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LSD

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For other uses, see LSD (disambiguation).

D-lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called "hits", "tabs", acid, LSD, or LSD-25, is a powerful semisynthetic psychedelic drug. An average single dose of LSD during the 1960s was between 100 and 150 micrograms, a tiny amount roughly equal to one-tenth the weight of a grain of sand. Today, a typical single dose of LSD is as low as 25-50 micrograms. Threshold effects can be felt with as little as 20 micrograms. The effects of LSD can vary greatly, dependent on factors such as previous experiences, state of mind, environment, as well as dose strength. Generally, LSD causes expansion and altered experience of senses, emotions, memories, and awareness for 8 to 14 hours. In addition, LSD usually produces visual effects such as moving geometric patterns, "trails" behind moving objects, and brilliant colors. LSD does not produce hallucinations in the strict sense but instead illusions and vivid daydream-like fantasies and ordinary objects and experiences can take on entirely different appearances or meanings. At higher concentrations it can cause synaesthesia. The drug sometimes spurs long-term or even permanent changes in a user's personality and life perspective.

LSD is synthesized from lysergic acid, derived from ergot. Ergot is a grain fungus that typically grows on rye. LSD is sensitive to oxygen, ultraviolet light, and chlorine, especially in solution. However its potency may last years if stored away from light and moisture in a freezer. In pure form it is colorless, odorless, and mildly bitter. LSD is typically delivered orally, usually on a substrate such as absorbent blotter paper, a sugar cube, or gelatin.

Introduced by Sandoz Laboratories as a drug with various psychiatric uses, LSD quickly became a therapeutic agent that appeared to show great promise. However, the extra-medical use of the drug in western society in the middle years of the twentieth century led to a political firestorm and government insider panic that resulted in the banning of the substance for medical as well as recreational and spiritual uses. Despite this, it is still considered a promising drug in some intellectual circles.

File:LSD blotter paper.jpg
When impregnated with LSD, perforated blotter paper, as illustrated above, is a popular form of dispensing the drug.
File:Ruby slippers image.jpg
A typical full size sheet of LSD blotter paper is 900 1/4" squares.

Origin

"LSD" is an abbreviation of the German chemical name of the compound, Lysergsäure-diethylamid. It was first synthesized in 1938 by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel as part of a large research program searching for medically useful ergot alkaloid derivatives. Its psychedelic properties were unknown until 5 years later, when Hofmann, acting on a hunch, returned to work on the chemical. He attributed the discovery of the compound's psychoactive effects to the accidental absorption of a tiny amount through his skin on April 16, which led to him testing a larger amount on himself for psychoactivity (full story).

Until 1966, LSD and psilocybin were provided by Sandoz Laboratories free of charge to interested scientists. The use of these compounds by psychiatrists to gain a better subjective understanding of the schizophrenic experience was an accepted practice. Many clinical trials were conducted on the potential use of LSD in psychedelic psychotherapy, generally with very positive results.

LSD first became popular recreationally among a small group of mental health professionals such as psychiatrists and psychologists during the 1950s, as well as by socially prominent and politically powerful individuals such as Henry and Clare Boothe Luce to whom the early LSD researchers were connected socially.

Cold War era intelligence services were keenly interested in the possibilities of using LSD for interrogation and mind control (see MK-ULTRA), and also for large-scale social engineering (see counterculture). The CIA conducted extensive research on LSD, which was mostly destroyed.[1]

Several mental health professionals involved in LSD research, most notably Harvard psychology professors Drs. Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass), became convinced of LSD's potential as a tool for spiritual growth. Their research became more esoteric and controversial, alleging links between the LSD experience and the state of enlightenment sought after in many mystical traditions. They were dismissed from the traditional academic psychology community, and as such cut off from legal scientific acquisition of the drug. The experiments lost their scientific pretense, and the pair evolved into countercultural spiritual gurus, encouraging people to question authority, challenge the status quo and coining the phrase "Turn on, tune in, and drop out". Predictably, the drug was banned in the United States in 1967, with scientific therapeutic research as well as individual research also becoming prohibitively difficult. Many other countries, under pressure from the U.S., quickly followed suit.

Since 1967, underground recreational and therapeutic LSD use has continued in many countries, supported by a black market and popular demand for the drug. Legal, academic research experiments on the effects and mechanisms of LSD are also conducted on occasion, but rarely involve human subjects.

