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
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
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
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
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
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
