavailability of LSD was crudely estimated as approximately 71% using previous data on
intravenous administration of LSD. The sample was equally divided between male and female subjects and
there were no significant sex differences observed in the
pharmacokinetics of LSD.
Chemistry
The four possible stereoisomers of LSD. Only (+)-LSD is psychoactive.
LSD is a
chiral compound with two
stereocenters at the
carbon atoms C-5 and C-8, so that theoretically four different
optical isomers of LSD could exist. LSD, also called (+)-
D-LSD, has the
absolute configuration (5
R,8
R). The C-5
isomers of lysergamides do not exist in nature and are not formed during the synthesis from
d-lysergic acid.
Retrosynthetically,
the C-5 stereocenter could be analysed as having the same configuration
of the alpha carbon of the naturally occurring amino acid L-
tryptophan, the precursor to all biosynthetic ergoline compounds.
However, LSD and iso-LSD, the two C-8 isomers, rapidly interconvert in the presence of
bases, as the alpha proton is acidic and can be
deprotonated and reprotonated. Non-psychoactive iso-LSD which has formed during the synthesis can be separated by
chromatography and can be isomerized to LSD.
Pure salts of LSD are
triboluminescent, emitting small flashes of white light when shaken in the dark. LSD is strongly
fluorescent and will glow bluish-white under
UV light.
Synthesis
LSD is an
ergoline derivative. It is commonly synthesized by reacting
diethylamine with an activated form of
lysergic acid. Activating reagents include
phosphoryl chloride and
peptide coupling reagents. Lysergic acid is made by alkaline
hydrolysis of lysergamides like
ergotamine, a substance usually derived from the
ergot fungus on
agar plate; or, theoretically possible, but impractical and uncommon, from
ergine (lysergic acid amide, LSA) extracted from
morning glory seeds. Lysergic acid can also be produced synthetically, eliminating the need for ergotamines.
Dosage
White on White blotters (WoW) for sublingual administration
A single dose of LSD may be between 40 and 500 micrograms—an amount
roughly equal to one-tenth the mass of a grain of sand. Threshold
effects can be felt with as little as 25 micrograms of LSD. Dosages of LSD are measured in
micrograms (µg), or millionths of a gram. By comparison, dosages of most drugs, both recreational and medicinal, are measured in
milligrams (mg), or thousandths of a gram. For example, an active dose of
mescaline, roughly
0.2 to 0.5 g, has effects comparable to 100 µg or less of LSD.
In the mid-1960s, the most important
black market LSD manufacturer (
Owsley Stanley) distributed acid at a standard concentration of 270 µg,
while street samples of the 1970s contained 30 to 300 µg. By the 1980s,
the amount had reduced to between 100 and 125 µg, dropping more in the
1990s to the 20–80 µg range, and even more in the 2000s (decade).
Reactivity and degradation
"LSD," writes the chemist
Alexander Shulgin,
"is an unusually fragile molecule… As a salt, in water, cold, and free
from air and light exposure, it is stable indefinitely."
LSD has two
labile protons at the tertiary stereogenic C5 and C8 positions, rendering these centres prone to
epimerisation. The C8 proton is more labile due to the electron-withdrawing
carboxamide attachment, but removal of the
chiral proton at the C5 position (which was once also an alpha proton of the parent molecule
tryptophan) is assisted by the inductively withdrawing nitrogen and pi electron delocalisation with the
indole ring.
LSD also has
enamine-type reactivity because of the electron-donating effects of the indole ring. Because of this,
chlorine
destroys LSD molecules on contact; even though chlorinated tap water
contains only a slight amount of chlorine, the small quantity of
compound typical to an LSD solution will likely be eliminated when
dissolved in tap water. The
double bond between the 8-position and the
aromatic ring, being conjugated with the indole ring, is susceptible to
nucleophilic attacks by water or
alcohol, especially in the presence of light. LSD often converts to "lumi-LSD", which is inactive in human beings.
A controlled study was undertaken to determine the stability of LSD in pooled urine samples.
