Thesis/Introduction
This essay will mainly be about the drug D-lysergic Acid Diethylamide, or for short LSD. It has always been a center of controversy in American society, but little is known about it in Sweden. Research chemist Albert Hoffman first discovered the psychological effects of LSD on April 19th 1943 when he accidentally dipped his fingers in a solution containing the LSD-25 molecule.
What I will try doing in this essay is to answer some questions about LSD. What are the effects on your body and most importantly your mind? I will explain what Ў§ego lossЎЁ is and why LSD is a Ў§set & settingЎЁ drug.
The final question that I will try to answer is if LSD has any medical properties?
Ў§I suddenly became strangely inebriated. The external world became changed as in a dream. Objects appeared to gain in relief; they assumed unusual dimensions; and colors became more glowing. Even self-perception and the sense of time were changed. When the eyes were closed, colored pictures flashed past in a quickly changing kaleidoscope. After a few hours, the not unpleasant inebriation, which had been experienced whilst I was fully conscious, disappeared. What had caused this condition?ЎЁ
– Albert Hofmann
– Laboratory Notes (1943)
The History of LSD
The LSD molecule was discovered and synthesized by the chemist Albert Hofmann. The work of unraveling this Ў§mystical moleculeЎЁ started early in the 20th century with Albert isolating some compounds from Ergot (A fungus that grows on rye and other grains). Some other chemist had already isolated an alkaloid called ergotamine, which Albert later continued to work with.
The director of Sandoz (the laboratory where Albert worked) warned Albert to continue his work with ergot alkaloids because they were so sensitive and thus hard to work with. Although the director wasnЎ¦t too happy about it, he was granted to continue working in trying to find more alkaloid derivatives from ergot.
The following years Albert synthesized many alkaloids and developed a procedure to synthesize them more easily using the naturally occurring lysergic acid (a part of the LSD molecule). In November 1938 he synthesized the 25th compound, which was D-lysergic Acid Diethylamide, and it was given the lab code LSD-25.
LSD-25 was tested on animals, but there where no visible effects. When tested, LSD-25 only showed strong activity in the uterus and the animals seemed very to be sensitive to stimuli. The effects were not enough to further investigate the drug so it was forgotten, except for one person.
In the spring of 1943, Albert felt a “a peculiar presentiment, the feeling that this substance could possess properties