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posted by mrpg on Sunday October 14 2018, @05:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the happy-happy-joy-joy dept.

Submitted via IRC for chromas

From 'problem child' to 'prodigy'? LSD turns 75

Lysergic acid diethylamide was labelled a "problem child" by the man who discovered its hallucinogenic properties in 1943: as it turns 75, the drug known as LSD may now be changing its image.

The late Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann famously learned of LSD's psychedelic effects when he inadvertently took a small dose while doing lab work for pharmaceutical company Sandoz.

He wanted the drug to be medically researched, convinced it could be a valuable psychiatric tool and lead to a deeper understanding of human consciousness.

But through the 1960s, LSD became synonymous with counterculture and anti-authority protests.

By the early 1970s, it had been widely criminalised in the West, prompting Hofmann to publish his 1979 memoir, "LSD: My Problem Child".


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  • (Score: 2) by corey on Monday October 15 2018, @02:53AM (7 children)

    by corey (2202) on Monday October 15 2018, @02:53AM (#748794)

    How does a lab worker"inadvertently" consume a sample of the stuff they're working on?

    "Hmmmm, this white powder sure looks tasty, uugglllpp"

    I wonder how often this happens. Maybe he had a joke witha co-worker to try some while drunk.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @03:10AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @03:10AM (#748800)

    > How does a lab worker"inadvertently" consume a sample of the stuff they're working on?

    It's easy when you have no idea of the potency. Typical dose is 100 micrograms (1/10000 of a gram -- almost "nothing") and it can get into your body through skin contact. From:
    https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Lysergide#section=Absorption-Distribution-and-Excretion [nih.gov]
      Primary route of administration /for LSD/ is oral but /it/ can be inhaled, injected, and transdermally applied.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Mykl on Monday October 15 2018, @05:39AM (4 children)

      by Mykl (1112) on Monday October 15 2018, @05:39AM (#748843)

      From memory, he inhaled some. The drug he was actually trying to create was to help with labour contractions (he was synthesising compounds similar to the active component in a native American plant used for that purpose), so he wasn't treating the chemical as potentially dangerous and so wasn't 'suited up'.

      When he came down from his high, he set about trying to identify the effective dosage level, as he copped what he thought would be much too low a dose to have an effect (based on other drug levels). It turned out that his initial hit was more than 10 times that needed to be affected - the amount needed is incredibly small.

      Personally, I've never touched the stuff - I've seen a few friends get very messed up on it, including one who went completely MIA for 3 months when taking a mix of LSD and Ecstasy.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @07:58PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @07:58PM (#749202)

        > Personally, I've never touched the stuff - ...

        Sorry to hear about your friends. I wouldn't touch it now, for just the reason you mentioned, street sources aren't pure, or "trace-able".

        I feel fortunate that I was able to try some windowpane acid (a ~2mm square of gelatin, paper thin) when that was still available (early 1970s). Don't have any friends from that era that had long term problems with it, even relatively large doses (like 10 of these tiny 'panes at a time). The delivery system was so small that it's hard to imagine any impurities in a quantity to be dangerous. Maybe the latest high potency opioids (iirc, designed for skin-patch delivery) are in the same class of dose-size?

        We can only hope for a day when good sources will be available again(??)

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 15 2018, @11:06PM (1 child)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday October 15 2018, @11:06PM (#749272) Journal

        Personally, I've never touched the stuff - I've seen a few friends get very messed up on it, including one who went completely MIA for 3 months when taking a mix of LSD and Ecstasy.

        Both substances (taken to mean genuine lysergic acid diethylamide and pure MDMA [soylentnews.org]) are easy to fake. For example, the NBOMe family of substances for "acid" blotters, which have similar effects but could be more dangerous, and any number of substances + adulterants can and do stand in [testkitplus.com] for MDMA.

        So unless your friend got both substances tested or really knew where the stuff was coming from, nobody on the planet could tell you what your friend was actually on. The anecdotes are essentially worthless.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Mykl on Tuesday October 16 2018, @12:16AM

          by Mykl (1112) on Tuesday October 16 2018, @12:16AM (#749310)

          OK. How about instead I say "I would never touch something obtained from a drug dealer no matter what they claimed it was"?

          Though, to be honest, recreational drugs are not my thing anyway even if 'safe'. I did come to this conclusion watching many friends get messed up on various drugs, and lost the desire to drink alcohol at the same time. It doesn't bother me at all when others have a drink around me - I just have no interest in it any more and never really liked the taste anyway.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday October 15 2018, @04:54PM

    by Freeman (732) on Monday October 15 2018, @04:54PM (#749127) Journal

    Otherwise, same way that the first researchers of Radiation and it's effects, "inadvertently died from exposure". Research can be dangerous stuff.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"