Autistics on LSD Elephants on LSD British Troops on LSD Spiders on LSD Cats on LSD Argentinians on LSD Childhood Schizophrenics on LSD
posted by jonp72 on Nov 27, 2009 - 78 comments

Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No by James Blagden (SLYT). MetaFilter is no stranger to the late Dock Ellis and the legendary no-hitter he pitched under the influence of everyone's favorite indole phantasticant (previously: 2001, 2005, 2008), but this animation takes the story to a new level.
posted by solipsophistocracy on Nov 13, 2009 - 56 comments

A year before his passing at the age of 102, LSD discoverer Albert Hofmann pens a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs (who had remarked publicly about his own use of the hallucinogenic as a creative factor) asking for Jobs' support for further research into the use of LSD in psychotherapy. In the remainder of the article, Ryan Grim touches briefly on the use of LSD by scientists and computer programmers who have transformed the world through novel discoveries and inventions.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Jul 9, 2009 - 64 comments

Operation Midnight Climax is a new web series about how the CIA used prostitutes to test LSD on unsuspecting American citizens. "Operation Midnight Climax was a CIA mind-control research program that began in the 1950's. The project consisted of CIA-run safehouses in San Francisco, Marin and New York. It was established in order to study the effects of LSD on unconsenting individuals. Prostitutes on the CIA payroll were instructed to lure clients back to the safehouses, where they were given a wide range of substances, including LSD, and monitored behind two-way mirrors." [Via]
posted by homunculus on Jul 4, 2009 - 71 comments

The Department of Veterans Affairs has reported that military scientists tested hundreds of chemical and biological substances on them, including VX, tabun, soman, sarin, cyanide, LSD, PCP, and World War I-era blister agents like phosgene and mustard. The full scope of the tests, however, may never be known. As a CIA official explained to the GAO, referring to the agency's infamous MKULTRA mind-control experiments, "The names of those involved in the tests are not available because names were not recorded or the records were subsequently destroyed." Besides, said the official, some of the tests involving LSD and other psychochemical drugs "were administered to an undetermined number of people without their knowledge."
posted by Joe Beese on May 19, 2009 - 42 comments

Go to Spain, breathe, get high Scientists have recently discovered that there is a small amount of cocaine and LSD in the air of the Spanish cities Madrid and Barcelona.
posted by CaptKyle on May 14, 2009 - 42 comments

A high school teacher's account of an LSD trip he didn't mean to take.
posted by gman on Feb 5, 2009 - 201 comments

Dock Ellis, an American baseball pitcherprev, won more games for the champion 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates than anyone else that year. Of course, he was under the influence of the performance-enhancing drug known as LSD on at least one no-hit occasion. Ellis died yesterday at the age of 63. [more inside]
posted by Item on Dec 20, 2008 - 68 comments

Drawing on drugs by Jeremy Eaton. [more inside]
posted by gman on Dec 18, 2008 - 12 comments

The Mumbai terrorists took cocaine, acid, and other drugs to stay awake during the attacks. Not the first.
posted by gman on Dec 3, 2008 - 107 comments

Albert Hofmann, the inventor/discoverer of LSD, has died at the age of 102. Wiki. The Albert Hofmann Foundation. Erowid entry on LSD. Hofmann's often-cited essay, "LSD, My Problem Child." Late in his life, he questioned his own invention. A conversation with Dr. Hoffman. [more inside]
posted by CitizenD on Apr 29, 2008 - 176 comments

Chemical Salvation? The history of LSD as a Chick tract. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Apr 8, 2008 - 41 comments

Cary Grant on LSD. Excerpted from his autobiography.
posted by Bookhouse on Jan 9, 2008 - 188 comments

Visions From LSD Psychotherapy. Artwork created by patients undergoing LSD psychotherapy, from the book by Stanislav Grof. There are more resources on psychedelics at the Bibliographia Studiorum Psychedelicorum. [Via Mind Hacks.]
posted by homunculus on Nov 6, 2007 - 27 comments

