|
|
 |
|
Home Page
Cocktails
Groups of Things
Horoscopes
Phobias
Picture Gallery
Norfolk 2003 Gallery
Zodiac (Chinese)
All About Rastas
Cannabis Timeline
Ganja in The USA
Norfolk 2003 Diary
Rolling - Lego Story
The Good Drinking Guide
Wicked Recipes
Alcohol Guide
Drug Guide
Holiday Guide
Rolling Guide
Rolling Guide (Advanced)
Articles:
Drug Addiction
Drugs:
Alcohol
Cannabis
Ecstacy
LSD
Erowid
Drum&Bass Arena
Ravislayer
Stagg's Site
About Us
Contact Us
Sign Guestbook
View Guestbook
Skip to: Introduction | History | Dosage | Effects | Combinations | Dangers | The Law | Myths | Sciency Bit
Introduction
|
LSD is one of the most commonly used 'psychedelic' or 'hallucinogenic' substances. It comes in a variety of forms, but is virtually always taken orally. Today, LSD is most commonly found in the form of small squares of paper called blotter (full sheets of paper are decorated with artwork or designs, perforated, then soaked in liquid LSD solution and dried). Other forms include, pills, gelatin sheets or shapes (pyramids, cubes, etc), liquid, liquid sugar cubes, and powder. Blotter is most common because it is easily produced and easily concealable. Unlike many other drugs LSD is always pure, there is no other substance which can fit on a tab of blotter paper that is potent enough to do anything. Essentially you're either going to get LSD or blank paper.
History LSD has not been around for long, it was first synthesised by Albert Hofmann in 1938 and then again in 1943 when he first tested it on himself. By the 1950s LSD became widely available and was starting to be taken for recreational purposes. By the 1960s it had become popular and was made illegal in 1967. In the 1950s drug therapy was in its infancy. There was no Prozac, no anti-depressants, no anti-psychotic drugs. But then came LSD, a drug that appeared to cure alcoholics and mental illnesses alike. By 1965, over 2,000 papers had been published describing the treatment of over 30,000 patients with LSD and other psychedelics. Drug addicts, habitual criminals, sex offenders, violence-prone individuals, chronic depressives - all were being successfully cured by LSD therapy. After LSD was banned psychotherapy became politically and socially out of favour and was outlawed in the early 70s. In the last few years LSD and other psychedelics have been reconsidered as medicine, and potential cures for mental illness.
In the 1950s the CIA experimented with LSD (along with almost every other known drug on the face of the planet) as a truth serum.
Dosage
| Threshold | 20 µg |
| Common | 50 - 150 µg |
| Strong | 150 - 400 µg |
| Heavy | 400+ µg |
| LD50 (Lethal Dose) | 12000+ µg |
A standard dose of LSD for the past 20 years has been between 50-150 µg (micrograms). A single hit of most blotter paper contains somewhere in this range, though this varies depending on the source and there is no way for the average user to determine the strength of a piece of blotter other than by word of mouth. In the 60's and 70's, when LSD came primarily in pill form, the average single dosage unit was somewhat higher than it is with today's blotter, more often in the 200-400 µg range. A drop of liquid can contain a huge amount of LSD but is generally made so that one drop is a single medium dose. Liquid acid is primary used to put acid onto blotter paper rather than by the end user though.
General Effects
| Onset | 20-60 minutes |
| Coming Up | 15-30 minutes |
| Plateau | 2-6 hours |
| Coming Down | 3-5 hours |
| After Effects | 2-5 hours |
Positive:
Increase in energy (stimulation)
Increase in associative & creative thinking
Mood lift
Increased awareness & appreciation of music
Increased awareness of senses. (eating, drinking, smell)
Closed and open eye visuals
Profound life-changing spiritual experiences
Neutral:
General change in consciousness (as with most psychoactives)
Pupil dilation (mydriasis)
Difficulty focusing Syntheasia (hearing colours, seeing sounds, etc.)