The concentrations of LSD in urine samples were followed over time at
various temperatures, in different types of storage containers, at
various exposures to different wavelengths of light, and at varying pH
values. These studies demonstrated no significant loss in LSD
concentration at 25 °C for up to four weeks. After four weeks of
incubation, a 30% loss in LSD concentration at 37 °C and up to a 40% at
45 °C were observed. Urine fortified with LSD and stored in amber glass
or nontransparent polyethylene containers showed no change in
concentration under any light conditions. Stability of LSD in
transparent containers under light was dependent on the distance between
the light source and the samples, the wavelength of light, exposure
time, and the intensity of light. After prolonged exposure to heat in
alkaline pH conditions, 10 to 15% of the parent LSD epimerized to
iso-LSD. Under acidic conditions, less than 5% of the LSD was converted
to iso-LSD. It was also demonstrated that trace amounts of metal ions in
buffer or urine could catalyze the decomposition of LSD and that this
process can be avoided by the addition of
EDTA.
Detection in body fluids
LSD may be quantified in urine as part of a
drug abuse testing program,
in plasma or serum to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in hospitalized
victims or in whole blood to assist in a forensic investigation of a
traffic or other criminal violation or a case of sudden death. Both the
parent drug and its major metabolite are unstable in biofluids when
exposed to light, heat or alkaline conditions and therefore specimens
are protected from light, stored at the lowest possible temperature and
analyzed quickly to minimize losses.
The apparent plasma half life of LSD is considered to be around
5.1 hours with peak plasma concentrations occurring 3 hours after
administration.
History
... affected by a
remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures,
extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away. — Albert Hofmann, on his first experience with LSD
LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 by Swiss chemist
Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in
Basel,
Switzerland as part of a large research program searching for medically useful
ergot alkaloid derivatives. LSD's
psychedelic properties were discovered 5 years later when Hofmann himself accidentally ingested an unknown quantity of the chemical. The first intentional ingestion of LSD occurred on April 19, 1943, when Hofmann ingested 250
µg
of LSD. He said this would be a threshold dose based on the dosages of
other ergot alkaloids. Hofmann found the effects to be much stronger
than he anticipated.
Sandoz Laboratories introduced LSD as a psychiatric drug in 1947 and
marketed LSD as a psychiatric panacea, hailing it "as a cure for
everything from schizophrenia to criminal behavior, ‘sexual
perversions,’ and alcoholism.”
Beginning in the 1950s, the US
Central Intelligence Agency began a research program code named
Project MKULTRA.
Experiments included administering LSD to CIA employees, military
personnel, doctors, other government agents, prostitutes, mentally ill
patients, and members of the general public in order to study their
reactions, usually without the subjects' knowledge. The project was
revealed in the US congressional
Rockefeller Commission report in 1975.
In 1963, the Sandoz patents expired on LSD. Several figures, including
Aldous Huxley,
Timothy Leary, and
Al Hubbard, began to advocate the consumption of LSD. LSD became central to the counterculture of the 1960s.
In the early 1960s the use of LSD and other hallucinogens was advocated
by new proponents of consciousness expansion such as Leary, Huxley,
Alan Watts and
Arthur Koestler, and according to L. R. Veysey they profoundly influenced the thinking of the new generation of youth.
On October 24, 1968, possession of LSD was made illegal in the United States. The last
FDA
approved study of LSD in patients ended in 1980, while a study in
healthy volunteers was made in the late 1980s. Legally approved and
regulated psychiatric use of LSD continued in Switzerland until 1993.
Society and culture
Counterculture, music and art
Psychedelic art attempts to capture the visions experienced on a psychedelic trip
By the mid-1960s, the youth
countercultures in
California, particularly in
San Francisco, had adopted the use of hallucinogenic drugs, with the first major underground LSD factory established by
Owsley Stanley. From 1964,
the Merry Pranksters, a loose group that developed around novelist
Ken Kesey, sponsored the
Acid Tests, a series of events primarily staged in or near
San Francisco,
involving the taking of LSD (supplied by Stanley), accompanied by light
shows, film projection and discordant, improvised music known as the
psychedelic symphony.
The Pranksters helped popularize LSD use, through their road trips
across America in a psychedelically-decorated converted school bus,
which involved distributing the drug and meeting with major figures of
the beat movement, and through publications about their activities such
as
Tom Wolfe's
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968).
In both music and art, the influence of LSD was soon being more widely
seen and heard thanks to the bands that participated in the Acid Tests
and related events, including
the Grateful Dead,
Jefferson Airplane and
Big Brother and the Holding Company, and through the inventive poster and album art of San Francisco-based artists like
Rick Griffin,
Victor Moscoso,
Bonnie MacLean,
Stanley Mouse and
Alton Kelley, and
Wes Wilson, meant to evoke the visual experience of an LSD trip.
In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, brothers Ron and
Jay Thelin opened the Psychedelic Shop in January 1966. The Thelins'
store is regarded as the first ever
head shop.
