Basic Facts About Drugs: Methamphetamine

BASIC FACTS ABOUT DRUGS:
LSD

What is LSD?

LSD (d-lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called "acid") is the best known of the hallucinogens. A naturally occurring derivative of ergot, a fungus that attacks rye, it is now used almost exclusively in its synthesized form.

The drug was first derived from ergot in 1938, at Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland, by chemist Albert Hofmann, who was searching for a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. Although LSD proved useless for this purpose, it was found to have psychoactive properties. Reports of the derivative’s mind-altering effects circulated in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. By the early 1960’s, LSD advocates were touting it and other hallucinogens as mind-expanding aids that enabled users to achieve mystical states of perception. The emergence of LSD coincided with the rise of an American counterculture in the 1960’s, and millions of young people went on "acid trips" during these years.

Widespread use led to reports of "bad" trips, psychotic episodes, and "flashbacks" (replays of the hallucinogenic experience that occur spontaneously, unprompted by LSD use.) Some users switched to hallucinogenic substances they considered more "organic" (such as mescaline and psilocybin). The popularity of LSD waned, and overall hallucinogen use declined significantly with the aging of the counterculture’s "flower children."

The mid-1990’s, however, saw a resurgence in LSD use. A new generation of adolescents took up the drug, and the average age of first use dropped sharply, with reports of use even among elementary school students

What does it look like and how is it taken?

LSD is generally taken orally and in very small doses. A remarkable feature of the drug is its potency. A typical single dose is only 100 micrograms (one-tenth of a milligram), and very few drugs can significantly affect humans in such tiny amounts.

Most often, LSD is found in small squares of impregnated paper, called "blotter acid." The squares may come in perforated sheets, like postage stamps, sometimes with an eye-catching image on each square. The drug may also come in tiny tablets, called "microdots," or in small, thin, gelatin squares, known as "windowpane." LSD is sometimes available in a clear liquid solution. This is dispensed with an eyedropper, onto sugar cubes or directly onto the tongue. Another variety, "blue dot acid," consists of paper slips smeared with a blue-colored solution of the drug.

What are LSD's effects

Physical effects of LSD may include: dilated pupils, high temperature, rapid heartbeat, increased blood pressure, sleeplessness, appetite loss, and tremors.

Psychological effects can last for 12 hours. During the first 30 to 90 minutes, changes in visual perception and mood are likely. As the drug achieves its one- to two-hour "peak," the user may experience distorted impressions of time, space, and distance. "Tracking" may occur—the observation of streams of colored light following the path of a moving object, and "psychedelic" patterns may appear. The drug can impair judgment and the ability to recognize immediate danger, so users might easily come to harm should they, for example, attempt to drive a car while "tripping."

Acute anxiety, depression, panic, paranoia, or psychotic behavior may accompany a bad trip or may occur after most other effects of the drug have worn off. An overdose can result in a longer, more intense, and more frightening trip, and the spontaneous, recurring hallucinations known as flashbacks can occur days, weeks, or more than a year after LSD use.

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