Medicinal Acid

2757649efdaca071dc6b8af57e2c3165[1]LSD was invented by Albert Hoffman in 1943.  It was not invented on purpose, and Hoffman “accidentally ingested” some than “told his colleagues he was not feeling quite right and got on his bicycle to go home.”  What followed was the first acid trip ever experienced.

The above information is according to an excerpt from the  Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior.  This past spring I studied abroad in Prague, Czech Republic and one of my professors devoted a day to psychedelic drugs.  We did not actually take any, just learned about a few.

In the 1930s the Sandoz Pharmaceutical Company was working to synthesize and “develop useful medications that were derived from ergot.”  Here is what the  Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior has to say about the original experiments:

“Some of these compounds were found to be useful in medicine—such as methyser-gide, for the treatment of migraine headaches, and ergotamine, which is widely used in obstetrics to induce contractions of the uterus and stop bleeding after the delivery of a baby. These medications do not have hallucinogenic properties.”

LSD was discovered on accident.  How crazy is that?  A bunch of the smartest scientists in Switzerland wanted to make medicine and instead created an extremely powerful psychedelic drug.  Can you imagine how surprised Albert Hoffman must have felt on that bike ride?

It all makes me think about Andrew’s lecture in class.  Science is inefficient.  “Humans are very bad at discovery”.  Scientists work so hard because they so badly want to prove something, but what happens when they accidentally create something “unethical”.

LSD made its way to America in 1949, and psychiatrists were instantly interested in it.  Here is what the Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior has to say about that:

“Therapeutic research with LSD flourished, with psychiatrists using it to promote more effective psychotherapy, or exploring how the powerful mystical, or psychedelic, LSD experience could transform aspects of personality and behavior in patients, including leading to sobriety in alcoholics.”

Doctors were using LSD on patients!  That seems crazy now, but it was actually a thing.  Research studies were conducted to determine whether or not this drug could help people.

According to the Encyclopedia mentioned above, the media discovered LSD in the 60s.  It became a large part of the hippie-movement, and this is one factor that led to the drug’s demise:

“Because any drug can have bad effects, the unsupervised use of all of these compounds led to frequent “bad trips” (which fundamentally were panic reactions) that brought people to emergency rooms. This generated widespread concern that all American youth (and, later, those in Europe) would become dreamy and “way-out acid heads.” In 1966, the Sandoz Laboratories ceased distribution of the drug because of the often-exaggerated bad reactions and the public concern.”

tumblr_l3qax5dYkZ1qc01tho1_400[1]As I was doing me research this New Zealand newspaper article came up titled “LSD chemist says hippies hijacked his medicine“.  I thought it was pretty funny.

According to The Gale Encylopedia of Medicine LSD was experimentally used to treat “neuroses, narcotic addiction, autism, alcoholism, terminal cancer, and to study psychoses and schizophrenia.”  It wasn’t until 30 years after it’s invention in 1965 that LSD was restricted.

Think about all the medical trials we have discussed in class thus far.  What if the medicine being used to treat pediatric cancer turned out to exhibit similar characteristics as psychedelics, and there were a bunch of kids coming home from the hospital “tripping”.  I can’t imagine anything like that happening today, but it did.  In fact, most illegal drugs were used for medicinal purposes at some point in time before their criminalization.

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We discussed in class that maybe 10% of ideas make it to randomized control trials.  Only 20% of those actually work which means 2% of ideas are right, but that number is more likely to be .02%.  I could imagine this would be so frustrating for scientists.  Can you imagine Andrew in his laboratory, trying to fight infectious diseases but accidentally creating “acid”?

Want to know a fun fact?  LSD trials are back in action.  Check out this article LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy discussing the “first controlled trial of LSD in more than 40 years.”

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2 thoughts on “Medicinal Acid

  1. Erin Ann Alessandroni

    Kendall, I really enjoyed your post! I especially appreciate how you put an article on the end allowing readers to keep the research going. I find it very interesting that LSD was previously used to treat alcoholism due to the fact that I would presume that both drugs have addictive properties. After reading some of the positive effects of LSD that you mentioned, I was compelled to look up the physical/ psychological dangers of using the drug. Drugs.com has an article on the physical effects of using LCD or “dropping acid”. These include “dilated pupils, higher body temperature, sweating, nausea,increased blood sugar and blood pressure, sleeplessness, dry mouth and tremors”. After finding out this information I am perplexed as to why doctors ever thought it was a good solution to medical problems. It is also common for users to experience severe panic episodes and feelings of having no control, leading to dangerous reactions. The National Institute on Drug Abuse tells us that the drugs are mostly effecting a user’s prefrontal cortex and brain synapsis related to serotonin. It is easy to quickly build up a tolerance to LSD and other stimulatory drugs. There is no evidence of the drug effecting a user’s organs, unlike most recreational drugs. This may be a reason why doctors would suggest using the drug in some situations if their research showed it having alternative positive effects.

  2. Allison C Lightner

    I enjoyed your take on LSD and the humor you also added. That’s cool, but dangerous that LSD was accidentally created and I wonder what they were actually trying to make. It makes me think of the movies 21 Jump Street and how that is somewhat related because there is a lot of tripping happening in that movie. I really appreciated all the links to studies and articles which added to the credibility of your article. Why do you think so many doctors use illegal and dangerous drugs on patients? Are they on the patients they know are not going to last that long? Is it unethical? I think it is unethical. It just makes me think of the bloodletting lecture in class that one day and how people sometimes think the most dangerous method is the most effective.

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