The Thelins opened the store to promote safe use of LSD, which was then
still legal in California. The Psychedelic Shop helped to further
popularize LSD in the Haight and to make the neighborhood the unofficial
capital of the hippie counterculture in the United States. Ron Thelin
was also involved in organizing the Love Pageant rally, a protest held
in Golden Gate park to protest California's newly adopted ban on LSD in
October 1966. At the rally, hundreds of attendees took acid in unison. Although the Psychedelic Shop closed after barely a year-and-a-half in
business, its role in popularizing LSD was considerable.
A similar and connected nexus of LSD use in the creative arts developed around the same time in
London. A key figure in this phenomenon in the UK was British academic
Michael Hollingshead,
who first tried LSD in America in 1961 while he was the Executive
Secretary for the Institute of British-American Cultural Exchange. After
being given a large quantity of pure Sandoz LSD (which was still legal
at the time) and experiencing his first "trip", Hollingshead contacted
Aldous Huxley, who suggested that he get in touch with Harvard academic
Timothy Leary, and over the next few years, in concert with Leary and
Richard Alpert, Hollingshead played a major role in their famous LSD research at
Millbrook
before moving to New York City, where he conducted his own LSD
experiments. In 1965 Hollingshead returned to the UK and founded the
World Psychedelic Center in
Chelsea, London. Among the many famous people in the UK that Hollingshead is reputed to have introduced to LSD are artist and
Hipgnosis founder
Storm Thorgerson, and musicians
Donovan,
Keith Richards,
Paul McCartney,
John Lennon, and
George Harrison.
Although establishment concern about the new drug led to it being
declared an illegal drug by the Home Secretary in 1966, LSD was soon
being used widely in the upper echelons of the British art and music
scene, including members of
the Beatles,
the Rolling Stones,
the Moody Blues,
the Small Faces,
Pink Floyd,
Jimi Hendrix
and others, and the products of these experiences were soon being both
heard and seen by the public with singles like The Small Faces' "
Itchycoo Park" and LPs like the Beatles'
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Cream's
Disraeli Gears,
which featured music that showed the obvious influence of the
musicians' recent psychedelic excursions, and which were packaged in
elaborately-designed album covers that featured vividly-coloured
psychedelic artwork by artists like
Peter Blake,
Martin Sharp,
Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (
Nigel Waymouth and
Michael English) and art/music collective "
The Fool".
In the 1960s, musicians from
psychedelic music and
psychedelic rock
bands began to refer (at first indirectly, and later explicitly) to the
drug and attempted to recreate or reflect the experience of taking LSD
in their music. A number of features are often included in psychedelic
music. Exotic instrumentation, with a particular fondness for the
sitar and
tabla are common. Electric guitars are used to create
feedback, and are played through
wah wah and
fuzzbox effect pedals. Elaborate studio effects are often used, such as
backwards tapes,
panning,
phasing, long
delay loops, and extreme
reverb. In the 1960s there was a use of primitive electronic instruments such as early synthesizers and the
theremin. Later forms of electronic psychedelia also employed repetitive computer-generated beats. Songs allegedly referring to LSD include
John Prine's "Illegal Smile" and
The Beatles' song
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, although the authors of the latter song repeatedly denied this claim. Psychedelic experiences were also reflected in
psychedelic art,
literature and
film.
LSD had a strong influence on the
Grateful Dead and the culture of
Deadheads, as well as the impact for artist
Keith Haring, early
techno music, and the
jam band Phish.
Legal status
The
United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances
(adopted in 1971) requires the signing parties to prohibit LSD. Hence,
it is illegal in all countries that were parties to the convention,
including the
United States,
Australia,
New Zealand, and most of
Europe.
However, enforcement of those laws varies from country to country.
Medical and scientific research with LSD in humans is permitted under
the 1971 UN Convention.
Australia
LSD is a
Schedule 9 prohibited substance in Australia under the
Poisons Standard (February 2017).
A Schedule 9 substance is defined as a substance which may be abused or
misused, the manufacture, possession, sale or use of which should be
prohibited by law except when required for medical or scientific
research, or for analytical, teaching or training purposes with approval
of Commonwealth and/or State or Territory Health Authorities.
In
Western Australia section 9 of the
Misuse of Drugs Act 1981
provides for summary trial before a magistrate for possession of less
than 0.004g; section 11 provides rebuttable presumptions of intent to
sell or supply if the quantity is 0.002g or more, or of possession for
the purpose of trafficking if 0.01g.