Dr. John C. Lilly introduced the world to dolphin intelligence (previous post), floatation tanks, early concepts of bioinformatics, and alas, during his later experiments with Ketamine ("Special K"), introduced us to an alleged group of extraterrestrials. [more inside]
posted by janetplanet on Sep 7, 2007 - 23 comments

Is there no humor in public relations? The public relations blog PRBlogNews included a post last week on PR and LSD (a long strange happy tradition). It appears to have been a joke, mixing a selection of early youth-on-acid videos with a vintage discourse about LSD by Dr. Richard Alpert (later Ram Dass) re-imagined as a history of successful "tripvertising." It must have stirred some sort of trouble; there's been a follow-up, "LSD and PR don’t mix" post (Don’t eat the brown acid) which warns against mixing PR and LSD (and hot dogs).
posted by mmahaffie on Aug 14, 2007 - 11 comments

A celebratory and trippy US Bicentennial animation comissioned by the US Goverment. More from animator Vince Collins via
posted by Burhanistan on May 30, 2007 - 13 comments

Entheogens and Psychotherapy. A 2001 paper by Canadian psychotherapist Andrew Feldmar on the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelics and his own experience with LSD. Now, because of this paper, he is no longer allowed to enter the U.S. [Via MindHacks.]
posted by homunculus on Apr 24, 2007 - 20 comments

The Bear's Pages - the 'Bear' being the legendary Augustus Owsley Stanley III, the 60s acid cook.
posted by daksya on Mar 23, 2007 - 8 comments

Francis Crick was high as a kite on LSD when he figured out the double helix structure of DNA. Later, his role in the drug legalization movement inspired biochemist Richard Kemp to supply Britain with massive amounts of cheap LSD, until he was stopped in one of the largest drug busts in history. When asked about his drug use, Crick replied, "Print a word of it and I'll sue."
posted by kyrademon on Jan 30, 2007 - 79 comments

A landmark rigorous study, 36 years after Walter Pahnke's Good Friday study ocuments the ability of psilocybin - the chemical in "magic mushrooms" - to trigger mystical experiences. 16 of 24 participants, who had no history of psychedelic use, rated the drug episode (after 2 months) to be among the 5 most meaningful experiences in their lifetime. A longer 40-year follow-up by MAPS on those who took LSD under the supervision of psychiatrist Oscar Janiger in the 1950s, found qualitatively the same result.
posted by daksya on Jul 10, 2006 - 236 comments

The Bicycle Ride. This animated short, "The Bicycle Ride," is a fanciful depiction of Dr. Albert Hofmann's discovery of LSD. 3:47 video.
posted by fixedgear on May 12, 2006 - 36 comments

Fox pussies out. Recently a bill passed in mexico legalizing all drugs under certain specified quantities. The bill was promoted By Vincente Fox's party, and came from his offices. However he decided not to sign it under U.S. pressure.

There go my vacation plans.
posted by Paris Hilton on May 4, 2006 - 57 comments

The links between some neurological disorders and increased artistic abilities are well documented. Some with decreased abilities elsewhere, such as those with semantic dementia, use it as a coping mechanism, whereas those with synaesthesia combine multiple senses to enhance their works. While some drugs, specifically LSD, can artificially produce synesthesia, that probably isn't a good muse.
posted by duende on Feb 11, 2006 - 9 comments

For stoners who like to trip out, here is AJ Weberman’s unapologetic Virtual Acid Trip. Lots of basic mid-90’s midis in background, but if you are under the influence anyway, it will all make perfect sense. Many hallucinogenic links in the archives, including the German Buschman and others. Lock your door, Smoke N Toke & enjoy yourself. If you like it, you can donate some dough. (You are welcome.)
posted by growabrain on Dec 4, 2005 - 47 comments

High Art at the Geffen Contemporary includes an LSD fountain, wow.
posted by xowie on Nov 11, 2005 - 14 comments