Dosage

LSD is, by weight, one of the most potent drugs yet discovered. Both subjective reports and pharmacological methods such as receptor binding assays determine LSD to be, per mole, around 100 times more potent than psilocybin and psilocin and around 4000 times more potent than mescaline. Dosages of LSD are measured in micrograms (µg), or millionths of a gram. By comparison, dosages of almost all other drugs, both recreational and medical, are measured in milligrams, or thousandths of a gram.

The dosage level that will produce a threshold hallucinogenic effect in humans is generally considered to be 25 micrograms, with the drug's effects becoming markedly more evident at higher dosages. In the late 1990s, LSD obtained during drug law enforcement operations in the United States has usually ranged between 20 and 80 micrograms per dose. During the 1960s, dosages were commonly 300 micrograms or more. Dosages by frequent users can be as high as 1200 micrograms, although such a high dosage may precipitate unpleasant physical and psychological reactions.

Estimates for the lethal dosage (LD50) of LSD range from 200 micrograms per kilogram to more than 1000 micrograms per kilogram of human body-weight, though most sources report that there are no known human cases of such an overdose. Other sources note one report of a suspected fatal overdose of LSD in which there were indications that ~1/3 of a gram (320 mg or 320,000 µg) had been injected intravenously, i.e., over 3,000 more typical oral doses of ~100 µg had been injected.[2]

Effects

Physical

Physical reactions to LSD are highly variable and may include: uterine contractions, body temperature increase, elevated blood sugar levels, dry-mouth, goose bumps, heart-rate increase, jaw clenching, nausea, perspiration, pupil-dilation, salivation, mucus production, sleeplessness and tremors. Cramps and muscle tension or soreness are also fairly commonly reported, but rather than being direct effects of LSD in the bloodstream, these symptoms are believed by some to be the result of awkward positions assumed by users experiencing fluctuations in their awareness of the passage of time and their own physical discomfort.

LSD was studied in the 1960s by Eric Kast [3] as a painkiller for serious and chronic pain caused by cancer or other major trauma. Even at low (sub-psychedelic) dosages, it was found to be at least as effective as traditional opiates while being much longer lasting (pain reduction lasting as long as a week—after peak effects had subsided). Kast attributed this effect to a decrease in anxiety. This reported effect is being tested (though not using LSD) in an ongoing (as of 2006) study of the effects of the hallucinogen psilocybin on anxiety in terminal cancer patients.

Furthermore, LSD has been illicitly used as a treatment for cluster headaches, an uncommon but extremely painful disorder one researcher describes as "worse than natural childbirth or even amputation without anesthetic." [4] Although the phenomenon has not been formally investigated, case reports indicate that LSD and psilocybin can reduce cluster pain and also interrupt the cluster-headache cycle, preventing future headaches from occurring. Currently existing treatments include various ergotamines, among other chemicals, so LSD's efficacy may not be surprising. A dose-response study, testing the effectiveness of both LSD and psilocybin, is as of 2005 being planned at McLean Hospital. Unlike attempts to use LSD or MDMA in psychotherapy, this research involves non-psychological effects and often sub-psychedelic dosages; therefore, it is plausibly a way that a respected medical use of LSD will arise. [5], [6], [7]

Pharmacological

LSD affects an enormous number of receptors, including all dopamine receptor subtypes, all adrenoreceptor subtypes as well as many others. LSD binds to most serotonin receptor subtypes except for 5-HT3 and 5-HT4. The hallucinogenic effects of LSD are attributed to its partial agonist effects at 5-HT2A receptors. Exactly how this produces the drug's effects is unknown, but it is thought that it works by increasing excitation in cortical layers which facilitate the spread of information throughout the cortex. Through this, LSD causes parts of the brain which would not normally be activated by a given stimulus to become engaged.

Psychological

LSD's psychological effects (colloquially called a "trip") vary greatly from person to person, from one trip to another, and even as time passes during a single trip. Widely different effects emerge based on set and setting — the 'set' being the general mindset of the user, and the 'setting' being the physical and social environment in which the drug's effects are experienced.

An LSD trip can have long lasting or even permanent neutral, negative, and positive psychoemotional effects. LSD experiences can range from indescribably ecstatic to extraordinarily difficult; many difficult experiences (or "bad trips") result from a panicked user feeling that he or she has been permanently severed from reality and his or her ego. If the user is in a hostile or otherwise unsettling environment, or is not mentally prepared for the powerful distortions in perception and thought that the drug causes, effects are more likely to be unpleasant.