Increased salivation/mucus production (may cause coughing)
Unusual body sensations (facial flushing, chills, goosebumps, body energy)
Unusual thoughts and speech
Change in perception of time
Quickly changing emotions (happiness, fear, anxiety, anger, joy, irritation)
Slight increase in body temperature
Slight increase in heart rate Flashbacks
Negative:
Anxiety
Tension, jaw tension
Increased perspiration
Nausea
Dizziness, confusion
Megalomania
Over-awareness & over-sensitization to music and noise
Paranoia, fear, and panic
Unwanted and overwhelming feelings
Unwanted life-changing spiritual experiences
Simply put, it profoundly alters and expands consciousness by loosening or -at higher doses- completely erasing the normal filters and screens between your conscious mind and the outside world.
With these filters down, more information rushes in. You sense more, think more, feel more. You became aware of things normally filtered out out by your mind, visual, auditory, sensory, emotional. The intricate details on surfaces, the richness of sound, the brightness of colours, and the complexity of your own mental processes. At very high doses, the rush of information becomes a flood and your sense actually begin to merge and overlap (syntheasia) until you can see sounds or smell colours.
LSD generates a wide variety of effects, the intensity of which are related to the size of the dose ingested, the mental state of the user, and the setting in which it is used. Although the minimum dose required to induce effects is considered to be 25 micrograms, a dose of as little as 10 micrograms can relax inhibitions and produce mild euphoria. As the dosage is increased, the effects become more pronounced and more prolonged. The LSD high is uncontrollable once the drug has been ingested because there is no antidote.
LSD is absorbed easily from the gastrointestinal tract, and rapidly reaches a high concentration in the blood. It is circulated throughout the body and, subsequently, to the brain. LSD is metabolized in the liver and is excreted in the urine in about 24 hours.
Coming Up: The effects begin to be felt between 20 minutes to one hour after ingestion. The first signs are a sense of euphoria and expectation, along with a tingling body feeling.
Peak: The peak effect lasts from two to six hours. A clear symptom is rich visual hallucinations. Colours seem more vibrant. Surfaces may ripple and shimmer. You may notice tiny details on objects. Music sounds richer and louder. At the same time, you may feel blissful, have flashes of insight into yourself or the world, experience severe time-distortion, or feel yourself dissolving or see objects merging into one another.
Comedown: The comedown will last 3-5 hours, during this time you may continue to feel tender and altered until you get a full night's sleep. The comedown is neither physically nor psychologically harsh or painful.
After-effects: Physically you will feel tired and drained of energy right into the next day so plenty of sleep is essential. Psychologically, any insights or feelings you had during your trip will stay with you. A positive experience can give you a glow lasting hours, days, or even weeks afterwards. A bad trips, like any traumatic experience, will leave you traumatised for the same length of time. But it fades. Most people who have experienced a bad trip do not touch the drug again. Experienced users and 'hard heads' accept that bad trips as part of the territory.
Psychedelic Effects
Four levels of intensity have been observed in the psychedelic experience. The strongest factor in determining level is dosage but relaxation, experience and environment also play a part.
Off Baseline: Very mild effect. Relaxation and Giggling, similar to being stoned but with enhanced visual perception; colours may seem brighter, patterns on the surface of things more eye-grabbing.
Level 1: Stronger visual hallucinations. Bright colours stand out, objects appear to ripple or breathe. Coloured patterns behind the eyes are vivid and more active. Moments of reflection and distractive thought patterns. Thoughts and thinking become enhanced. Creative urges. Euphoria. Connection with others, empathy. Sense of time distorted or lost.
Level 2: Very obvious visual effects. Curved or warped patterns. Familiar objects appear strange as surface details distract the eye. Imagination and 'mind's eye' images vivid, three dimensional. Some confusion of the senses. Some awareness of background mental processes such as balance systems or auditory visual perception. Deep store memory becomes accessible. Images or experiences may rise to the fore. Music is powerful and can affect mood. Sense of time lost.