Canada
In
Canada, LSD is a controlled substance under Schedule III of the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Every person who seeks to obtain the substance, without disclosing
authorization to obtain such substances 30 days before obtaining another
prescription from a practitioner, is guilty of an indictable offense
and liable to
imprisonment
for a term not exceeding 3 years. Possession for purpose of trafficking
is an indictable offense punishable by imprisonment for 10 years.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, LSD is a Schedule 1 Class 'A' drug. This means
it has no recognized legitimate uses and possession of the drug without
a license is punishable with 7 years' imprisonment and/or an unlimited
fine, and trafficking is punishable with life imprisonment and an
unlimited fine (
see main article on drug punishments Misuse of Drugs Act 1971).
In 2000, after consultation with members of the
Royal College of Psychiatrists' Faculty of Substance Misuse, the UK Police Foundation issued the
Runciman Report which recommended
"the transfer of LSD from Class A to Class B".
In November 2009, the UK
Transform Drug Policy Foundation released in the House of Commons a guidebook to the legal regulation of drugs,
After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation, which details options for regulated distribution and sale of LSD and other psychedelics.
United States
LSD is Schedule I in the United States, according to the
Controlled Substances Act of 1970. This means LSD is illegal to manufacture, buy, possess, process, or distribute without a license from the
Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA). By classifying LSD as a Schedule I substance, the DEA holds that
LSD meets the following three criteria: it is deemed to have a high
potential for abuse; it has no legitimate medical use in treatment; and
there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical
supervision. There are no documented deaths from chemical
toxicity; most LSD deaths are a result of behavioral toxicity.
There can also be substantial discrepancies between the amount of
chemical LSD that one possesses and the amount of possession with which
one can be charged in the US. This is because LSD is almost always
present in a medium (e.g. blotter or neutral liquid), and the amount
that can be considered with respect to sentencing is the total mass of
the drug and its medium. This discrepancy was the subject of 1995
United States Supreme Court case,
Neal v. United States.
Lysergic acid and
lysergic acid amide, LSD precursors, are both classified in
Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
Ergotamine tartrate, a precursor to lysergic acid, is regulated under the
Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act.
Mexico
In April 2009, the Mexican Congress approved changes in the General
Health Law that decriminalized the possession of illegal drugs for
immediate consumption and personal use, allowing a person to possess a
moderate amount of LSD. The only restriction is that people in
possession of drugs should not be within a 300-meter radius of schools,
police departments, or correctional facilities. Marijuana, along with
cocaine, opium, heroin, and other drugs were also decriminalized; their
possession is not considered a crime as long as the dose does not exceed
the limit established in the General Health Law. Many
question this, as cocaine is as synthesised as heroin, and both are
produced as extracts from plants. The law establishes very low amount
thresholds and strictly defines personal dosage. For those arrested with
more than the threshold allowed by the law this can result in heavy
prison sentences, as they will be assumed to be small traffickers even
if there are no other indications that the amount was meant for selling.
Czech Republic
In the
Czech Republic, until 31 December 1998 only drug possession "
for other person"
(i.e. intent to sell) was criminal (apart from production, importation,
exportation, offering or mediation, which was and remains criminal)
while possession for personal use remained legal.
On 1 January 1999, an amendment of the Criminal Code, which was necessitated in order to align the Czech drug rules with the
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, became effective, criminalizing possession of "
amount larger than small"
also for personal use (Art. 187a of the Criminal Code) while possession
of small amounts for personal use became a misdemeanor.
The judicial practice came to the conclusion that the "
amount larger than small" must be five to ten times larger (depending on drug) than a usual single dose of an average consumer.
Under the Regulation No. 467/2009 Coll, possession of less than 5
doses of LSD was to be considered smaller than large for the purposes
of the Criminal Code and was to be treated as a misdemeanor subject to a
fine equal to a parking ticket.
Ecuador
According to the
2008 Constitution of Ecuador, in its Article 364, the Ecuadorian state does not see drug consumption as a crime but only as a health concern.
Since June 2013 the State drugs regulatory office CONSEP has published a
table which establishes maximum quantities carried by persons so as to
be considered in legal possession and that person as not a seller of
drugs.
The "CONSEP established, at their latest general meeting, that the
0.020 milligrams of LSD shall be considered the maximum consumer amount.