The International LSD Symposium is being held on the 100th birthday of Albert Hofmann, the first person to synthesize and dose themselves with the substance. Along with being held in the town in which it was discovered, the convention will cover topics ranging from the counterculture movements of the 60's to the LSD policies of Soviet-era Eastern Europe. Some believe that when taken correctly, LSD can be used as a form of therapy, while others contend that it induces psychosis. Whatever the reality, LSD has had a profound impact upon drug users, mainstream society and even the CIA.
posted by borkingchikapa on Oct 5, 2005 - 22 comments

Explore your sense of hearing with LSD... the Leamon Sound Device, that is. The LSD is an extremely interesting audio project that I'd love to be able to listen to. [via]
posted by thebabelfish on Mar 20, 2005 - 15 comments

LSD documentary records were a forgotten side-track in the war on drugs, reaching a high point in 1966 with the release of LSD, an album featuring interviews with Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsburg, and Ken Kesey, and featuring a live recording (which may or may not have been real) of a kid going on his first bad trip. (Not to be confused with Leary's own record of the same title.) In 1966, with neither internet nor home video, the record album was one of the most sophisticated communications media available, and it was a big year for LSD hysteria, with a LIFE cover story and a Sal Mineo-narrated LSD version of Reefer Madness called Hallucination Generation. LSD-related magazines and periodicals, reviews of psychedelic music, and more from lysergia.com.
posted by dhartung on Mar 20, 2005 - 21 comments

91 pounds of LSD? ...at that dosage level, Pickard and Apperson possessed 2 billion hits of acid—enough to give every person in the Western Hemisphere two doses and still have 250 million hits left over.

Ryan Grim is writing about acid again at Slate.
posted by Gankmore on Mar 15, 2005 - 98 comments

This is truly a trippy animation; Kaleidoscope. Place the cursor in the middle of the square, sit comfortably and relax, and let yourself go for 20-30 minutes
posted by growabrain on Feb 19, 2005 - 36 comments

The death of Frank Olson on November 28, 1953 was a murder, not a suicide. 2. This is not an LSD drug-experiment story, as it was represented in 1975. This is a biological warfare story. Frank Olson did not die because he was an experimental guinea pig who experienced a “bad trip.” He died because of concern that he would divulge information concerning a highly classified CIA interrogation program called “ARTICHOKE” in the early 1950’s, and concerning the use of biological weapons by the United States in the Korean War. 3. The truth concerning the death of Frank Olson was concealed from the Olson family as well as from the public in 1953. In 1975 a cover story regarding Frank Olson’s death was disseminated. At the same time a renewed coverup of the truth concerning this story was being carried out at the highest levels of government, including the White House. The new coverup involved the participation of persons serving in the current Administration. This is his son Eric's search for his father.
posted by hortense on Jan 2, 2005 - 23 comments

"My Acid Trip with Groucho"
In the preparation for a highly zany/psychedelic/recommended movie called "Skidoo" (directed by Otto Preminger, starring Jackie Gleason, and featuring music by Harry Nilsson), Groucho Marx takes LSD.
posted by The Great Big Mulp on Dec 14, 2004 - 19 comments

PiHKAL - Phenethylamines I Have Known And Loved: A Chemical Love Story, by Alexander and Ann Shulgin, is the online version of the book of the same name. It contains personal accounts by the Shulgins detailing the chemical procedures used in the synthesis, and lengthy qualitative reports regarding the subsequent ingestion, of 179 different types of Phenethylamines, the family of chemicals that includes 2C-B, Mescaline - the active ingredient in Peyote, and MDMA - better known as ecstasy. See also the sequel TiHKAL - Tryptamines I Have Known And Loved: The Chemistry Continues, again by the Shulgins, whose highlights include DMT and LSD.
posted by ChasFile on Apr 9, 2004 - 16 comments

Where Has All the Acid Gone? (Anyone think our old friend will be making a return trip any time soon?)
posted by alms on Apr 5, 2004 - 67 comments