Conversely, a pleasant, comfortable environment and a relaxed, balanced and open mindset will often result in a unique and extremely unusual experience.

Many users experience a dissolution between themselves and the "outside world" - cognitive differences between subject ("I") and object ("me, "you", "it") break down or seem absurd [8]. This unitive quality may play a role in the spiritual and religious aspects of LSD.

Sensory/perception

Generally beginning within thirty to ninety minutes after ingestion and continuing for the following six to twelve hours, the user may experience anything from subtle changes in perception to overwhelming cognitive shifts.

Changes in aural and visual perception are common, ranging from mild to profound [9][10].

Sensory changes include basic "high-level" distortions such as the appearance of moving geometrical patterns, new textures on objects, blurred vision, image trailing, shape suggestibility and color variations.

Users sometimes describe experiencing new, previously-unseen colors; sights and sounds may take on greater intensity or have more of an impact. Users commonly report that the inanimate world appears to animate in an unexplained way; that is, objects that are static in three dimensions can seem to be moving relative to one or more additional spatial dimensions (e.g., [11]).

Higher doses often bring about shifts at a lower cognitive level - causing intense and fundamental distortions of sensory perception such as synaesthesia, the experience of additional spatial or temporal dimensions, and temporary dissociation.

The sensory shifts caused by the drug can lead users to sit or lie in awkward positions for extended periods of time, resulting in muscle cramps and soreness that may mistakenly be attributed to the direct physical action of the drug.

Spiritual

LSD is considered an entheogen because it often catalyzes intense spiritual experiences where users feel they have come into contact with a greater spiritual or cosmic order. It is common for users to believe that they have achieved insights into the way the mind works and some users experience permanent or long-lasting changes in their life perspective. Some users consider LSD a religious sacrament, or a powerful tool for access to the divine. Many books have been written comparing the LSD trip to the state of enlightenment of eastern philosophy.

Such experiences under the influence of LSD have been observed and documented by researchers such as Timothy Leary and Stanislav Grof. A brief video documentary of the Good Friday Marsh Chapel Experiment conducted by Walter Pahnke under Leary's supervision (a double blind experiment using volunteers who were students in religious graduate programs, e.g., divinity, theology, etc.) can be viewed here. That study showed that hallucinogens could reliably be used to induce mystical religious states (at least in people with a spiritual predisposition).

Acute duration

LSD's primary effects normally last from 6 to 12 hours. It is typical for users of LSD to be unable to sleep restfully (or at all, despite desperate attempts) until at least 12 hours have passed, and they do not feel completely "back to normal" until after getting one or two full nights of restful sleep, although they will exhibit no outward signs of impairment after the drug has worn off.

Contrary to early reports and common belief, LSD effects do not last longer than significant levels of the drug in the blood. Aghajanian and Bing [12] found LSD had an elimination half-life of 175 min, while, more recently, Papac and Foltz [13] reported that 1 µg/kg oral LSD given to a single male volunteer had an apparent plasma half-life of 5.1 h with a peak plasma concentration of 1.9 ng/mL at 3 h post-dose. Notably, Aghajanian and Bing found that blood concentrations of LSD matched the time course volunteers' difficulties with simple arithmetic problems.

Anecdotal reports indicate that administration of Thorazine or similar typical antipsychotic tranquilizers will not end an LSD trip, but rather will just immobilize and numb the patient. While it also may not end an LSD trip, the best chemical treatment for a "bad trip" is an anti-anxiety agent such as valium (diazepam) or other benzodiazepines. There have also been reports of Niacinamide being useful, a claim that has not been confirmed by multiple research groups using double-blind scientific methods and is therefore questionable.

Physical dangers

Although LSD is generally considered nontoxic, other dangers may arise from bad judgments made while under the influence of the drug. Like many drugs, LSD may temporarily impair the ability to make sensible judgments and understand common dangers, thus making the user susceptible to accidents and personal injury.

There is also some indication that LSD may trigger a dissociative fugue state in individuals who are taking certain classes of antidepressants such as lithium salts and tricyclics. In such a state, the user has an impulse to wander, and may not be aware of his or her actions, which can lead to physical injury. MAOIs and SSRIs are believed to interact more benignly, with a tendency to significantly reduce LSD's subjective effects.