Economics
Production
Glassware seized by the DEA
An active dose of LSD is very minute, allowing a large number of
doses to be synthesized from a comparatively small amount of raw
material. Twenty five kilograms of precursor
ergotamine tartrate
can produce 5–6 kg of pure crystalline LSD; this corresponds to
100 million doses. Because the masses involved are so small, concealing
and transporting illicit LSD is much easier than smuggling
cocaine,
cannabis, or other illegal drugs.
Manufacturing LSD requires laboratory equipment and experience in the field of
organic chemistry.
It takes two to three days to produce 30 to 100 grams of pure compound.
It is believed that LSD is not usually produced in large quantities,
but rather in a series of small batches. This technique minimizes the
loss of precursor chemicals in case a step does not work as expected.
Forms
Five doses of LSD, often called a "five strip"
LSD is produced in crystalline form and then mixed with
excipients
or redissolved for production in ingestible forms. Liquid solution is
either distributed in small vials or, more commonly, sprayed onto or
soaked into a distribution medium. Historically, LSD solutions were
first sold on sugar cubes, but practical considerations forced a change
to
tablet
form. Appearing in 1968 as an orange tablet measuring about 6 mm
across, "Orange Sunshine" acid was the first largely available form of
LSD after its possession was made illegal.
Tim Scully, a prominent chemist, made some of these tablets, but said that most "Sunshine" in the USA came by way of
Ronald Stark, who imported approximately thirty-five million doses from Europe.
Over a period of time, tablet dimensions, weight, shape and
concentration of LSD evolved from large (4.5–8.1 mm diameter),
heavyweight (≥150 mg), round, high concentration (90–350 µg/tab) dosage
units to small (2.0–3.5 mm diameter) lightweight (as low as 4.7 mg/tab),
variously shaped, lower concentration (12–85 µg/tab, average range
30–40 µg/tab) dosage units. LSD tablet shapes have included cylinders,
cones, stars, spacecraft, and heart shapes. The smallest tablets became
known as "Microdots".
After tablets came "computer acid" or "blotter paper LSD", typically made by dipping a preprinted sheet of
blotting paper into an LSD/water/alcohol solution.
More than 200 types of LSD tablets have been encountered since 1969 and
more than 350 blotter paper designs have been observed since 1975. About the same time as blotter paper LSD came "Windowpane" (AKA "Clearlight"), which contained LSD inside a thin
gelatin square a quarter of an inch (6 mm) across.
LSD has been sold under a wide variety of often short-lived and
regionally restricted street names including Acid, Trips, Uncle Sid,
Blotter,
Lucy, Alice and doses, as well as names that reflect the designs on the sheets of blotter paper. Authorities have encountered the drug in other forms—including powder or crystal, and capsule.
Modern distribution
LSD manufacturers and traffickers in the
United States
can be categorized into two groups: A few large-scale producers, and an
equally limited number of small, clandestine chemists, consisting of
independent producers who, operating on a comparatively limited scale,
can be found throughout the country. As a group, independent producers are of less concern to the
Drug Enforcement Administration than the larger groups because their product reaches only local markets.
Many LSD dealers and chemists describe a religious or
humanitarian purpose that motivates their illicit activity. Nicholas
Schou's book
Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World describes one such group,
the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. The group was a major American LSD trafficking group in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In the second half of the 20th century, dealers and chemists loosely associated with the
Grateful Dead like
Owsley Stanley,
Nicholas Sand, Karen Horning, Sarah Maltzer, "Dealer McDope," and
Leonard Pickard played an essential role in distributing LSD.
Mimics
LSD blotter acid mimic actually containing DOC
Different blotters which could possibly be mimics
Since 2005, law enforcement in the United States and elsewhere has
seized several chemicals and combinations of chemicals in blotter paper
which were sold as LSD mimics, including
DOB, a mixture of
DOC and
DOI,
25I-NBOMe, and a mixture of
DOC and
DOB.
Street users of LSD are often under the impression that blotter paper
which is actively hallucinogenic can only be LSD because that is the
only chemical with low enough doses to fit on a small square of blotter
paper. While it is true that LSD requires lower doses than most other
hallucinogens, blotter paper is capable of absorbing a much larger
amount of material. The DEA performed a
chromatographic analysis of blotter paper containing
2C-C
which showed that the paper contained a much greater concentration of
the active chemical than typical LSD doses, although the exact quantity
was not determined. Blotter LSD mimics can have relatively small dose squares; a sample of blotter paper containing
DOC seized by
Concord, California police had dose markings approximately 6 mm apart. Several deaths have been attributed to 25I-NBOMe.