Level 3: Very strong hallucinations such as objects morphing into other objects. Intense depersonalisation - the barriers between you and the universe begin to break down. You feel you have connection with everything around you. You can experience contradictory feelings simultaneously. Some loss of reality. Time meaningless. Senses blend into one. Feeling of being born. Multiple splitting of the ego. Powerful awareness of your own mental processes and senses. Highly symbolic visions when eyes are closed.
Level 4: A very rare experience. Total loss of visual connection with reality. The senses cease to function in the normal way. Total loss of self. Merging with space, other objects, or the universe. The loss of reality becomes so severe that it defies explanation. Pure white light. Difficult to put into words.
Combinations
Alcohol: while small amounts may help take the edge off the anxiety, larger amounts only dull the experience is a bit of a waste.
Amphetamines: not really recommended; LSD has a speedy effect.
Cannabis: dulls the experience in the come-up; heightens the peak; brings back the effect during comedown.
Ecstasy: known as 'candy-flipping'; the E good feeling can reduce the chance of a bad trip but pay attention to E's safety requirements. Extremely psychedelic, V.Good.
Mushrooms: cross tolerance usually present; not much point in taking other psychedelics at the same time as LSD
Tobacco: up to you, no dangers, but you may be more aware of the damage it's doing to your lungs.
Anti-depressants: SSRI type anti-depressants such as Prozac (Fluoxetine) and Zoloft (Sertraline) decrease the effects of LSD. Trycyclic antidepressants (such as Tofranil or Norpramine) increase LSD effects. MAOI anti-depressants such as Nardil (Phenelzine) decrease the effects of LSD.
Anti-psychotics: the authorities are fond of administering various anti-psychotics and sedatives to people on LSD. These may reduce panic or anxiety but are generally not recommended except in extreme cases.
Dangers
Physical Dangers: LSD has been proven to be less toxic to the body than aspirin or vitamin C and is used in such small doses that even if it were toxic the damage would be insignificant. There is no scientific reason for LSD being physically addictive nor any reports of addiction amongst users. LSD causes no physical withdrawal symptoms, even after heavy use.
Short Term: Injury is the most common danger whilst on LSD but even this is uncommon as the user is fully aware of what he is doing (unlike with alcohol). A bad trip is possible too, but again this is really only with people who are particularly susceptible or with abnormally high doses (this can cause a syndrome similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so don't take too much). Having a large amount of LSD will leave you mentally, in a state of awe but this will wear off in 1-2 days and is not dangerous. The quality of street LSD can vary significantly, so there is a possibility that you may accidentally take more than you had planned. However, the margin of safety between the recreational dose and overdosing is very large.
Long Term: There is no physical addiction or withdrawal after heavy use, although people can and do become mentally habituated to LSD, as with any substance. There is a short period of tolerance after LSD use. Using LSD two days in a row is likely to lead to a significantly diminished experience the second day, though spaced 3 or more days apart, this effect is nearly non-existent. There is no evidence that LSD causes damage to any area of the brain from either scientific studies or personal reports and there are plenty of sane people about who took acid in the 60s. There is a danger, however, that LSD (as with any hallucinogenic drug) can trigger an outbreak of psychosis in people with underlying mental conditions (such as schizophrenia).
Contradictions:
- Avoid doing large amounts of other serotonergic drugs (such as ecstasy and DXM) as this may increase the chances of experiencing serotonin syndrome (like sunstroke but worse)
- Avoid LSD if you are pregnant as it can induce uterine contractions
- Do not operate heavy machinery. Do Not Drive.
- Individuals currently in the midst of emotional or psychological upheaval in their everyday lives should be careful about choosing to use psychedelics such as LSD as they can trigger even more difficulty.
