Re: =>Albert Hofmann, Inventor of LSD, Embarks on Final Trip <=

"_ Prof. Jonez _" <theprof@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote

> He re****ts in his 1979 autobiography LSD, My Problem Child, that he
became 
> restless and dizzy when he accidentally ingested the compound while
making 
> it-and "perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, 
> extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors" for
about 
> two hours.

I don't think 'ingested' is the proper term. He absorbed it through his 
fingertips, if I'm not mistaken.

> The very next day (April 19, 1943), he swallowed 0.25 milligram of the 
> acid to confirm that it had caused his odd symptoms.

I thought it was more like 400 micrograms. Since no known compound at the 
time was so powerfully active in such small doses, he planned to start out

small and gradually raise the dose, only to find that he had actually
taken 
enough to launch him on a fully intense trip about as powerful as almost
any 
trip gets. Since 250 micrograms is a relatively moderate dose, it was my 
impression that it was closer to 400, which is about where the law of 
dimini****ng returns kicks in and any additional increases in dose only 
lengthen the trip without making it any more intense. But I could be
wrong.

> Overcome by dizziness and anxiety, he asked an assistant to bicycle him 
> home; once there, he writes that he was overcome by feelings that he
might 
> die (prompting a later call to his physician), along with delusions that

> included perceiving a kindly neighbor transformed into a malevolent
witch.

It's im****tant to note that this is an incomplete and unbalanced account
of 
the experience. It started out as frightening and terrible, yes. But later

on he regained his equilibrium and began to actually enjoy it.

> Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, his employer at the time, tried to promote LSD
as 
> a drug to treat psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia under the 
> trade name Delysid by sending samples to psychiatrists-and the compound 
> was briefly used as the treatment du jour in conjunction with 
> psychoanalysis.

It wasn't just 'briefly used as the treatment du jour'. In fact, by the 
early Sixties there were hundreds of formal papers being published a year
by 
scientists about the powerful therapeutic potential it was showing, as
well 
as the potential it demonstrated for teaching us a great deal about how
the 
human brain actually works. It was only when the political climate became 
too hostile, with the government passing laws against it and strongarming 
the scientific community into going along with its party line that it was
'a 
dangerous drug with no legitimate medical uses', that this promising 
research was abandoned.

-- 
--Sean
http://spclsd223.livejournal.com

Foreman: Mocking me saves lives?

House: The hospital will probably build you a statue one day. You know,
with 
a 'kick me' sign on the back. You know, when you think about it, the more
I 
mock you, the more it shows I have respect for you.

Foreman: Or you made up that BS because you like humiliating me.

House: Wouldn't rule that out completely.