LSD – Psychedelic Hallucinogen
Recreational Drug "Acid" was Produced Accidentally
The history of a drug with remarkable potential which was banned through misuse by "hippies."
LSD is one of many examples of chemicals which were accidentally discovered while investigating other active molecules. LSD is the abbreviation of the German for Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. Albert Hofmann, a German chemist working for the Sandoz company first synthesised it in 1938 as part of his research into derivatives of an active compound found in a fungus called ergot.
Pharmaceutical Reject
He was looking for chemicals which might be used as drugs to treat old people or induce labour in pregnant women, and LSD-25, as it was labelled, showed very low activity and so it was rejected. Five years later, however, Hofmann had an urge to synthesise it again. What happened next was a very influential accident. Quoting from his diary (see reference 1 below):
Last Friday, April 16,1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away
Voluntary “Trip”
Hofmann was convinced that this episode was caused by the LSD so, three days later, he self-administered what he thought was a small amount (0.25mg). He felt so strange that he cycled home and underwent a series of disturbing hallucinations followed, the next day, by a sense of wonderful well-being. This was the very first voluntary “acid trip”.
Psychotherapy
Other psycho-active drugs were known at the time, but LSD was much more active than any of them. Initially the drug was used in psychotherapeutic research and showed some use in carefully controlled treatment of psychological conditions such as depression, neurosis and psychosis. It also began to be used as a recreational drug, especially by the hippy movement of the sixties. Following reports of “bad trips” and other misuse, governments began to ban its use. It has since passed into relative obscurity.
Serotonin Similarities
It is thought that LSD works because part of its chemical structure is similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is associated with many different processes in the body, including control of moods. LSD binds to active sites which serotonin uses to transmit signals to different parts of the brain and so is able to cause psychedelic effects.
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