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"LSD" redirects here. For other uses, see LSD (disambiguation).
"LSD-25" redirects here. For the dock landing ship, see USS San Marcos (LSD-25).
Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD-25, LSD, formerly lysergide, commonly known as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family. LSD is non-addictive, non-toxic, and is well known for its psychological effects which can include closed and open eye visuals, a sense of time distortion, ego death and profound cognitive shifts, as well as for its key role in 1960's counterculture. It is used mainly by psychonauts as an entheogen and in psychedelic therapy.
LSD was first synthesized by Albert Hofmann in 1938 from ergot, a grain fungus that typically grows on rye. The short form LSD comes from its early code name LSD-25, which is an abbreviation for the German "Lysergsäure-diethylamid" followed by a sequential number.[3][4] LSD is sensitive to oxygen, ultraviolet light, and chlorine, especially in solution, though its potency may last for years if it is stored away from light and moisture at low temperature. In pure form it is a colourless, odourless, and mildly bitter solid.[5] LSD is typically delivered orally, usually on a substrate such as absorbent blotter paper, a sugar cube, or gelatin. In its liquid form, it can be administered by intramuscular or intravenous injection. The threshold dosage level needed to cause a psychoactive effect on humans is between 20 and 30 µg (micrograms).[6]
Introduced by Sandoz Laboratories, with trade-name Delysid, as a drug with various psychiatric uses in 1947, LSD quickly became a therapeutic agent that appeared to show great promise. However, the emerging recreational use of the drug by youth culture in the Western world during the 1960s led to a political firestorm that resulted in its prohibition.[7] 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 its medicinal uses
"LSD-25" redirects here. For the dock landing ship, see USS San Marcos (LSD-25).
Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD-25, LSD, formerly lysergide, commonly known as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family. LSD is non-addictive, non-toxic, and is well known for its psychological effects which can include closed and open eye visuals, a sense of time distortion, ego death and profound cognitive shifts, as well as for its key role in 1960's counterculture. It is used mainly by psychonauts as an entheogen and in psychedelic therapy.
LSD was first synthesized by Albert Hofmann in 1938 from ergot, a grain fungus that typically grows on rye. The short form LSD comes from its early code name LSD-25, which is an abbreviation for the German "Lysergsäure-diethylamid" followed by a sequential number.[3][4] LSD is sensitive to oxygen, ultraviolet light, and chlorine, especially in solution, though its potency may last for years if it is stored away from light and moisture at low temperature. In pure form it is a colourless, odourless, and mildly bitter solid.[5] LSD is typically delivered orally, usually on a substrate such as absorbent blotter paper, a sugar cube, or gelatin. In its liquid form, it can be administered by intramuscular or intravenous injection. The threshold dosage level needed to cause a psychoactive effect on humans is between 20 and 30 µg (micrograms).[6]
Introduced by Sandoz Laboratories, with trade-name Delysid, as a drug with various psychiatric uses in 1947, LSD quickly became a therapeutic agent that appeared to show great promise. However, the emerging recreational use of the drug by youth culture in the Western world during the 1960s led to a political firestorm that resulted in its prohibition.[7] 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 its medicinal uses
History
LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938[14] by Swiss chemist Dr. 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 accidentally ingested an unknown quantity of the chemical.[15] The first intentional ingestion of LSD occurred on April 19, 1943, when Dr. Hofmann ingested 250 µg of LSD. He hypothesized 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.[16] Sandoz Laboratories introduced LSD as a psychiatric drug in 1947.[17]
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 subject's knowledge. The project was revealed in the US congressional Rockefeller Commission report in 1975.
In 1963 the Sandoz patents expired on LSD.[10] Also in 1963, the US Food and Drug Administration classified LSD as an Investigational New Drug, which meant new restrictions on medical and scientific use.[10] Several figures, including Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, and Al Hubbard, began to advocate the use of LSD. LSD became central to the counterculture of the 1960s. On October 24, 1968, possession of LSD was banned in the United States.[18] The last FDA approved human study with LSD, for use in dying cancer patients, ended in 1980. Legally approved and regulated psychiatric use of LSD continued in Switzerland until 1993.[19] Today, medical research is resuming around the world.[20]
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 subject's knowledge. The project was revealed in the US congressional Rockefeller Commission report in 1975.
In 1963 the Sandoz patents expired on LSD.[10] Also in 1963, the US Food and Drug Administration classified LSD as an Investigational New Drug, which meant new restrictions on medical and scientific use.[10] Several figures, including Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, and Al Hubbard, began to advocate the use of LSD. LSD became central to the counterculture of the 1960s. On October 24, 1968, possession of LSD was banned in the United States.[18] The last FDA approved human study with LSD, for use in dying cancer patients, ended in 1980. Legally approved and regulated psychiatric use of LSD continued in Switzerland until 1993.[19] Today, medical research is resuming around the world.[20]