Flashbacks

There is also a commonly reported possibility of "flashbacks", a psychological phenomenon in which an individual experiences an episode of some of the subjective effects of LSD (this may be a positive or negative experience) long after the drug has been consumed and worn off -- sometimes weeks, months or even years afterward.

Colloquial usage of the term 'flashbacks' refers to any experience reminiscent of LSD effects; these are commonly occasional brief experiences. However, psychiatry recognizes a disorder in which LSD-like effects are persistent and cause clinically-significant impairment or distress. This chronic flashback syndrome is called Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, a DSM-IV diagnosis. Several journal articles have described the disorder (see, for example, Adverse consequences of lysergic acid diethylamide, H.D. Abraham and A. Aldridge, Addiction 1993, 88:1327-1334; [Abstract]).

Several studies have tried to determine how likely a "normal user" (that is a user not suffering from known psychiatric conditions) of LSD is to experience flashbacks. The larger studies include (Flashback phenomena in basic trainees who enter the US Air Force, Blumenfield, Military Medicine, 136, 39-41, 1971) and (LSD Flashbacks and Ego Functioning, Naditch, M & Fenwick, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 86, No 4, 352-359, 1977), arriving at figures of 20% and 28%, respectively. A recent review suggests that chronic flashbacks, according to the DSM-IV definition, appears to be a rare disorder, that affect a distinctly vulnerable subpopulation of users (Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder: what do we know after 50 years?, Halpern JH, Pope HG Jr, Drug Alcohol Depend., Vol. 69, No 2, 109-119, 2003); (Hallucinogens: an update, Halpern JH, Curr Psychiatry Rep., Vol. 5, 347-54, 2003.)[14] Differences in the estimated prevalence of flashbacks may partly depend on the multiple meanings of the term and the fact that hallucinogen persisting perception disorder can only be diagnosed in a person who admits to their health care practitioner that they have used hallucinogens.

Debate continues over the nature and causes of chronic flashbacks. Some say chronic flashbacks are a manifestation of post-traumatic stress disorder, not directly related to LSD's mechanism, and vary according to the susceptibility of the individual to the disorder. Many emotionally intense experiences can lead to flashbacks when a person is reminded acutely of the original experience. However, not all published case reports of chronic flashbacks appear to describe an anxious hyper-vigilant state reminiscent of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Several urban legends claim that intermittent flashbacks are the result of trace amounts of LSD or related chemicals being dislodged and released into the body after having been crystallized and stored in fat or spinal fluid cells. However, there is no evidence for this and scientific research suggests that it is not the case; LSD (which is water soluble) is metabolized in the liver, as with many other drugs, and its metabolites are excreted normally in the urine[15].

An alternative theory regarding flashbacks postulates that it is a form of perceptual learning. People having unusual experiences while on LSD may be more likely to make similar interpretations of their sensory input in the future. This theory does not appear to explain why a subset of people develop hallucinogen persisting perception disorder and are unable to 'unlearn' their distressing perceptual patterns.

Psychosis

There are some cases of LSD inducing or triggering a psychosis in people that were apparently healthy prior to taking LSD. This issue was reviewed extensively in a publication by Rick Strassman in 1984. In most cases, the psychosis-like reaction is of short duration, but in other cases it may be chronic. It is difficult to determine if LSD in itself induces these reactions or if it merely triggers latent conditions that would have manifested themselves otherwise. The similarities of time course and outcomes between putatively LSD-precipitated and other psychoses suggests that the two types of syndromes are not different and that LSD may have been a nonspecific trigger. Several studies have tried to estimate the prevalence of LSD-induced prolonged psychosis arriving at numbers of around 4 in 1000 individuals (0.8 in 1000 volunteers and 1.8 in 1000 psychotherapy patients in Cohen 1960; 9 per 1000 psychotherapy patients in Melleson 1971). But these rates far lower than the lifetime prevalence for psychotic conditions, e.g., schizophrenia (just one form of psychosis) has a lifetime prevalence of about 1% in populations that are not exposed to LSD. Therefore, available data do not support a causative link between LSD and chronic psychotic disorders.

Addiction potential

LSD is not considered addictive, in that its users do not exhibit the medical community's commonly accepted definitions of addiction and physical dependence. Rapid tolerance build-up prevents regular use, and there is cross-tolerance shown between LSD, mescaline and psilocybin. This tolerance diminishes after a few days' abstention from use.