"To fathom Hell or soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic" - Dr. Humphry Osmond, medical hallucinogenic pioneer and the man who gave Aldous Huxley the dose of LSD that inspired The Doors of Perception recently passed on. To place the man in his milieu, visit Acid Dreams to see an acid timeline and a who's who of the era, stop by the acid blotter art gallery, and if you have the bandwidth, check out the classic video clip of LSD being tested on British soldiers.
posted by madamjujujive on Feb 23, 2004 - 16 comments

acid trip
wow. [ via newstoday ]
posted by specialk420 on Jan 6, 2004 - 42 comments

LSD turns 60! 60 years ago today, Albert Hofmann accidently mixed up a batch of lysergic acid diethylamide-25 and took a "beautiful and pleasant" bike trip home from his Sandoz AG lab. His book "LSD: My Problem Child, Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism, and Science" can be found on Amazon or for free at http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/Even though Hofmann isn't really for the use of LSD outside of the medical community, some zealots started a foundation in his honor. (Hofmann thinks people might hurt themselves while under the influence.) Regardless, the 97 year old Hofmann is still alive and is one of the major influences in modern popular culture history. Who were the Grateful Dead without LSD?
posted by meanie on Apr 16, 2003 - 32 comments

Why would you purchase a former missile base? To manufacter LSD, of course.
posted by jdaura on Mar 20, 2003 - 16 comments

Speaking of gassing one's own people: US Government admits it tested nerve gas (sarin and VX) on its own sailors (Project SHAD). This is in addition to the testing of LSD on civilians (MK Ultra), syphilis on 399 black Alabama men (Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment), radioactivity on American GI's (Operation Crossroads), and the secret testing of germ warfare tactics on American cities. It's really no surprise the US government rejected an international ban on biological weapons, and yet we personalize this imminent war with Iraq and claim the justification as the forced disarming of dangerous 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'? I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.
posted by letterneversent on Mar 17, 2003 - 53 comments

Amazing and hilarious found footage of LSD being tested on British troops (mpg) "The men began to relax and to giggle...One hour and ten minutes after taking the drug, with one man climbing a tree to feed the birds, the troop commander gave up...He himself then relapsed into laughter. [via the great New World Disorder]
posted by mediareport on Nov 15, 2002 - 50 comments

Homeland security loophole discovered in 1999: "In the Appalachians of West Virginia, the sun was going down and I was stuck for a place to stay.   I knocked on the door of a private farm house.  Three college-age girls were in the middle of an LSD trip.  They recognized me as Art Garfunkel.  I learned that they were three of thousands (millions?) who are "invisible" - pay no taxes, avoid the census taker; they are not on America's books."
posted by subpixel on Jun 11, 2002 - 35 comments

You're either on the bus, or off the bus. And some people never leave it. Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters marked the beginning of the psychodelic sixties, LSD, the Greatful Dead, San Francisco as the center of the hippie universe, and 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'. Forty years have passed - here's the legendary bus, 'Further', and here are the hippies who never left the age of Aquarius.
posted by Perigee on May 20, 2001 - 11 comments

Doc Ellis Says He Pitched 1970 No-Hitter Under The Influence of LSD From the article: "It was the highpoint in the baseball career of one of the finer pitchers of his time, and arguably, one of the greatest achievements in the history of sports." Damn right! I wonder if there are any other drug-induced accomplishments in modern history that have been kept a secret.
posted by Karl on May 15, 2001 - 19 comments

Scientists test hallucinogens for use in treating mental illness: Hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and peyote — derided as toys of the hippie generation — are increasingly drawing the interest of neurologists and psychiatrists who want to test the idea that they may be valuable tools in treating a range of mental disorders. The researchers involved in the new work are not suggesting that people start medicating themselves with hallucinogens. Still, Dr. David E. Nichols, a professor of pharmacology and medicinal chemistry at Purdue, believes the drugs' potential should be investigated. Nichols, an expert on hallucinogenic drugs, said there were reports that symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, like washing one's hands dozens of times a day, subside under the influence of psilocybin, a hallucinogen derived from mushrooms. (Note: it's a New York Times link, free registration required.)
posted by jhiggy on Mar 14, 2001 - 31 comments