Lysergic acid diethylamide
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LSD is the shorter name for an illegal drug called Lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD is often called by the slang name acid. LSD is a psychedelic drug which causes people who take it to have hallucinations.
A person taking LSD only takes a very small amount, smaller than a grain of sand. LSD is one of the strongest drugs. When a person takes LSD, their senses, emotions, memories, time, and awareness are all changed for 6 to 14 hours. People often have see hallucinations of colorful patterns and illusions. Some people who take LSD get scared and feel very afraid. This is called having a "bad trip."
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[edit] History
LSD was invented in 1938 by a Swiss chemist named Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland. Dr. Hofmann was trying to find new drugs. LSD is made in a laboratory by chemists.
LSD first became popular in the 1960s, when Harvard psychology professor called Dr. Timothy Leary began encouraging people to try LSD. Leary eventually became part of the 1960s countercultural hippie movement. LSD was banned (made against the law) in the United States in 1967.
[edit] Dangers of using LSD
People cannot die from overdosing on LSD unless they took several thousand doses at once. The most common danger of taking LSD is having a bad experience, which is called a "bad trip." During a "bad trip," a person may feel very scared and worried, and they may have very sad thoughts.
Many illegal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine are very addictive. This means that once a person starts taking the drug, they will want to keep taking it, even if it is making them sick (ill). LSD is not addictive. However, some people who use LSD regularly may feel that they want to keep using it.
Another danger from using LSD is that it makes a person impaired (intoxicated). When a person is impaired, they may have an accident or do things that they would not normally do. In some rare cases, people taking LSD develop a psychosis.
[edit] Legal status
LSD is illegal in the United States, Australia, and most of Europe. Some countries enforce the laws against LSD very harshly. Other countries do not enforce the law very much. LSD has been manufactured illegally since the 1960s.
[edit] Media
- Belfast Telegraph Dr Albert Hofmann - The father of LSD
- 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. Hofmann's problem child turns 58, April 16, 2001
- "Nearly 100, LSD's Father Ponders His 'Problem Child'", The New York Times, January 7, 2006.
- National Film Board of Canada documentary, "Hofmann's Potion"
- BBC All in the Mind special (RealAudio), 5 April 2006
- Tripping the light fantasmic, The Age, February 4, 2006
[edit] Video
- "LSD being tested on British Troops", a strange (if humorous) piece of historical footage of military experiments testing LSD's potential as an incapacitating (non-lethal) weapon.
- "The Bicycle Ride", a fanciful depiction of Albert Hofmann's discovery of LSD, created by David Normal
- "Spontaneous pattern formation in large scale brain activity: what visual migraines and hallucinations tell us about the brain", lecture by Jack Cowan (via the Internet Archive)
- [1] "Hofmann's Potion: The Early Years of LSD" by the National Film Board of Canada
- LSD - The Beyond Within
[edit] Academic
- A Critical Review of Theories and Research Concerning LSD and Mental Health
- Definitions of Addiction, Physical Dependence, and Tolerance
- LSD - My Problem Child online, by LSD inventor Dr. Albert Hofmann
- The Neurochemistry of Psychedelic Experience, Science & Consciousness Review
- Aldous, F. A. B., Barrass, B. C., Brewster, K., Buxton, D. A., Green, D. M., Finder, R. M., Rich, P., Skeels, M., and Tutt, K. J., "Structure-Activity Relationships in Psychotomimetic Phenylalkylamines," Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Vol. 17, 1100–1111 (1974)
- Current LSD Research - Heffter Research Institute
- Current LSD Research – MAPS
- Current LSD and psychedelic research – Beckley Foundation
- Searchable LSD Bibliography
- The Effects of LSD on the Human Brain
LSD Psychotherapy - by Stanislav Grof (April 10, 2001)
Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain
[edit] Urban legends
[edit] General
- LSD — The Problem-Solving Psychedelic
- International 3 day conference on LSD in Basel
- Erowid vault on Basel conference- includes videos
- Erowid LSD Vault
- LSD Blotter Art Gallery
- Good Drugs Guide
- LSD Visual experiment
- Spirit Plants Forums
- the legendary LSD propagandist Dr. Timothy Leary
- Fact sheets on illicit drugs
- The Lycaeum Archive -> LSD
- An optical illusion that creates some of the visual effects of LSD
- Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder
- LSD and Aldous Huxley’s Island: Setting Sail for a Better Country essay by Bruce Eisner
- LSD news page - Alcohol and Drugs History Society
- Artist under influence of LSD
- A nearly complete LSD Slang term list as defined by the White House Drug Policy