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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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