The Truth About LSD

By: Jason Nichols

Christy
Kelly Ramirez

Introduction
LSD is definitely a powerful drug and quite capable, like
anything powerful. of doing a lot of damage, but what do we
really know about it? There are all types of propaganda about
how it eats holes in your brain, or permanently turns the most
stable of people into raving schizophrenics. Others say
everyone should be taking it at any opportunity in order to
expand their minds.
The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between.

DANGER
We will be discussing this drug in a manner that may seem to
some as encouraging the use of LSD. This is NOT the case.
LSD is a very powerful psychoactive substance. In order to
understand the risks associated with LSD, first a little must be
known about how it works.

What DOES LSD do?

-Binds to Seratonin and Dopamine Receptors
giving a feeling of euphoria.
-Inhibits your mind's ability to block or filter sensory
input.
+colors appear deeper and more vivid
+vision is actually noticeably enhanced as are
the other senses (this isn't just perceived)

- The brain becomes overstimulated

Normally the brain automatically filters out most of what
is seen, heard, felt etc., processing only what is
necessary for the task at hand. LSD stops that from
happening.
Without those filters, the brain cannot process all the
information it receives Minor hallucinations start to
occur as the brain starts to overload and misinterpret
signals. People report to sometimes see sounds and
hear colors. Since the brain is so overwhelmed,
sometimes there is confusion and/or slight nervousness
at this stage, but normally the euphoria is strong enough
to compensate.

- There are more filters or walls in the mind than just

those that make it easy to cope with what's going on
around you
Most of us have a pretty firm grip on our imagination.
Most of us have things buried that we'd rather not think
about. We stop thinking about ideas once they become
too fanciful abstract. LSD attacks all those barriers.
If we take one brain that is SO flooded with a massive
stream useless information that it's no longer sure it ever
truly knew which way was up in the first place, Add to
that, an unfettered imagination and some repressed (or
just forgotten) memories, and we have a recipe for
hallucination.

Problems with illicit use:

1) Too frequent use can make one become
completely withdrawn or disassociated with reality
whenever they trip. Rapid tolerance development
tends to minimize this issue, though
2) Improper Dosage- How much to take depends on
a great number of factors and varies from person to
person.
3)Over Enthusiastic Response- Some people lose
ALL sense of reality and need to be taken care of.

4) Improper Support
This point will be reiterated multiple times, and should
probably be more so.
-LSD does not produce experiences, but rather inhibits
repressive mechanisms in the brain, allowing the patient to
explore their mind and see things more openly
-Since life is uncensored for a few hours, there are three
aspects to keep in mind:
1)current mental state
2)Preparaion for the session
3)ENVIRONMENT!!!

Failure to do so can lead to a bad trip, which, in

turn, can result in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
with flashbacks and everything.
Also, some times someone decides to try to
fly...off of a ten story building (or something equally
ridiculous)...and they really think they can fly, too.

History
-First synthesized from ergot by Dr. Albert Hofmann in
1938
-1943:Hoffman was trying to isolate another compound
to make migrain medication when he was accidentally
exposed to LSD
-Shortly thereafter, Hofmann experimented on himself
with 0.25 mg of pure LSD

Understanding Schitzophrenia
- Initially, psychiatrists were taking LSD in order to better
understand the mind of a schitzophrenic.
+better understanding brought better treatment
-in the 1950's, LSD was used in the treatment of patients in
mental institutions
-releases repressed memories and mental conflicts

Alcoholics Program
-Did not go quite as planned: doctors initially intended
to take advantage of confusion and fear caused by
the drug to scare people sober. As it turns out, the
LSD broke down the walls of resistance and forced
the alcoholic to actually think about what they were
doing to friends/family
-Very high success rate-- reports vary from program
to program, but ranged between 30%-50% recovery
-AA works for about 10%

Memory Resurfacing
-LSD broke down walls that would have otherwise taken
months or years of conventional therapy
-LSD forced people to face what they were blocking
-There were a small number of people who experienced
flashbacks after these sessions due to the trauma
associated with reliving those memories

United States Testing

-United States testing was handled mainly by the CIA
they were interested in potential use as a chemical
agent for counter intelligence and warfare.
-LSD was administered to diplomats and politicians
without their knowledge before speeches in order to see
it's effects.
-Water supplies for several small towns in rural areas
were dosed to see how the populace would react under
the influence of the drug.

-Troops were given LSD, occasionally without their

knowledge and then told to run drills over, and over again.
-1960: CIA paid students $40/day to take LSD in an empty
room...Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest was one of those students. His key also fit the
doctor's office door, so he started giving it away.
-Civilians exposed to LSD began to do Strange things
-Well, the '60's was a crazy time and we all did a lot of
things to our minds and bodies...

Lessons Learned:
There is some difference in the lessons the US learned
and those the Europeans learned. Experimentation
overseas stopped for a while, but LSD has always been
recognized as having useful properties even if we're
not quite sure what they were yet. Recently, new
experimentation has begun investigating several
different effects of this chemical.
The United States government has deemed this drug
extremely dangerous and of NO medical value. Both
viewpoints directly reflect the data gathered through the
studies done in their respective countries. Why?

Conclusion:
Due to the nature of how we (the US) handled this
drug, we have a skewed view. Others showed some
good results. By improperly using LSD, we caused a
lot of damage to a lot of people. Just because we
misused a powerful tool and got stung, doesn't mean
we can't figure out how to handle it properly in the
future.