- Individuals with a family history of schizophrenia or early onset mental illness should be extremely careful because psychedelics have been known to trigger latent psychological and mental problems.
- LSD can cause uterine contractions and is probably better avoided by women who are pregnant.
The Law
(Note this is British, not American law)
LSD is classified as a Class A drug, the maximum penalty for any Class A drug is 7 years for possession and life for supply. LSD is not generally tested for, it is not one of the drugs in the basic NIDA-5, nor is it included in the extended drug tests. It is possible to test for the presence of LSD in urine, but it is a very difficult and expensive test to run and is very uncommon. LSD shows up in urine for 24-48hrs and its metabolites can show up in urine for up to four days.
Myths
Some types marijuana contains LSD: False, LSD is very heat sensitive and since even low temperatures will destroy it in seconds so it is unlikely that it could withstand the 800°C that exists inside a joint. If you're still not convinced, soak whatever LSD-laced marijuana you bought in water, wait 30min and then drink the solution. If nothing happens then I'm right and marijuana doesn't contain LSD. This works because LSD dissolves in water and THC doesn't so the solution would contain only LSD. (This test shouldn't decrease the potency of the marijuana much).
LSD makes you mad: LSD has been known to trigger latent psychological and mental problems in some people but for normal people the madness wears off along with the drug. This can easily be shown by looking at the thousands of people who did acid in the 60s and who are now living out an entirely normal life without the aid of a straight-jacket or rubber wallpaper.
LSD stays in your body for months: Many anti-drug protesters seem to think that LSD forms "crystals" that reside in the body that are "dislodged" later, causing flashbacks. This is bollocks, LSD is very water soluble and thus cannot form bodily deposits (your body is over 80% water), it is metabolized and excreted in hours.
LSD causes permanent chromosomal damage: False, this rumour was from the results of a poorly performed experiment done back in the 60s by people looking to prove the deadly characteristics of LSD (probably the US government). There have been other, unbiased studies that have shown that aspirin causes more chromosomal damage than LSD.
LSD causes flashbacks: There are some reports of flashbacks by LSD users but they are rare and occur as a result of the intense experience of the LSD rather than its physical effects. Flashbacks can occur with any intense experience (e.g. a car crash, rape, etc.) not just with LSD. Although it is generally called post-traumatic stress disorder in this context, the symptoms are identical.
Top Tips
Storage: LSD can lose it potency quickly if it is not stored correctly. Excess moisture, heat or UV radiation (from either the sun or black lights) can quickly destroy it. To avoid this keep the LSD in a cool, dry place out of the sun (keeping it in tin foil is recommended). Keeping acid in your pocket is practically the worse place to store it (as it is hot and sweaty).
Tolerance: A tolerance to LSD builds up quickly and dissipates equally rapidly (within 3 days). Taking LSD during this period will result in severely diminished effects. With high doses there is a cross-tolerance between LSD, DMT and psilocybin (magic mushrooms).
Antidote: The mental effects of LSD can be rapidly reversed by the intra-muscular administration of 50 mg chlorpromazine.
Insomnia: Insomnia often occurs after a trip, this can be solved by a mild, over-the-counter sleeping aid (these anti-histamines have no adverse reactions to LSD). A hot bath and a cold pint is also recommended to 'smooth the jitters'.
Sciency Bit
Name: Lysergide
Chemical Name: D-lysergic acid diethylamide
Chemical Formula: C20H25N3O
Molecular Weight: 323.44
Boiling Point: 198-200 °C
LD50: 0.2 mg/kg (approximate)
How it works: In truth, no-one really knows how LSD works. The general model of what LSD does (note, this is not the same as how) is that it causes the sporadic, almost random firing of certain nerve cells in the serotonergic system. This causes parts of the brain which are not normally connected together to become connected. This would explain how memories are recalled without trying to recall them and how it is possible to 'hear green' and 'see music' (because visual senses become connected to the audio part of the brain and visa versa).
Copyright CUBE 2003