Possible medical uses

Some experts hypothesize that drugs such as LSD can be used in psychotherapy as a sort of anti-drug (encouraging users to stop using drugs), as it forces the user to face issues and problems in that individual's psyche [citation needed]. They believe that, in contrast, many other drugs (alcohol, heroin, and cocaine) are used to escape from reality. Studies in the 1950s that used LSD to treat alcoholism professed a 50% success rate, higher than one estimate of a 5% success rate for Alcoholics Anonymous. [citation needed] However, these LSD studies were criticized for methodological flaws and different groups had inconsistent results. Mangini's 1998 paper reviews this history and concludes that the efficacy of LSD in treating alcoholism remains an open question.

Chemistry

LSD
Chemical name D-Lysergic acid diethylamide
or:
(6aR,9R)-N,N-diethyl-7-methyl-
4,6,6a,7,8,9-hexahydroindolo
[4,3-fg]quinoline-9-carboxamide
Chemical formula C20H25N3O
Molecular mass 323.43 g/mol
Melting point 80 - 85 °C
CAS number 50-37-3
SMILES O=[C@@](N(CC)CC)[C@H]
1CN(C)[C@](C2=C1)([H])
CC3=CNC4=C3C2=CC=C4
The chemical structure of LSD

LSD is an example of an ergoline derivative. It is commonly produced from lysergic acid, which is made from the tartrate salt of ergotamine, a substance derived from the ergot fungus on rye, or from ergine (lysergic acid amide), a chemical found in morning glory seeds. Although theoretically possible, manufacture of LSD from morning glory seeds is not economically feasible and these seeds have never been found to be a successful starting material for LSD production.

Glassware seized by the DEA from Pickard and Apperson's laboratory

Only a small amount of ergotamine tartrate is required to produce LSD in large batches. For example, 25 kilograms of ergotamine tartrate can produce 5 or 6 kilograms of pure LSD crystal that, under ideal circumstances, could be processed into 100 million dosage units (at 50 micrograms per dose), more than enough to meet what is believed to be the entire annual U.S. demand for the drug. LSD manufacturers only need to create a small quantity of the substance and, thus, enjoy the advantages of ease of concealment and transport not available to traffickers of other illegal drugs, primarily marijuana and cocaine.

Manufacturing LSD is time consuming and dangerous. Relatively sophisticated and expensive laboratory equipment is required, and it takes from 2 to 3 days to produce 30 to 100 grams of pure compound. Some of the reactions necessary may cause significant explosions if not performed properly by a trained organic chemist. It is believed that LSD usually is not produced in large quantities, but rather in a series of small batches. Production of LSD in small batches also minimizes the loss of precursor chemicals in case a synthetic step doesn't work as expected.

Forms of LSD

LSD is produced in crystalline form and then mixed with excipients or diluted as a liquid for production in ingestible forms. LSD as a diluted liquid (most commonly stored in eye-drop or breath freshener bottles for easy dispensation to individuals), was first sold on sugar cubes, but that quickly changed to tablet form for practicality. The pills or tabs were called by shape and color; like grey flat, blue flat, because the round pill was flattened on both ends. Next came the "Domes" which were rounded on one end, then double domes rounded on both ends, and finally small tablets known as microdots. Other favorites from the late sixties were yellow sunshine, orange sunshine and chocolate chip. Later still LSD began to be distributed in thin squares of gelatin (commonly referred to as window panes), and most commonly, as blotter paper (sheets of paper soaked in or impregnated with LSD, covered with colorful designs or artwork (often refered to as "blotter art") and perforated into small squares of individual dosage units). LSD is sold under more than 80 street names including acid, blotter, doses and trips, as well as names that reflect the designs on the sheets of blotter paper. On occasion, authorities have encountered the drug in other forms-- including powder or crystal, and capsule-- and laced on other substances. More than 200 types of LSD tablets have been encountered since 1969 and more than 350 paper designs have been acquired since 1975. Designs range from simple five-point stars in black and white to exotic artwork in full four-color print.

The United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances (adopted in 1971) requires its parties to prohibit LSD. Hence, it is illegal in all parties to the convention, which includes the United States, Australia and most of Europe. However, enforcement of extant laws varies from country to country.