Research
A number of organizations—including
the Beckley Foundation,
MAPS,
Heffter Research Institute and the
Albert Hofmann
Foundation—exist to fund, encourage and coordinate research into the
medicinal and spiritual uses of LSD and related psychedelics. New clinical LSD experiments in humans started in 2009 for the first time in 35 years. As it is illegal in many areas of the world, potential medical uses are difficult to study.
In 2001 the
United States Drug Enforcement Administration stated that LSD "produces no aphrodisiac effects, does not increase creativity, has no lasting positive effect in treating
alcoholics or
criminals, does not produce a '
model psychosis', and does not generate immediate personality change." More recently, experimental uses of LSD have included the treatment of alcoholism and pain and cluster headache relief.
Psychedelic therapy
In the 1950s and 1960s LSD was used in psychiatry to enhance psychotherapy known as
psychedelic therapy. Some psychiatrists believed LSD was especially useful at helping patients to "unblock" repressed subconscious material through other
psychotherapeutic methods, and also for treating alcoholism. One study concluded, "The root of the therapeutic value of the LSD experience is its potential for producing
self-acceptance and self-surrender," presumably by forcing the user to face issues and problems in that individual's psyche.
Two recent reviews concluded that conclusions drawn from most of these early trials are unreliable due to serious
methodological flaws. These include the absence of adequate
control groups, lack of followup, and vague criteria for
therapeutic
outcome. In many cases studies failed to convincingly demonstrate
whether the drug or the therapeutic interaction was responsible for any
beneficial effects.
In recent years organizations like the
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies have renewed clinical research of LSD.
Other uses
In the 1950s and 1960s, some psychiatrists (e.g.
Oscar Janiger)
explored the potential effect of LSD on creativity. Experimental
studies attempted to measure the effect of LSD on creative activity and
aesthetic appreciation.
Since 2008 there has been ongoing research into using LSD to alleviate anxiety for
terminally ill cancer patients coping with their impending deaths.
A 2012 meta-analysis found evidence that a single dose of LSD in
conjunction with various alcoholism treatment programs was associated
with a decrease in alcohol abuse, lasting for several months, but no
effect was seen at one year. Adverse events included seizure, moderate
confusion and agitation, nausea,
vomiting, and acting in a bizarre fashion.
LSD has been used as a treatment for
cluster headaches with positive results in some small studies.
Notable individuals
Some notable individuals have commented publicly on their experiences with LSD.
Some of these comments date from the era when it was legally available
in the US and Europe for non-medical uses, and others pertain to
psychiatric
treatment in the 1950s and 1960s. Still others describe experiences
with illegal LSD, obtained for philosophic, artistic, therapeutic,
spiritual, or recreational purposes.
- Richard Feynman, a notable physicist at California Institute of Technology,
tried LSD during his professorship at Caltech. Feynman largely
sidestepped the issue when dictating his anecdotes; he mentions it in
passing in the "O Americano, Outra Vez" section.
- Jerry Garcia stated in a July 3, 1989 interview for Relix Magazine,
in response to the question "Have your feelings about LSD changed over
the years?," "They haven't changed much. My feelings about LSD are
mixed. It's something that I both fear and that I love at the same time.
I never take any psychedelic, have a psychedelic experience, without
having that feeling of, "I don't know what's going to happen." In that
sense, it's still fundamentally an enigma and a mystery."
- Bill Gates implied in an interview with Playboy that he tried LSD during his youth.
- Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, became a user of psychedelics after moving to Hollywood. He was at the forefront of the counterculture's experimentation with psychedelic drugs, which led to his 1954 work The Doors of Perception. Dying from cancer, he asked his wife on 22 November 1963 to inject him with 100 µg of LSD. He died later that day.
- Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc., said, "Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life."
- In a 2004 interview, Paul McCartney said that The Beatles' songs "Day Tripper" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" were inspired by LSD trips. Nonetheless, John Lennon
consistently stated over the course of many years that the fact that
the initials of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" spelled out L-S-D was a
coincidence (the title came from a picture drawn by his son Julian) and that the band members did not notice until after the song had been released, and Paul McCartney corroborated that story. John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr
also experimented with the drug, although McCartney cautioned that
"it's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on the Beatles'
music."
- Kary Mullis is reported to credit LSD with helping him develop DNA amplification technology, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993.
- Oliver Sacks, a neurologist
famous for writing best-selling case histories about his patients'
disorders and unusual experiences, talks about his own experiences with
LSD and other perception altering chemicals, in his book, Hallucinations.
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