LSD is easy to conceal and smuggle. A tiny vial can contain thousands of doses. Not much money is made from retail-level sales of LSD, so the drug is typically not associated with the violent organized criminal organizations involved in cocaine and opiate smuggling.

Unlike alcohol prohibition, LSD prohibition does not make an exception for religious use, presumably because nontraditional entheogen-centered religions are uncommon and not generally accepted by modern societies. The United States government permits some tribes of Southwestern American Indians to cultivate and use hallucinogenic peyote cactus in traditional religious rituals. This right is currently under review.

LSD was legal in the United States until 1967. The US Federal Government classified it as a Schedule I drug according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. As such, the Drug Enforcement Administration 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. 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.

LSD in the United States

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Prior to 1967, LSD was available legally in the United States as an experimental psychiatric drug. LSD 'apostle' Al Hubbard actively promoted the drug between the 1950s and the 1970s and introduced thousands of people to it.

LSD has been manufactured illegally since the 1960s. A limited number of chemists, probably less than a dozen, are believed to have manufactured nearly all of the illicit LSD available in the United States. The best known of these is undoubtedly Augustus Owsley Stanley III, usually known simply as Owsley. The former chemistry student set up a private LSD lab in the mid-Sixties in San Francisco and supplied the LSD consumed at the famous Acid Test parties held by Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, and other major events such as the Gathering of the Tribes in San Francisco in January 1967. He also had close social connections to leading San Francisco bands the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and The Holding Company, regularly supplied them with his LSD and also worked as their live sound engineer and made many tapes of these groups in concert. Owsley's LSD activities—immortalized by Steely Dan in their song "Kid Charlemagne"—ended with his arrest at the end of 1967, but some other manufacturers probably operated continuously for 30 years or more.

American LSD usage declined in the 1970s and 1980s — this is often attributed to a large anti-drug program targeted at young people in the U.S. LSD then experienced a mild resurgence in popularity in the 1990s. Although there were many distribution channels during this decade, the U.S. DEA identified continued tours by the psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead and the then-burgeoning rave scene as primary venues for LSD trafficking and consumption. American LSD usage fell sharply circa 2000. The decline is attributed to the arrest of two chemists who, the DEA claims, were manufacturing 95% of the LSD sold in America and much of the European supply. The arrests were a result of the largest LSD manufacturing raid in DEA history.

Pickard and Apperson ran an LSD lab in this former missile silo in Kansas.

LSD manufacturers and traffickers can be categorized into two groups: A few Large scale producers and an equally limited number of small, clandestine chemists. Overall, LSD production in the United States is extremely limited, with very few individuals or groups capabable of production. One large scale organization was identified by the DEA as run by chemists (referred to as cooks) William Leonard Pickard, a Harvard-educated organic chemist, and Clyde Apperson. These men worked in close association with organized traffickers. The government claims that these two men were responsible for the vast majority of LSD sold illegally in the United States and a significant amount of the LSD sold in Europe, and that black market LSD availability dropped by 95% after the two were arrested in 2000. [16]

In November of 2003, Pickard and Apperson were sentenced to two life sentences and two 30-year sentences, respectively, after being convicted in Federal Court of running a large scale LSD manufacturing operation out of several clandestine laboratories, including a former missile silo near Wamego, Kansas.

The second group of cooks consists of small 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 Agency than the larger groups, as their product reaches only local markets.

Notable people who have commented on the LSD experience

Main article: List of notable people who have commented on the LSD experience

Many notable individuals have commented publicly on their experiences with LSD, both when it was legally available in the US and Europe for non-medical uses as well as for psychiatric treatment in the 1950s and 60s, and later illegally, through its continued use for philosophic, artistic, therapeutic, spiritual, or recreational purposes

See also

Chemical

People

Other

Wikinews has related news:

Media

  • Wired News: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug?, January 16, 2006
  • Wired News: Long Trip for Psychedelics, September 27, 2004
  • Who's Got the LSD? These Days, Almost Nobody
  • Northern Californian LSD makers found guilty
  • Pickard And Apperson Sentenced On LSD Charges Official DEA press release on the "Largest LSD Lab Seizure In DEA History"
  • LYSERGIC Book Written About Pickard Case
  • Salon.com: Dr. Hoffman's problem child turns 58, April 16, 2001
  • "Nearly 100, LSD's Father Ponders His 'Problem Child'". January 7, 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  • National Film Board of Canada documentary, "Hofmann's Potion"

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Blotter Art


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